National Social Norms Institute

Articles on the Social Norms Approach - Normative Feedback

2009

Croom, K., Lewis, D., Marchell, T., Lesser, M. L., Reyna, V.F., Kubicki-Bedford, L., et al. (2009). Impact of an online alcohol education course on behavior and harm for incoming first-year college students: Short-term evaluation of a randomized trial. Journal of American College Health, 57 (4), 445-454. go to summary

Doumas, D.M., McKinley, L. L., & Book, P. (2009). Evaluation of two web-based alcohol interventions for mandated college students. Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, 36, 65-74. go to summary

LaBrie, J.W., Hummer, J.F., Huchting, K.K., & Neighbors, C. (2009). A brief live interactive normative group intervention using wireless keypads to reduce drinking and alcohol consequences in college student athletes. Drug and Alcohol Review, 28, 40-47. go to summary

Walters, S.T.,Vader, A.M., Harris, T.R., Field, C.A., & Jouriles, E.N. (2009). Dismantling motivational interviewing and feedback for college drinkers: a randomized clinical trial. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 77 (1), 64-73. go to summary

2008

Epstein, J.A., Griffin, K.W., & Botvin, G.J. (2008). A social influence model of alcohol use for inner-city adolescents: Family drinking, perceived drinking norms, and perceived social benefits of drinking. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 69, 397-405. go to summary

Goldstein, N.J., Cialdini, R.B., & Griskevicius, V. (2008). A room with a viewpoint: Using social norms to motivate environmental conservation in hotels. Journal of Consumer Research, 35 (3), 472-482. go to summary

Mahler, H.I.M., Kulik, J.A., Butler, H.A., Gerrand, M., & Gibbons, F. X. (2008). Social norms information enhances the efficacy of an appearance-based sun protection intervention. Social Science and Medicine, 67, 321-329. go to summary

Nolan, J.M., Schultz, P. W., Cialdini, R.B., Goldstein, N.J. & Griskevicius, V. (2008). Normative social influence is underdetected. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 34, 913-923. go to summary

Page, R.M., Ihasz, F., Hantiu, I., Simonek, J., & Klarova, R. (2008). Social normative perceptions of alcohol use and episodic heavy drinking among Central and Eastern European adolescents. Substance Use and Misuse, 43(3), 361-373. go to summary

Pedersen, E.R., LaBrie, J.W., & Lac, A. (2008). Assessment of perceived and actual alcohol norms in varying contexts: Exploring social impact theory among college students. Addictive Behaviors, 33, 552-564. go to summary

Reilly, D.W. & Wood, M.D. (2008). A randomized test of a small-group interactive social norms intervention. Journal of American College Health, 57(1), 53-60. go to summary

Turner, J.C., Perkins, H. W., & Bauerle, J. (2008). Declining negative consequences related to alcohol misuse among students exposed to a social norms marketing intervention on a college campus. Journal of American College Health, 57, (1), 85-93. go to summary

2007

Larimer, M.E., Lee, C.M., Kilmer, J.R., Fabiano, P.M., Stark, C.B., Geisner, I.M., et al. (2007). Personalized mailed feedback for college drinking prevention: a randomized clinical trial. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 75 (2), 285-293. go to summary

Wall, A.F. (2007). Evaluating a health education web site: the case of Alcohol.Edu. NASPA Journal, 44 (4), 692-714. go to summary

2006

Corral-Verdugo, V. & Frias-Armenta, M. (2006). Personal normative beliefs, antisocial behavior, and residential water conservation. Environment and Behavior, 38 (3), 406-421. go to summary

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(6), 868-879. go to summary

2005

Walters, S. T. & Neighbors, N. (2005). Feedback interventions for college alcohol misuse: What, why, and for whom? Addictive Behaviors, 30, 1168-1182. go to summary

2004

2009

Croom, K., Lewis, D., Marchell, T., Lesser, M.L., Reyna, V.F., Kubicki-Bedford, L., et al. (2009). Impact of an online alcohol education course on behavior and harm for incoming first-year college students: Short-term evaluation of a randomized trial. Journal of American College Health, 57 (4), 445-454. return to list

Objective:
This study examined the short-term effectiveness of AlcoholEdu for College, a Web-based alcohol education program for entering freshmen. The program’s goal is to increase students’ knowledge about alcohol and to alter attitudes and behavior related to alcohol use. The study was the first randomized prospective controlled delay treatment study of AlcoholEdu and the authors sought to determine its efficacy in reducing problem drinking.
Method:
Study participants were 3,216 incoming first-year students at a mid-sized, rural, elite, private university in the Northeast. Students were randomized to a control (n = 1,608) or intervention group (n = 1,608) in June, 2006. Controls completed a survey and knowledge test the summer before college; 4 to 6 weeks after arrival on campus, they completed a follow- up survey of behaviors and harms followed by an invitation to complete the online course. Intervention students completed the pre-course survey and test, the online AlcoholEdu course, and final exam priorto coming to campus. This was followed by a survey 4 to 6 weeks after arrival on campus. Both groups also received printed materials highlighting the university’s alcohol policy. A number of primary outcome variables were assessed, including the prevalence of (1) alcohol use, (2) high-risk behavior, (3) protective behavior, and (4) harm experienced.
Results:
When all 1,891 students were included in the analysis, the AlcoholEdu intervention had little impact on the behavior of first-year students or the harm associated with alcohol use. Pre-course examination scores were similar for both groups. The “college effect” was apparent in both groups, as drinking and high-risk behaviors increased during the transition to college. Protective behavior decreased and alcohol-associated harm increased in students in both the control and interventions groups.
Two significant differences were observed between the control and intervention groups. With regard to “playing drinking games,” approximately 20% of students in both groups played drinking games at the beginning of the study. In the follow-up survey, students who had received the intervention had a lower tendency to play drinking games than their control counterparts (33.2% vs 39.3%, intervention vs. control group, respectively, p = .0146). However, students who had received the intervention also had a higher likelihood of failure to use safe sex practices (p = .0056).
Although the intervention group showed significantly higher alcohol-related post-course knowledge compared to the control group, protective behavior, risk-related behavior, high-risk drinking, and alcohol-related harm did not favor the intervention group, with the sole exception of playing drinking games. There was no significant difference between the intervention and control groups across a variety of behavioral outcomes.
Conclusions:
The 2006 edition of AlcoholEdu did not appear to significantly affect many of the targeted behavioral outcomes. Protective behavior, risk-related behavior, high-risk drinking, and alcohol-related harm did not favor the intervention group, with the sole exception of playing drinking games. For some comparisons, risk-related behavior, such as failure to use safe-sex practices, and negative outcomes, such as hangovers, were greater in the intervention group as compared with the control group. Alcohol knowledge alone was insufficient to mitigate alcohol-related high-risk behaviors in this student population.
Implications for the Field:
Despite limited empirical support for their effectiveness, Web-based alcohol education and prevention programs have been increasingly used as one of the primary tools to provide information and feedback to students regarding their use and misuse of alcohol to mitigate high-risk behavior and harm and to increase protective behavior. Many institutions have adopted these curriculum products for incoming first-year students, because they are perceived to be a “best practice” approach to reducing alcohol- related risks among students. The current study found that AlcoholEdu led to an increase in alcohol-related knowledge among students on a population basis, but that the results did not support the course’s ultimate goal of reducing alcohol-related high-risk behavior or harm. Knowledge acquisition alone appears to be insufficient to achieve short-term behavioral change.

