Social Norms Interventions Research Articles

Listen to others or yourself? The role of personal norms on the effectiveness of social norm interventions to change pro-environmental behavior

Social norm interventions are a cheap and convenient strategy to promote proenvironmental behavior change. However, the effectiveness of using them has been debated. The present study argues that the effectiveness depends on one's own internal moral compass, as presented by personal norms. We examined this main assumption across 3 studies focusing on pro-environmental behavior in a food and diets context. Study 1 shows in a cross-sectional design that people with stronger personal norms are more likely to reduce their meat consumption regardless of their perceptions of the static or dynamic social norms towards meat consumption. Furthermore, quasi-experimental findings show that dynamic (Study 2) and static (Study 3) social normative messages are more effective the weaker one's personal norms towards the pro-environmental behavior. Therefore, when evaluating the effectiveness of social norm interventions people's personal norms should be taken into consideration.

Social norms of college students engaging in non-medical prescription drug use to get high: What’s sex got to do with it?

Background: Relationships exist between perceived peer and own use of alcohol, cannabis, and tobacco, particularly when peers and participants are sex-matched. We investigated sex influences on social norms effects for college students’ non-medical prescription drug use (NMPDU). Methods: N = 1986 college students reported on their perceptions of male and female peers’ NMPDU frequency and their own past-month NMPDU. Results: Approximately 3% of students self-reported past month NMPDU, with no sex differences. In a linear mixed model, participants who engaged in NMPDU perceived significantly more frequent peer use. Female participants perceived more frequent peer NMPDU than did male participants, particularly when perceiving male peers’ NMPDU. Significant positive correlations were found between perceived peer NMPDU frequency and participants’ own NMPDU for all peer-participant sex combinations, with no evidence for stronger correlations with sex-matched pairs. Conclusions: While social norm interventions may be effective for college student NMPDU, sex-matching of these interventions is likely unnecessary.

The evolution of social norms interventions for health promotion: Distinguishing norms correction and norms transformation.

The evolution of social norms interventions for health promotion: Distinguishing norms correction and norms transformation.

Finding the Right Balance: A Social Norms Intervention to Reduce Heavy Drinking in University Students.

Introduction: Heavy alcohol consumption constitutes a major health risk among University students. Social relationships with peers strongly affect University students' perception of the drinking behavior of others, which in turn plays a crucial role in determining their own alcohol intake. University students tend to overestimate their peers' alcohol consumption – a belief that is associated with an increase in an individual's own consumption. Therefore, we implemented a social norms intervention with personalized normative feedback at a major University in Germany to reduce and prevent excessive drinking among University students.Methods: Our intervention was part of a regular health monitoring survey. We invited all enrolled University students to take part in this survey on two occasions. A total of 862 University students completed the questionnaire, 563 (65.3%) of which received e-mail-based feedback upon request concerning their peers' and their own alcohol consumption. For the intervention group (n = 190) as well as the control group (no feedback requested; n = 101), we included only University students in the evaluation who overestimated their peers' alcohol use and indicated above average consumption of the peers. We applied analyses of variance to assess intervention effects with regard to the correction of overestimated group norms as well as University students' drinking behavior.Results: Within the intervention group, we observed a significantly larger reduction of the previously overestimated behavioral norms compared to the control group (p < 0.001; = 0.06). With regard to behavioral outcomes the intervention group showed a significantly larger reduction in the AUDIT-C score (p = 0.020; = 0.03).Discussion: Our study confirms previous research whereupon personalized, gender-specific and selective normative feedback is effective for alcohol prevention among University students. However, University students still overestimated their peers' alcohol intake after the intervention. Furthermore, we did not reach high-risk groups (University students with the highest alcohol intake) since no feedback was requested. Future studies should address factors influencing the impact of the intervention and reachability of selective groups.

Cultural tightness does not predict action on the collective threat of climate change

We applaud Michele J Gelfand and colleagues on their analysis of cultural tightness–looseness in relation to COVID-19.1 Their work provides an informative and, given the reported effect sizes, compelling demonstration that countries with greater cultural tightness have fewer COVID-19 cases and deaths than culturally looser countries do. The authors also propose an interesting corollary to their results, stating that: “The results suggest that tightening social norms might confer an evolutionary advantage in times of collective threat.” and that “Social norm interventions will be critical for helping groups to tighten norms […] to deal with future collective threats.”.

