Perceptions Of Norms Research Articles

Perceptions of social norms around healthy and environmentally-friendly food choices: Linking the role of referent groups to behavior.

Referent groups can moderate the perception of social norms and individuals’ likelihood to model these norms in food choice contexts, including vegetable intake and reduced meat consumption. The present study investigated whether having a close vs. a distant social group as the referent changed perceptions of social norms around making healthy and eco-friendly food choices. It also assessed whether these changes were associated with a difference in the health and environmental impacts of food choice in a virtual grocery shopping task. A nationally representative sample of UK adults (N = 2,488) reported their perceptions of making healthy and eco-friendly food choices being the norm among people they share meals with (close referent group) and most people in the UK (distant referent group). The former was more commonly perceived to be making both healthy (Z = −12.0, p < 0.001) and eco-friendly (Z = −13.27, p < 0.001) food choices than the latter. Perceptions of norms referring to the close group were significantly associated with the environmental (β = −0.90, 95% CIs: −1.49, −0.28) and health (β = −0.38 p < 0.05, 95% CIs: −0.68, −0.08) impacts of participants’ food choices in a virtual shopping task. No such relationship was found for norms referring to the distant group for both environmental (β =0.43, p > 0.05, 95% CIs: −1.12, 0.25) and health (β = −0.06, p > 0.05, 95% CIs: −0.37, 0.25) impacts. Framing social norms around making healthy and eco-friendly food choices to refer to a close referent group may change their perceptions and ability to encourage sustainable and healthy food purchasing.

Ethics in the Contemporary Society

The paper deals with ethics as the main issue, its meaning, its origin in the historical context and the challenges that ethics as an independent scientific discipline faces today. In the text, the author attempts to revise the historical context in the form of existing ethical theories. Some of them are known and relevant even today. A secondary goal of the text is a certain vision and reception of ethics from the perspective of today's society and especially in the context of modern time and events that have a major impact on human life in the society of the 21st century. It is a certain retrospective view of the perception of ethical norms, morality, ethical rules or codes of ethics in modern society and explicitly an explanation of why modern society has its own ethical principles governing it and what influence they have on the human activities and behaviour in everyday life. Modern times are associated with the existence of professional ethics characterised by the presence of codes of ethics for a particular profession or occupation. In principle, it shall be noted that ethics and ethical rules are learned in the home environment, are influenced by upbringing and education, and are relevant to certain groups in society with regard to cultural backgrounds.

The risk-taking behavioural intentions of pilots in adverse weather conditions: an application of the theory of planned behaviour

This paper examined pilots’ risk-taking behavioural intentions based on the theory of planned behaviour, as well as the impact of experience on behavioural intentions in adverse weather conditions. Two hundred and seventy-three airline pilots and flying cadets were divided into two groups and asked to complete a questionnaire based on two decision-making scenarios. This questionnaire measured pilots’ intentions to take risks, along with the attitude towards the behaviour, subjective norms, perceived behavioural control (PBC), risk perception, and self-identity. The results showed that attitude, subjective norm, PBC, and risk perception explained 52% of the variance in behavioural intentions. Additionally, pilots’ risk-taking decisions can be influenced by experience. Inexperienced pilots had a relatively stronger intention to take risks and a more favourable attitude towards risky behaviour. Moreover, pilots were more likely to rely on their own direct experience in the decision-making process. Practitioner summary: This study examined the pilots’ risk-taking intentions under adverse weather conditions using a questionnaire based on the TPB theory. Results demonstrated that the TPB model can be applied to the risk-taking scenario and that experience can influence pilots’ decisions. These findings have implications for improving flight safety and lowering accident rates.

Communicating ‘normal’ behaviour: a randomised controlled trial experimenting with plastic avoidance media messages

ABSTRACT When excerpts from documentaries about plastic waste are shared on social media, they can increase problem awareness among millions of users. However, they can also inadvertently discourage plastic avoidance by emphasising the scale of the problem and undesirable social norms. An online experiment was undertaken with 1,001 respondents to test if exposure to social media friendly video clips from documentaries about plastic waste influenced plastic avoidance perceptions and behaviours. While social norm perceptions differed depending on how the issue was presented and who delivered the message, the clips were most effective in sensitising the market by promoting the benefits of avoidance, increasing policy support, and increasing willingness to communicate about the issue. The theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Risk factors associated with alcohol and drug use among bisexual women: A literature review.

