Social Norms

Sometimes, and usually modestly. Telling hotel guests that most others reused towels raised reuse from 35 to 44 per cent, and neighbour comparisons cut energy use by about 2 per cent. But the towel result did not replicate in a later hotel test, norm campaigns did not reduce student drinking, and messages can push good performers towards the average.

What the report found

1. People follow others, even when they know better. In classic experiments, about three quarters of people went along with an obviously wrong group answer at least once.
2. Norm messages can change behaviour. Hotel guests told that most guests reused their towels did so 44 per cent of the time, against 35 per cent for a standard environmental message. Comparing households' energy use with their neighbours' cut consumption by about 2 per cent across 600,000 homes.
3. They do not always work. The towel study did not replicate in a later hotel test, and a review of 70 studies of student drinking found no meaningful benefit from telling students how little their peers drank.
4. They can backfire. Households using less energy than average increased their use when told the average, unless the message also signalled approval of their low use.
5. Correcting a wrong belief about others can be powerful. In Saudi Arabia, 87 per cent of young married men privately supported women working outside the home, but most underestimated how many others agreed. Correcting that belief made them more likely to help their wives find work.

What is inside

1. The idea and where it came from
2. The original studies, explained
3. What happened when others tested it
4. Where researchers disagree
5. What we can say with confidence

Plus a timeline of the research, a table of message types, a summary-of-findings table and a graded list of claims.

Who it is for

For anyone who writes letters, bills, product pages or campaigns that tell people what others do.

How we work

Evidence Reviews take one well known idea and ask what the research actually shows, from the original studies to the replications. Every claim is graded Established, Emerging or Untested. Where researchers disagree, as they do on how reliably norm messages work, both sides are set out before we say where we stand.

Cite this report

The Why We Project (2026) Social Norms: “Most of your neighbours already do”. Evidence Review No. 07. Dubai: Why We Tech Ltd. Available at: thewhyweproject.com