CraftingNormativeMessagestoProtecttheEnvironment.PDFVIP

CURRENT DIRECTIONS IN PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE Crafting Normative Messages to Protect lying message, as well, that a lot of people do litter: Debris floats on the the Environment river, litter lies at the roadside, trash is tossed from an automobile. Robert B. Cialdini1 Department of Psychology, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona DESCRIPTIVE VERSUS Abstract It is rare when a public service INJUNCTIVE NORMS It is widely recognized that announcement (PSA) is believed to have the sort of effectiveness communications that activate so- cial norms can be effective in achieved by the most successful Thus, the creators of the Iron Eyes producing societally beneficial mass media commercial messages, Cody spot may well have pitted two conduct. Not so well recognized which typically benefit from much kinds of norms against one another, are the circumstances under larger production budgets and injunctive norms (involving percep- which normative information broadcast frequencies. Yet there is tions of which behaviors are typi- can backfire to produce the op- one PSA that is regularly credited cally approved or disapproved) and posite of what a