Bisexual women report elevated alcohol and drug use compared to other sexual minority women. This review summarized extant research on mechanisms (i.e., coping processes with minority stress and victimization, disclosure of sexual identity, connectedness to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning (LGBTQ +) community, religiosity, and normative perceptions) that may influence alcohol and other drug use among bisexual women. Specifically, bisexual women experience unique sexual discrimination (i.e., binegativity) and are at heightened risk for other forms of victimization and other stressful life events. Given this heightened experience with stress, bisexual women may use alcohol as a maladaptive coping mechanism. Further, disclosure of one's sexual identity may produce opportunities for connecting with the LGBTQ + community, but such openness may increase exposure to discrimination and stigmatization among bisexual women. Findings on religiosity have been mixed, but there is some support that bisexual women may use substances in response to internal conflict between their religious beliefs and sexual identity. Lastly, we found that normative perceptions of other bisexual women's drinking behaviors are strongly tied to their own levels of alcohol use. From a therapeutic perspective, we suggest that practitioners recognize the unique experience of minority stress and teach strategies that lessen internalized stigma and promote healthy psychosocial adjustment among their bisexual clients. Clinicians may also help their clients find sources of support, which may protect them against the use of alcohol and drugs to manage minority-induced stress. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

The moral repetition effect: Bad deeds seem less unethical when repeatedly encountered.

Reports of moral transgressions can "go viral" through gossip, continuous news coverage, and social media. When they do, the same person is likely to hear about the same transgression multiple times. The present research demonstrates that people will judge the same transgression less severely after repeatedly encountering an identical description of it. I present seven experiments (six of which were preregistered; 73,265 observations from 3,301 online participants and urban residents holding 55 nationalities). Participants rated fake-news sharing, real and hypothetical business transgressions, violations of fundamental "moral foundations," and various everyday wrongdoings as less unethical and less deserving of punishment if they had been shown descriptions of these behaviors previously. Results suggest that affect plays an important role in this moral repetition effect. Repeated exposure to a description of a transgression reduced the negative affect that the transgression elicited, and less-negative affect meant less-harsh moral judgments. Moreover, instructing participants to base their moral judgments on reason, rather than emotion, eliminated the moral repetition effect. An alternative explanation based on perceptions of social norms received only mixed support. The results extend understanding of when and how repetition influences judgment, and they reveal a new way in which moral judgments are biased by reliance on affect. The more people who hear about a transgression, the wider moral outrage will spread; but the more times an individual hears about it, the less outraged that person may be. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Using coordination games to measure beliefs

Krupka and Weber (2013) propose using coordination games to measure social norm perception. We report the results of an experiment showing that their method is suitable for measuring beliefs more generally. Subjects are asked about their probabilistic beliefs regarding behavior in an ultimatum game, and they then coordinate on a number between 0 and 100. The results are indistinguishable from incentivized beliefs, at the individual and population levels. This indicates that coordination games can be used as a simple tool for measuring beliefs when there is no ground truth. • We propose to use the Krupka and Weber (2013) method to measure beliefs. • We test this approach in an experiment. • Beliefs elicited via coordination games are indistinguishable from actual beliefs. • This suggests that coordination is a simple tool for measuring beliefs without ground truth.

