Normative Appeals Research Articles

Anger consensus messaging can enhance expectations for collective action and support for climate mitigation

Media coverage of climate protests within the United States and internationally has shown growing public frustration about governmental responses to climate change. But what are the effects of conveying that people are angry? And how do they contrast with more traditional norm messages about climate policy support? Here, we investigate whether social norm messaging about collective anger can impact perceptions of consensus and public support for climate mitigation. In a pilot study and two survey experiments (total N = 1529), we find that relative to control messages, normative appeals that convey growing public anger about U.S. inaction on climate change (i.e., dynamic anger consensus messaging) can enhance Americans' consensus estimates of other Americans' climate-related beliefs and support for mitigation policy, and expectations for future climate-mitigating collective action. Moreover, exposure to a dynamic anger consensus message led to similar estimates of Americans’ policy support and belief in climate change as messages that explicitly conveyed public support for climate mitigation (Study 1) or consensus belief in anthropogenic climate change (Study 2). When tailored for a cross-partisan audience, anger consensus messaging was also effective in bolstering personal support for climate mitigation (Study 2). Notably, similar effects were observed across partisan groups. These findings suggest that, by signaling shared motivational states, emotion consensus appeals can enhance expectations for social change, with the potential to mobilize bipartisan support for climate mitigation.

Epistemic diversity and cross-cultural comparative research: ontology, challenges, and outcomes

ABSTRACT This paper reflects on the transpositional comparison in Marginson and Yang’s article in this special issue, with a focused discussion on epistemic diversity and cross-cultural comparative research. It argues that in global research, epistemic diversity largely co-exists with epistemic inequity and injustice, despite long-standing normative appeals. Against this backdrop, cross-cultural comparative studies have significant value, albeit facing a range of challenges. There are five outcomes of cross-cultural encounters: assimilation, immiscibility, and being different together (including unity in diversity, harmony with diversity, and together with diversity). Although East–West encounters demonstrated all possible outcomes, being different together is both possible and valuable, not only for East–West encounters but also for cross-civilisational comparisons.

Descriptive or injunctive: How do restaurant customers react to the guidelines of COVID-19 prevention measures? The role of psychological reactance.

In this study, we employed an experimental design to empirically test how restaurant customers react differently to normative appeals (descriptive vs. injunctive) relating to COVID-19 prevention measures through freedom threat and negative cognition. We conducted t-tests, serial mediation, moderation, and moderated serial mediation analysis to test the hypotheses using SPSS 23.0 and PROCESS macro v.3.5 (model 6 and model 85). Injunctive normative appeal causes an increase in freedom and a less favorable attitude than descriptive normative appeals. The findings also demonstrate the serial-mediated effect of freedom threat and negative cognition on attitude. Furthermore, the effectiveness of normative appeals depends on an individual's age. This study contributes to the academic literature on hospitality by applying psychological reactance theory and testing the model within a restaurant context. It also discusses the implications of its findings for consumers and restaurant managers.

Political Mobilization in the Laboratory: The Role of Norms and Communication

Many field experiments have shown that political mobilization increases voter turnout, with personalized strategies considerably outperforming widely administered ones. Despite the abundant evidence, there is no systematic explanation of what drives citizens’ response to mobilization. In this paper, I propose and experimentally test in the laboratory a theoretical framework that investigates the psychological mechanisms underlying mobilization in both partisan and non-partisan settings. I conjecture that material mobilization efforts should increase participation because of reciprocity concerns. The transmission of normative appeals through interpersonal communication should have a similar effect by making a group norm salient. The results from two experiments show that the combination of a mobilization effort with a normative appeal leads to a significant and substantial increase in participation in both settings. Using content analysis, I show that this interaction effect is due to the way normative appeals are perceived when the sender is in charge of mobilization.

Supplemental Material for Normative Appeals Motivate People to Contribute to Collective Action Problems More When They Invite People to Work Together Toward a Common Goal

Supplemental Material for Normative Appeals Motivate People to Contribute to Collective Action Problems More When They Invite People to Work Together Toward a Common Goal

Sacred hearts and pumps: cardiology and the conflicted body politic (1500–1900)

This article examines how conflicting notions of the body politic between the natural and the spiritual have contextualised the evolution of cardiology. After a brief look at the place of...

