Perceived social norms

• Social norms are the rules of behaviour that are considered acceptable within a certain group
• Perceptions of these norms can influence behaviour
• The more people believe others engage in an activity, the more likely they will be to do it themselves
• Incorrect perception leads to misinterpretation of social cues which then influences their own behaviour
• There are two types of social norms. Descriptive and injunctive norms
• Descriptive norms 


  An individuals perception of how much others engage in behaviours such as drinking or smoking
• Injunctive norms 


  What an individual believes as others approval of the behaviour (borsari and Carey)
• perkins and Berkowitz 


  Found that a high proportion of the students they surveyed believed that being intoxicated was only acceptable in limited circumstances. but a high proportion believe that their peers found it acceptable
• Therefore an individual acts in the way they think the group are acting. They see no need to reduce their consumption as they think everyone else is doing more that them anyways