About the National Social Norms Resource Center

History

The National Social Norms Resource Center is an independent center that supports, promotes and provides technical assistance in the application of the social norms approach to a broad range of health, safety and social justice issues, including alcohol-related risk-reduction and the prevention of tobacco abuse. Opened on July 1, 2000, the Center is directed by Michael Haines, a nationally recognized proponent and pioneering practitioner of this effective strategy.

Mission

Communicate to the higher education and the alcohol abuse prevention field regarding social norms news:

  1. Produce ready-to-use media and timely press releases on alcohol wellness information to correct misperceptions of alcohol-related behaviors at colleges and universities.
  2. Maintain a website with downloadable products such as photo-ready ads, graphs & charts, press releases, op-ed pieces and letters to the editor.

Catalog other schools or community sites currently implementing social norm efforts:

  1. Maintain a collection of media methods such as ads, posters, software, press releases, used by various sites to conduct social norms and social marketing efforts.
  2. Maintain a collection of data from colleges, communities or other sites where social norms and social marketing are conducted.

Expand social norms/protective behavior research:

  1. Provide technical support for project outcome research to sites that are using social norm methods to reduce alcohol-related harm and increase behaviors that protect alcohol users from harm.
  2. Provide research tools, such as survey instruments, to assist sites in collecting data documenting prevalence of protective social norms and other measures of alcohol wellness and to evaluate the effectiveness various methods.
  3. To catalog and promote research based projects that use the Social Norms approach for other health, safety, and social justice issues.

Collect research regarding social norms, protective behaviors, and alcohol wellness:

  1. Maintain a current literature list
  2. Locate and report any original or new primary research

Contribute to the planning and content of the National Social Norms Conference:

  1. Describe the social norms theory and research and the implications for alcohol wellness and other applications of this approach.
  2. Present current research results compiled by the Social Norms Center.
  3. Highlight new research and promote this effort to the field.

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Copyright © 2001 The National Social Norms Resource Center