Primary Topics
- Misperception Correlates with Behavior
Given that a large and growing body of research has
documented the misperception of peer norms in a variety of populations
and for a variety of behaviors, the question arises: Do these misperceptions
positively correlate with behavior? If so, social norms theory suggests
that by correcting such misperceptions (i.e., by reducing overestimations
of the prevalence of a particular behavior), problematic and/or dangerous
behavior will decline.
One recent study (Perkins et al., 2005), based on a sample of more than 76,000 students attending 130 colleges and universities across the nation, found not only that—regardless of the actual campus drinking norm (i.e., be it low, moderate, or high)—a consistently large percentage of students nationwide overestimated the quantity of alcohol consumed by their peers, and that students' perception of their campus drinking norm was the strongest predictor of the amount of alcohol personally consumed in comparison with the influence of all demographic variables. Furthermore, perception of the norm was also a much stronger predictor when compared to the actual campus drinking norm.
Below are some of the other studies in which misperceptions
have been found to correlate with drinking behavior or to predict
individual drinking levels. One of these studies (Larimer and neighbors,
2003) documents similar findings for gambling.
References
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