The social norms approach, or social norms marketing,Mark Frauenfelder. "The year in ideas: A TO Z.; Social-norms marketing". New York Times. December 9, 2001. is an environmental strategy gaining ground in health campaigns.Perkins, H. W. (2003). The Social Norms Approach to Preventing School and College Age Substance Abuse: A Handbook for Educators, Counselors, and Clinicians. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2003. While conducting research in the mid-1980s, two researchers, H.W. Perkins and A.D. Berkowitz, reported that students at a small U.S. college held exaggerated beliefs about the normal frequency and consumption habits of other students with regard to alcohol. These inflated perceptions have been found in many educational institutions, with varying populations and locations. Despite the fact that college drinking is at elevated levels, the perceived amount almost always exceeds actual behavior. The social norms approach has shown signs of countering misperceptions, however research on changes in behavior resulting from changed perceptions varies between mixed to conclusively nonexistent.
Constructs
The social norms approach is founded upon a set of assumptions that individuals incorrectly perceive that the attitudes or behaviors of others are different from their own, when in reality they are similar. This phenomenon is known as pluralistic ignorance.Berkowitz, A. D. (2005). "An overview of the social norms approach". In L. Lederman & L. Stewart (Eds.), Changing the culture of college drinking: A socially situated health communication campaign (193–214). Creskill, New Jersey: Hampton Press. It is largely because individuals assume the most memorable and salient, often extreme, behavior is representative of the behavior of the majority. This may lead individuals to adjust their behavior to that of the presumed majority by adhering to the pseudo-norms created by observing such memorable behavior. These exaggerated perceptions, or rather misperceptions, of peer behavior will continue to influence the habits of the majority, if they are unchallenged. This means that individuals may be more likely to enact problem behaviors and suppress healthier practices, making support for healthy behaviors much less visible at an aggregate level. This effect has been documented for alcohol, illegal drug use, smoking, other health behaviors, and attitudes, such as prejudice.
A phenomenon known as false consensus is closely related to the idea of pluralistic ignorance, and refers to the incorrect belief that others are similar, when in reality they are not. For example, heavy drinkers will think that most others consume as much as they do, and will use this belief to justify their behavior. Berkowitz, an independent consultant who works full-time to promote these ideas, describes false consensus and pluralistic ignorance as "mutually reinforcing and self-perpetuating...the majority is silent because it thinks it is a minority, and the minority is vocal because it believes that it represents the majority" (p. 194).
These phenomena both have the potential to be addressed by a social norms intervention. BerkowitzBerkowitz, A. D. (2004). The Social Norms Approach: Theory, Research and Annotated Bibliography . Retrieved 1 July 2008 describes this possibility in relation to reducing alcohol use: …social norms interventions have been found to be effective in changing the behavior of the moderate or occasional-drinking majority (pluralistic ignorance) as well as confronting and changing the behavior of the heavy drinking minority (false consensus) (p. 9)
Thus, the social norms approach predicts that an intervention which aims to correct misperceptions by exposing actual norms will benefit society as well as individuals, because it will lead people to reduce problem behaviors or increase participation in healthy behaviors. There have been multiple studies which have indeed shown that social norms campaigns can have such positive effects on target populations. One study in particular, which utilized 18 different colleges over a three-year period, found that social norms campaigns were associated with lower perceptions of student drinking and lower consumption levels.DeJong, W., Schneider, S. K., Towvim, L. G., Murphy, M. J., Doerr, E. E., Simonsen, N. R., et al. (2006). "A multisite randomized trial of social norms marketing campaigns to reduce college student drinking". Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 67, 868–879. Oddly, when the results of this same study were reported at a conference of alcohol educators, DeJong reported that alcohol consumption increased' among both control participants and among the experimental group (those who got the social norms marketing treatment). This discrepancy in reported findings between a conference paper and published journal paper is difficult to reconcile.
Another intervention designed to reduce drinking amongst student athletes had similar results, reducing misperceptions of alcohol consumption. Also, within the time period of the intervention, there were declines in personal consumption, high risk drinking, and alcohol-related consequences.Perkins, H. W. & Craig, D. W. (2006). "A successful social norms campaign to reduce alcohol misuse among college student-athletes". Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 67, 868–879. When critiquing this study, one should ask how many dependent variables were assessed, as this group of researchers often assesses as many as 20 or more outcome variables and finds change in 2 or 3 and calls the program successful.
