Normative Influence

It is well known that human beings have an innate need to belong. One consequence of this drive is that people will often behave in certain ways that will allow them to be liked and accepted by a group. Normative influence is simply “going along with the crowd in order to be liked and accepted.” This is similar to the idea of peer pressure. The actions of the majority of a group can be used as a default option for those wishing to be accepted by the group, because it is assumed that if everyone is doing the same actions, they are acceptable and normal. These types of behaviors are generally good for the group as a whole, because they reduce ingroup threats and encourage conformity to group ideals.

A classic study by Asch demonstrated the power of normative influence. Participants often went along with confederates by providing a very obviously incorrect answer to a simple line judging task. They did this, presumably, in order to not stand out and to be accepted by the rest of the group for going along with the actions of the majority.

A recent event involving a hotel showed that normative influence is even more powerful than “ecofriendly” appeal. Hotels often encourage customers to reuse bath towels to conserve water and energy, and often signs are displayed in hotel rooms for this purpose. Researchers led by Noah Goldstein at UCLA decided to investigate what might be a more effective way to get people to reuse their towels. They created two signs: one with the standard message asking guests to reuse towels for the sake of the environment, and the other telling guests that previous customers had reused their towels. The researchers thought that because in ambiguous situations people often tend to follow the social norm, the second sign should be more effective. Perhaps not surprisingly, this was precisely the case. Reusage increased even further if the sign suggested that the guests who were previously in the exact same hotel room had reused towels. Normative influence therefore has been demonstrated to be even more powerful than environmental motivation when getting people to behave in this positive behavior.

So does that mean that humans are bound to follow the pack day in and day out? Not quite. Surprisingly, another study about apparel purchasing shows that normative influence is not the main factor when college students go shopping. Although normative influence was a predictor of what the students ultimately purchased, attitudinal components of behavior were more significant predictors than normative influence. Nonetheless, in many uncertain circumstances, normative influence has proved powerful in determining behavior.

What about you- would you choose to reuse a towel for the environment, or because the person before you did it?

Krakovsky, Marina. "Hotel Case Study: Peer Pressure's Impact on the Environment." SciAm online, Oct 2008.

Chang, Younhwa, Burns, Leslie D., Noel, Charles J.
Attitudinal Versus Normative Influence in the Purchase of Brand-Name Casual Apparel
Family and Consumer Sciences Research Journal 1996 25: 79-109

Baumeister, R. F., & Bushman, B. J. (2008). Social psychology and human nature. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.