scholarly journals Increasing the Proportion of Plant-Based Foods Available to Shift Social Consumption Norms and Food Choice among Non-Vegetarians

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (13) ◽  
pp. 5371
Author(s):  
Sanne Raghoebar ◽  
Ellen Van Kleef ◽  
Emely De Vet
Keyword(s):  
Social Norms ◽  
Food Choice ◽  
Food Item ◽  
Social Norm ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Direct Effects ◽  
Injunctive Norms ◽  
Animal Source Foods ◽  
Animal Source ◽  
The Impact

Increasing the relative availability of plant-based (versus animal source) foods seems promising in shifting consumption, but it remains unknown how and under what circumstances this happens. We performed two availability manipulations including different foods. The impact on food choice, social norm perceptions about what others do (descriptive) or approve of (injunctive), and salience was assessed. Non-vegetarian participants were visually (Study 1, n = 184) or physically (Study 2, n = 276) exposed to (a) four plant-based and two animal source foods or (b) vice versa. Participants chose one food item, either hypothetically (Study 1) or actually (Study 2), and reported the perceived social norms and salience of plant-based and animal source foods. The results showed no direct effects on food choice, injunctive norms, or salience. An increased proportion of plant-based (versus animal source) foods was interpreted in Study 1 as plant-based foods being less often chosen by others, whereas in Study 2, these foods were interpreted as being more often chosen (marginally significant), while animal source foods were interpreted as being less often chosen. The results suggest that a higher availability of plant-based foods influences descriptive norms, but future research should examine aspects potentially contributing to the contradictory normative interpretations (e.g., norm salience).

Social Norms and Their Enforcement

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica M. Nolan
Keyword(s):  
Social Behavior ◽  
Social Norms ◽  
Personal Relevance ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Cognitive Resources ◽  
Review Of The Literature ◽  
Reference Groups ◽  
Injunctive Norms ◽  
Social Sanctions ◽  
The Impact

In this chapter social norms are redefined as “rules and standards that are understood by members of a group, and that guide morally relevant social behavior by way of social sanctions, instead of the force of laws.” In line with this revised definition, the chapter includes a discussion of how and when individuals enforce social norms along with the customary review of the literature on social norms as agents of social influence. A discussion of how to maximize the impact of social norms interventions follows with special consideration given to (a) combining descriptive and injunctive norms, (b) reference groups, (c) personal relevance, and (d) cognitive resources. The chapter also includes a discussion of the tendency to underestimate the influence of social norms, both on one’s own behavior and the behavior of others. Several conflicting results are identified and suggestions are made for how to resolve them with future research.

scholarly journals Cash transfers and child nutritional outcomes: a systematic review and meta-analysis

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (12) ◽  
pp. e003621
Author(s):  
James Manley ◽  
Yarlini Balarajan ◽  
Shahira Malm ◽  
Luke Harman ◽  
Jessica Owens ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Child Nutrition ◽  
Social Protection ◽  
Dietary Diversity ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Cash Transfer ◽  
Animal Source Foods ◽  
Animal Source ◽  
Z Scores ◽  
Households With Children ◽  
The Impact

