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, [...]
The social norms marketing approach (SNMA) assumes that most individuals tend to conform to the perceived norms of the social groups in which they belong, but that in actuality these norms are often misperceived. This approach asserts that in situations concerning high-risk health behaviors (such as excessive drinking on college campuses), designing a social norms [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
This publication, authored by James Turner and Adrienne Keller of the National Social Norms Institute, summarizes 3 1/2 years of data from the student health services of universities participating in the College Health Surveillance Network. This is the first article in the college health literature to be based on epidemiology and service utilization data from multiple institutions [...]
We were recently challenged to address a seemingly simple question. However, as with most questions worth asking, the seeming simplicity is deceptive. Here's the question and how we addressed it. Is “positive” advertising better than “negative” advertising? To answer this question, we have to consider a number of variables, including domain, audience, focus and purpose. Domain: [...]
Cronce and Larimer, from the University of Washington, offer a review of the efficacy of individually-focused interventions to prevent risky drinking and associated negative consequences among college students. Title Individual-focused approaches to the prevention of college student drinking Abstract Alcohol consumption is prevalent among college students and can become problematic for some. Numerous randomized controlled trials have evaluated the efficacy [...]
Using a general population sample from New York City, these researchers estimated the separate and combined effects of alcohol outlet density and perceived social norms on alcohol use disorder, controlling for confounding factors. Title The roles of outlet density and norms in alcohol use disorder Abstract Background. Alcohol outlet density and norms shape alcohol consumption. [...]
