Recycling the concept of social norms to protect the environment.
Social norms, which refer to what most people do (descriptive social norms) and what most people approve (injunctive social norms), are remarkably powerful in directing human action. Equally remarkable is how little note people take of this power at two critical decision points: when, as observers they decide how to interpret the causes of their own actions and when, as communicators they decide how to influence the actions of others. Studies in several environmental contexts (e.g., home energy conservation, household recycling, hotel conservation efforts) show that (1) homeowners severely underestimate the role of social norms in guiding their energy usage, (2) persuasive communications that employ social norm-based appeals for pro-environmental behavior are superior to those that employ traditional appeals, and (3) even though these highly effective social norm-based appeals are nearly costless—requiring no large technological fixes, tax incentives, or regulatory changes—they are rarely (but nonetheless sometimes mistakenly) delivered by policy makers.
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