Doumas, D.M., McKinley, L.L., & Book, P. (2009). Evaluation of two web-based alcohol interventions for mandated college students. Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, 36, 65-74. return to list

Objective:
This study evaluated the efficacy of two Web-based interventions aimed at reducing heavy drinking and alcohol-related problems in mandated college students. In addition, the study examined changes in peer drinking estimates as a mediator of the effects of the intervention on changes in drinking.
Method:
Participants in the study were students who were referred to University Counseling Services for violating the University policy for alcohol and other drugs from Spring 2006 to Spring 2007. Participants were primarily freshmen and ranged in age from 18 to 24. Mandated students (n = 76) were randomly assigned to one of two conditions: Web-based personalized normative feedback (WPNF) or Web-based education (WE) based on a computer-generated random numbers table. Participants in the WPNF condition completed a 15-minute Web-based program designed to reduce high-risk drinking by providing personalized feedback and normative data regarding drinking and the risks associated with drinking. Participants in the WE group completed a commercially available educational program called Judicial Educator that was developed for students receiving disciplinary sanctions.
            Once the intervention was completed, students set up an appointment for a 30-day follow-up session. During the 30-minute follow-up session, participants completed follow-up questionnaires and then participated in a brief counseling session. Students were assessed on alcohol consumption, typical quantity of weekly drinking, alcohol-related problems, and drinking estimates for typical college students.
Results:
Results indicated that mandated students in the WPNF condition reported significantly greater reductions in weekly drinking quantity, peak alcohol consumption, and frequency of drinking to intoxication than students in the WE condition at a 30-day follow-up. Mandated students in the WPNF group reported a 40% reduction in weekly drinking quantity, a 20% reduction in peak drinking levels, and an 18% reduction in frequency of drinking to intoxication compared to 18%, 5%, and 10% reductions in these drinking variables, respectively, in the WE condition. In addition, mandated students in the WPNF group reported a 53% reduction in alcohol-related problems compared to a 42% reduction in the WE group.
            The results of the study also indicated mandated students estimated that typical college students drink more than their own self-reported drinking. Despite their involvement in alcohol consumption resulting in a sanction, mandated students overestimated levels of college student weekly drinking relative to their own drinking at the baseline assessment, believing typical students drink twice as much as they drink themselves.
            Mandated students receiving personalized normative feedback also adjusted their beliefs about peer drinking downward. Mandated students receiving accurate information about typical college student drinking reported a reduction in the perception of typical student drinking at the 30-day follow-up relative to the mandated students who did not receive normative data. Results also indicated changes in estimates of typical college student drinking from baseline to the 30-day follow-up mediated the effect of the intervention on changes in drinking quantity. The authors did not find a significant reduction in alcohol-related problems for either intervention condition.
Conclusions:
These findings are consistent with previous research on Web-based feedback programs for college students indicating that Web-based personalized feedback as an early intervention program are effective in reducing heavy drinking in college students and brief interventions providing in-person normative feedback are effective for mandated students.
Implications for the Field:
Results of this study have important implications for developing early intervention programs for mandated college students. Because of the low cost, ease of dissemination, and efficacy associated with Web-based personalized feedback, this type of programming is ideal for both large colleges and universities and campuses that do not have many intervention resources.

Objective:
This study extended the research of group-specific normative feedback interventions among salient campus groups with heightened risk. In particular, this study used a live interactive normative group intervention using wireless keypads and focused on student athletes and how their perceptions of their peers influenced their drinking behavior.
Method:
This research used normative feedback that was obtained using wireless keypad technology during a live session, within sex-specific student athlete groups, to extend the proof of concept of using this brief interactive intervention. Participants included 660 intercollegiate athletes from all varsity athletic teams at two, private, mid-size universities. The mean age was 19.6 years old; 61.2% were in season, 56.1% were female, and 72.1% were white. Participants completed an initial Web-based survey followed by a group intervention two weeks later. The survey assessed the athletes’ attitudes towards drinking and injunctive norms, participant drinking behavior and descriptive norms, and alcohol consequences.
Intervention data was gathered in vivo using computerized handheld keypads into which group members entered in personal responses to a series of alcohol-related questions. The questions assessed perceptions of normative group behavior and attitudes as well as actual individual behavior and attitudes. The data was then immediately presented back to the participants in graphical form to illustrate discrepancies between perceived and actual group norms. Participants were able to determine their own alcohol use compared with their group-specific peers, as well as if their perceptions about others in their group were discrepant. Follow-up surveys were administered online at 1 and 2 month post-interventions and addressed changes in misperceptions, negative alcohol-related consequences, and alcohol use.
Results:
Results revealed that at the one month post-intervention, perceived group norms, behavior, attitudes and consequences reduced compared with baseline. These reductions were maintained at the two-month follow-up. Latent growth modeling suggested that the reductions in perceived norms and attitudes were associated with reductions in individual drinking behavior and negative consequences. Results showed that student athletes overestimated all descriptive and injunctive norm items. Follow-up analyses indicated that reduction in drinking outcomes, norms, and attitudes, were evident from baseline to one month. The results suggest that changes in attitudes, descriptive norms and injunctive norms were all strongly associated with changes in drinking.
Conclusion:
These results are among the first to suggest the effectiveness of a live, interactive, group-based normative alcohol intervention among student athletes. Student misconceptions of peer alcohol consumption were challenged in a live feedback setting, which authenticated the presence of misperceptions that were held by the group and allowed for homogenous exposure across participants.
Implications for the field:
The findings support further trialing to test the efficacy of a brief live interactive group intervention (BLING) with other groups of high-risk drinkers. Colleges may also want to use wireless handheld devices with tight-knit or high-risk drinking groups (like incoming freshman) to disrupt the development and sway of alcohol misperceptions.

Objective:
This study was a dismantling trial of Motivational Interviewing (MI) and feedback among heavy-drinking college students. The study tested which intervention format(s) would lead to greater reductions in drinking compared with assessment only (AO), whether an in-person motivational interviewing with feedback (MIF) intervention would have an effect over feedback that was delivered without human contact, and whether the inclusion of feedback would improve the effectiveness of MI.
Method:
After an initial screening, 279 heavy-drinking students from a medium-size private university in the southern United States were randomized to (a) personalized Web feedback only, (b) a single MI session without a personalized feedback report, (c) a single MI session with a personalized feedback report, or (d) assessment only. Participants were at least 18 years old and reported at least one heavy drinking episode in the past two weeks. Measures were completed online at a baseline assessment, as well as at 3- and 6-month follow-up assessments. Outcome measures included alcohol consumption and alcohol related problems. Potential mediators included normative perceptions and protective behaviors; potential moderators included readiness to change, drinking severity, and demographic variables. Personalized feedback was modified from the electronic Check-Up to Go. The feedback included a quantity and frequency summary of drinking behavior, comparison to U.S. adult and campus norms, level of risk, estimated dollar amount and percentage of income spent on alcohol, and local referral resources. Students in the feedback only condition received the feedback immediately on the computer screen after the participant completed the baseline assessment. Those in the motivational interviewing feedback group received their feedback profile during the motivational interviewing session.
Results:
After 6 months, MI with feedback (MIF) significantly reduced drinking, as compared with assessment only (effect size=.54), MI without feedback (effect size=.63), and feedback alone (effect size=.48). Participants in the MIF group reported consuming fewer drinks per week, had fewer alcohol-related problems, and had a lower peak BAC than participants in the AO, FBO, and MIO measures. Norm perceptions mediated the effect of the intervention, with participants in the MIF condition becoming more accurate in their normative drinking estimates and changes in norm perceptions being linked to changes in drinking behavior. The researchers did not find that sex, race or ethnicity, readiness to change, or baseline drinking severity moderated the effect of the intervention. Neither MI alone nor feedback alone differed from assessment only.
Conclusions:
MI with feedback appears to be a robust intervention for reducing drinking and may be mediated by changes in normative perceptions. The findings suggest that the inclusion of both an in-person MI session and feedback profile is more potent than either feedback alone or MI alone in this population. The findings about the effectiveness of the typical MI format (MIF) support the existing literature on the effectiveness of this intervention.
Implications for the field:
Campus alcohol prevention or education programs should include MI with feedback to reduce the amount of heavy-drinking college students. Other researchers might want to consider ways to best disseminate such findings on MI and MIF studies.

