Social norms and pro-environmental behaviour

This chapter focuses on social norms and people’s tendency to conform to pro-environmental behaviour. It explains what social norms are, how they influence (environmental) behaviour, and when. Social norms are rules and standards that are understood by members of a group, and that guide and/or constrain human behaviour without the force of laws. Although norms can exert a powerful influence on (environmental) behaviour, people tend to underestimate their own susceptibility to social pressure. The chapter examines several moderators that have been found to affect the strength of normative social influence. It focuses specifically on pro-environmental behaviour, and illustrates the effects with examples from recent studies. When designing messages to promote pro-environmental behaviour, it is essential that information regarding corresponding descriptive norms is in line with the targeted behaviour.