Hi all, Many of you know that social norms influence behavior in powerful ways. If you would like to harness the power of social norms in your campaigns, try to avoid applying them in ways that conflict with each other. Here’s a refresher on the two main types of social norms: injunctive and descriptive. Injunctive social norms signal to people what they should or should not be doing. Descriptive social norms, in contrast, describe what people are doing in reality. As you can imagine, injunctive and descriptive social norms are not always in alignment. I will give you a couple of examples in the area of nutrition. The food pyramid is a classic way for governments to convey to the general public what foods are best to eat and what foods are best to avoid. In the example below, you can see that at the top of the pyramid, sugary, salty, and fatty foods and drinks are featured. The little icon that says “NOT every day” is an injunctive social norm telling people that they should limit these foods. In contrast, the icon beside it with the exclamation mark is a descriptive social norm telling people that their peers are eating these foods in high quantities.
When people learn that their peers are engaging in a particular behavior, there is a strong pull for them to adopt or maintain that behavior themselves. Why? People are social creatures and mimic the behaviors of their peers in order to fit in. All that to say, descriptive social norms are powerful and should only be used in conjunction with an injunctive social norm if the two are in alignment. An alternative example of a food guide is the healthy plate below from the Government of Canada. In this example, only injunctive social norms such as “Eat protein foods” and “Have plenty of vegetables and fruits” are applied. Foods to avoid eating are not even depicted here at all, which simplifies the message.
To learn more about social norms, consider reading the Social Norms: Building Community Support section of Dr. Doug McKenzie-Mohr’s Fostering Sustainable Behavior book. Also, on the cbsm.com website, you can search for information about social norms by clicking on Resources, then the Tools icon (farthest to the right), then click on Norms, and you will see many articles, cases, forums, and even colleagues who are interested in this topic.
When people learn that their peers are engaging in a particular behavior, there is a strong pull for them to adopt or maintain that behavior themselves. Why? People are social creatures and mimic the behaviors of their peers in order to fit in. All that to say, descriptive social norms are powerful and should only be used in conjunction with an injunctive social norm if the two are in alignment. An alternative example of a food guide is the healthy plate below from the Government of Canada. In this example, only injunctive social norms such as “Eat protein foods” and “Have plenty of vegetables and fruits” are applied. Foods to avoid eating are not even depicted here at all, which simplifies the message.
To learn more about social norms, consider reading the Social Norms: Building Community Support section of Dr. Doug McKenzie-Mohr’s Fostering Sustainable Behavior book. Also, on the cbsm.com website, you can search for information about social norms by clicking on Resources, then the Tools icon (farthest to the right), then click on Norms, and you will see many articles, cases, forums, and even colleagues who are interested in this topic.