2008

Objective:
This longitudinal study explored the role that social factors play in predicting inner-city minority adolescent drinking and used a broad array of social influences to examine the role of perceived drinking norms (related to friends, peers, and adults), drinking by family members (mothers, fathers, and siblings), and positive expectancies in promoting adolescent alcohol use.
Method:
Participants included 13 control New York City junior high schools participating in a randomized trial investigating the etiology and prevention of adolescent alcohol use. At baseline, 2,228 7th graders (mean age of 12.9 years old; 51% female, 48% black, 32% Hispanic, 7% Asian, 4% white, and 9% other) completed questionnaires that self-reported their patterns of alcohol use and potential predictors. The survey assessed other factors relevant to alcohol use, including social influences to drink alcohol and perceived social benefits of drinking. Surveys were repeated at the one year follow-up (eighth grade; 80% retention) and the two year follow-up (ninth grade; 67% retention), for a final participation of 1,318 students.
Results:
Structural equation modeling found that both family drinking and perceived drinking norms affected the perceived social benefits of drinking. In turn, the perceived benefits of drinking predicted subsequent drinking, controlling for earlier drinking. Respondents perceived that 73% of mothers, 55% of fathers, and 88% of siblings were non-drinkers. No gender differences were found on any drinking measures or any family drinking measures. Only one norm variable, peer norms, showed a significant difference based on gender. Girls rated peer norms higher than boys.
Children from two-parent households had significantly lower ratings on father’s drinking (meaning their fathers tended more toward the non-drinking side) compared with their counterparts in other households. Hispanic students rated significantly higher on all drinking measures than black students. Only the friends’ drinking norm variable showed a significant difference, with Hispanic students making higher ratings than black students. Hispanic students had higher ratings on father’s drinking than black students, reflecting more perceived drinking by fathers. Dropouts of the study drank more frequently, were drunk more frequently, and drank more often. Only two of the five social benefits of drinking showed significant differences: specifically “Kids who drink alcohol are more grown-up,” and “Drinking alcohol makes you look cool.” Both items had higher means for boys than girls.
Conclusion:
The results display the importance of the perceived benefits of drinking, as well as social influences to drink, in adolescent drinking. Norms regarding the proportion of friends, peers, and adults who drink and the availability of alcohol in the home seemed to influence adolescents’ views about the positive benefits of drinking, which later translated into adolescent alcohol use.
Early drinking contributed to greater subsequent perceived benefits of drinking for boys compared with girls and for blacks compared with Hispanics. Boys and black adolescents seemed to be more influenced by their earlier drinking in forming their perceptions of the social benefits of drinking.
Implications for the field:
The study’s longitudinal model of drinking among inner-city youth suggested that both family drinking and peer drinking were important for this understudied group. The results of this study suggest that a family-focused training prevention component should be added to school-based prevention programs to produce stronger prevention effects than a school-based only approach. Programs should also include competency enhancement approaches to alcohol use to affect drinking attitudes.

Objective:
This study investigated whether using an appeal that conveys the descriptive norm for participation in hotel conservation programs would be more effective at encouraging towel reuse than the current industry standard appeal. It also examined how hotel guests’ conformity to a descriptive norm varied related to the type of reference group tied to that norm. The authors explored whether the norm of hotel guests’ immediate surroundings (provincial norm) motivated conformity to the norm to a greater extent than the norm of guests’ less immediate surroundings (global norm).
Method:
For the first experiment, the authors created two signs soliciting participation in the towel reuse program of a mid-sized, mid-priced hotel that was part of a well-known national hotel chain. The signs were positioned on washroom towel racks and the hotel’s room attendants were responsible for collecting the participation data. One message, which was designed to reflect the industry standard approach, focused on the importance of environment protection but provided no explicit descriptive norm. A second message conveyed the descriptive norm, informing guests that the majority of other guests do, in fact, participate in the program at least once during their stay. The authors collected data on 1,058 instances of potential towel reuse in 190 rooms over an 80-day span. Each of the 190 hotel rooms was randomly assigned to one of the two different messages. Guests were not aware that they were participants in the study.
For the second experiment, the authors created five different towel reuse signs soliciting the participation of guests at the same hotel that was used in the first experiment. One sign was the standard environmental sign from experiment one, which focused on the importance of environment protection but provided no explicit descriptive norm. All four of the other messages communicated the descriptive norm (In a previous study, approximately 75% of the people who had been asked to participate in these programs did so) but varied the reference group identity. One of the signs conveyed that these norms were characteristic of other hotel guests (global norm); whereas another conveyed that these norms were characteristic of other hotel guests who had stayed in the guests’ particular rooms (provincial norm). The remaining two signs conveyed norms of reference groups that are considered to be important and personally meaningful to people’s social identities (the reference group identity of “citizen” and “gender”). The authors collected data on 1,595 instances of potential towel reuse in 190 rooms over a 53-day span. Once again, the guests were not aware that they were participants in a study and each of the hotel rooms was randomly assigned to one of the five different messages. The authors also polled a separate group of 53 participants to examine the extent to which each of their appeals activated the intended social identities and the degree to which participants felt that each of these social identities was personally meaningful to them.
Results:
Data were recorded only for guests who stayed a minimum of two nights and only the first day of participation was analyzed. For the first experiment, the researchers used a chi-square test to reveal that the descriptive norm condition yielded a significantly higher towel reuse rate (44.1%) than the environmental protection condition (35.1%). The compliance rate observed is likely an underestimation of the number of individuals who recycle their towels at least once during their stay. This is a result of only examining towel reuse data for the participants’ first eligible day and using conservative standards for counting compliance. A chi-square test for the overall differences among the towel reuse rates for the five conditions yielded a significant difference among the groups. A planned comparison revealed that all four descriptive norm messages combined (44.5%) fared significantly better than the standard environmental message (37.2%). By merely informing hotel guests that other guests generally reused their towels significantly increased towel reuse compared to focusing guests on the importance of environmental protection. An additional planned comparison revealed that the same room identity descriptive norm condition yielded a significantly higher towel reuse rate (49.3%) than the other three descriptive norm conditions combined (42.8%). This means that even though the provincial norm for the frequency of guests’ towel reuse in a particular hotel room is not any more diagnostic of effective or approved behavior than the other norms, this condition produced the highest level of towel reuse. Participation rates were highest for the reference group that participants felt was the least personally meaningful to them but the most physically proximate. The other three descriptive norm conditions— the citizen identity descriptive norm (43.5%), the gender identity descriptive norm (40.9%), and the guest identity descriptive norm (44.0%)—did not differ from one another.
Conclusions:
Appeals employing descriptive norms proved superior to a traditional appeal widely used by hotels that focused solely on environmental protection. Normative appeals were most effective when describing group behavior that occurred in the setting that most closely matched individuals’ immediate situational circumstances (provincial norms).
Implications for the Field:
Normative social identity research has previously focused almost exclusively on the importance of commonalities among personal, rather than contextual, characteristics of individuals and the groups whose behaviors they observe. The research has largely failed to address the role of situational similarities in norm adherence. The results of the two field experiments demonstrated the power of descriptive and provincial norms to motivate others to engage in environmental conservation. The superiority of the descriptive norm messages relative to the industry standard, which experiment 2 showed activated guests’ identities as environmentally concerned individuals but provided no explicit descriptive norm, suggests that making a meaningful social identity salient without providing descriptive normative information is not an optimal approach. Provincial norms may be particularly influential in that it is typically beneficial for individuals to follow the norms that most closely match one’s immediate settings, situations, and circumstances.

Objective:
This study examined whether the efficacy of an appearance-based sun protection intervention could be enhanced by the addition of injunctive and/or descriptive norms information. Researchers examined whether young adults who received photoaging information and viewed their UV photograph would be more likely to modify their sun protection behaviors when informed that most of their peer group generally engaged in a substantial sun protection.
Method:
University of California, San Diego college students (N= 125, predominantly female, aged 18 to 38 years) were randomly assigned to either an appearance-based sun protection intervention that consisted of a photograph depicting underlying sun damage to their skin (UV photo) and information about photoaging or to a control condition. Those assigned to the intervention were further randomized to receive information about what one should do to prevent photoaging (injunctive norms information), information about the number of their peers who currently use regular sun protection (descriptive norms information), both injunctive and descriptive norms information, or neither type of norms information. Perceived susceptibility to photoaging and future sun protection intentions were assessed immediately following the intervention. Participants were also assessed regarding their sun protection behaviors via telephone approximately one month after the intervention.
Results:
The results demonstrated that those who received the UV photo/photoaging information intervention expressed greater sun protection intentions and subsequently reported greater sun protection behaviors than did controls. Relative to controls, nearly twice as many of those who received the UV photo/photoaging information intervention increased their sunscreen use on their face and nearly three times as many increased their frequency with which they used sunscreen on their body in the month following the intervention. All four intervention conditions resulted in significantly greater perceived susceptibility to photoaging relative to controls and a greater chance of discussing sun protection with friends and family in the month following the intervention. Further, the addition of both injunctive and descriptive norms information increased self-reported sun protection behaviors during the subsequent month.
Conclusions:
This study demonstrated the efficacy of the UV photo/photoaging information intervention may be enhanced via the inclusion of social norms information. The addition of injunctive norms information (information about what one should do to prevent skin damage from UV exposure) and/or descriptive norms information (suggesting that the majority of peer group members were engaging in regular sun protection) resulted in reliably greater sun protection intentions than did the basic intervention alone. Also, the additional combination of both types of normative information increased self-reported sun protection behaviors during the subsequent month.
Implications for the Field:
The results of this experiment show that it may be possible to enhance the efficacy of the UV photo and photoaging interventions by stating what individuals ought to be doing to protect themselves (injunctive norms) and by suggesting that a high percentage of peers are actually engaging in protective behaviors (descriptive norms).

