How Do Social Norms & Psychological Theories Explain Environmental Behavior?

Social infleunce is one of the strongest ___ of behavior

Drivers

Multiple theories can explain environmental ___-___

Decision

Making

Social Norms

Rules & standards that are understood by members of a group, & that guide &/or constrain human behavior without the force of laws

• Can influence private behaviors

• Injunctive & descritive

Injunctive social norms

Behavior commonly approved or disapproved

Descriptive social norms

Behavior most common among group members

Normative influence

Influence of norms on behavior that is the result of a person’s desire to gain social approval or to avoid social sanctions

Informational influence

Influence of norms on behavior that is the result of a person’s desire to be correct

Norm salience

The prominence, noticeability, or cognitive focus an individual places on a specifiec social norm in a given situation, making it more likely to influence behavior

• Highly salient (through explicit reminders or peer modeling) makes individuals mroe likely to comply with that expectation

Reference groups

Categorizing oneself as a member of a specific group, & then adopting the attitudes & behaviors that are shared by the other members of the group

Theory of planned behavior (TPB)

Model assuming that individuals make reasoned choices that behvaior results from the intention to engage in specific behavior

Norm activation model (NAM)

Proposes that pro-environmental actions follow from the activation of personal norms, reflecting feelings of moral obligation to perform or refrain from actions

• Personal norms are affected by problem awareness, ascription of responsibility, outcome efficacy, & self-efficacy

• Model proposing that pro-environmental action follows from the activation of personal norms

Value-belief-norm (VBN)

Proposes that problem awareness depends on ecological worldviews & value orientations

• Extension of the norm activation model (NAM)

Goal-framing theory

The strength of different goals infleucnes what people think of at the moment

• What information they are sensitive to, what alternatives they perceive, & how they will act

One goal is focal normative goals that provide the most stable bases for pro-environmental behaviors

• Integrated framework for understanding factors influencing environmental behavior, with an emphasis on the relative strength of hedonic, gain, & normative goals

Differences between kinds of norms

• Social norms are perceptions of social pressure from others or society regarding what is acceptable behavior based on normative beliefs.

• Personal norms are internalized moral obligations & feelings of personal duty to act in a certain way, focusing more on intrinsic values than what people think.

• In the end, social norms drive behavior to gain approval or avoid disapproval, while personal norms drive behavior to avoid self-condemnation & adhere to one’s own moral standards.

What TPB predicts

• The theory of planned behavior (TPB) predicts that behavioral intentions, and ultimately actions, are driven by three main factors.

• Attitude towards the behavior, which is someone’s evaluation of the outcome, like believing that recycling is good, convenient, or important.

• Subjective norms are the perceived social pressure to perform or not perform a behavior.

• Finally, perceived behavioral control is an individual’s belief on how easy or difficult it is to perform the behavior.

How personal norms are activated

• According to the norm activation theory, personal norms are activated through four specific cognitive steps.

• First, awareness of consequences, where an individual realizes that environmental problems have negative consequences for themselves or others (problem awareness).

• Next, ascription of responsibility, where the individual feels that they personally have a responsibility to address those consequences.

• Additionally, recognizing abilities by seeing an individual has the ability to help reduce the problem.

• Finally, moral obligation is triggered.