Normative appeals motivate people to contribute to collective action problems more when they invite people to work together toward a common goal.

A common method to promote behavior change, particularly in contexts related collective action, is reference a social norm and ask people comply with it. We argue that such appeals will be more effective when they couch the as an invitation work others toward goal. In six experiments, we found working-together normative appeals, which invited join do it together, increased interest (Experiments 1, 4, 5) actual charitable giving (Experiment 2), reduced paper-towel use public restrooms 3), reducing personal carbon emissions 6). By contrast, normative-information included same information but no working did not affect or behavior. Mediation analyses suggest were because fostered feeling participants together others, motivation, while inducing less pressure, undermined effectiveness. Results show how very nature of action problems can leveraged change help solve societal problems. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).