Objective:
The research investigated the persuasive impact and detectability of normative social influence in two studies. The goal of the first study was to conduct a preliminary investigation into the extent to which people’s beliefs about what motivates them to conserve energy correspond to the factors of their self-reported intention to conserve. The second study wanted to accomplish three goals: extend the research on normative social influence, assess participants’ ability to detect the influence of normative information, and test the accuracy of naïve psychology-based explanations of energy conservation. The present research examined the contention that individuals underestimate the extent to which their actions in a situation are determined by the similar actions of others.
Method:
In Study 1, the researchers surveyed 810 Californians quarterly for a 3-year period about energy conservation. Researchers conducted a large scale, stratified, telephone survey to explore respondents’ stated reasons for engaging in energy conservation and provide an initial test of the actual factors influencing participants’ conservation behavior. Study 1 survey items were designed to measure self-reported efforts to conserve energy, perceived reasons for conservation, beliefs about the broad benefits of energy conservation, descriptive normative beliefs regarding energy conservation, and demographics. The survey data was part of a larger survey of energy conservation normative and non-normative beliefs, motivations for conserving energy, and actions among Californians conducted from random-digit-dialing interviews between October 2003 and January 2004.
In Study 2, the researchers further examined the perceived influence of normative information by assessing participants’ awareness of the extent to which different messages affected their behavior. Participants included 981 households in the middle-class neighborhoods of San Marcos, California, 509 of which participated in a post-intervention interview (52%). Households were randomly assigned to receive one of five experimental messages: descriptive norm, self-interest, environment, social responsibility, or information-only control. A total of four different energy conservation behaviors were promoted during this study: taking shorter showers, turning off unnecessary lights, turning off the air conditioning at night, and using fans instead of air conditioning.
Twenty messages, one for each of the four behaviors, were created for each of the five conditions and printed on doorhangers. Doorhangers in the information-only condition stated only that participants could save energy by adopting the behavior being promoted. In the descriptive norm, self-interest, environment, and social responsibility conditions, the doorhangers also contained factual motivational information about why the household should adopt the energy-conserving behavior (e.g., 99% of people in your community reported turning off unnecessary lights to save energy) and a graphic that symbolized the condition (e.g., a globe for the environment condition). Included in the present study are 371 households from the sample of interviewed households (73%) that reported seeing and reading the doorhangers that were distributed during the intervention. Following the distribution of the doorhangers, interviewers assessed the extent to which respondents perceived that the doorhangers had motivated them to conserve energy
Results:
Study 1 conducted a three-step hierarchical multiple regression to examine the unique contribution of descriptive normative beliefs on conservation behavior. Significant predictors were age (older participants reporting more conservation than younger ones), language of the survey (with English-speaking respondents conserving more than Spanish-speaking respondents), saving money, environmental protection, and descriptive normative beliefs. Survey results showed that the most highly rated reason for conserving energy was environmental protection, which suggests that people are motivated to conserve energy out of a concern for the environment or future generations. However, the strongest predictor of conservation was the belief that other people are doing it, despite the fact that it was rated as the least important motivating factor. The study found that descriptive normative beliefs were more predictive of behavior than were other relevant beliefs, even though respondents rated such norms as least important in their conservation decisions.
Study 2 confirmed that the positive relationship between descriptive norms and behavior in Study 1 was not simply due to a false consensus effect. Of interest, although the normative message was most effective at changing behavior compared to information highlighting other reasons to conserve, participants did not detect the influence of these messages, rating them as least motivating. Participants in the descriptive norm condition reported that the messages were least motivational. Pairwise comparisons showed that these scores were significantly lower than for participants in the environmental condition and social responsibility condition but not significantly different from the self-interest condition or the information-only condition. This pattern is similar to that found in the survey data reported in Study 1, wherein environmental reasons and social responsibility were identified as the two reasons that people believed were most influential to conserve energy.
Conclusions:
Normative information spurred people to conserve more energy than any of the standard appeals that are often used to stimulate energy conservation, such as protecting the environment, being socially responsible, or even saving money. Taken together, the results from the current studies show that normative information is a powerful but underdetected form of social influence. Normative information is a highly effective way to motivate a change in behavior but people may not be able to identify the true cause of their behavior.
Implications for the Field:
By going beyond environmental protection and social responsibility, normative messages reach a new population of individuals who might not otherwise have a reason to conserve. In addition, direct observation of others is not required for normative social influence to have its effect. Instead, communicating a descriptive norm—how most people behave in a given situation—via written information can induce conformity to the communicated behavior.

Objective:
The purpose of this study was to assess, among a sample of Central-Eastern European high school students, the estimated number of friends who drink, estimated drinking prevalence of schoolmates, and whether these estimations were related to self-reported frequency of personal alcohol use. The study addressed the congruence between these adolescent’s estimation of peer drinking and self-reported alcohol use.
Method:
Participants included 1,886 Central-Eastern European urban and rural high school students (average age of 16.5 years old) from Hungary, Slovakia, Czech Republic, and Romania who completed a school-based alcohol use survey in June 2005. Faculty members from four Central-Eastern Europe universities collected local data about alcohol use in secondary schools where they worked as physical education teacher trainers and mentors or through their work as student teaching supervisors. The questionnaire consisted of ten items, six of which assessed current alcohol use and heavy episodic drinking and four that assessed estimations of alcohol use by friends and schoolmates. Chi-square and ANOVA tests were used to determine relationships between the prevalence of drinking and estimations of drinking among friends and schoolmates. Data was pooled from the 22 selected schools in order to increase statistical power and to study a larger cross-section of youth living in this region of Europe.
Results:
Results indicated that drinking was related to the perception of the prevalence of alcohol use by schoolmates and by the number of friends who drink and/or engage in episodic heavy drinking. Prevalence of current alcohol use, prevalence of engaging in episodic heavy drinking, and the number of drinks of alcohol in the past weeks were associated with estimations of the drinking prevalence of male and female schoolmates. Boys and girls differed significantly on estimates of the number of friends who drink and estimates of the number of friends who are episodic heavy drinkers. In both genders, alcohol use variables were significantly associated with estimated number of friends who drink and estimated number of friends engaging in episodic heavy drinking. The prevalence of current alcohol use and the number of drinks of alcohol in the past week differed significantly according to the number of friends who drink and the prevalence of episodic heavy drinking and the times engaging in episodic heavy drinking in the past month differed significantly according to the number of friends who are heavy episodic drinkers.
Conclusion:
The results appear to indicate that Central-Eastern European adolescents lack accurate perceptions of the prevalence of alcohol use by their peers. Results showed that drinking was significantly related to perception of the prevalence of alcohol by schoolmates. The findings support the social norms model, which proposes that exaggerated misperceptions of peer risk behavior are a risk factor for personal risk behavior involvement.
Implications for the Field:
This study, in concert with others, gives evidence that the social nature of risk-taking behavior must be taken into account when designing prevention program programs targeting youth. Given that the youth in this sample overestimated the prevalence of drinking by schoolmates, prevention programmers might consider norms correction strategies which provide specific information about actual drinking norms among schoolmates. This study has interesting implications because of its context to the steady rise of alcohol-related health issues among people of the former communist countries of Central-Eastern Europe.

