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Dynamic Norms: Our New Year’s Resolution

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 [...]

By |2019-01-12T22:59:54-05:00January 12th, 2019|Literature, Social Norms|Comments Off on Dynamic Norms: Our New Year’s Resolution

Let Them Be The Boss: Helping Students Make Informed Choices Through Social Norms

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 [...]

By |2018-12-26T06:58:58-05:00December 26th, 2018|Alcohol, Binge Drinking, College students, Social Norms|Comments Off on Let Them Be The Boss: Helping Students Make Informed Choices Through Social Norms

5 Tips to a Successful Social Norms Campaign

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 [...]

By |2019-08-01T17:18:49-04:00December 4th, 2018|Social Norms|Comments Off on 5 Tips to a Successful Social Norms Campaign

The Importance of the 10%

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 [...]

By |2017-04-06T16:33:02-04:00June 28th, 2015|News, Social Marketing, Social Norms|Comments Off on The Importance of the 10%

“Nudging” Behavior Change Using Non-normative Statistics

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 [...]

By |2017-04-06T16:33:02-04:00June 27th, 2015|Literature, Social Marketing, Social Norms|Comments Off on “Nudging” Behavior Change Using Non-normative Statistics

Positive Deviance

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 [...]

By |2017-04-06T16:33:03-04:00June 26th, 2015|Alcohol, Binge Drinking, College students, How To, Literature, Social Norms|Comments Off on Positive Deviance

An Important Review Article

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 [...]

By |2017-04-06T16:33:05-04:00June 15th, 2015|Alcohol, Binge Drinking, College students, Literature, Social Norms|Comments Off on An Important Review Article

Alcohol Outlet Density, Norms and Alcohol Use Disorder

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. [...]

By |2017-04-06T16:33:05-04:00June 15th, 2015|Alcohol, Literature, Social Norms|Comments Off on Alcohol Outlet Density, Norms and Alcohol Use Disorder

Unplugged — European Style Prevention

Unplugged is "an effective school-based program for the prevention of substance use among adolescents" implemented in several European countries and containing a social norms component. We give you the Preface to "Eudap Final Technical Report n.1." Preface EU-Dap, the European Drug Addiction Prevention trial, is a multicenter study implemented by nine partners from seven different European [...]

By |2017-04-06T16:33:05-04:00June 15th, 2015|Alcohol, How To, Literature, Social Norms|Comments Off on Unplugged — European Style Prevention