1. Normative Belief Jessica Seifert H517 Principles of Health Behavior
Theoretical concept
Jessica Seifert
H517 Principles of Health Behavior
Fall 2014

2. Normative beliefs are individuals’ beliefs about the extent to which other people who are important to the individual think they should or should not perform particular behavior
Trafimow definition
The individual’s perception of the expectations held by important people or groups concerning a specific behavior(s)
What the individual perceives as socially desirable behavior
Self-regulating: who is important will likely change throughout an individual’s life (child  Parents; teenager/young adult  peer group; adult  spouse, parent, children (?), doctor (gradations of influence)
Important people (those that influence an individual the most)= Referent Source
Could be a Doctor, Parent, Spouse, Group organization, etc.

3. Theory of Reasoned Action
Beliefs about Behavior
Evaluation of Behavior
Motivation to Comply
Normative Beliefs
Attitudes toward behavior
Subjective Norm
Behavioral Intention
Normative belief is an important concept in, both, the Theory of Reasoned Action and the Theory of Planned Behavior (not pictured).
The central tenet of these two paradigms is the idea that the main predictor of behavior is behavioral intention (intent).
The constructs influencing intent in TRA and TPB are attitudes toward behavior and subjective norm.
Not depicted here is : Perceived behavioral control (a construct in TPB) which is a predictor of intent; although significant, it is not completely relevant to the topic of normative beliefs.
Focus on: The Pathway: The interaction of normative belief with motivation to comply and how that influences/predicts subjective norm/behavioral intent/behavior (chain influence similar in both theoretical paradigms).
Theory of Reasoned Action
BEHAVIOR

4. Subjective Norms etc.…. Referent Source/Important Other 1
Motivation to Comply
Normative Beliefs
Motivation to Comply
Normative Beliefs
etc.….
Subjective Norms
Both motivation to comply and normative belief are predictors of subjective norm
Motivation to comply (another concept influencing subjective norm)  relates to how much an individual wishes to behave consistently with the prescriptions of others
Subjective norm: beliefs about whether key people approve or disapprove of the behavior (normative belief) and the motivation to behave in a way that gains their approval (prefer this definition)
In order to determine the magnitude of subjective norms influence on intent (remind is a key predictor of actual behavior):
Identify health behavior.
Identify referent sources.
Identify all RELEVANT normative beliefs (to specific behavior(s))  weigh each normative belief by the motivation to comply with particular referent source  reveal the level of perceived social pressures on an individual to engage or not engage in said behavior(s)
Pertains to either a group of behaviors (e.g. prevention behaviors) or a specific behavior (e.g. brushing and flossing teeth).

5. Older Brother (nonsmoker)
Father (smoker)
Older Brother (nonsmoker)
Girlfriend (social smoker)
Medium to low
No to Cessation
Yes to cessation
Yes to cessation
High
High
Subjective Norm: Individual perceives that those closest to him want him to quit.
Example: Young, male adult smoker
Health behavior  smoking cessation
Referent sources (motivation to comply-normative belief):
Parent (medium to low motivation to comply-smoking is innocuous, a smoker, no to smoking cessation); smoking = being a man/tied to identity *not the same as behavioral belief  consequences of a particular behavior (If I stop smoking then my father will stop spending time with me)
older brother(high motivation to comply-nonsmoker, yes to smoking cessation),
girlfriend (high motivation to comply-social smoker, yes to smoking cessation
 subjective norm: Individual perceives that those closest to him/her want him/her to quit smoking./gain approval
(confidence in normative perceptions important): For example, increased confidence that normative perceptions are accurate, the more likely to use normative perceptions to influence subjective norms
Health Behavior: Smoking Cessation

6. Measuring Normative Belief
Theory of Reasoned Action and Theory of Planned Behavior:
Strategy 1
1. Measure variables in a sample
2. Determine relative contributions of attitudes and subjective norms to predict behavioral intent
3. If subjective norm is an effective predictor  use elicitation study to find relevant normative behaviors
Strategy 2
Use elicitation study to determine relevant normative and behavioral beliefs
Create questionnaire with all the theoretical variables
Importance of measuring normative belief  to maximize researchers ability to predict subjective norm, behavioral intent, and actual behavior (if this pathway is relevant to the behavior)
Normative beliefs in TRA and TPB:
A) 1. Measure variables (behavioral intent, attitudes toward behavior, subjective norms) in a sample
2. Determine relative contributions of attitudes and subjective norms to predict behavioral intent (which of the two constructs is a better predictor of intent)
3. If subjective norm is a more effective predictor, then use an elicitation study to find the relevant normative behaviors
“Measure twice, cut once,” so to speak
B) 1. Use elicitation study to determine relevant normative and behavioral beliefs
2. By using the data from the elicitation study, create a questionnaire with all the theoretical variables included
Pros: fewer steps
Cons: No a priori knowledge discerning which pathway is more relevant to the behavior

