health and environment behaviours

Question 1

pro-health and environmental behaviours (definition and why promote them)

Answer 1

purposeful action/behaviour that can reduce negative impact on health/environment

why promote these?
wellbeing, quality of life and longevity
climate crisis

Question 2

social influence definition

Answer 2

social influence = change in thoughts, feelings, attitudes, or behaviours that result from interaction with another individual or group

influence can be implied or direct

engagement in behaviours are influenced by others

Question 3

types of social influence (5)

Answer 3

modelling
social norms
social facilitation
group pressures
social support

Question 4

define social modelling

Answer 4

seeing someone else model a behaviour makes others more likely to do that too

Question 5

alcohol intake and modelling study

Answer 5

method:
135 students
naturalistic bar setting, experimental study
told they were doing a study rating things, break part way through to go to the bar and get drinks (when the real study starts)

confederate ordered drink first, conditions:
* 2 fizzy drinks (control)
* 1 alcohol and 2 fizzy (light drinking)
* 3-4 alcohol (heavy drinking)

DV = number of alcoholic drinks participant consumed

results:
heavy condition drank more alcohol than control and light (significant result)

Question 6

modelling - effect on other behaviours (3)

Answer 6

eating behaviours
* review found social modelling influenced food choice or food intake with both live and remote confederate

sun protective behaviours

cigarette smoking

Question 7

moderators of social modelling (2)

Answer 7

high need for social acceptance
* low self esteem and high empathy associated with greater modelling

body weight
* greater modelling when other is same weight as participant

remember moderators can vary in strength depending on what behaviour is being studied

Question 8

explanations of social modelling (3)

Answer 8

social approval
* conformity more pronounced when concerns about affiliation are increased

informational influence - accurate decision making
* others provide point of reference for norms/appropriate behaviours

automatic mimicry
* conform to those who you identify with and like and want to affiliate with

Question 9

social norms definition

Answer 9

unwritten rules about how to behave

Question 10

social norms:
descriptive
injunctive

Answer 10

descriptive = perceptions about what others tend to do

injunctive = perceptions of what others approve of

Question 11

social norms:
prescriptive vs proscriptive

Answer 11

prescriptive = focus on what others do or approve of

proscriptive = prohibitive - focus on what others don’t do or don’t approve of

Question 12

methods of delivery of social norms- interventions (2)

Answer 12

social norms marketing
perceived normative feedback (PNF) - comparison of self to what most other people do

Question 13

descriptive norm messaging study - hotel towels

Answer 13

method:

433 hotel guests

use with hotel towel reuse, 2 conditions:
control = help save environment
descriptive norm = number of other hotel guests who reuse towels to save environment

DV = towel reuse rates

results:
descriptive norm = increased towel reuse
similar effects for other pro-environmental and health behaviours have been found

Question 14

social norms and student binge drinking - inaccurate perceptions

Answer 14

students overestimate how much peers drink and peer support for drinking
this drives problematic drinking behaviour

can use social norms to reduce problematic student drinking

Question 15

descriptive norm messaging and problematic student drinking study

Answer 15

method:
96 students, 4 conditions:
* no messages
* campaign only (”think before you drink”)
* descriptive norm only (“65% of students at this uni do not down drinks on a night out)
* campaign and descriptive norm

DV = intentions to down drinks

results:
campaign with descriptive norm reduced intentions to down drinks in students
other conditions increased/no effect on intention

limits
measured intentions, not behaviours
no data on individual alcohol intake before

Question 16

descriptive norms and sustainable diets at uni study

Answer 16

Buckland study (under review)

method:
pre-post intervention design at university food outlets
one week pre, one week intervention, one week post

DV = proportion of meat/meatless foods purchased

results
no significant differences found
aligns with other findings - descriptive norms not always effective

Question 17

personalised normative feedback (PNF)

Answer 17

compares perceived to true norms → descriptive and injunctive

Question 18

sun protective behaviours study

Answer 18

method:
perception that tother women thought tanned skin was positive was overestimated
perceptions about support to use sun cream was underestimated

2 conditions:
* standard health info (control)
* injunctive norm (PNF) - others think sun cream is more important than you do

measured at: baseline, immediately post intervention and 4 weeks post intervention

measured: intentions and self-reported sun protection behaviours

results:

immediate post test
* injunctive condition reported greater intentions to engage in protective behaviour compared to control

4 week follow up
* injunctive still had stronger intentions AND self reported more use of sunhats compared to control

Question 19

descriptive vs injunctive norms

Answer 19

descriptive - informational influence
guide on appropriate way to act
more effective in unfamiliar or ambiguous situations

injunctive - social approval
enables affiliation with social group

Question 20

boomerang effect

Answer 20

social norms backfiring

unintended negative consequences of social norm messages

engagement in targeted desired behaviours reduces for some people after the social norm message intervention

Question 21

why does boomerang effect occur (2)

Answer 21

realise undesirable behaviour is more common than realised, so no longer bother

already engaging in behaviour reduce it to avoid letting others get away with doing nothing - free riders

Question 22

boomerang effect study - Schultz (2007) core reading - household energy use

Answer 22

method:
290 households in California - grouped into low and high energy users from meter readings

2 conditions:
* descriptive norm message about neighbourhood energy use
* descriptive norm message with either happy or sad face (injunctive norm condition) on depending on whether they were high or low energy users

DV = subsequent household energy use

results:
* boomerang effect seen with descriptive norm message only in those previously using below the average
* using injunctive message reduces the boomerang effect for those already using desired behaviour
* those not doing behaviour reduced energy usage in both conditions

Question 23

how to reduce boomerang effect (3)

Answer 23

message framing
* praise those who engage in behaviour to avoid risk of resentment
* avoid inadvertently promoting undesirable behaviour

target only those who don’t engage in desired behaviour

Question 24

impact of shared group membership (2) and implications for interventions

Answer 24

influence of group norms are stronger if individuals identify with the referent group

group membership can also explain reactance against group norms if the norm is related to undesirable outgroup

implications = care to ensure group norm is desirable

Question 25

theoretical approaches to social norms (3)

Answer 25

theory of planned behaviour

focus theory of normative conduct
* motives for conforming = informational, social approval, and positive self-image

theory of normative behaviour
* influence of descriptive norms is moderated by injunctive norms, group membership, behaviour identification, and outcome expectations