health and environment behaviours Flashcards
pro-health and environmental behaviours (definition and why promote them)
purposeful action/behaviour that can reduce negative impact on health/environment
why promote these?
wellbeing, quality of life and longevity
climate crisis
social influence definition
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
types of social influence (5)
modelling
social norms
social facilitation
group pressures
social support
define social modelling
seeing someone else model a behaviour makes others more likely to do that too
alcohol intake and modelling study
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)
modelling - effect on other behaviours (3)
eating behaviours
* review found social modelling influenced food choice or food intake with both live and remote confederate
sun protective behaviours
cigarette smoking
moderators of social modelling (2)
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
explanations of social modelling (3)
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
social norms definition
unwritten rules about how to behave
social norms:
descriptive
injunctive
descriptive = perceptions about what others tend to do
injunctive = perceptions of what others approve of
social norms:
prescriptive vs proscriptive
prescriptive = focus on what others do or approve of
proscriptive = prohibitive - focus on what others don’t do or don’t approve of
methods of delivery of social norms- interventions (2)
social norms marketing
perceived normative feedback (PNF) - comparison of self to what most other people do
descriptive norm messaging study - hotel towels
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
social norms and student binge drinking - inaccurate perceptions
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
descriptive norm messaging and problematic student drinking study
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
descriptive norms and sustainable diets at uni study
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
personalised normative feedback (PNF)
compares perceived to true norms → descriptive and injunctive
sun protective behaviours study
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
descriptive vs injunctive norms
descriptive - informational influence
guide on appropriate way to act
more effective in unfamiliar or ambiguous situations
injunctive - social approval
enables affiliation with social group
boomerang effect
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
why does boomerang effect occur (2)
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
boomerang effect study - Schultz (2007) core reading - household energy use
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
how to reduce boomerang effect (3)
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
impact of shared group membership (2) and implications for interventions
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
theoretical approaches to social norms (3)
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
