[4] Despite the fact that college drinking is at elevated levels, the perceived amount almost always exceeds actual behavior.
[5] The social norms approach is founded upon a set of assumptions that individuals incorrectly perceive that the attitudes or behaviors of others are different from their own, when in reality they are similar.
These exaggerated perceptions, or rather misperceptions, of peer behavior will continue to influence the habits of the majority, if they are unchallenged.
[6] A phenomenon known as false consensus is closely related to the idea of pluralistic ignorance, and refers to the incorrect belief that others are similar, when in reality they are not.
Also, within the time period of the intervention, there were declines in personal consumption, high risk drinking, and alcohol-related consequences.
A recent trial of a live, interactive, normative feedback program in which students used keypads to input information had positive effects in terms of reducing misperceptions and drinking behavior.
[10] There are many other examples of successful social norms campaigns, which cover various topics, population sizes, and media through which normative messages are conveyed.
[3] Since these achievements have become well-known, the social norms approach has been used successfully to reduce smoking,[17] drinking and driving,[18] and HIV risk behaviors,[19] and to increase seat belt use.
[20] It has also gained widespread use targeting adolescents and high school students, and has been used in an attempt to reduce drinking and smoking behaviors amongst those populations.
[24] The findings of both of those studies present opposition to the first assumption of the social norms approach: Actions are often based on misinformation about or misperceptions of others' attitudes and/or behavior.
[25] Another common criticism is that they are simply ineffective: a nationwide study, which compared colleges with social norms interventions to those that did not have them, found that schools with interventions showed no decreases in measures of alcohol use, and actually found increased measures in terms of alcohol consumed monthly and total amount consumed.
The formative evaluation phase is the time when information regarding perceived norms and actual behaviors is garnered from the audience.
In order for a social norms approach to be the appropriate means for intervention, two conditions must first be satisfied: The most effective way to establish the baseline levels of behavior and perceptions is through the use of surveys.
When these differences are consistent with the campaign and the majority of students adhere to the beneficial idea, they are then used in the next round of message creation.
The most important descriptive researchers look for in the data is the 51% or greater statistic, or items where "most" (i.e., over 50%) of the population adheres to the beneficial behavior.
Another study found that disbelief may be due to preconceived notions about drinking that students develop even before they arrive on campus.
If researchers can demonstrate that their campaign had high reach, then that strengthens the connection of the intervention to positive outcomes.
Silk et al.[34] provide a comprehensive evaluation of a socials norms campaign related to mental health among college students, revealing positive outcomes for students who were exposed to the social norms campaign (e.g., greater likelihood to visit the university's counseling center).
Summative evaluation not only tells whether a program is working, but it can also feed new messages and new campaigns by providing new, updated data.