The War that Ended in Nothing: the Korean Conflict in American Feature Films

Introduction. Today, interdisciplinary approaches blur the boundary between verbal and visual narratives, newsreels, photo and audio documents are actively used in historical research, theoretical and methodological issues of source analysis of audiovisual resources are discussed in historiography. Unlike documentaries, feature films capture and broadcast not so much historical realities as people’s attitudes towards them. Cinema is an actor of social processes: it not only reflects, but also creates historical ideas about a specific event, time, era, etc. The purpose of the work is to identify and demonstrate the relationship between the attitude of society to a local war and its image in feature cinema. Due to the specifics of the source in this study, the methods of historical analysis are supplemented by methods of visual research (structural-functional and semiotic analysis of films, analysis of reviews, film festivals, etc.). Results. Films about the Korean conflict, created in Hollywood from 1950 to 1981, served as the material. Their comparative analysis was carried out, the ideological background was determined, the main plots, themes, the system of characters, visual means were identified. All these aspects represent the attitude of American society towards the war in Korea. Discussion and Conclusion. Since cinema is not only an art, but also a media industry, it is associated with many social processes and has the ability to effectively influence people. It is a communication channel for the transmission, perception and active formation of value orientations, norms and public sentiments.

Social Q&A communities: A multi-factor study of the influence of users' knowledge sharing behaviors.

Recently, social Q&A communities have grown increasingly popular, serving as a primary platform for people to learn and share information. Nonetheless, fewer knowledge producers in these communities are significant than knowledge consumers. Thus, promoting users’ participation in knowledge sharing is a challenge for managers of social Q&A communities. Even though many scholars have studied factors influencing willingness to share knowledge, they tend to start with one theory and ignore the impact of several factors on behaviors. Thus, this manuscript presents a multi-factor model based on three dimensions of technology, cognition, and security to explore the effects of the six factors of perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness, perceived behavioral control and subjective norms, perceived security, and perceived privacy in terms of the three knowledge sharing methods of browsing including like and favorite, publishing and replying, and to compare users’ willingness to use the three knowledge sharing methods. A total of 482 questionnaires were collected online, and the hypotheses were tested and analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM). According to the results, the factors affecting different sharing methods are not the same. Perceived behavioral control and perceived security can have a significant influence on their willingness to browse, users’ willingness to publish and reply to posts is significantly influenced by their perception of behavioral control and subjective norms, while perceived usefulness also affects their willingness to respond, it can be seen that cognition is the most important factor affecting users’ knowledge sharing among the three dimensions. In addition, users’ willingness to browse is significantly greater than their willingness to reply, and their willingness to post is the lowest.

Stealth vaping and associated attitudes, perceptions, and control beliefs among US college students across four tobacco-free campuses

ObjectivesStealth vaping gained popularity among college students in recent years. It may undermine the benefits introduced by tobacco-free policies. Yet, no studies have investigated attitude and belief factors associated with stealth vaping. The objective of the study was to explore the relationship between attitudes toward on-campus tobacco regulations, normative perceptions of stealth vaping behaviors, and control beliefs with on-campus stealth vaping among U.S. college students. MethodsParticipants from four large, public universities with policies prohibiting use of all forms of tobacco (including e-cigarettes) on campus (N = 863) completed an online survey in Fall 2020. On-campus stealth vaping behavior was captured by past 30-day stealth vaping status and frequency. Hurdle models with logistic and negative binomial regressions were conducted, where stealth vaping status was treated as a binary variable based on the non-zero and zero frequency, and stealth vaping frequency was treated as a count variable. Multiple imputation by chained equations was employed to handle the missing data. ResultsParticipants with more positive attitudes toward regulating on-campus tobacco use were less likely to practice stealth vaping on campus (OR = 1.16, p < 0.01 [predicting zero]). Those with higher perceptions of stealth vaping among other students were more likely to stealth vape more frequently (IRR = 1.03, p < 0.01). ConclusionOur results highlight the need for interventions to address students’ attitudes and normative beliefs about stealth vaping. Efforts are needed to educate college students about the risk of e-cigarettes and to enhance enforcement of campus tobacco-free policies.