Objective:
This study sought to determine if individuals respond differently in varying contexts to questions assessing their own drinking behaviors and attitudes, as well as their perceptions of salient reference group’s drinking behaviors and attitudes. Salient reference groups included fraternities, sororities, and non-Greek service organizations where participants held membership. The researchers also wanted to determine if the three aspects of Social Impact Theory (proximity to group, connectedness to group, and size of group) would influence reports of actual individual drinking behaviors and attitudes.
Method:
The study examined 284 members of eight campus organizations (two fraternities, three sororities, three non-Greek service organizations) in two contexts (online and group) to determine if individuals endorse higher responses on questions of actual and perceived drinking norms across contexts. Participants completed a baseline online assessment with demographic questions about age, sex, race, campus organization, and class year. The baseline assessment also asked participants injunctive norms questions about their individual perceptions of the attitudes of their specific group, descriptive norms questions about how frequently and how much members of the group drank, and group attitude scale questions regarding how attracted the individual was to their specific group.
Sixty days after the baseline assessment, participants completed a follow-up survey that included the same questions of the initial survey to assess any changes in the perceived norms or actual behavior and attitudes. Seven days after receiving the follow-up questionnaire, participants completed a third survey with the same questions using an individual, handheld portable electronic device to record answers while a facilitator presented them on an overhead screen in a large auditorium with other members of their group.
Results:
The study found that actual individual alcohol behavior and perceptions of group-specific behaviors and attitudes differ when assessed individually versus when assessed in groups composed of peers from a salient reference group. All participants endorsed significantly higher individual drinking behavior during the assessment with members of their organization than they did during the online individual assessment. Additionally, participants’ responses on questions of actual and perceived group behavior and of perceived group attitudes towards drinking were higher during the group assessment than during the online individual assessment. These observed differences between contexts on perceived group alcohol use were more pronounced for men and for Greek students, displaying that they may be more influenced by the proximity of their peers when presented with questions regarding perceived alcohol use. These effects were evident despite facilitator assurance that individual responses were anonymous and that other students in the group could not see their responses.
Contrary to their hypotheses that students in larger groups would experience the most influence, results revealed that participants in smaller groups who had high levels of connectedness to their groups had higher perceptions of group drinking attitudes during the group assessment than during online assessment. However, participants in large sized groups with low group connectedness had higher perceptions of group drinking attitudes during the group assessment than during the online assessment. For small-sized groups, high group connectedness produced higher perceptions of group drinking attitudes during the group assessment than during online assessment. However, for large size groups, low group connectedness resulted in higher perceptions of group drinking attitudes during the group assessment than online assessment.
Conclusion:
This study highlights the discrepancy in reported behaviors, attitudes, and perceptions of group behavior and attitudes between an online assessment context and a group assessment context. While much research supports the idea that peers influence the drinking behaviors and attitudes of college students, the study finds that the presence of peers during assessment may influence responses to questions posed about perceived and actual norms and may augment their overestimations of the drinking behaviors and attitudes of their peers.
The results suggest that context of assessment needs to be considered when collecting self-report data from college students. Students tend to endorse higher responses during group assessments when surrounded by peer members of campus organizations. The findings observed may be partly explained by Social Impact Theory (Latane, 1981), which states that individual behavior and attitudes can be influenced by proximity to group, connectedness to group, and size of group.
Implications for the Field:
When reporting individual and mean responses of college samples, it may be important to consider the context in which assessment took place. In the current study, it is unknown whether the online assessment or the group assessment most accurately represents true behavior and attitudes. Future researchers may wish to explore this effect further or attempt to determine which of the two assessments context better captures true drinking behavior and attitudes by collecting actual blood alcohol levels over the period assessed.

Reilly, D.W. & Wood, M.D. (2008). A randomized test of a small-group interactive social norms intervention. Journal of American College Health, 57(1), 53-60. return to list

Objective:
This study investigated whether a small-group interactive social norms correction could influence alcohol perception and behaviors above and beyond a non-interactive social norms education approach at decreased cost and labor levels.
Method:
The researchers used a randomized design to test an interactive form of small group norms correction with 502 first-year orientation students from a medium-sized New England public university during September and October of 2001. Participants (55% female and 87% white) were randomly assigned to either an intervention or a comparison condition. Students in the Standard Social Norms Correction (SSNC) received a standard health and safety presentation, which provided the 259 participants with prevention information focusing on alcohol and drug issues, sexual assault and violence, and health and personal safety. Participants completed a survey regarding alcohol use, marijuana use, and the number of past-year sex partners and were given campus-wide statistics on the topics, but not results of the survey. Participants also responded to questions regarding their perception of other students’ patterns on these items, including the perceived quantity and frequency of alcohol consumption.
Students in the interactive small group social norms correction (ISNC) received the standard health and safety presentation plus feedback and discussion of section-specific survey results. Student responses to the survey (243 students) were tallied during their class period and group leaders provided participants with their section-specific norms and encouraged discussion as to why observed discrepancies between actual and perceived alcohol use norms may exist.
Results:
Results indicated that the interactive social norms intervention for small group effectively reduced perceptions of drinking amounts. Both men and women substantially overestimated how much alcohol other students consumed. Sex differences were evident differences in both reported drinks per week and perceived drinks per week. Men estimated that other male students drank an average of 18.10 and women estimated other females drank an average of 13.16 drinks per week. Higher baseline perceptions were associated with higher perceptions at follow-up. Reductions in the number of reported drinks per week were observed at both the ISNC and SSNC conditions from pre- and post- tests.
The results support the general belief that misperceptions of alcohol use exist among the college student population and indicate that the small-group interactive social norms approach has a fairly substantial influence on student perceptions. However, the findings do not support an influence of interactive small group social norms correction on the measure of alcohol use behaviors. Participation in the ISNC vs. the SSNC condition did not result in lower levels of alcohol use.
Conclusion:
The findings suggest that the use of an interactive small group social norms approach to influence student misperceptions may be considered as a primer for preventive interventions. Although students in both conditions received some normative feedback, changes in misperceptions were observed only in the INSC condition, in which section leaders provided and interactively discussed survey results. The large reduction in misperceptions among this group supports this approach in correcting normative misperceptions. The findings do not support small group interactive social norms intervention as being effective as a stand-alone intervention to achieve behavioral change.
Implications for the field:
Multiple interventions at the individual, group, and environmental levels are needed to yield meaningful progress in reduction alcohol-related harm among college students.

Turner, J.C., Perkins, H. W., & Bauerle, J. (2008). Declining negative consequences related to alcohol misuse among students exposed to a social norms marketing intervention on a college campus. Journal of American College Health, 57 (1) 85-93. return to list

Objective:
This study assessed yearly exposure to alcohol interventions, alcohol consumption (estimated blood alcohol content [eBAC]), and self-reported alcohol-related negative consequences at a large public university as a result of students being increasingly exposed to a social norms intervention. The social norms campaign initially focused on correcting misperceptions about the quantity and frequency of consumption of alcohol and was expanded to include information about normative and protective behaviors.
Method:
The university initiated a social norms marketing campaign in the fall of 1999, initially targeting first-year students in an effort to reduce harm related to alcohol abuse. The program was then expanded to include all undergraduates and high risk groups in the fall of 2002. From spring 2001 through spring 2006, the university administered a Web-based survey to a random sample of 2,500 undergraduates from a four year university. The survey asked questions to evaluate trends in student alcohol misuse and included only those students who consumed alcohol within the past year in the analysis. Students were surveyed on ten possible negative outcomes they may have experienced as a result of drinking, the number of drinks usually consumed while drinking (eBAC), and recall of first year and campus-wide social norms messages and initiatives.
The 1999 social norms campaign targeted first year students through a monthly series of highly-visible posters in first-year residence halls. The posters accentuated the healthy normative behaviors that a majority of students reported on prior surveys and corrected existing overestimations about the quantity and frequency of heavy drinking among students. The 2002 campaign was a campus-wide general intervention that reached all undergraduate students through student media and a poster campaign. In addition to highlighting campus alcohol consumption norms, the campaign also provided normative information regarding protective behaviors.
Results:
The study assessed the degree to which alcohol-related negative consequences changed throughout the six years of the intervention. The proportion of students reporting no consequences increased substantially from 33% in 2001 to 51% in 2006, whereas the prevalence of multiple consequences declined from 44% to 26% in the same time frame. First year students exposed to the campus-wide social norms campaign reported a 24% reduction in the odds of having an eBAC greater than .08 the last time they partied. In each survey year (2001-2006), a majority of students (89-97%) recalled having seen the social norms posters targeting first-year students two or more times. For the campuswide campaign, recall rate ranged from 56-78% of undergraduates recalled seeing normative alcohol messages once or more from 2003 to 2006.
Conclusions:
The authors believe the evidence strongly supports that the social norms educational intervention succeeded in a high degree of audience penetration, initially among first-year students and later among the entire undergraduate population and high-risk target groups. Students who were reached by these messages reported lower eBACs and a significantly lower probability of experiencing alcohol-related consequences than did students who had no recall of the campus-wide campaign.
Implications for the Field:
Surveying students about their attitudes and behaviors as well as their recall of normative messages is important because it enhances awareness and facilitates the dissemination of relevant campus-specific information about social norms. Using a variety of marketing techniques, misperceptions about both actual campus behaviors (descriptive norms) and widely supported desirable behaviors (injunctive norms) can be corrected, thus encouraging safety and responsibility.

