Changing Norms to Change Behavior

Posted: 6 Jan 2016

See all articles by Dale T. Miller

Dale T. Miller

Stanford Graduate School of Business

Deborah Prentice

Princeton University - Department of Psychology

Date Written: January 2016

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.

Suggested Citation

Miller, Dale T. and Prentice, Deborah, Changing Norms to Change Behavior (January 2016). Annual Review of Psychology, Vol. 67, pp. 339-361, 2016, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2711683 or http://dx.doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-010814-015013

Dale T. Miller (Contact Author)

Stanford Graduate School of Business ( email )

655 Knight Way
Stanford, CA 94305-5015
United States

Deborah Prentice

Princeton University - Department of Psychology

Green Hall
Princeton, NJ 08540
United States

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