How social norms are often a barrier to addressing climate change but can be part of the solution

Abstract

We argue that the behavioral challenges posed by climate change are fundamentally problems of social influence. Behaviors that perpetuate climate change are often opaque in their consequences; thus, we look to others to infer how to act. Yet unsustainable behaviors, like driving and eating meat, are often the norm; conformity to such norms is a major hurdle to a more sustainable world. Nonetheless, we argue that social norms can also be a powerful lever for positive change. Drawing on two streams of recent research, we show that well-implemented social norm strategies can motivate positive steps even in the face of a negative current norm and even in individuals’ private behavior absent the judgment of others. First, appeals to dynamic norms – information about change in others or trends in norms over time – can lead people to conform to the change itself, even if this change violates current norms. Second, framing normative appeals in terms of an invitation to work with others toward a common goal can increase the motivation to join in. Despite ubiquitous unsustainable norms, careful theory-based representations of social norms can help us make progress on climate change.

Conceptualizing the Role of Individual Agency in Mobility Transitions: Avenues for the Integration of Sociological and Psychological Perspectives

“…The perspective developed here may encourage individuals to look out for signs of accelerating social dynamics (e.g., in media discourse), which could become windows of opportunity for systemic change. Motivation to participate in changing social norms may be higher when individuals see themselves as effectively "pushing" a change process, which is already ongoing (Sparkman et al, 2020). At the moment, individuals in Western societies will often not be aware of these notions, a fact which can be seen as an effect of the dominance of individualistic paradigms described by Göpel (2016).…”

“…As stated above, social norms as a form of social influence are embedded in our social communities (Sparkman et al, 2020). Theories like the Social Identity Theory (Tajfel and Turner, 1986) help to explain normative influence and norm salience in a particular situation highlighting the importance of "behaviorally relevant ingroups" (Fielding and Louis, 2020).…”

“…Normative conflict can not only appear in competing norms between different groups, but also as a discrepancy between a dominant descriptive norm and the injunctive norm. This is particularly common for environmental issues, where the injunctive norm often is the sustainable one competing with a dominant (unsustainable) descriptive one (Sparkman et al, 2020). In a study on local mobility culture, defined as injunctive norms concerning the design of the local transport system, Bamberg et al (2020) observe conflicting norms in a perceived consensus to support both a multimodal mobility culture as well as perceived consensus to keep privileges of a car oriented mobility culture.…”

Citizens support ambitious but costly regulation against food waste

“…Third, future research should also assess the risks of potentially negative feedback effects. For instance, previous research has shown that norm messages communicating the prevalence of non-sustainable behaviors can decrease policy support and increase unsustainable behaviors 51,52 . Finally, consumers' misperceptions of their food waste contributions might explain why citizens support supply-side policies that set stringent reduction targets for the food industry but oppose demand-side policies that directly target consumers 11 .…”

Behavioural climate policy

“…One key insight from this special issue is the importance of the social context in which people make consumer decisions. For example, Sparkman et al (this issue) point out that, as a social dilemma, climate change is fundamentally a problem of vicious and virtuous behaviour cycles. Critically, Sparkman and colleagues highlight that many unsustainable behaviours, such as driving and meat consumption, remain the current norm.…”