Social Norms
Social norms are those behaviors or beliefs in a population which are widely held, or widely practiced, among the population. Using Social Norms can be a powerful tool to to change or reinforce behaviors. For example, it is now common for most of us to wear seatbelts--so providing data about how many of us do wear seatbelts reinforces the social norm.
For our youth, reinforcing the idea that a majority of our students DO NOT USE substances helps students to not use substances. For example, in Telluride, a majority of our middle school students do not use alcohol (or marijuana)-yet, the perception of students is that a majority do use. By sharing the fact that 90% of middle school students do not use alcohol helps to reduce the misinformation and empower students to not use themselves. And we know from our surveys that 97% of middle school students did not use marijuana in the past 30 days!
For our youth, reinforcing the idea that a majority of our students DO NOT USE substances helps students to not use substances. For example, in Telluride, a majority of our middle school students do not use alcohol (or marijuana)-yet, the perception of students is that a majority do use. By sharing the fact that 90% of middle school students do not use alcohol helps to reduce the misinformation and empower students to not use themselves. And we know from our surveys that 97% of middle school students did not use marijuana in the past 30 days!