2007

Bobek, D.D. , Roberts, R. W., & Sweeney, J. T. (2007). The social norms of tax compliance: Evidence from Australia, Singapore, and the United States. Journal of Business Ethics, 74, 49-64. return to list

Abstract:
Tax compliance is a concern to governments around the world. Prior research has attributed unexplained inter-country differences in compliance rates to differences in social norms. Economics researchers studying tax compliance in the United States (U.S.) have called for more attention to social (as opposed to economic) influences on tax compliance. In this study, we extend this prior research by explicitly examining the role of social norms on tax compliance in three different countries. We test our research hypotheses using a hypothetical compliance scenario, which was administered in Australia, Singapore, and the U.S. There were differences in compliance rates and social norms among the three countries. Factor analysis of the social norm questions identified three distinct social norm constructs. Two of these factors were significant in explaining tax compliance behavior. The first and most influential factor was taxpayers' own personal moral beliefs, along with the beliefs of those close to them (e.g., friends and important others). The second significant factor represented societal views of proper behavior. We conclude that social norms help to explain tax compliance intentions and why tax compliance rates are higher than would be predicted by strictly economic models.

Goldstein, N.J., Griskevicius, V., & Cialdini, R.B. (2007). Invoking social norms: a social psychology perspective on improving hotels' linen-reuse programs. Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly, 48 (2), 145-150. return to list

Social psychology theory can be applied to such mundane purposes as encouraging guests to reuse their washroom towels. In contrast to the appeals now in use to persuade guests to reuse their towels, research found that applying the norm of reciprocation and the descriptive norm for proenvironmental action improved guests' participation in one hotel's towel-reuse program. The implication is that such research ca also be applied to other areas of hotel operation to benefit businesses, consumers, and the environment.

Objective:
This study was designed to evaluate the efficacy of a mailed feedback and tips intervention as a universal prevention strategy for college drinking. The study extended previous studies by implementing the intervention with a large population of college students and conducting a follow-up one year post-intervention to assess the long-term effects on drinking. In addition, the authors evaluated theoretically relevant moderators and mediators or intervention efficacy. The authors expected that feedback would be associated with reduced drinking overall, reduced likelihood of heavy episodic drinking, and increased likelihood of remaining abstinent compared with assessment-only controls. They further hypothesized that perceived descriptive norms and increased use of protective behavioral strategies would mediate intervention efficacy and that women and heavier drinkers would be more responsive to the feedback intervention.
Method:
Participants (N=1,488) were randomly assigned to feedback (N=737) or assessment-only (N=751) control conditions. Five different assessments were given and participants were mailed a series of ten weekly generic postcards with additional information regarding alcohol’s effects, cost of drinking, and specific protective strategies they could use to avoid drinking-related negative consequences. The postcards also included additional personalized feedback provided through motivational enhancement and multi-component skill-based approaches.
Results:
Results indicated that the mailed feedback intervention had a preventive effect on drinking rates overall, with participants in the feedback condition consuming less alcohol at follow-up in comparison with controls. In addition, abstainers in the feedback condition were twice as likely to remain abstinent from alcohol and refrain from heavy episodic drinking at follow-up in comparison with control participants. This finding suggests that skills-based interventions can serve as a preventive function for abstinent students. Participants in the control condition were 1.4 times more likely to report heavy episodic drinking at 1-year follow up compared to those in the intervention condition. The authors suggest this finding may show that mailed feedback may be a viable low-cost intervention as a first step for preventing heavy episodic drinking on campuses. Neither gender nor severity of baseline drinking moderated the efficacy of the intervention in these analyses. Protective behaviors mediated the relationship between the intervention and drinking outcomes with participants who received the intervention being more likely to use strategies such as setting limits and alternating alcohol with nonalcoholic beverages. Contrary to prior research, perceived descriptive norms did not mediate intervention efficacy. Results for this study were limited by a low recruitment rate, high participant burden, attrition, low participant contact between assessments, a reliance on self-report, assessment reactivity, and an uncertainty of participant feedback processing.
Conclusions:
The authors believe that the findings from this study support this type of intervention as a low-cost universal prevention approach that is appropriate for a variety of student drinking patterns and is associated with both maintenance of abstinence and prevention of heavy episodic drinking and overall drinking in comparison with controls. The results suggest that mailed feedback, including skills information and personalized normative feedback, could potentially replace other universal strategies not found to be effacious in drinking prevention.
Implications for the Field:
This study evaluated the efficacy of a mailed feedback and tips intervention, an approach designed to activate existing self-regulatory processes, in part through highlighting discrepancies between the individual's current behavior and his or her goals, values, or desired state of being. Developing these discrepancies is believed to promote readiness to change behavior as well as actual behavior change in order to reduce the discrepancy. Feedback is also designed to help correct misperceptions and myths related to high-risk drinking, such as misperception of the normative nature of heavy drinking, and introduce protective behavioral strategies the participant can use to reduce drinking and related risks.
Despite its efficacy and theoretical support, the authors acknowledge that there are several practical barriers to widespread implementation of motivational feedback and skills-based individual interventions on college campuses. These interventions require specialized training and ongoing supervision, and many campuses do not have the staffing and resources needed to implement researched approaches. In addition, many students are not interested in seeking in-person alcohol prevention services. Interventions that require students to make a substantial investment of time may have considerable difficulty reaching students. In addition, provision of in-person motivational or skills interventions as a preventive intervention for students who currently do not drink or drink very little is not resource efficient. Some research has indicated these interventions serve a preventive role for abstinent and light-drinking students, whereas other research has suggested they are more efficacious for heavier drinkers.

Schultz, P.W., Nolan, J. M., Cialdini, R. B., Goldstein, N. J., & Griskevicius, V. (2007). The constructive, destructive, and reconstructive power of social norms. Psychological Science, 18 (5), 429-434. return to list

Objective:
Normative messages have had mixed success in changing behavior in field contexts, with some studies showing boomerang effects. The purpose of the study was to explore how normative information may differentially affect household energy consumption and conservation depending on whether the message recipients' behavior is above or below the norm.
Method:
The researchers selected 290 households from three census-block groups in San Marcos, CA, with visible energy meters. Prior to any experimental intervention, research assistants read the households' electricity meters twice within a 2-week period. The difference between these two readings was used to establish an initial baseline measure of daily energy usage for each household. The baseline was used for the descriptive normative feedback and to determine the injunctive feedback for the first written message (i.e., whether the household consumed more or less than the average). All households received feedback, in the form of informative doorhangers, about how much energy they had consumed in previous weeks and descriptive normative information about the average consumption of other households in their neighborhood. Households were divided into two categories at each observation period: those with energy consumption above average for the community and those with energy consumption below average for the community. Households were randomly assigned to receive either descriptive normative information only or descriptive normative information plus an injunctive message conveying that their energy consumption was either approved or disapproved. For households in the descriptive-norm-only condition, each message contained handwritten information about how much energy (in kilowatt-hours per day) they had used in the previous week(s), descriptive normative information about the actual energy consumption of the average household in their neighborhood during that same period (in kilowatt-hours per day), and preprinted suggestions for how to conserve energy. Households in the descriptive-plus-injunctive-information condition received the same information as did those in the descriptive-norm-only group, with one key addition. Households that consumed less than the average received a message displaying a positively valenced emoticon ( ), whereas those that consumed more than the average received a message displaying a negatively valenced emoticon ( ). The valence of the emoticon was used to communicate an injunctive message of approval or disapproval for the amount of energy being consumed.
Results:
As predicted by the researchers, a descriptive normative message detailing average neighborhood usage decreased energy consumption in households consuming more energy than their neighborhood average. This result is indicative of the constructive power of social norms, demonstrating that normative information can facilitate pro-environmental behavior. On the other hand, descriptive normative information increased energy consumption, producing an undesirable boomerang effect in households consuming less energy than their neighborhood average. This result is indicative of the destructive power of social norms, demonstrating that a well-intended application of normative information can actually serve to decrease pro-environmental behavior. Also as predicted, the undesirable boomerang effect was eliminated in households consuming less energy than their neighborhood average when researchers provided both descriptive normative information and an injunctive message that other people approved of their low-consumption behavior. These households continued to consume at low rates. This result is indicative of the reconstructive power of injunctive messages to eliminate the untoward effects of a descriptive norm.
Conclusions:
Overall, the results were consistent with predictions and displayed that normative interventions are effective over both the short and long term.The results suggest that for individuals who tend to engage in destructive behaviors, a descriptive normative message can be a guide to engaging in more constructive behavior; in contrast, for individuals who already engage in the constructive behavior, a descriptive normative message can be a spur to engaging in more destructive behavior. The results show that adding an injunctive element of approval helps to ameliorate these unwanted effects.
Implications for the Field:
The results offer an explanation for the mixed success of persuasive appeals based on social norms and suggest how such appeals should be properly crafted. Although social norm campaigns are typically aimed at individuals whose behavior is less desirable than the norm, the widespread nature of these campaigns nearly ensures that those whose behavior is more desirable than the norm will also receive the message.