7. Measuring Normative Belief Principle of Correspondence
All four components of behavior must be the same for the measures of all the variables
Four Components of Behavior
Action
Target
Time
Context
In the next 3 months
Visiting support group at local rec. ctr.
Quit
Smoking
To maximize ability to predict subjective norms/BI/B  Conform to the Principle of Correspondence
All 4 components of behavior must be the same for the measures of all the variables (NB/SN).
Deviation, no matter how seemingly insignificant, will result in a decrease in correlation between variables
In using normative beliefs to predict whether our subject from earlier will quit smoking: Relevant source: Older Brother
Action  Quit
Target  Smoking
Time  In the next 3 months
Context  Visiting support group at local recreation center
“My brother thinks I should (or should not) quit smoking in the next three months by attending the support group at the local recreation center.”
“My older brother thinks that I should (or should not) quit smoking in the next three months by visiting the support group at the local recreational center.”

8. Magnitude of Influence
Measuring Normative Belief
Magnitude of Influence
Focus of Intervention
Assess Pathway
Measuring Normative Beliefs  Why? Assess pathways, Magnitude of influence/predictor and Focus of intervention
Assists in predicting the magnitude of other variables/pathways (whisper or yelling)
Shows where intervention efforts should be focused
The influences of different pathways (attitudinal or normative) can vary person to person or even situation to situation. Can anyone think from any of our readings where that was the case?
-Hazing  “same” behaviors (hazing) elicited different pathways of influence depending on the severity of that behavior
Assess Pathway:
IF normative belief pathway is where intervention should be focused (has the greatest magnitude of influence/is a significant predictor of SN/BI/B), the focus should be on the normative beliefs of the population that are good predictors of subjective norms (and intention/behavior), not on beliefs that are not widespread or aren’t good predictors of subjective norm.
Increasing the importance of normative beliefs (discovered that attitudinal pathway is more influential/greater predictor, but not amenable to intervention/normative belief pathway less influential, but more amenable to intervention efforts)

9. Increasing the Importance of Normative Beliefs
Group Identification
Priming the Collective Self
Mentioned previous slide: Increasing the importance of normative beliefs (discovered that attitudinal pathway is more influential/greater predictor, but not amenable to intervention/normative belief pathway less influential, but more amenable to intervention efforts)
Group Identification:
Norms have a stronger influence when people identify strongly with their group (Greek organization/Hazing example) Other examples?
Only effective if group ID is salient
If the group norms are synonymous with the direction of intervention, increasing the salience of the group identification may help intervention efforts
Priming the collective self:
Trafinow’s two basket theory (red marble basket/blue marble basket
Retrieval of one type increases the likelihood of retrieving that same type again
Private self  Attitudinal pathway is stronger predictor of behavioral intention (i.e. actual behavior)
Collective self (cognitions about group membership)  Subjective norm pathway is a stronger predictor of behavioral intention
-Examples: condom use study, speaking native language where the cultural background of the language is collectivistic
Are there any questions/comments? Is there anything I mentioned that anyone would like to go over again? Would anyone like to identify the possible normative beliefs that may predict their topic’s behavior?

10. Related Concepts Descriptive Norms
Perceptions of what other people actually do in a given situation
Confidence in Normative Perceptions
Confidence works as a moderator of relations between subjective norms and behavioral intent
Pluralistic Ignorance
Members of a group or a society privately rejects a norm that they, incorrectly believe, everyone in the group or society accepts
Descriptive norms:
 Concerned with others, not necessarily important people
 Focus on perceptions of actual behavior of others rather than on perceptions of the opinions of important others about what the perceivers should do
 Interventions in marketing and school settings based
Pluralistic Ignorance:
 Incorrect perception of group belief may turn into norm
 Example: undergraduates overestimating the level of comfort that other undergraduates have with respect to alcohol drinking habits
Moral Norms
 Subtle difference
-Important other thinks it would be immoral for you to perform a particular behavior, yet you think you should do it (vice versa)
Ex. Moral norm: You only live with someone of the opposite sex if you’re married, yet moved in with boyfriend
 Can sometimes account for unique variances in behavioral intentions (outside of attitudinal and subjective norm pathways)
 Can be used in intervention methods (e.g. immoral to be an alcoholic)
Confidence in Normative Perceptions
 Mentioned during previous slide
 Individual is confident in “correctness” of perception of normative belief, he/she will use that normative belief/subjective norm to form behavioral intention
Moral Norms
Perceptions of what important others think would be moral or immoral