Pursuing a uniform effect: Pathways linking exposure to normatively‐focused scientific consensus messages (NFSCMs) to behavioral intention to adopt science

AbstractThis study tested the effect of normatively‐focused scientific consensus messages (NFSCMs) on receivers' intention to consume GE‐foods. In Study 1, the efficacy of a NFSCM was examined, relative to a standard descriptive norm message (SDNM), a scientific consensus message (SCM), and two control messages, issue‐relevant and issue‐irrelevant messages, using an experiment. In Study 2, the effect of the NFSCM with discrete descriptive norm formats was tested, relative to a standard message used in the real world, using an experiment. Results indicated that the effect of exposure to the NFSCM on intention was mediated via attentional focus on the norm information and perceptions about the norm, which is consistent with those in prior literature. The re‐specified model was not contingent on participants’ education level, gender and political stance indicating a uniform effect. Exposure to the messages also changed receivers’ feeling of disgust and un/certainty about the scientific issue in desirable ways.

Depression and perceptions of social norms and harms for electronic and combustible cigarette use: Associations with tobacco use in college students

Both e-cigarette use (i.e., vaping) and dual use of e-cigarettes and cigarettes are prevalent among young adults. To inform future development of interventions that target use, this study examined associations between three forms of tobacco use (exclusive vaping, exclusive cigarette use, and dual use), psychosocial factors (perceptions of risks and social norms of tobacco use), and mental health (depression symptoms) among a large sample of U.S. college students. In this cross-sectional study ( N ​= ​2115), three hierarchical logistic regressions were used to test whether psychosocial factors and depression were associated with tobacco use status. Depression was positively associated with all forms of tobacco use. Perceived risks of cigarettes, risks of vaping, and social norms of vaping were associated with exclusive vaping. Perceived risks of vaping and vaping social norms were also associated with cigarette use. Lastly, the interaction between depression and perceived vaping social norms were associated with dual use. Depression and perceptions of harm and social norms of tobacco use may be associated with dual use, exclusive vaping, and exclusive cigarette smoking. Development of interventions targeting tobacco use in college settings that address these factors may yield useful implications. • Depression is positively associated with e-cigarette, cigarette, and dual use. • Perceived risks of cigarettes and vaping are associated with exclusive vaping. • Perceived social norms of vaping are associated with exclusive vaping. • Perceived vaping risks and social norms are associated with cigarette use. • Perceived vaping social norms moderated relations of depression and dual use.

Cognitive, Affective and Psycomotoric Aspects Related Risky Sexual Behavior Among Adolescents at the University Level

The current phenomenon shows that teenagers are into the sexually active period quickly. This condition causes adolescents to be more vulnerable to experiencing adolescent reproductive health triad such as premarital sex, STI/HIV infections and drug abuse. Higher education is an educational institution whose students are teenagers who do not rule out experiencing these problems. This study aims to determine the cognitive, affective and psychomotoric factors related to risky sexual behavior among adolescents at the college level using a cross sectional approach. The research analysis sample was 750 students from 4 study programs in one of the universities in South Sumatra which were taken by using cluster random sampling technique. Data analysis includes univariable and bivariable analysis (chi square test). The results showed that 12% of students had risky sexual behavior where 3.5% had vaginal, anal or oral sex. In addition, the results of the bivariate analysis showed that the variables that were significantly related to risky sexual behavior included cognitive factors (knowledge), affective factors (attitudes, perceptions of norms, parental roles and self-efficacy) and psychomotoric factors (negative peer group behavior). This study recommends the need for access to adolescent-friendly reproductive health services with the principle of peer educator as a means of improving soft skills for adolescents related to adolescent reproductive health.

The G-NORM Scale: Development and Validation of a Theory-Based Gender Norms Scale

Gender norms are increasingly recognized as important modifiers of health. Despite growing awareness of how gender norms affect health behavior, current gender norms scales are often missing two important theoretical components: differentiating between descriptive and injunctive norms and adding a referent group. We used a mixed-methods approach to develop and validate a novel gender norms scale that includes both theoretical components. Based on qualitative data, the theory of normative social behavior, and the theory of gender and power, we generated a pool of 28 items. We included the items in a baseline questionnaire among 3,110 women in Odisha, India as part of a cluster randomized controlled trial. We then ran exploratory factor analysis which resulted in 18 items. Using a second wave of data with the same sample, we evaluated psychometric properties using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling. The analysis resulted in two subscales with nine items each, “descriptive gender norms” and “injunctive gender norms.” Both subscales represent high internal validity with Cronbach’s alpha values of 0.81 and 0.84 and the combined scale has an alpha of 0.87. The G-NORM, gender norms scale, improves on existing measures by providing distinct descriptive and injunctive norms subscales and moving beyond individual attitudes by assessing women’s perceptions of community-level gender norms.

