Evaluating the Role of Social Norms in Fostering Pro-Environmental Behaviors

Human activity is changing the biosphere in unprecedented ways, and addressing this challenge will require changes individual community patterns of behavior. One approach to managing behaviors “top-down” involves imposing sanctions through legislative frameworks. However, itself, a top-down framework does not appear sufficient encourage required meet environmental sustainability targets. Thus, there has been interest individual-level behavior from “bottom-up” by, for example, fostering desirable pro-environmental via social norms. Social norms arise expectations about how others behave consequences conforming or departing them. Meta-analyses suggest that can promote Environmental have changed recent decades themselves promoted change include recycling, nascent behavioral shifts such as move away single-use plastics flight shaming (flygskam). whether conditions under which emerge are adhered align with systems’ features unclear. Furthermore, individuals might feel powerless global system, limit growth influence We review believed development adherence norms, then consider those relate challenges Anthropocene. While promoting valuable role actions, we conclude most likely be effective where actions immediately evident an obvious local effect.