Social Norms Research in Europe

maintained at the University of Bradford

Current Research Projects

There are several ongoing social norms research projects in Europe at the moment. Details of past studies can be found on the 'Publications' page. If you know of a current social norms project which is not listed below then please let us know here.

● Cross European Student Social Norms Survey - Guido Val Hal (University of Antwerp), Cecile Boot (University of Amsterdam), Christiane Stock (University of Southern Denmark), Marie Dahlin (Karolinska Institutet), Janina Petkeviciene and Aurelijus Veryga (Kaunas University of Medicine), Hilal Özcebe and Sarp Uner  (University of Haceteppe), John McMahon  and John McAlaney (University of the West of Scotland).

Early work has begun on a European survey of normative beliefs in university students. This will focus on health behaviours and will be one of the first pieces of research to directly compare social norms between cultures and countries. If you would like to be involved in this project please contact us here.

● National UK College social norms intervention - John McAlaney and John McMahon (University of the West of Scotland) and William Jenkins (Youth Media)

A large scale survey and intervention is currently being conducted by normative beliefs researchers in conjunction with Youth Media, via their desktop information system Health Bytes. It has been disseminated to over 90 educational institutions, ranging from sixth form colleges to universities. The survey focuses on four health behaviours - alcohol use, smoking, sexual health and exercise behaviours. This is one of the largest studies of it's kind to be conducted in the UK or anywhere else in Europe.

● University student survey of environmental behaviours - Markus Bindemann (University of Glasgow) and John McAlaney (University of the West of Scotland)

A survey is currently being conducted by the above researchers to investigate if normative misperceptions extend to environmentally relevant behaviours, specifically recycling and energy conversation. Past research into this area (see 'Publications') has suggested that normative belief interventions may be able a useful approach to bringing about more environmentally friendly behaviours, although work on this area is very limited. This research into environmental behaviours also represents the expansion of normative belief research out of the substance abuse topics which it is often associated with.

● Alcohol misperceptions in university students: A multi-site trial - Fiona O'May, Jan Gill (Queen Margaret University) ; Ronni Greenwood (University of Dundee); Jennifer Guise (University of Abertay Dundee); John McMahon and John McAlaney (University of the West of Scotland)

As a follow up to an earlier study at the University of the West of Scotland (formerly the University of Paisley) a survey on alcohol consumption and normative beliefs was recently conducted at three additional UK universities, which ranged from a small commuter university to a large, out of town resident university. In addition this study also explored respondents' conceptualisations of the 'typical' student, as has been done in previous US research.