Normative portions: alignment of descriptive and injunctive norms for portion size reduction

Graduation Date

2015

Document Type

Thesis

Program

Other

Program

Thesis (M.A.)--Humboldt State University, Psychology: Academic Research, 2015

Committee Chair Name

Chris Aberson

Committee Chair Affiliation

HSU Faculty or Staff

Keywords

Portion size, Injunctive norms, Social norms, Obesity, Overweight, Descriptive norms, Normative information, Humboldt State University -- Theses -- Psychology

Abstract

The health conditions associated with overweight and obesity pose a considerable financial burden on the US healthcare system, and large portion sizes are partly responsible for the rise in the prevalence of overweight. Portion size legislation and sugar taxes have repeatedly been overturned, and public health efforts often utilize ineffective means of conveying their message, such as fat shaming. Social norms, when portrayed correctly, are strong stimulators of behavior. They consist of descriptive and injunctive norms. Descriptive norms tell us what others are actually doing, whereas injunctive norms tell us what is approved or disapproved of in a given setting. The error frequently made by communicators using social norms is to portray an undesirable behavior as unfortunately widespread, which pulls the target's behavior in two opposing directions. The injunctive norm detracts from the behavior, but the descriptive norm increases it by portraying the behavior as common. This study aimed to reduce portion sizes of MMs among students by having them view a public service announcement (PSA) that contained agreeing descriptive and injunctive norms about portion size practices, compared with students who viewed a PSA with disagreeing norms. Contrary to my prediction, however, those who viewed the aligned norms PSA ate nearly twice as much as those who viewed the misaligned norms. The Deviance Regulation Theory can explain this result. It states that attempts to change a behavior should focus their appeals on those who deviate from the norm rather than those who comply with it.

https://scholarworks.calstate.edu/concern/theses/9306t165h

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