A recent trial of a live, interactive, normative feedback program in which students used keypads to input information had positive effects in terms of reducing misperceptions and drinking behavior.LaBrie, J. W., Hummer, J. F., Neighbors, C., & Pedersen, E. R. (2008). "Live interactive group-specific normative feedback reduces misperceptions and drinking in college students: A randomized cluster trial". Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 22, 141–148. There are many other examples of successful social norms campaigns, which cover various topics, population sizes, and media through which normative messages are conveyed.
Types of norms
Two types of norms are relevant to a social norms approach: injunctive norms and descriptive norms:
Injunctive norms reflect people's perceptions of what behaviors are approved or disapproved by others. They assist an individual in determining what is acceptable and unacceptable social behavior. Descriptive norms involve perceptions of which behaviors are typically performed. They normally refer to the perception of others' behavior. These norms are based on observations of those around you.
In other words, injunctive norms represent what we think other people approve or disapprove of; descriptive norms represent how people actually behave, regardless of whether the behavior is approved or disapproved. For example, an injunctive norm that almost all people share is that littering is wrong, however, there are still plenty of cases in which people litter.
"Both kinds of norms motivate human action; people tend to do what is socially approved as well as what is popular. (105) When put together, these norms have a counterproductive effect. For example a campaign that focuses individuals on the frequent occurrences of an offense against the environment has the potential to increase the occurrence of that offense". These two norms are constructed from three sources: observable behavior, direct/indirect communication and self-knowledge. Miller and Prentice 1996
Observable behavior: Observing others behavior is the easiest form of norm information. However it is susceptible to the fundamental attribution error. The fundamental attribution error is the tendency of individuals to view others' behavior as a trait rather than a factor influenced by situational variables (Ross 1997) Direct/Indirect: " direct (what words mean) and indirect (what words imply) communication, also has its flaws. Information may be distorted intentionally or unintentionally." (Ross 1997) Self: Personal attitudes and behaviors also have an influence over the perception of norms However it is highly susceptible to "the false consensus effect" The false consensus effect is when a person thinks that others think and act as they do. (Mullen and Hu) These different sources of information about norms can sometimes lead to inaccurate perceptions about other's behaviors and attitudes (Miller and Prentice 1996)
Borsari and Carey'sBorsari, B. & Carey, K. B. (2003) "Descriptive and Injunctive Norms in College Drinking: A Meta-Analytic Integration". Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 64, 331–341.meta-analysis of studies showed that people misperceive injunctive norms more than they do descriptive norms, and that injunctive norms are more likely to predict drinking behavior and negative consequences of drinking. However, the use of both in social norms campaigns has shown that it is unclear which type of norm is more likely to change behavior.
Assumptions
There are seven assumptions of the social norms approach:
Actions are often based on misinformation about or misperceptions of others' attitudes and/or behavior. When misperceptions are defined or perceived as real, they have real consequences. Individuals passively accept misperceptions rather than actively intervening to change them, hiding from others their true perceptions, feelings, or beliefs. The effects of misperceptions are self-perpetuating because they discourage the expression of opinions and actions that are falsely believed to be nonconforming while encouraging problem behaviors that are falsely believed to be normative. Appropriate information about the actual norm will encourage individuals to express those beliefs that are consistent with the true, healthier norm, and inhibit problem behaviors that are inconsistent with it. Individuals who do not personally engage in the problematic behavior may contribute to the problem by the way in which they talk about the behavior. Misperceptions thus function to strengthen beliefs and values that the "carriers of the misperception" do not themselves hold and contribute to the climate that encourages problem behavior. For a norm to be perpetuated it is not necessary for the majority to believe it, but only for the majority to believe that the majority believes it.
History
Since the 1986 study in which Berkowitz and Perkins reported the misperceptions about alcohol consumption amongst college students, the use and study of the social norms approach has grown. It has been used as a prevention technique for a variety of levels of prevention: universal, with large populations like entire college campuses; selective, with targeted subpopulations, and indicated, with individuals.