Nudging food waste decisions at restaurants

This article evaluates the impact of two nudges on stimulating the use of doggy bags in restaurants. We run a field experiment at 14 restaurants in the province of Turin (Italy). In the first group of restaurants, we manipulated the descriptive social norm. In a second group we changed the default option - whereby customers asked for the doggy bag - by instead directing the waiter to automatically deliver the doggy bag unless told not to. A third group of restaurants was used as a control with no intervention. We find that the social norm intervention led to a sizeable increase in the use of doggy bags, while the default manipulation had a non-statistically significant impact.

The Ethics of Stigma in Medical Male Circumcision Initiatives Involving Adolescents in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Ongoing global efforts to circumcise adolescent and adult males to reduce their risk of acquiring HIV constitute the largest public health prevention initiative, using surgical means, in human history. Voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) programs in Africa have significantly altered social norms related to male circumcision among previously non-circumcising groups and groups that have practiced traditional (non-medical) circumcision. One consequence of this change is the stigmatization of males who, for whatever reason, remain uncircumcised. This paper discusses the ethics of stigma with regard to uncircumcised adolescent males in global VMMC programs, particularly in certain recruitment, demand creation and social norm interventions. Grounded in our own experiences gained while conducting HIV-related ethics research with adolescents in Kenya, we argue that use of explicit or implicit stigma to increase the number of VMMC volunteers is unethical from a public health ethics perspective, particularly in campaigns that leverage social norms of masculinity. Ongoing global efforts to circumcise adolescent and adult males to reduce their risk of acquiring HIV constitute the largest public health prevention initiative, using surgical means, in human history. VMMC programs in Africa have significantly altered social norms related to male circumcision among previously non-circumcising groups and groups that have practiced traditional (non-medical) circumcision. One consequence of this change is the stigmatization of males who, for whatever reason, remain uncircumcised. This paper discusses the ethics of stigma with regard to uncircumcised adolescent males in global VMMC programs, particularly in certain recruitment, demand creation and social norm interventions. Grounded in our own experiences gained while conducting HIV-related ethics research with adolescents in Kenya, we argue that use of explicit or implicit stigma to increase the number of VMMC volunteers is unethical from a public health ethics perspective, particularly in campaigns that leverage social norms of masculinity.

LOCAL DETERMINANTS OF DRIVING BEHAVIOURS: INSTALLATION THEORY INTERVENTIONS TO REDUCE FUEL CONSUMPTION AMONG TRUCK DRIVERS IN COLOMBIA

Eco-driving has been linked to considerable reductions in negative externalities and costs for transportation companies, employees and communities (including fuel consumption, safety and emission benefits). Nevertheless, some of the biggest challenges to its implementation are related to promoting behavioural change among drivers. This paper presents the results of three behavioural field interventions that were successful to improve fuel efficiency in heavy freight transportation. The interventions brought further improvement even though the target company already had strong training, incentive, control and feedback procedures in place. The Installation Theory framework and the Subjective Evidence-Based Ethnography (SEBE) technique were used to systematically analyse determinants of driving behaviours, and to design cost-effective behavioural interventions based on social norms. The effects of three interventions were then tested using a pre-test post-test control group design among 211 drivers of the company. Results show significant decreases in average monthly fuel consumption of up to 4% in month 1 and up to 4.5% in month 3. Our findings show (with certain qualifications), that the Installation Theory framework and social norm interventions can be a cost-effective method to improve fuel efficiency in road freight transport companies, even when strong training, incentive, control and feedback procedures are already in place.