How social norms are often a barrier to addressing climate change but can be part of the solution

AbstractWe argue that the behavioral challenges posed by climate change are fundamentally problems of social influence. Behaviors that perpetuate climate change are often opaque in their consequences; thus, we look to others to infer how to act. Yet unsustainable behaviors, like driving and eating meat, are often the norm; conformity to such norms is a major hurdle to a more sustainable world. Nonetheless, we argue that social norms can also be a powerful lever for positive change. Drawing on two streams of recent research, we show that well-implemented social norm strategies can motivate positive steps even in the face of a negative current norm and even in individuals’ private behavior absent the judgment of others. First, appeals to dynamic norms – information about change in others or trends in norms over time – can lead people to conform to the change itself, even if this change violates current norms. Second, framing normative appeals in terms of an invitation to work with others toward a common goal can increase the motivation to join in. Despite ubiquitous unsustainable norms, careful theory-based representations of social norms can help us make progress on climate change.

Nurturing tourists’ ethical food consumption: Testing the persuasive strengths of alternative messages in a natural hotel setting

The roles of food in sustainable operations in hospitality and tourism are receiving increasing attention. At the same time, how hospitality providers can support ethical consumption of organic, local, and sustainable food via presenting persuasive messages on buffets or in menus remains unclear. The study here presents rare research examining the effects of persuasion on actual behavior in a natural hotel setting. The study reports on a field experiment comparing the effectiveness of informative appeals (local origin, organic production, and socially sustainable production), experiential appeals and normative appeals on hotel guests’ food selection of vegetables from buffet presentations. The findings are based on 84 data trials and indicate that informative appeals affect guest selections. The findings also show that experiential appeals using a combination of visual, emotional, and participatory cues outperform informative and normative messages, advancing research on persuasive communication in hedonistic settings.

Contingent effects of social norms on tourists’ pro-environmental behaviours: the role of Chinese traditionality

Social norms are critical drivers of pro-environmental behaviours (PEBs) yet vary in their influences across individuals or cultures. This study investigates the contingent effects of social norms on tourists’ PEBs by examining the moderating role of an individual cultural value, i.e. Confucian-based Chinese traditionality, on the mediated relations via personal norm. Using survey data collected from Kulansu island and with structural equation modelling and bootstrap analyses, it revealed that both injunctive and descriptive norms did not exert a direct effect on tourists’ PEBs but an indirect one via personal norm, i.e. personal norm fully mediated the relationship between social norms and PEBs. It also confirmed that Chinese traditionality moderated the mediated relationship between injunctive, but not descriptive, norm and PEBs through personal norm, such that the mediation was stronger for tourists higher, rather than lower, in Chinese traditionality. This study contributes to the literature on the norm-behaviour relationship in a Confucian-based cultural context and offers practical insights into crafting normative appeals in environmental campaigns.

Secessionist Strategy and Tactical Variation in the Pursuit of Independence

AbstractHow do secessionist movements formulate strategy and choose tactics? Secessionism takes place on a strategic playing field that shapes tactical behavior, driving some movements to choose armed rebellion while others prefer nonviolent civil resistance or electoral competition. Secessionist movements attempt to compel and make normative appeals in different combinations depending on local conditions such as regime type, the strength of the state, and the degree to which the region is already de facto independent. These efforts are aimed at not only the home state, but also the international community that can apply pressure on the home state to negotiate with the secessionists. I identify six kinds of movements—democratized, indigenous legal, combative/strong state, combative/weak state, decolonial, and de facto—and I outline the perils and possibilities inherent in each kind. I then construct a theoretical framework and test the implications using original data on secessionist tactics between 1946 and 2011.

“Be Careful What You Say”: The role of psychological reactance on the impact of pro-environmental normative appeals

In this paper, we investigate the impact of psychological reactance produced by normative appeals on the intention to behave sustainably. Across four studies, we demonstrate that freedom threat is an antecedent of psychological reactance to a pro-environmental normative appeal. We further show that the impact of pro-environmental normative appeals on behavioral intentions is serially mediated through freedom threat and counterarguing. Descriptive (injunctive) normative appeals produce lower (higher) psychological reactance, which subsequently leads to higher (lower) behavioral intentions. Finally, we provide evidence that the above relationships depend on self-construal, with descriptive normative appeals provoking lower psychological reactance than injunctive normative appeals only when the interdependent self is activated. We discuss implications for theory and practice.

