Social Norms and Litter Campaigns

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Social Norms and Litter Campaigns

• Wesley Schultz, Ph.D.
• California State University

August 30, 2006
Panel presentation at the 2006 Litter Summit.
Atlanta, GA. Address correspondences to Wesley
Schultz, Department of Psychology, California
State University, San Marcos, CA, 92078. USA.
Wschultz_at_csusm.edu. [phone].
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About the Presenter

• Ph.D. in applied social psychology
• Academic position (professor)
• Numerous consulting, writing, and marketing
  projects
• Private Southern California Edison (energy),
  Hewlett Foundation, Brookfield Zoo, EDCO Waste
  Management
• State California EPA, Tennessee Department of
  Energy and Conservation, various counties and
  environmental organizations (used oil recycling,
  waste tires)
• Local Cities of Vista, Escondido, San Marcos,
  Winter Park
• Federal National Academy of Sciences,
  Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), National
  Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Justice,
  U.S. Department of Energy.

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Motivating Environmental Action

• Information campaigns (education campaigns)
• Media messages intended to inform people about a
  behavior, program, or problem.
• Awareness campaigns
• Media messages intended to convey to people the
  severity of a specific problem or issue.

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The Information Campaign

• People dont act because they dont know
• Research consistently shows that information
  campaigns FAIL to change behavior.
• YES increased knowledge, and favorable
  attitudes, but NOT behavior.
• Data now available from many programs, health,
  safety, substance use, environment,

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Awareness Campaigns

• Highlight the seriousness of the problem by
  giving incidence rates
• Look at this big problem
• Based on medical and health research
• Public policy
• Traffic, crime, hazardous waste, littering,
  steroid use among adolescents, eating disorders,
  mass transit, and many others
• Seen as a key ingredient to gaining funding

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Normative Social Influence

• Social norms--an individuals beliefs about the
  common and accepted behavior in a specific
  situation.
• Formed through social interaction
• Powerful influence on behavior
• Most powerful in novel situations
• Types of norms (injunctive and descriptive)

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Social Validation

• Gawking (Milgram, Bickman, Berkowitz, 1969)
• N1 (4)
• N5 (18)
• N15 (40)--stopping traffic!
• Seeing others not act (Latane Darley, 1968)
• Smoke study
• Tip jars empty versus full
• Cialdinis littering studies

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Social Psychology
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Social Psychology
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Social Validation

• Which one attracts more tips?

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Social Psychology
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Social Psychology

• Person dropping litter

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Social Psychology
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Social Psychology
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Social Psychology

• Person littering

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Social Psychology
Source Cialdini, R. B., Kallgren, C. A., Reno,
R. R. (1990). A focus theory of normative
conduct Recycling the concept of norms to reduce
litter in public places. Journal of Personality
and Social Psychology, 58, 1015-1026.
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Social Psychology
Source Cialdini, R. B., Kallgren, C. A., Reno,
R. R. (1990). A focus theory of normative
conduct Recycling the concept of norms to reduce
litter in public places. Journal of Personality
and Social Psychology, 58, 1015-1026.
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Social Psychology
Source Cialdini, R. B., Kallgren, C. A., Reno,
R. R. (1990). A focus theory of normative
conduct Recycling the concept of norms to reduce
litter in public places. Journal of Personality
and Social Psychology, 58, 1015-1026.
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Creating Normative Messages

• Unfortunately often applied INCORRECTLY
• Most people do the desired behavior
• A few deviants violate the norm, but they are
  ostracized
• Examples of what NOT to do
• Show ASU recycling video (successful example)

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