Applying social norms interventions to increase adherence to COVID-19 prevention and control guidelines

Despite widespread national, state, and local guidelines for COVID-19 prevention, including social distancing and mask orders, many people continue to not adhere to recommendations, including congregating in groups for non-essential activities, putting themselves and others at risk. A social psychological perspective can be used to understand reasons for lack of adherence to policies and methods for increasing adherence based on successes from other behavior change campaigns. This manuscript seeks to describe some of the social psychological research that may be relevant to COVID-19 prevention and behavior change, describe how these theories have been previously applied in various domains to change behavior, and provide examples of how these approaches might be similarly applied to control the pandemic. We provide concrete examples of actions that can be taken based on social psychological research that might help to increase adherence to COVID-19 recommendations and improve prevention and control of the virus.

The moderating role of moral norms and personal cost in compliance with pro-environmental social norms

The adoption of sustainable lifestyles plays a key role in mitigating climate change. Previous research has found that social norms—beliefs about what most people do and approve of—profoundly impact individual engagement in pro-environmental behaviour. However, little is known about personal and contextual factors that moderate social norm interventions' effectiveness in motivating pro-environmental engagement. The present work conducted two quasi-experimental studies (N = 1501 and N = 237) on a sample of American adults to address this gap. The studies investigated how individual moral norms and personal costs associated with "acting green" influence the effectiveness of descriptive norm messages that ask individuals to make a pro-environmental pledge. We found that the strength of moral norms did not moderate the effect of social norms on making a pro-environmental pledge. Rather, our findings suggest that the mere activation of one's moral norms—regardless of how strong they are—can eliminate the effect of social descriptive cues on making a pro-environmental pledge. Finally, we found no evidence that social descriptive norm interventions better promote pro-environmental pledges that require relatively little time and effort for participants to formulate (i.e. low-cost pledges) than commitments that require more cognitive time and effort (i.e. high-cost pledges). Although we note that these findings are preliminary, they offer new insights on the interplay between social and moral norms and help set an agenda for future research on potential moderators of social norm interventions.

The Power of Narratives in Social Norm Interventions: A Study of the Civic Culture Interventions of Antanas Mockus in Bogotá, Colombia

The Power of Narratives in Social Norm Interventions: A Study of the Civic Culture Interventions of Antanas Mockus in Bogotá, Colombia

The development of a social norms adherence intervention for adolescents with epilepsy

IntroductionAdherence is suboptimal in adolescents with epilepsy. Social norms comparison (i.e., feedback about someone else’s behavior related to one’s own behavior) strategies may be beneficial in improving medication adherence. Using a novel model of behavioral intervention development, the aim of the current study was to create a social norms intervention for adolescents with epilepsy via focus groups and usability studies. MethodsA focus group, individual interviews, short-term usability, and extended usage testing studies were conducted. Across all study phases, content and images of intervention components were displayed to participants as mock-ups in PowerPoint slide decks. After each phase, updated iterations were shown to participants to refine the intervention. Several questionnaires were completed by adolescents and caregivers to characterize the samples. ResultsTwelve adolescents participated in the focus group/individual interviews and usability studies. The final Behavioral Economic Adherence for Teens (BEAT) intervention consists of a text messaging system and a graphical user interface. General feedback indicated the need for simplicity and ease of use regarding obtaining the graphical messages (e.g., no extra login and passwords); engaging visual images; and weekly comparisons of a target patient’s medication adherence to other adolescents’ performance. The average system usability system (SUS) rating was 88.3 + 3.8. ConclusionsOur final intervention had high usability ratings and was perceived as engaging and easy to understand. An important next step is to test the BEAT intervention in a Phase 2 randomized trial.

Peer Effects in Competitive Environments: Field Experiments on Information Provision and Interventions

Prior studies of social-norms interventions have focused on nudging behavior in non-competitive settings. This research evaluates such interventions in competitive environments, e.g., a class with a competitive grading policy. Field experiments on a learning management system show that providing descriptive information about peers’ behavior has mixed effects in reducing procrastination and improving performance outcomes. Specifically, the effects are moderated by individual characteristics and contextual variables. First, peer information interventions are more effective for males, and the effects are stronger in a male-majority environment than in a female-majority environment. These findings differ from prior studies of social-norms interventions conducted in non-competitive settings, in which females are found to be more responsive to interventions. Gender differences in our competitive settings can be explained by males and females’ differential preferences for competition: males are more competitive-oriented and thus are more responsive to peer information in competitive environments. Second, we find that individuals who are in great need of interventions, i.e., those with poor past behavior and performance, are also more likely to benefit from peer information interventions, suggesting that peer information interventions motivate positive change. This study highlights the heterogeneous effects of peer information interventions and has implications for targeted interventions.