MAINTAINING NATION SOLIDITIES THROUGH RENEWABLE ENERGY MANAGEMENT BASED ON MUTUAL COOPERATION

<p>The community is one of the potential sources for building solidity, strength and defense for the Indonesian people. However, building on the condition of the Indonesian nation's solidity in the midst of current globalization has many challenges. One of them is by trying to condition people who are united in maintaining the solidity of the nation. The research method in this study used literature studies and previous research observation of the author. The result is an analysis of the role of community solidity in managing renewable energy towards energy independence supporting national defense forces, through the implementation of basic energy self-management including: (1) awareness of the importance of citizen solidity in managing renewable energy through solid community participation in a community so as not only normative appeals, but there needs to be clear regulations regarding the active involvement of the community in supporting the 23% renewable energy mix program in 2025; (2) the community becomes the driving force of solidarity in energy management that has succeeded in facilitating other communities in providing energy independently and contributing to the growth of people's economy in supporting national defense.</p><p><strong>Keywords: </strong>Community Solidity, Energy, Self-Management</p>

Appeals to Social Norms and Taxpayer Compliance

We use laboratory experiments to examine the impact of appeals to social norms on the compliance decisions of individuals. We test the effects of two main types of social norms: “descriptive norms,” or the type of behavior that is typical or most frequently enacted, and “injunctive norms,” or the type of behavior that “constitutes morally approved and disapproved conduct”. In addition, for injunctive norms, we introduce approval‐framed and disapproval‐framed injunctive norm messages. Our results indicate that normative appeals generally have a modest and positive impact on tax compliance, if not always statistically significant. The magnitude of both approval‐ and disapproval‐framed injunctive norm messages is an increase of around 2% in reported taxes.

The interplay between endorser social status and normative appeals on the endorsement effectiveness of pro-environmental behaviors.

Employing message endorser is a popular strategy in encouraging consumers to protect the environment. This research explores how the social status of endorsers and the forms of normative messages can influence the effectiveness of endorsement for pro-environmental behaviors. Drawing on the focus theory of normative conduct and the match-up hypothesis, the authors propose that the effects of endorser social status on consumers’ responses to green advertising are contingent on whether the normative messages is framed as injunctive norms or descriptive norms. In three experiments, the results indicate that participants show more positive attitudes toward the advertisement and higher intentions to act environmentally friendly when endorsers with high social status are presented in combination with injunctive norm appeals. In contrast, ordinary consumer endorsers produce stronger impact on attitudes and behavioral intentions when descriptive norm appeals are used. These findings show that marketers using endorsers to promote pro-environmental behaviors should develop normative message accordingly.

More “Bank” for the Buck: Microtargeting and Normative Appeals to Increase Social Marketing Efficiency

Successful conservation in the United States relies on collective stewardship by millions of private landowners, challenging those agencies and nongovernment organizations tasked with engagement and outreach. Perennially limited resources compound this challenge, highlighting a deep need for efficient social marketing. In the following research, we test the efficacy of two social marketing strategies—microtargeting and normative appeals—through a randomized controlled trial of an integrated social marketing campaign targeting riparian landowners in the Pennsylvania portion of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. We used a microtargeting algorithm to predict landowners’ likelihood of responding to a conservation outreach campaign to create treatment groups of high-likelihood prospects versus random prospects (i.e., no microtargeting). A normative appeal was also included as an experimental factor in the campaign communicating that forested riparian buffer investments were common among similar landowners. Among microtargeted landowners, we observed a 66% increase in response to a riparian restoration survey compared to the control group. Additionally, we found a significant influence of a normative message among random (nonmicrotargeted) prospects, increasing response by 23% over the control group. We conclude conservation outcomes may be more efficiently achieved by deploying these marketing techniques on a wider scale to a variety of conservation challenges.

Towel reuse in hotels: Importance of normative appeal designs

Laundry is a major factor in hotel fresh water use. Pro-environmental appeals to encourage tourists to reuse towels and bed linen have received much attention in the literature, though findings have remained inconclusive. This paper presents the results of a large field experiment with 21,000 observations in seven hotels catering to the sun, sand & sea leisure tourism market in Gran Canaria, Spain. Findings suggest that comprehensive message designs can increase towel reuse by 6.8% and bed linen reuse by 1.2%, compared to existing in-room messages. Results also show that nationality, age, length of stay, repeat visits, temperature, and hotel standard influence participation levels. The field experiment confirms that normative appeals can trigger significant behavioural change. Evidence suggests, however, that social norm generation may be a more promising avenue to changing behaviour than norm adherence.

