Normative Social Influence is Underdetected

Articles
Nolan, J. M., Schultz, P. W., Cialdini, R. B., Goldstein, N. J., Griskevicius V. (2008). Normative Social Influence is Underdetected. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 34 (7), 913-923.
The present research investigated the persuasive impact and detectability of normative social influence. The first study surveyed 810 Californians about energy conservation and fo…

The Constructive, Destructive, and Reconstructive Power of Social Norms

Articles
Schultz P. W., Nolan J. M., Cialdini R. B., Goldstein N. J., Griskevicius Vladas (2007). The Constructive, Destructive, and Reconstructive Power of Social Norms. Psychological Science, 18(5), 429-434.
Despite a long tradition of effectiveness in laboratory tests, normative messages have had mixed success in changing behavior in field contexts, with some studies showing boomeran…

Using Normative Social Influence to Promote Conservation Among Hotel Guests

Articles
Schultz, P. W., Khazian, A., Zaleski, A. (2008). Using normative social influence to promote conservation among hotel guests. Social Influence, 3(1), 4-23.
Three field experiments are reported on the ability of printed normative messages to influence conservation behavior among hotel guests. While prior research has shown that social…

Changing Homeowners' Use of Toxic Household Products: A Transactional Approach

Articles
Werner, C. (2003). Changing homeowners' use of toxic household products: A transactional approach. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 23(1), 33-45
The present article examines how a multilevel persuasion program might induce environmental attitude and behavior change. An education and behavior change program was developed to…

Responses to Within-Group Criticism: Does Past Adherence to Group Norms Matter?

Articles
Tarrant, M., & Campbell, E. (2007). Responses to within-group criticism: Does past adherence to group norms matter?. European Journal of Social Psychology, 37(6), 1187-1202. doi:10.1002/ejsp.441.
Two studies tested the hypothesis that responses to within-group criticism are influenced by perceptions of a critic's prior adherence to ingroup norms. Participants responded to …

Putting Text in Context: The Conflict Between Pro-Ecological Messages and Anti-Ecological Descriptive Norms

Articles
Oceja, L., & Berenguer, J. (2009). Putting text in context: The conflict between pro-ecological messages and anti-ecological descriptive norms. The Spanish Journal of Psychology, 12(2), 657-666.
In the present work we test whether the effectiveness of ecological messages may be canceled out when they conflict with the descriptive norm that is salient in the situation. In …

An Explication of Social Norms

Articles
Lapinski, M., & Rimal, R. (2005). An Explication of Social Norms. Communication Theory, 15(2), 127-147. doi:10.1111/j.1468-2885.2005.tb00329.x.
This article identifies four factors for consideration in norms-based research to enhance the predictive ability of theoretical models. First, it makes the distinction between per…

Social Identity, Self-Categorization, and the Communication of Group Norms

Articles
Hogg, M., & Reid, S. (2006). Social identity, self-categorization, and the communication of group norms. Communication Theory, 16(1), 7-30. doi:10.1111/j.1468-2885.2006.00003.x.
We articulate the role of norms within the social identity perspective as a basis for theorizing a number of manifestly communicative phenomena. We describe how group norms are co…

Car Use of Young Adults: The Role of Travel Socialization

Articles
Haustein, S., Klöckner, C., & Blöbaum, A. (2009). Car use of young adults: The role of travel socialization. Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour, 12(2), 168-178. doi:10.1016/j.trf.2008.10.003.
This study evaluates how different aspects of travel socialization during childhood and adolescence contribute to the explanation of travel mode choice in young adulthood. In an o…

Crafting Normative Messages to Protect the Environment

Articles
Cialdini, R. (2003). Crafting normative messages to protect the environment. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 12(4), 105-109. doi:10.1111/1467-8721.01242.
It is widely recognized that communications that activate social norms can be effective in producing societally beneficial conduct. Not so well recognized are the circumstances un…

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