What shapes public support for climate change mitigation policies? The role of descriptive social norms and elite cues

AbstractWhat are the roles of bottom-up and top-down signals in the formation of climate change policy preferences? Using a large sample of American residents (n = 1520) and combining an experimental manipulation of descriptive social norms with two choice experiments, we investigate the effects of descriptive norms and policy endorsements by key political actors on climate policy support. We study these questions in two areas considered to be central in a number of decarbonization pathways: the phase-out of fossil fuel-powered cars and the deployment of carbon capture and storage. Our study provides two important results. First, social norm interventions may be no silver bullet for increasing citizens’ support for ambitious climate policies. In fact, we not only find that climate policy support is unaffected by norm messages communicating an increased diffusion of pro-environmental behaviors, but also that norm messages communicating the prevalence of non-sustainable behaviors decrease policy support. Second, in the presence of policy endorsements by political parties, citizens’ trust in these parties influences their support for climate policies. This study contributes to research in behavioral climate policy by examining the impact of descriptive norms and elite cues on climate policy support.

Perceptions and Misperceptions of Smartphone Use: Applying the Social Norms Approach

The social norms approach is an established technique to bring about behaviour change through challenging misperceptions of peer behaviour. This approach is limited by a reliance on self-report and a lack of interactivity with the target population. At the same time, excessive use of digital devices, known as digital addiction, has been recognized as an emergent issue. There is potential to apply the social norms approach to digital addiction and, in doing so, address some of the limitations of the social norms field. In this study, we trialled a social norms intervention with a sample of smartphone users (n = 94) recruited from the users of a commercial app designed to empower individuals to reduce their device usage. Our results indicate that most of the sample overestimated peer use of smartphone apps, demonstrating the existence of misperceptions relating to smartphone use. Such misperceptions are the basis for the social norms approach. We also document the discrepancy between self-report and smartphone usage data as recorded through data collected directly from the device. The potential for the application of the social norms approach and directions for future research are discussed.

Three thumbs up for social norms

Social norm interventions are widely used to foster residential resource conservation. Now researchers have shown that the effectiveness of providing information about others’ energy use alongside messages of social approval for energy savings behaviour depends on the strength and consistency of these messages.

Does poverty negate the impact of social norms on cheating?

Cheating such as corruption and tax evasion is prevalent in the developing world; therefore, many interventions have been undertaken to reduce cheating in developing countries. Although some field evidence shows that poverty is correlated with cheating, the causal effect of poverty on cheating in the field and the effectiveness of interventions for financially constrained people remain an open question. We present results from a lab-in-the-field experiment with low-income rice farmers in Thailand (N = 568), in which we, first, investigate the causal effect of poverty on cheating and, second, test whether poverty affects the effectiveness of a social-norm intervention to reduce cheating. We show poverty itself does not affect willingness to cheat. However, although a social-norm-reminder intervention reduced cheating when the population was richer (after harvest), it had no effect when the population was poorer (before harvest). Our results suggest that the timing of interventions to change behavior might matter.

What noise matters? Experimental evidence for stochastic deviations in social norms

Social norms interventions are increasingly used in applied policy-making such as to end female genital mutilation or open defecation. Amongst the reasons for why policy-makers rely on social norms intervention tools is that the relevant underlying theory, which is concerned with dynamic-stochastic deviations processes, has matured substantially over the past three decades. In this article, turning to behavioral evidence, we investigate which of the models proposed in this strand of theory are supported regarding individual human behavior. Specifically, we identify which assumptions regarding individual-level adjustment behavior in terms of optimal play (‘best response’) and deviations thereof (‘noise’) are supported. In doing so, we move the focus of research from the theoretical and modeling question ‘How Noise Matters?’ (Blume, 2003) to the behavioral and empirical question ‘What Noise Matters?’.

