Kees Keizer

University of Groningen | RUG · Department of Psychology

Background Contraceptive use among young women in Nairobi remains low despite high general knowledge of family planning (FP) methods. This paper draws on social norms theory to explore the role of key influencers (partners, parents and friends) in women’s FP use and how women anticipate normative reactions or sanctions. Methods A qualitative study...

Access to information about family planning (FP) continues to have financial, physical and social barriers among young women living in Kenya. This paper draws on social norms theory to explore how young women and their social networks access FP information on digital media (e.g., WhatsApp, websites). Qualitative phone interviews were conducted with...

Rule compliance (in organizations or society at large) may be strengthened or weakened by social contagion processes. Observing others’ (non-)compliance with rules influences one’s own likelihood of compliance. Extant literature shows two social contagion theories that can explain this phenomenon. First, the theory of normative conduct (TNC) (Ciald...

One way to enhance rule compliance is to provide people with arguments explaining why the desired behavior is important. We argue that there might be another, potentially more effective way to enhance rule compliance: ask people to generate arguments in favor of the rule themselves, which can trigger a process of self-persuasion. We compared the ef...

We studied to what extent perceived adoption norms affect the likelihood of adopting sustainable innovations, next to evaluations of the instrumental, environmental and symbolic attributes of these innovations. As hypothesised, results showed that people are more likely to adopt a sustainable innovation the more they evaluate the attributes of thes...

This chapter focuses on social norms and people's tendency to conform to pro‐environmental behaviour. It explains what social norms are, how they influence (environmental) behaviour, and when. Social norms are rules and standards that are understood by members of a group, and that guide and/or constrain human behaviour without the force of laws. Al...

Cambridge Core - Social Psychology - Applied Social Psychology - edited by Linda Steg

Many organizations strive for Corporate Environmental Responsibility (CER). This can make organizational processes and procedures more pro-environmental, but does it also promote employees’ pro-environmental behaviour? We reason that CER can encourage employees to act pro-environmentally at work by increasing the likelihood that they consider the e...

This chapter demonstrates an approach to the agent-based modelling of norm transmission using decision trees learned from questionnaire data. We explore the implications of adding norm dynamics implied in static questionnaire data and the influence social network topology has on the outcome. We find that parameters determining network topology infl...

The conceptual model on motivations to adopt sustainable innovations (Noppers et al., 2014) proved to be successful in explaining proxies of the adoption of sustainable innovations: positive evaluations of the utility (instrumental attributes), environmental impact (environmental attributes), and specifically the extent to which the innovation says...

The understanding, prediction, and encouragement of pro-environmental behaviour (i.e., behaviour that impacts the environment as little as possible) depend to a large extent on understanding the motivational dynamics of pro-environmental behaviour. In this review paper, we discuss the state of the art with regard to these dynamics. We explain the i...

Encouraging pro-environmental behaviour at work can result in a significant reduction in environmental problems. Research revealed that general environmental considerations such as biospheric values and environmental self-identity are important antecedents of private pro-environmental behaviour. Yet, the question remains whether such general enviro...

Abstract (accepted draft manuscript)

Adoptie van elektrische auto's wordt vaak als cruciaal gezien voor het oplossen van de huidige milieuproblemen. Het milieusucces van deze duurzame innovatie hangt echter in grote mate af van de adoptiebereidheid van consumenten. De elektrische auto heeft een aantal instrumentele nadelen ten opzichte van de conventionele auto, zoals een kleinere act...

To promote the successful introduction of sustainable energy systems, more insight is needed into factors influencing consumer’s acceptance of future energy systems. A questionnaire study among 139 Dutch citizens (aged 18–85) was conducted. Participants rated the acceptability of energy systems made up of four varying system attributes: type of ene...

Research has shown that past pro-environmental actions can promote as well as inhibit subsequent environmentally-friendly behaviour. When are past pro-environmental actions likely to lead to more environmentally-friendly behaviour? We propose this depends on the extent to which initial actions are linked to people’s environmental self-identity. We...

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Informational interventions (e.g., awareness campaigns, carbon footprint calculators) are built on the assumption that informing the public about the environmental consequences of their actions should result in increased pro-environmental intentions and behavior. However, empirical support for this reasoning is mixed. In this paper, we argue that i...

Contrary to what is often assumed, order is not the strongest context for encouraging normative behavior. The strongest context effect on normative behavior comes from cues that clearly convey other people's respect for norms. Ironically, this show of respect necessitates some contrasting disrespect that is being restored. Using civic virtues (such...

Dataset and description of Study 1. (PDF)

Dataset and description of Study 3. (PDF)

Analyses of potential differences in prosocial behavior between men and women and as a result of gender differences between confederate and participant, in Study 3. (PDF)

Dataset and description of Study 2. (PDF)

Analyses of potential differences in prosocial behavior between groups and individuals and between men and women, in Study 2. (PDF)

Field studies provide much ecological validity but are limited with regard to randomization and control. What can be and what is done about it? Because so few psychologists do field experiments, little is known about it. In our reply to Wicherts and Bakker (in press), we show what goes on behind the scene in doing field research, and we discuss the...

A strong environmental self-identity increases the likelihood of a wide range of proenvironmental actions. But which factors influence identity and can we strengthen it? We propose that the environmental self-identity depends on biospheric values and on past behavior and that the strength of one’s environmental self-identity can be changed somewhat...

In public places one encounters many prohibition signs, as well as traces of the norm-violating behavior these signs are trying to reduce, like graffiti or litter. Based on goal framing theory and previous research, we argue that signs of (dis)respect of others for norms serve as norm-support cues which can weaken or strengthen the influence of nor...

Imagine that the neighborhood you are living in is covered with graffiti, litter, and unreturned shopping carts. Would this reality cause you to litter more, trespass, or even steal? A thesis known as the broken windows theory suggests that signs of disorderly and petty criminal behavior trigger more disorderly and petty criminal behavior, thus cau...