The fundamental purpose of each social norm is to bring harmony and coordinate persons'
anticipations, in order to achieve multiple equilibria. In simple words, norms force uniformity of
behaviour in a specific social group (Blume & Durlauf, 2008). Social norms theory -the notion
that people's behaviour is often shaped by false misconceptions regarding how others think and
behave in a given social context- offer a model in order to understand human behavior, that has
been shown to be effective in regards to health prevention and promotion (Berkowitz, n.d.). In
this paper, based on psychological theory as well as empirical research, an exploration is
attempted on whether and how ''social norms marketing'' …show more content…
Additionally the intervention seems to be also effective in high and
middle school populations (Berkowitz, n.d.). Social norms marketing focuses on three different categories of intervention, which were
first developed by the Medicine Institute. The names of those categories are: universal, selective
and indicated. More specifically, universal prevention is addressed to the entire population,
without being exclusive to those in danger of abuse. Selective prevention is aimed at the
members of a group that are in danger of exhibiting a particular behaviour. Conclusively the
indicated prevention is designed to target at those specific individuals who have exhibited
indications that they already have ''problematic'' behaviours (Berkowitz, n.d.).
Social Norms Interventions
Although initially a social norms marketing campaign may seem simple, an objectively
succesful intervention needs accurate planning and appropriate implementation. In the beginning
of a social norms marketing operation the first thing that needs to be done is to