Thombs, D.L., Olds, R.S., Osborn, C.J., Casseday, S., Glavin, K., & Berkowitz, A.D. (2007). Outcomes of a technology-based social norms intervention to deter alcohol use in freshman residence halls. Journal of American College Health, 55 (6), 325-332. return to list

Objective:
The project was designed to address concerns about relying exclusively on self-report data. Researchers developed and implemented a prototype social norms intervention that was designed to assess and deter nighttime alcohol use in two freshmen residence halls. The researchers sought to determine whether credible and personally relevant normative feedback, provided via a secure website and based heavily on objective BAC data, could reduce alcohol intoxication levels as well as self-reported drinking behaviors and consequences in an intervention residence hall compared with a comparison residence hall. Method:
For two academic years, the authors conducted nighttime interviews and breath tests in two residence halls, each housing about 96 students at a large public university in Ohio. One residence hall served as the intervention site and the other a comparison site. Approximately 384 freshmen participated in the study over the 2-year period. The authors devised a feedback method that assessed residents' blood alcohol concentration (BAC) at night and allowed the readings to be retrieved the next day via the Web. Residents in an intervention hall received their BAC readings as well as normative feedback. This information allowed students living in the intervention hall to: 1) learn how their nighttime drinking behavior compared with that of other students in their building, (2) gain additional information about alcohol, (3) have the opportunity to engage in interactive motivational activities, including self-assessments, and (4) consult with a clinician (anonymously via telephone, by e-mail, or during an office visit). In a comparison hall, residents could retrieve only the BAC readings. Upon deciding to participate, residents visited a lounge in their residence hall where a nighttime interviewer was stationed. Here they anonymously logged into a computer and were interviewed about the number of drinks consumed that day and the number of minutes since the last drink, if any. Students were breath-tested and instructed to go online the next day and complete a survey assessing negative consequences experienced as a result of alcohol consumption the previous night. Following the survey, students were provided their BAC reading from the previous night. If the BAC was >.10 mg/ml, the resident was informed only that: "your BAC was greater than or equal to .10 mg/ml." This was done to discourage risky, competitive drinking. The authors also recruited students from both halls to participate in a culminating individual interview about their perceptions of the effectiveness of the program.
Results:
During the 2-year project, the authors conducted a total of 7,087 nighttime interviews in the 2 freshman residence halls. Only 61% of students participating in the nighttime interviews visited the project website the next day. About 80-90% of the residents in both halls used the BAC service on at least one occasion. Overall feedback by students of the online BAC service was positive. The researchers hypothesized that the provision of normative feedback on the basis of BAC data would deter alcohol use in freshmen students. The findings did not support this hypothesis. On some quantitative measures, the intervention hall had a slightly higher level of alcohol involvement. In addition to these results, the intervention did not increase help seeking behavior among the residents of the intervention hall as hypothesized. Over the course of the study, no student contacted the clinician involved in the project and only 11 students in the intervention hall conducted an online self-assessment of their readiness to change their drinking behaviors.
Conclusions:
Qualitative findings suggest the intervention had an overall positive impact, but that the actions of a subgroup of rebellious drinkers might have obscured the effect. The authors intended for the normative feedback to reassure freshmen residents that nondrinking was the norm on the hall; however, the social norms interventions may have provoked some episodes of excessive drinking in students who found these messages objectionable. More research is needed to evaluate delayed BAC feedback.
Implications for the Field:
In college drinking studies, error in self-report may result from (1) an inability to accurately remember the frequency and quantity of drinking: (2) an impaired ability to recall the quantity of consumed drinks during heavy drinking episodes; (3) a lack of proficiency in estimating a standard alcoholic drink; and (4) an intentional misrepresentation. In addition, researchers cannot use self-report survey data to account for individual differences in alcohol metabolism, body weight, food consumption, and duration of consumption in documenting peak intoxication levels. This study supports using a direct assessment of blood alcohol concentration in the field by a breath-testing device as a way to reduce error in estimated BACs.

Wall, A.F. (2007). Evaluating a health education web site: the case of Alcohol.Edu. NASPA Journal, 44 (4), 692-714. return to list

Objective:
This study examined the short-term impact of AlcoholEdu for College® (AlcoholEdu), a commercially available online health behavior change program delivered through an interactive Web-based format for the purpose of reducing the harm associated with student alcohol abuse.
Method:
AlcoholEdu provides students with online interactive feedback about their health behaviors associated with alcohol. The interactive Web site strives to operationalize health behavior change theory by providing information about alcohol use and its consequences, developing student skills for functioning safely in a social environment, and providing students with opportunities to reflect on how the use of alcohol fits into an individual’s life. Students receive content through a linear chapter program of streaming video, static content information interactive web pages including decision trees and brief feedback, and reflective journaling. Information is customized by gender and drinking status of participants.
The study used a randomly assigned post-test only evaluation design with 20,150 individuals to examine differences between individuals who have and have not yet received the educational program. Students at 225 institutions of higher education completed online pre-, post-, and follow-up web page surveys during the 2003–04 academic year regarding alcohol attitudes and behaviors. Researchers examined five dependent measures in the study across time blocks: (a) negative academic consequences, (b) hangover/mental impact, (c) heavy consumption days (five or more drinks in one day over the past two weeks), (d) risky behavior that is intentional, and (e) positive expectations of alcohol use. Analyses examined the efficacy of the intervention among different groups of students identified as having the greatest risk of harm associated with alcohol: those who are members of Greek letter organizations, those referred because of judicial sanctions, or those entering their first year of study.
Results:
Regression findings show that, when considering the mean responses within a four week time block, students who completed the program (intervention group) self-reported, on average, fewer incidents of negative academic consequences, hangover/mental impact, intentional risky behavior, and incidents of consuming 5 or more drinks in 1 day over the past two weeks than when compared to those who have not yet completed the program (comparison group) at a similar time point in the 2003–04 academic year. Additionally, the intervention group expressed more disagreement with positive expectations of alcohol use than the comparison group. Both groups reported increased incidents of negative consequences and heavy consumption from the beginning of 2003 until well into 2004.
Conclusions:
The findings hint toward evidence that interactive health-related web tools can contribute to preventing high-risk student health behaviors in the campus environment, with self-reported evidence suggesting implementation among first-year students to be the most promising. Findings from this examination reveal that directed health information on the web has both significant reach and evidence of association with small degrees of self-reported attitude and behavior differences in relationship to a comparison group.
Implications for the Field:
Interactive web-based interventions such as AlcoholEdu show promise in their economies of scale and their ability to provide consistent education messages and present tailored messages geared to the interests and information needs of a given user. Analysis of additional independent variables confirms and offers possibilities to extend customization of the program from gender and consumer/non-consumer to race/ethnicity, academic performance level, and college major in an effort to address unique individual differences associated with alcohol use, consequence, and attitudes.
The limited findings suggest that AlcoholEdu, like other web-based alcohol education programs, are best adopted in the context of multifaceted alcohol education efforts. These efforts should incorporate education, policy, and enforcement that work to alter individual behavior and the college culture associated with alcohol use.

2006

Corral-Verdugo, V. & Frias-Armenta, M. (2006). Personal normative beliefs, antisocial behavior, and residential water conservation. Environment and Behavior, 38 (3), 406-421. return to list

Abstract:
A total of 177 residents in two Mexican cities responded to an instrument assessing (a) personal normative beliefs about water conservation, (b) beliefs about the efficacy of water conservation laws, (c) the tendency to break social norms (anti-social behavior), and (d) private water conservation behavior (self-reported). The data were processed within a structural equation model that specified the above effects. Results showed that personal normative beliefs had a positive effect on water conservation, whereas antisocial behavior inhibited that conservation, and beliefs in the inefficacy of water conservation laws produced no effect on water conservation practices. Significant and negative covariances between antisocial behavior and normative beliefs in the inefficacy of water consumption laws resulted. Conversely, normative beliefs and beliefs in the inefficacy of water laws covaried positively.