Social norms interventions to change clinical behaviour in health workers: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Background A social norms intervention seeks to change the clinical behaviour of a target health worker by exposing them to the values, beliefs, attitudes or behaviours of a reference group or person. These low-cost interventions can be used to encourage health workers to follow recommended professional practice. Objective To summarise evidence on whether or not social norms interventions are effective in encouraging health worker behaviour change, and to identify the most effective social norms interventions. Design A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials. Data sources The following databases were searched on 24 July 2018: Ovid MEDLINE (1946 to week 2 July 2018), EMBASE (1974 to 3 July 2018), Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (1937 to July 2018), British Nursing Index (2008 to July 2018), ISI Web of Science (1900 to present), PsycINFO (1806 to week 3 July 2018) and Cochrane trials (up to July 2018). Participants Health workers took part in the study. Interventions Behaviour change interventions based on social norms. Outcome measures Health worker clinical behaviour, for example prescribing (primary outcome), and patient health outcomes, for example blood test results (secondary), converted into a standardised mean difference. Methods Titles and abstracts were reviewed against the inclusion criteria to exclude any that were clearly ineligible. Two reviewers independently screened the remaining full texts to identify relevant papers. Two reviewers extracted data independently, coded for behaviour change techniques and assessed quality using the Cochrane risk-of-bias tool. We performed a meta-analysis and presented forest plots, stratified by behaviour change technique. Sources of variation were explored using metaregression and network meta-analysis. Results A total of 4428 abstracts were screened, 477 full texts were screened and findings were based on 106 studies. Most studies were in primary care or hospitals, targeting prescribing, ordering of tests and communication with patients. The interventions included social comparison (in which information is given on how peers behave) and credible source (which refers to communication from a well-respected person in support of the behaviour). Combined data suggested that interventions that included social norms components were associated with an improvement in health worker behaviour of 0.08 standardised mean differences (95% confidence interval 0.07 to 0.10 standardised mean differences) (n = 100 comparisons), and an improvement in patient outcomes of 0.17 standardised mean differences (95% confidence interval 0.14 to 0.20) (n = 14), on average. Heterogeneity was high, with an overall I 2 of 85.4% (primary) and 91.5% (secondary). Network meta-analysis suggested that three types of social norms intervention were most effective, on average, compared with control: credible source (0.30 standardised mean differences, 95% confidence interval 0.13 to 0.47); social comparison combined with social reward (0.39 standardised mean differences, 95% confidence interval 0.15 to 0.64); and social comparison combined with prompts and cues (0.33 standardised mean differences, 95% confidence interval 0.22 to 0.44). Limitations The large number of studies prevented us from requesting additional information from authors. The trials varied in design, context and setting, and we combined different types of outcome to provide an overall summary of evidence, resulting in a very heterogeneous review. Conclusions Social norms interventions are an effective method of changing clinical behaviour in a variety of health service contexts. Although the overall result was modest and very variable, there is the potential for social norms interventions to be scaled up to target the behaviour of a large population of health workers and resulting patient outcomes. Future work Development of optimised credible source and social comparison behaviour change interventions, including qualitative research on acceptability and feasibility. Study registration This study is registered as PROSPERO CRD42016045718. Funding This project was funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Services and Delivery Research programme and will be published in full in Health Services and Delivery Research; Vol. 8, No. 41. See the NIHR Journals Library website for further project information.

Promoting considerate parking behavior in dockless bike-sharing: An experimental study

Abstract Dockless shared bicycles have become a popular mode of transportation for city dwellers in China. Despite its convenience, the dockless feature also creates new challenges, as users often park shared bicycles in a disorderly fashion, which places a burden on both city management and business operations. In a randomized field experiment, subjects receive general information via one of three interventions to improve orderly parking: being informed about the social norm, receiving a warning message, or being offered a monetary incentive. The results suggest that the warning message and monetary incentive shift users’ behavior compared with the social norm intervention. Users who received warning messages were 18.0% more likely to park in an orderly fashion, and users who received a monetary incentive were 25.2% more likely. This study demonstrates that behavioral incentives may be an effective tool to address a common issue with this form of transportation.