Cited by 1,772Pro-Environmental Behavior and AttitudesPsychology of Social InfluenceBehavioral Health and Interventions

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 57 of the 57 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

Normative Social Influence is Underdetected

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Abstract

The present research investigated the persuasive impact and detectability of normative social influence. The first study surveyed 810 Californians about energy conservation and found that descriptive normative beliefs were more predictive of behavior than were other relevant beliefs, even though respondents rated such norms as least important in their conservation decisions. Study 2, a field experiment, showed that normative social influence produced the greatest change in behavior compared to information highlighting other reasons to conserve, even though respondents rated the normative information as least motivating. Results show that normative messages can be a powerful lever of persuasion but that their influence is underdetected.

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Research works printed but not linked: 7

  1. Council of American Survey Research Organizations., 1982, On the definition of response rates: A special report of the CASRO task force on completion rates
  2. Crano, W.D. (2001). Social influence, social identity, and ingroup leniency. In C.K.W. de Dreu & N. K. de Vries (Eds.), Group consensus and minority influence (pp. 122-143). Oxford, UK: Blackwell.
  3. Darley, J.M. & Latané, B. (1970). Norms and normative behavior: Field studies of social interdependence. In J. Macaulay & L. Berkowitz (Eds.), Altruism and helping behavior (pp. 83-102). New York: Academic Press.
  4. Schultz, P.W. (2002). Knowledge, information, and household recycling: Examining the knowledge-deficit model of behavior change. In T. Dietz & P. Stern (Eds.), Education, information, and voluntary measures in environmental protection (pp. 67-82). Washington, DC: National Academy of Sciences.
  5. Schultz, P.W., 2003, American values. Human Ecology Review, 10, 126
  6. Turner, J.C., 1991, Social influence
  7. Von Borgstede, B., 1999, Goteborg Psychological Reports, 29, 1

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Metadata

Authors
Nolan, J. M., Schultz, P. W., Cialdini, R. B., Goldstein, N. J., & Griskevicius, V.
Affiliations
  • University of Arkansas at Fayetteville (US)
  • California State University, San Marcos (US)
  • Arizona State University (US)
  • University of Chicago (US)
  • University of Minnesota (US)
Corresponding author
Nolan, Jessica M.
Venue
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
Published
2008-05-09
Volume
34
Issue
7
Pages
913-923
ISSN
  • 0146-1672 (ISSN-L)
  • 1552-7433
OpenAlex
W2077676995
Cited by
1,772
References
57
Citations by year
2026: 61 · 2025: 110 · 2024: 106 · 2023: 129 · 2022: 119 · 2021: 121 · 2020: 108 · 2019: 136 · 2018: 115 · 2017: 119 · 2016: 127 · 2015: 130 · 2014: 115 · 2013: 84 · 2012: 70
FWCI
192.25
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • John Spoor Broome Library Institutional Repository (California State University) (submittedVersion)
  • CSUN ScholarWorks (California State University, Northridge) (submittedVersion)
Funders
National Science Foundation
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law › Pro-Environmental Behavior and Attitudes
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Psychology of Social Influence
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Behavioral Health and Interventions
Keywords
normative influence, descriptive norms, persuasiveness, energy conservation, normative beliefs, persuasion, behavior change
MeSH terms
Adult, Attention, California, Conservation of Natural Resources, Culture, Data Collection, Decision Making, Female, Humans, Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice, Male, Middle Aged, Motivation, Persuasive Communication, Social Conformity, Social Identification

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