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(6), 868-879. return to list

Abstract:
Objective: An 18-site randomized trial was conducted to determine the effectiveness of social norms marketing (SNM) campaigns in reducing college student drinking. The SNM campaigns are intended to correct misperceptions of subjective drinking norms and thereby drive down alcohol consumption.
Method:
Institutions of higher education were randomly assigned to treatment and control groups. At the treatment group institutions, SNM campaigns delivered school-specific, data-driven messages through a mix of campus media venues. Cross-sectional student surveys were conducted by mail at baseline (n = 2,771) and at posttest 3 years later (n = 2,939). Hierarchical linear modeling was applied to examine multiple drinking outcomes, taking intraclass correlation into account.
Results:
Controlling for other predictors, having an SNM campaign was significantly associated with lower perceptions of student drinking levels and lower alcohol consumption, as measured by a composite drinking scale, blood alcohol concentration for recent maximum consumption, drinks consumed when partying, and drinks consumed per week. A moderate mediating effect of normative perceptions on student drinking was demonstrated by an attenuation of the Experimental Group x Time interaction, ranging from 16.4% to 39.5% across measures. Additional models that took into account the intensity of the SNM campaign activity at the treatment institutions suggested that there was a dose-response relationship.
Conclusions:
This study is the most rigorous evaluation of SNM campaigns conducted to date. Analysis revealed that students attending institutions that implemented an SNM campaign had a lower relative risk of alcohol consumption than students attending control group institutions.

Gunther, A., Bolt, D., Borzekowski, G., Liebhart, & Dillard, J.P. (2006). "Presumed influence on peer norms: How mass media indirectly affect adolescent smoking." Journal of Communication, 56 (1), 52-68. return to list

Abstract:
In the context of adolescent smoking adoption, this study examined the presumed influence hypothesis, a theoretical model suggesting that smoking-related media content may have a significant indirect influence on adolescent smoking via its effect on perceived peer norms. That is, adolescents may assume that smoking-related messages in the mass media will influence the attitudes and behaviors of their peers and these perceptions in turn can influence adolescents' own smoking behaviors. Analyzing data from a sample of 818 middle school students, we found that both pro- and anti-smoking messages indirectly influenced smoking susceptibility through their perceived effect on peers. However, this indirect effect was significantly stronger for pro-smoking messages than for antismoking messages, an outcome that most likely increases adolescents' susceptibility to cigarettes.

Lewis, M.A., & Neighbors, C. (2006). Social norms approaches using descriptive drinking norms education: A review of the research on personalized normative feedback, Journal of American College Health, 54 (4), 213-218. return to list

Abstract:
College students have been shown to consistently overestimate the drinking of their peers. As a result, social norms approaches are effective in correcting these misperceived norms to reduce alcohol consumption and alcohol-related problems. In this review of the literature, the authors critically evaluated the effectiveness of personalized normative feedback. In addition, the authors reviewed personalized normative feedback interventions and provided suggestions for increasing the efficacy of these interventions by making better use of salient referent group data.

2005

Agostinelli, G. & Grube, J. (2005). Effects of presenting heavy drinking norms on adolescents' prevalence estimates, evaluative judgments, and perceived standards. Prevention Science, 6 (2), 89-99. return to list

Abstract:
Correcting Normative information about the prevalence of heavy drinking is a key element in many prevention programs. To isolate the influence of normative information on older high school students' (n=230) alcohol-related judgments, the effects of delivering normative information in different contexts (no normative information, normative information only, normative information plus a self-focusing comparison to one's drinking) and under different measurement conditions (public, private) were examined. First, relative to presenting no norms, presenting norms both with and without a self-focus reduced the underestimation of the percent of high school students who never drink heavily. Second, the effects on both positive and negative evaluations of heavy drinking were examined independently. Heavy drinking students more strongly endorsed positive evaluations of heavy drinking than did non-heavy drinking students, but the self-serving bias was limited to the normative information only condition. Normative information failed to impact negative evaluations of heavy drinking for students at all drinking levels. Third, in judging the acceptable number of heavy drinking days approved by others, presenting the normative information in both contexts (relative to presenting no norms) led to more conservative judgments. Yet, only the normative context that added self-focus to the norm led students to adopt more conservative personal standards for the acceptable number of heavy drinking days. Finally, public versus private measurement did not affect any of the dependent variables. The findings are discussed as they relate to confrontational versus empathic styles in delivering interventions.

Chernoff, R.A., & Davison, G.C. (2005). An evaluation of a brief HIV/AIDS prevention intervention for college students using normative feedback and goal setting. AIDS Education and Prevention, 17(2),91-104. return to list

Abstract:
This study evaluated the ability of a 20-minute self-administered intervention to increase HIV/AIDS risk reduction among sexually active college students. The intervention presented normative data on the relatively low prevalence of HIV risk behaviors among college students for the purpose of conveying the idea that risk reduction was the prevailing social norm among their same sex peers. The intervention also invited students to select specific risk reduction goals to be implemented over a 30-day follow-up period. Participants (N=155) were assigned in alternating order to receive either the intervention or a control condition that entailed reading a general AIDS information pamphlet. Results were partially moderated by gender. Compared with controls, men in the intervening group reported significantly higher condom use, whereas women in the intervention group reported significantly fewer sexual partners.

Lewis, T.F. & Thombs, D.L. (2005). Perceived risks and normative beliefs as explanatory models for college student alcohol involvement: An assessment of a campus with conventional alcohol control policies and enforcement practices. NASPA Journal, 42 (2),202-222. return to list

Abstract:
The aim of this study was to conduct a multivariate assessment of college student drinking motivations at a campus with conventional alcohol control policies and enforcement practices, including the establishment and dissemination of alcohol policies and the use of warnings to arouse fear of sanctions. Two explanatory models were compared: perceptions of risk and normative beliefs. An anonymous questionnaire was administered to 1,396 students at a large Midwestern university. Data analyses were conducted on the subsample of participants who had reported using alcohol within the past 12 months (n=1,322). Overall, the results from a canonical correlation analysis indicated that alcohol involvement was best explained by normative beliefs about drinking practices of one's closest friends. Perceptions of drinking risk were less important to the explanation of alcohol involvement, and some of these measures unexpectedly had positive associations with indicators of alcohol risk behavior. The findings call into question the conventional deterrence strategies used in many university communities (i.e., belief that students perceive there to be a low risk of receiving sanctions were those most likely to engage in alcohol-related misbehavior). Furthermore, the findings suggest that effective interventions will need to impact students' normative beliefs about the drinking practices of proximal peer groups.

Walters, S. T. & Neighbors, N. (2005). Feedback interventions for college alcohol misuse: What, why, and for whom? Addictive Behaviors, 30, 1168-1182. return to list

Abstract:
In response to the persistent problem of college drinking, universities have instituted a range of alcohol intervention programs for students. Motivational feedback is one intervention that has garnered support in the literature and been adopted on college campuses. This article reviews published outcome studies that have utilized feedback as a major component of an alcohol intervention for college students. Overall, 11 of 13 reviewed studies (77%) found a significant reduction in drinking as compared to a control or comparison group. While the studies varied widely in terms of population, follow-up period, and feedback content, it appears that feedback can be effective whether delivered by mail, the Internet, or via face-to-face motivational interview. Feedback seems to change normative perceptions of drinking and may be more effective among students who drink for social reasons. The addition of a group or individual counseling session does not appear to increase the short-term impact of the feedback.

2004

Fabiano, P., Perkins, H.W., Berkowitz, A., Linkenbach, J. & Stark, C. (2004). Engaging men as social justice allies in ending violence against women: Evidence for a social norms approach. Journal of American College Health, 52 (3), 105-112. return to list

Data from this study suggest that men underestimate the importance that most men and women place on consent and the willingness of most men to intervene against sexual violence. In addition, men's personal adherence to only consensual activity and their willingness to act as women's allies are strongly influenced by their perceptions of other men's and women's norms. These findings support the proposition t hat accurate normative data, which counters he misperception of rape-supportive environments, can be a critical part of campus efforts to prevent sexual violence against women.

Thombs, D. L., Dotterer, S., Olds, R. S., Sharp, K.E., & Raub, C.G. (2004). A close look at why one social norms campaign did not reduce student drinking. Journal of American College Health, 53 (2), 61-68. return to list

Abstract (excerpt):
The authors examined 3 possible explanations for the failure of a social norms campaign at a large public university.At follow-up, 66.5% of the students were aware of the campaign, yet the survey revealed no reduction in perceived drinking norms or alcohol use in this group. An analysis of the postcampaign sample revealed that (1) a majority of the students did not find the statistics in the campaign messages credible, (2) higher levels of alcohol use predicted lower levels of perceived campaign credibility, and (3) only 38.5% of the students understood the campaign's intended purpose.



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