BackgroundCash transfer (CT) programmes are implemented widely to alleviate poverty and provide safety nets to vulnerable households with children. However, evidence on the effects of CTs on child health and nutrition outcomes has been mixed. We systematically reviewed evidence of the impact of CTs on child nutritional status and selected proximate determinants.MethodsWe searched articles published between January 1997 and September 2018 using Agris, Econlit, Eldis, IBSS, IDEAS, IFPRI, Google Scholar, PubMed and World Bank databases. We included studies using quantitative impact evaluation methods of CTs with sample sizes over 300, targeted to households with children under 5 years old conducted in countries with gross domestic product per capita below US$10 000 at baseline. We conducted meta-analysis using random-effects models to assess the impact of CT programmes on selected child nutrition outcomes and meta-regression analysis to examine the association of programme characteristics with effect sizes.ResultsOut of 2862 articles identified, 74 articles were eligible for inclusion. We find that CTs have significant effects of 0.03±0.03 on height-for-age z-scores (p<0.03) and a decrease of 2.1% in stunting (95% CI −3.5% to −0.7%); consumption of animal-source foods (4.5%, 95% CI 2.9% to 6.0%); dietary diversity (0.73, 95% CI 0.28 to 1.19) and diarrhoea incidence (−2.7%, 95% CI −5.4% to −0.0%; p<0.05). The effects of CTs on weight-for-age z-scores and wasting were not significant (0.02, 95% CI −0.03 to 0.08; p<0.42) and (1.2%, 95% CI: −0.1% to 2.5%; p<0.07), respectively. We found that specific programme characteristics differentially modified the effect on the nutrition outcomes studied.ConclusionWe found that CT programmes targeted to households with young children improved linear growth and contributed to reduced stunting. We found that the likely pathways were through increased dietary diversity, including through the increased consumption of animal-source foods and reduced incidence of diarrhoea. With heightened interest in nutrition-responsive social protection programmes to improve child nutrition, we make recommendations to inform the design and implementation of future programmes.

scholarly journals The Relative Importance of Values, Social Norms, and Enjoyment-Based Motivation in Explaining Pro-Environmental Product Purchasing Behavior in Apparel Domain

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (17) ◽  
pp. 6797 ◽  
Author(s):  
Insook Ahn ◽  
Soo Kim ◽  
Munyoung Kim
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Social Norms ◽  
Intrinsic Motivation ◽  
Social Norm ◽  
Environmental Issues ◽  
Relative Importance ◽  
Purchasing Behavior ◽  
Injunctive Norms ◽  
Descriptive Norms ◽  
Consumption Behavior

Changing consumption behavior can offer co-benefits in reduction of environmental issues and encouraging improvements to environmentally friendly or sustainable production. We propose a novel value-social norm-enjoyment-based motivation (VSE) model and test the factors that influence individual pro-environmental apparel purchasing behavior. Data were obtained from 353 college students in Korea and analyzed by using SEM. Our results show that individuals who endorse bio-altruistic values who engage in eco-friendly environmental behavior in apparel domain are influenced by descriptive norms and injunctive norms. Further, enjoyment-based motivation was found to be a key mediator among bio-altruistic value, descriptive norms, and injunctive norms on pro-environmental purchasing behavior. However, injunctive norms do not directly influence purchasing behavior, but rather, are integrated to enjoyment-based intrinsic motivation, then indirectly affect purchasing behavior.

scholarly journals 'Welcome' Changes? Descriptive and Injunctive Norms in a Wikipedia Sub-Community

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan T. Morgan ◽  
Anna Filippova
Keyword(s):  
Social Norms ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Injunctive Norms ◽  
Normative Influence ◽  
Descriptive Norms ◽  
Online Groups ◽  
Open Collaboration ◽  
Sustainability Research ◽  
Focus Theory

Open online communities rely on social norms for behavior regulation, group cohesion, and sustainability. Research on the role of social norms online has mainly focused on one source of influence at a time, making it difficult to separate different normative influences and understand their interactions. In this study, we use the Focus Theory to examine interactions between several sources of normative influence in a Wikipedia sub-community: local descriptive norms, local injunctive norms, and norms imported from similar sub- communities. We find that exposure to injunctive norms has a stronger effect than descriptive norms, that the likelihood of performing a behavior is higher when both injunctive and descriptive norms are congruent, and that conflicting social norms may negatively impact pro-normative behavior. We contextualize these findings through member interviews, and discuss their implications for both future research on normative influence in online groups and the design of systems that support open collaboration.