Environmental Rights Between Constitutional Law and Local Context: Reflections on a Moving Target

AbstractEnvironmental rights such as the right to a sound environment and rights of nature, while playing an increasingly important role in global environmental governance and protection, frequently do not correspond to articulations of fundamental experiences of injustice by communities particularly affected by serious environmental degradation caused by, for example, extractive activities or major infrastructure projects. We present three empirically grounded case studies that employ concepts and methods from anthropology to demonstrate this. The work is still in progress, but sufficiently well advanced to present some findings. Our ethnographic research in Ethiopia and Mongolia reveals that vulnerable local communities take recourse to constitutional environmental rights far less often than expected. The reasons for this range from rule-of-law issues to local perceptions of vulnerability and relevant norms. Conversely, where environmental rights are demanded or claimed at the local level, they are often not translated adequately into the law of the state. Our case study on Ecuador, where rights of nature as a specific type of environmental rights have been included in the constitution, shows that transfers from local practice, while potentially having a transformative effect, may lead to conceptual selectivity, ambiguity, lack of clarity, and overlaps with existing state norms and, hence, redundancies. Environmental rights are, therefore, a moving target whose concrete added value hinges on context—as methods of law and anthropology serve to illustrate.

Examining the added value of harm reduction strategies to emailed boosters to extend the effects of online interventions for college drinkers.

Objective: Brief computer-delivered interventions (CDIs) reduce college student drinking and related problems but can be less efficacious and enduring than in-person interventions. The present study examined: (a) the utility of emailed personalized boosters after an evidence-based online CDI for alcohol (i.e., eCHECKUP TO GO), and (b) the added value of including protective behavioral strategies (PBS) in boosters containing personalized normative feedback (PNF) versus PNF alone. Method: 528 young adult (ages 18-24) college drinkers (71.6% female; 52.5% Black, 40.3% White) with a mean age of 19.9 years (SD = 1.65) were randomized to receive: CDI-only; CDI plus a PNF-only booster; or CDI plus a booster containing both PNF and PBS feedback. Booster emails were sent 2 weeks post-intervention. Online surveys completed pre-intervention and at 1 and 3 months assessed alcohol consumption, problems, descriptive normative perceptions, and PBS use. Results: The CDI led to significant reductions in alcohol consumption across all conditions, with no effect of boosters on drinking. Controlling for quantity, no reductions in problems were observed. Descriptive norms reduced significantly, with no condition differences. Only PBS use showed condition effects, such that the CDI-only and PNF-only booster groups reported reduced PBS use at 1 month, but the norms-plus-PBS booster group did not. Conclusions: The CDI was sufficient to change alcohol consumption and perceived norms without boosters, although the inclusion of boosters with PBS feedback may mitigate against PBS use reductions. Longer follow-ups may detect delayed booster benefits, or a larger dose through repeated exposure over time may be needed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Effects of exposure to mother's and father's alcohol use on young children's normative perceptions of alcohol.