Towards a model of normative diagnosis in the organizational context: The evaluative model of normative appeals

Purpose: The aim of the present work is to advance in a topic that has received little attention in the literature: normative diagnosis; contributing new empirical evidence to a recently proposed model: The Evaluative Model of Normative Appeals (EMNA). Design/methodology/approach: Two field studies were carried out. In Study 1 we tested the EMNA premises by appraising a normative appeal in a university organizational context (N = 304). In Study 2, we contributed to the predictive validity of the model by analyzing the perception and adherence with two normative appeals in the context of labor organizations (N = 296). Findings: The results of both studies supported the premises of the EMNA and its potential as a normative diagnostic tool for the organizational context. Research limitations/implications: The EMNA should be analyzed in relation to other models in order to complement its explanatory and diagnostic value. The results obtained and the validity of the scales should be tested in new samples from different countries. Practical implications: From an applied point of view, the EMNA represents a tool to support the diagnosis and management of organizational normative appeals in at least two situations: in establishing predictions regarding levels of adherence or willingness to comply, and in monitoring the effectiveness of the measures that have been adopted to modify the perception of certain regulations. Social implications: The transgression of the rules generates large direct (e.g., money laundering, corruption) and indirect losses (e.g., loss of prestige, dysfunctional behavior), so achieving more efficient regulatory management is a constant challenge, both socially and organizationally. The present work represents an advance in the challenge of reducing the levels of transgression and its associated costs. Originality/value: The present work provides complementary evidence that supports the utility of a recently proposed model, as a tool for normative diagnosis in the organizational field.

Virtuous Play: The Ethics, Pleasures, and Burdens of Brain Training

ABSTRACTThrough normative appeals of cognitive enhancement, the brain has become a site of both promise and peril. Displaying oneself as ethically sound may now include showing requisite care for cognitive capacities. Moreover, enhancing our cognitive reserves is framed as aspirational means of averting neurodegenerative disease and neoliberal precarity. Such demanding labours of self-care warrant close scrutiny. Promissory discourses proclaim our ‘neuroplasticity’, encouraging subjects to work on endlessly improvable functional capacities that hold labour market value. Yet a ‘fun morality’ is equally prevalent in today’s experiential economies. Neuro-enhancement is thus sold not as an ascetic chore, but an ecstatic potential. Hope, fear, pleasure, and ethical conduct are, therefore, all closely entwined in the ‘virtuous play’ of ‘brain training’, where commercial entities use digital platforms for game-based tasks designed to enhance cognitive abilities. These services are typically promoted through appeals to our dutiful biocitizenship. This type of virtuous play is increasingly the means by which subjects produce themselves as simultaneously pleasure-seeking, productive, and resoundingly ‘well’. However, this understanding of virtuosity is often narrowly derived—reduced to ‘active ageing’, corporate-style ‘neurohacking’, and ‘brain profiles’—that threaten to foreclose other ways of imagining well-being. In failing to recognize the neoliberal underpinnings of virtuous play we entrench burdensome attachments to emerging modes of personal enhancement. Against these seductive appeals of combining pleasure with self-improvement, we must cultivate a critical reflexivity regarding exactly how ‘enhancement’ is conceived, opening room for lines of possibility outside of currently dominant frameworks.

How to be rational about empirical success in ongoing science: The case of the quantum nose and its critics

Empirical success is a central criterion for scientific decision-making. Yet its understanding in philosophical studies of science deserves renewed attention: Should philosophers think differently about the advancement of science when they deal with the uncertainty of outcome in ongoing research in comparison with historical episodes? This paper argues that normative appeals to empirical success in the evaluation of competing scientific explanations can result in unreliable conclusions, especially when we are looking at the changeability of direction in unsettled investigations. The challenges we encounter arise from the inherent dynamics of disciplinary and experimental objectives in research practice. In this paper we discuss how these dynamics inform the evaluation of empirical success by analyzing three of its requirements: data accommodation, instrumental reliability, and predictive power. We conclude that the assessment of empirical success in developing inquiry is set against the background of a model's interactive success and prospective value in an experimental context. Our argument is exemplified by the analysis of an apparent controversy surrounding the model of a quantum nose in research on olfaction. Notably, the public narrative of this controversy rests on a distorted perspective on measures of empirical success.

On monetary and non-monetary interventions to combat corruption

We study the relative effectiveness of extrinsic monetary disincentives and intrinsic non-monetary disincentives to corruption, using a harassment bribery game. In doing so, we also test the Beckerian prediction that at the same level of expected payoff, a low probability of detection with high fine is a stronger deterrent to corruption than a high probability of detection with low fine. In Experiment 1, two treatments are designed to study the effect of a low probability of detection with high fine and a high probability of detection with low fine, on bribe taking behavior. In Experiment 2, subjects participate in the same baseline harassment bribery game either without or after having gone through a four-week ethics education program. Results show that: (a) a low probability of detection with high fine reduces both the amount and the likelihood of bribe demand, (b) a high probability of detection with low fine has no effect on bribe demand, (c) normative appeals of ethics education has a small effect on the likelihood but not on the amount of bribe demand, when measured immediately after the intervention, (d) the effect of ethics education vanishes when measured four weeks after the intervention.