Norms

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jon Elster
Keyword(s):  
Social Norms ◽  
Social Norm ◽  
Moral Norms ◽  
Legal Norms ◽  
Fairness Norms ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Political Norms ◽  
The Relationship

This article explores the relationship between norms and action, making a distinction between social and moral norms, quasi-moral norms, legal norms, and conventions. It defines ‘social norm’ as a non-outcome-oriented injunction to act or to abstain from acting, sustained by the sanctions that others apply to norm violators. After explaining how social norms operate, the article considers some important or representative social norms, including work norms, tipping norms, queueing norms, fairness norms and political norms. It also compares social norms with other motivations to act and argues that social norms are ultimately sustained by the emotions of contempt (or indignation) and shame. Yet the influence of emotion on behavior is much larger than the impact mediated by social norms.

scholarly journals How to Solve the Social Norm Conflict Dilemma of Green Consumption: The Moderating Effect of Self-Affirmation

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wanda Ge ◽  
Guanghua Sheng ◽  
Hongli Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Social Norms ◽  
Social Norm ◽  
Injunctive Norms ◽  
Descriptive Norms ◽  
Green Consumption ◽  
Mediating Role ◽  
Conflict Situations ◽  
Maximum Utility ◽  
The Social

Social norms are important social factors that affect individual behavioral change. Using social norms to promote green consumption is receiving increasing attention. However, due to the different formation processes and mechanisms of the behavioral influence of the different types of social norms, using social norms to promote green consumption often has social norm conflict situations (injunctive norms + negative descriptive norms). Thus, it is difficult to attain the maximum utility of social norms. The present research found that social norm conflict weakens the role of injunctive norms in promoting green consumption. Specifically, negative descriptive norms weaken the role of injunctive norms in promoting green consumption. Alienation, which manifests through powerlessness and meaninglessness, plays a mediating role in the relationship between social norm conflict and green consumption. Self-affirmation moderates the mediating role of alienation between social norm conflicts and green consumption. Self-affirmation reduces the alienation caused by social norm conflict, thereby alleviating the weakening effect of social norm conflict on green consumption.

scholarly journals Understanding the Intersection of Climate/Environmental Change, Health, Agriculture, and Improved Nutrition: A Case Study on Micronutrient Nutrition and Animal Source Foods

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (7) ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel J Raiten ◽  
Lindsay H Allen ◽  
Joanne L Slavin ◽  
Frank M Mitloehner ◽  
Gregory J Thoma ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Agricultural Practices ◽  
Unintended Consequences ◽  
Changing Environment ◽  
Animal Source Foods ◽  
Animal Source ◽  
Nutritional Needs ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Global Population

Abstract With a growing global population, the demand for high-quality food to meet nutritional needs continues to increase. Our ability to meet those needs is challenged by a changing environment that includes constraints on land and water resources and growing concerns about the impact of human activity including agricultural practices on the changing climate. Adaptations that meet food/nutritional demands while avoiding unintended consequences including negatively affecting the environment are needed. This article covers a specific case study, the role of animal source foods (ASFs) in meeting micronutrient needs in a changing environment. The article covers our understanding of the role of ASFs in meeting micronutrient needs, evidence-based approaches to the development of nutrition guidance, the current issues associated with the relation between animal production practices and greenhouse gas emissions, and examples of how we might model the myriad sources of relevant data to better understand these complex interrelations.

EXPRESS: The Influence of Social Norms on Consumer Behavior: A Meta-Analysis

2021 ◽  
pp. 002224292110291
Author(s):  
Vladimir Melnyk ◽  
François A. Carrillat ◽  
Valentyna Melnyk
Keyword(s):  
Consumer Behavior ◽  
Social Norms ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Future Research Agenda ◽  
Reactance Theory ◽  
Managerial Implications ◽  
Behavior Characteristics ◽  
The Impact

Social norms shape consumer behavior. However, it is not clear under what circumstances social norms are more versus less effective in doing so. This gap is addressed through an interdisciplinary meta-analysis examining the impact of social norms on consumer behavior across a wide array of contexts involving the purchase, consumption, use, and disposal of products and services, including socially approved (e.g., fruit consumption, donations) and disapproved (e.g., smoking, gambling) behaviors. Drawing from reactance theory and based on a cross-disciplinary data set of 250 effect sizes from research spanning 1978–2019 representing 112,478 respondents from 22 countries, the effects of five categories of moderators of the effectiveness of social norms on consumer behavior are examined: (1) target behavior characteristics, (2) communication factors, (3) consumer costs, (4) environmental factors, and (5) methodological characteristics. The findings suggest that while the effect of social norms on approved behavior is stable across time and cultures, their effect on disapproved behavior has grown over time and is stronger in survival and traditional cultures. Communications identifying specific organizations or close group members enhance compliance with social norms, as does the presence of monetary costs. The authors leverage their findings to offer managerial implications and a future research agenda for the field.

