The social norms marketing approach has been used in a variety of contexts to alter problematic behaviors that are believed to occur at least in part as a consequence of misperceived norms. Behavior change occurs by correcting the misperception that leads some individuals to engage in non-normal behavior because they believe it to be normal. [...]
The social norms approach (SNA) to changing problematic behaviors has been in use for roughly 30 years. SNA has been applied to a variety of unhealthy behaviors (e.g., seatbelt nonuse, smoking, drinking, marijuana use, bullying, sexual assault, etc.) with diverse populations ranging from elementary school pupils to adults, administered as interventions at the personal, group, [...]
Check out NSNC in the news about our efforts to reduce high-risk drinking among students! Study: MSU campaign helped reduce high-risk drinking among students How MSU helped reduce high-risk drinking among students Myth-busting ads cut high-risk college student drinking How MSU helped reduce high-risk drinking among students
The New Year: Famous (or infamous) for New Year’s resolutions. For many Americans, it’s a time of change. Whether “New year, new me” means weight loss, saving money, better mental health practices, or more time with the family, many people actively make a decision to make a change that seems a little more appropriate since [...]
No one likes being told what to do. College students, especially, finding their independence for the first time, are not a fan of hearing what they should be doing. After all, everyone has the right to make a choice for themselves. So, it gets tricky when the choices we see students making turn out to [...]
Are you developing messages for a social norms campaign? Here are 5 quick tips to keep in mind when building a message. Create a brand. Norms campaigns work well when they have a recognizable brand. Consistent logos, color schemes, and post activity can help your campaign stand out and become familiar among your audience. Sometimes [...]
A recent article in WSJ (yes, WSJ not an SSJ) includes using electronic media to share noms about drinking as a technique to reduce student drinking. Click here to read the article.
Never can tell what you will learn on the internet. I just found an article about modeling research published in 2011 by social scientists at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. The research demonstrates "...that when just 10 percent of the population holds an unshakable belief, their belief will always be adopted by the majority of the society." According to [...]
I just read a fascinating study, thanks to my Google Alert for "social norms". We are often faced with the dilemma of the behavior that we want to promote is NOT normative and so does not seem appropriate for a social norms campaign, even if there is a large misperception. Let's take a hypothetical example. Suppose [...]
Who does well in groups where unhealthy behaviors are the norm? One frequent concern about the social norms approach is, “what if the majority of a population engages in the unhealthy behavior?” In social norms marketing, we believe that there’s always a positive norm that can be highlighted: for example, even if the majority of [...]
