Social norms and climate-friendly behavior of adolescents

A better understanding of the role of social norms in adolescent behavior can help to unlock the full transformative potential of social norms for climate action. First, simply due to their age, adolescents will contribute longer than older individuals to either climate change or its mitigation. Findings in developmental psychology and educational research suggest that values, attitudes, and habits formed during adolescence fundamentally determine behavior in later adulthood [9–11]. By engaging in climate protection today, young people are not only voicing the interests of future generations and influencing political decision-making, but also developing attitudes and values that will shape their own behavior as future decision-makers and citizens. Second, adolescents are generally considered particularly susceptible to the influ- ence of social norms. Their identities and corresponding preferences are still developing [12, 13]; hence, adolescents search for cues as to appropriate behavior [14], they seek social approval from their peers and try to fit in [15–18]. Educational research has discussed the role of social norms in combating harmful behaviors, such as bullying [19] or substance abuse [20]. However, social norms can also promote pro-environmental behavior. Non-experimental studies from environmental education show that in addition to parental influence [21, 22], the attitudes and actions of friends and schoolmates shape adolescents’ pro-environmental atti- tudes and behavior [23–27].

While social norms exert a strong influence on adolescents, little is known about how ado- lescents react to norm-based interventions that aim to promote climate-friendly behaviors. While empirical work from various behavioral strands provides evidence for the potential of social norms and respective norm-based interventions to induce socially desired behavior [28– 30], the first studies point to the need for caution and show that norm-based interventions (e.g., those increasing the salience of a specific behavior) can also backfire [31–33]. However, these studies focus exclusively on adults. Developing solid knowledge of the target population [33] and its culture [34] is warranted, as is further research to understand when and how new information about the behavior of others influences empirical and/or normative expectations and under what conditions the corresponding changes impact behavior. Our study expands the existing knowledge on the role of social norms in adolescents’ pro- environmental behavior in two ways. First, we systematically analyze the behavioral impact of both types of information adolescents may obtain about their peers, namely, their level of sup- port of climate change mitigation. This understanding helps to better assess the opportunities and risks of norm-based interventions that aim to foster climate-friendly behavior among ado- lescents. Second, to our knowledge, we are the first to study the role of social norms on young people’s behavior in a controlled experimental setting.

Previous studies on this relationship are survey-based [21, 23, 24], and as a consequence, the social and personal norms elicited as well as the actual behavior were highly correlated. Experimental studies, in contrast, allow researchers to selectively and exogenously alter the normative or empirical expectations. Additionally, we rely on an incentivized behavioral mea- sure (i.e., an actual donation to a CO2 offsetting scheme), whereas existing studies used self- reported behavior or behavioral intentions. Comparative studies have shown that non-incen- tivized, self-reported survey responses can be biased [35] and often do not correspond with real behavior [36, 37]. In our study, each decision has direct and real consequences; a donation to a CO2 offsetting scheme serves as our measure for climate-friendly behavior. This operatio- nalization has been used successfully in adult studies [38–40]. For our adolescents, however, donating money is new, even though they have already some experience with financial deci- sion-making. Consequently, the normative and empirical expectations are less clear than for everyday behaviors, and the adolescents will search for cues about what behavior is appropri- ate. This setting provides us with a suitable testbed to assess whether and how information PLOS ONE Social norms and climate-friendly behavior of adolescents PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0266847 April 27, 2022 2 / 16 Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.