Glossary · Social Proof
Descriptive and Injunctive Norms
Want to know how Descriptive and Injunctive Norms work? Whether you want to use it in your own requests, or spot it when someone uses it on you, you're in the right place.
You'll find the definition, the published study behind it, and ideas for how to use it ethically.
Also called social norms messaging, focus theory of normative conduct.
The definition
What are Descriptive and Injunctive Norms?
They are built on social proof, one of the seven principles of influence Dr. Robert Cialdini identified in more than 40 years of research.
What others do and what others approve of both guide behavior, sometimes in opposite directions.
People take the Influence Assessment to learn which principles they lean on, and where they lose people.
Here is how it works:
A descriptive norm is what most people actually do; an injunctive norm is what most people approve or disapprove of. Dr. Cialdini's research showed that messages can backfire when they highlight how common a bad behavior is: in trying to condemn it, they tell the audience that everyone does it.
The study behind it
The Petrified Forest signs
Cialdini, Current Directions in Psychological Science, 2003
At Petrified Forest National Park, Dr. Cialdini's team tested signs meant to stop visitors taking pieces of petrified wood. A sign stressing that many past visitors had removed wood, a descriptive norm pointing the wrong way, was associated with more theft than a sign that simply asked visitors not to remove it. The warning had told people that taking wood was normal.
Where you'll see it
How to recognize Descriptive and Injunctive Norms.
Spotting it, in your own requests and in other people's, starts with knowing where it tends to show up.
You'll see it in: Telling people how many others already do the right thing, rather than how many do the wrong one, in reminders, public-health messages and internal campaigns.
How to use it
How to use Descriptive and Injunctive Norms ethically.
Here is how to use it ethically:
Norms messaging must be true. Claiming that 'most people' do something they do not is a false statement, and it collapses the moment the audience checks.
Learn it in depth. The Cialdini Method gives social proof a full module, online and at your own pace.
For your role
If you use social proof in your work.
Social Proof works differently depending on who uses it and what is at stake. Pick your role to see how.
Discover more
Find out where you stand on social proof.
How strongly do you use social proof?
Take the free Influence Assessment to see which of the seven you lean on and where you lose people. Your result is free; the full report is $49.
Related terms
- Foot-in-the-Door TechniqueAgreeing to a small request makes people more likely to agree to a larger, related one later.Read the definition
- Door-in-the-Face TechniqueA large request that is refused, followed by a smaller one, makes the smaller one more likely to be accepted.Read the definition
- Low-Ball TechniqueOnce people commit to a decision, they tend to stick with it even after its cost rises.Read the definition