scholarly journals Animal source foods have a positive impact on the primary school test scores of Kenyan schoolchildren in a cluster-randomised, controlled feeding intervention trial

2013 ◽  
Vol 111 (5) ◽  
pp. 875-886 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judie L. Hulett ◽  
Robert E. Weiss ◽  
Nimrod O. Bwibo ◽  
Osman M. Galal ◽  
Natalie Drorbaugh ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Energy Intake ◽  
Test Scores ◽  
Primary Schools ◽  
Average Energy ◽  
Child Growth ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Animal Source Foods ◽  
Cluster Randomised ◽  
Animal Source ◽  
The Impact

Micronutrient deficiencies and suboptimal energy intake are widespread in rural Kenya, with detrimental effects on child growth and development. Sporadic school feeding programmes rarely include animal source foods (ASF). In the present study, a cluster-randomised feeding trial was undertaken to determine the impact of snacks containing ASF on district-wide, end-term standardised school test scores and nutrient intake. A total of twelve primary schools were randomly assigned to one of three isoenergetic feeding groups (a local plant-based stew (githeri) with meat, githeri plus whole milk or githeri with added oil) or a control group receiving no intervention feeding. After the initial term that served as baseline, children were fed at school for five consecutive terms over two school years from 1999 to 2001. Longitudinal analysis was used controlling for average energy intake, school attendance, and baseline socio-economic status, age, sex and maternal literacy. Children in the Meat group showed significantly greater improvements in test scores than those in all the other groups, and the Milk group showed significantly greater improvements in test scores than the Plain Githeri (githeri+oil) and Control groups. Compared with the Control group, the Meat group showed significant improvements in test scores in Arithmetic, English, Kiembu, Kiswahili and Geography. The Milk group showed significant improvements compared with the Control group in test scores in English, Kiswahili, Geography and Science. Folate, Fe, available Fe, energy per body weight, vitamin B12, Zn and riboflavin intake were significant contributors to the change in test scores. The greater improvements in test scores of children receiving ASF indicate improved academic performance, which can result in greater academic achievement.

Social norms, social value, and judgments of responsibility 1Preparation of this paper was supported by a Swiss National Science Foundation Fellowship. We thank Jessica Kadis for her valuable help in putting the finishing touches to this paper.

2001 ◽  
Vol 60 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
Loraine Devos-Comby ◽  
Thierry Devos
Keyword(s):  
Social Norms ◽  
Social Norm ◽  
Strong Support ◽  
Social Value ◽  
Hiv Positive ◽  
Causal Inferences ◽  
Responsibility Attribution ◽  
Swiss National Science Foundation ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Impact

We investigated the impact of social norms on responsibility attribution. We hypothesized that an actor would be held more responsible for a negative outcome when adopting a counternormative, rather than normative, conduct. Under these circumstances, judging someone responsible consists of casting the negative social value of the conduct onto the actor. In three experiments, we found that an HIV-positive person was judged more responsible for the infection when his or her conduct transgressed a social norm than when it did not. As expected, this effect was mediated by the social value attributed to the actor, but not by the affective reactions toward him or her. In addition, we ruled out several alternative interpretations of these findings. In Experiment 1, judgments of responsibility were unrelated to causal inferences. In Experiment 2, the salience of the counternormative conduct did not affect the impact of the social norm on responsibility attribution. In Experiment 3, the validation (commonness) of the conduct did not moderate the effect of its normativeness. Overall, the results provide strong support for the idea that responsibility attribution is based on the social desirability of behaviors.

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