While consumption of alcohol does not often begin until early adolescence, young children are highly capable of internalizing normative information through observational learning. We used a longitudinal multiple-informant family study to examine the impact of exposureto mothers' and fathers' drinking onyoung children's normative perceptions of who drinks alcohol. Three hundred twenty-nine children (4 to 6 years old at baseline [Mage 4.78 (SD=0.725)], 51% girls) completed the Dutch electronic appropriate beverage task [eABT] where they attributed alcoholic beverages to a variety of persons depicted in an illustrated scenario. Their parents completed an online survey that included information on alcohol use and exposure. Children more frequently exposed to their mothers' drinking provided females shown in the eABT illustrations with alcohol significantly more often than children less frequently exposed to mothers' drinking. There was no effect of mother's exposure on providing males in the eABT with alcoholic beverages. Similarly, children more frequently exposed to their fathers' drinking provided fatherswith alcoholic beverages significantly more often than children less frequently exposed to their fathers' drinking. There was no effect of father's exposure on providing the females with alcoholic beverages,nor was there an effect of father's exposure on providing "other males" with alcohol. These patterns held after adjusting for age and sex. This study demonstrates that there are gender-specific effects of exposure to parents' (particularly mothers') drinking on young children's perceptions of person-specific drinking norms. The findings provide unique evidencein a young population groupofeffectson an understudied dimension of alcohol-related perceptions with implications for future drinking behavior.

Проблема праворозуміння у сучасному суспільстві: управлінський аспект

Проблема праворозуміння у сучасному суспільстві: управлінський аспект

Where do heavy drinking college students experience alcohol consequences and where are they perceived to be normative?

High levels of alcohol consumption are common among college students and associated with endorsing negative alcohol-related consequences. Research suggests both drinking norms and location are strong predictors of drinking behavior in college students. Yet, normative perceptions of consequences, and whether they are location-specific, are less well-studied. We tested the hypotheses that college students who drink would have the highest levels of descriptive and injunctive norms for negative consequences, and would self-report the greatest number of negative consequences, at large gatherings/parties relative to someone’s home/dorm and/or bars/clubs. Additionally, we explored whether specific acute consequences were more likely in some drinking locations versus others. Participants were 96 full-time undergraduate students who engaged in high-risk drinking. At baseline, participants reported descriptive and injunctive norms for negative consequences in three locations (home/dorm, large gathering/party, bar/club). Over a 28-day period, participants self-reported daily experiences of five alcohol-related consequences in these same locations. With repeated measures analyses of variance, we found that participants perceived their peers experienced more negative consequences and were more approving of negative consequences at large gatherings/parties and small gatherings at someone’s home/dorm relative to bars/clubs. Likewise, nonparametric analyses demonstrated that the total number of consequences over the 28-day assessment period also differed by location, with participants reporting more consequences at home/dorm and large gathering/party locations than at bars/clubs. Future research is needed to better understand how the impact of norms on behavior differs across drinking location, and whether location-specific intervention content (e.g., normative correction) would be useful.

Comparing the Perceptions of Gender Norms among Adolescents with Different Sibling Contexts in Shanghai, China.

Individuals’ gender development is influenced by the characteristics of personal and contextual environments. However, the role of sibling contexts in shaping gender norms has rarely been studied among Chinese youth at early adolescence as most of them were the only child. The aim of this paper is to compare perceived gender norms among adolescents aged 10–14 with different sibling configurations, to help inform and tailor guidance for sexual and reproductive health education in the future. We used the Global Early Adolescent Study baseline data collected from Shanghai, China. The sample for analysis was 1615 students. We used univariate analysis and multivariate ordinal logistic regression to compare perceived gender-stereotyped traits and gender role attitudes, stratified by age and sex. The results showed that sibling context was more influential for boys than girls at early adolescence in their gender socialization process. Among boys those who were with mixed-sex siblings scored higher on gender-stereotyped traits (ORonly-child vs. mixed-sex siblings = 0.67, 95% CI: 0.48–0.94, p = 0.019; ORsame-sex siblings vs. mixed-sex siblings = 0.59, 95% CI: 0.37–0.96, p = 0.033). Younger early adolescents aged 10–12 who were the only child or who had mixed-sex siblings perceived more traditional gender role attitudes than those living with same-sex siblings (ORonly-child vs. same-sex siblings = 1.71, 95% CI: 1.06–2.75, p = 0.028; ORmixed-sex siblings vs. same-sex siblings = 1.74, 95% CI: 1.03–2.94, p = 0.037). Comprehensive sexuality education with gender and power components being well addressed, both in and out of the family, is needed to provide extra gender-inclusive and gender-egalitarian environments for youth.