title: Changing Norms to Change Behavior.
abstract: Providing people with information about the behavior and attitudes of their peers is a strategy commonly employed by those seeking to reduce behavior deemed harmful either to individuals (e.g., high alcohol consumption) or the collective (e.g., high energy consumption). We review norm-based interventions, detailing the logic behind them and the various forms they can take. We give special attention to interventions designed to decrease college students' drinking and increase environment-friendly behaviors. We identify the conditions under which norm information has the highest likelihood of changing the targeted behavior and discuss why this is the case.
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Business, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305; email: dtmiller@stanford.edu.
authors.forename: Dale T
authors.initials: DT
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08540.
authors.forename: Deborah A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Prentice
mesh_terms: D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000523:psychology; D001290:Attitude; D003246:Conservation of Energy Resources; D006801:Humans; D010379:Peer Group; D066262:Social Norms; D012938:Social Perception; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology
keywords: drinking behavior; energy conservation; interventions; social norm marketing; social norms