Deborah A Prentice
Biographic Data
| ID | 74766 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Deborah A Prentice |
| GIVEN NAMES | Deborah A |
| FAMILY NAME | Prentice |
| SIGNATURE | PRENTICE D A |
| AFFILIATIONS | Princeton University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-7244-5151 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 26 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 547 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 26 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1987 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2020 |
| H-INDEX | 7 |
Engineering social change using social norms: Lessons from the study of collective action
Intervening to Change Social Norms: When Does It Work
Intervening to Change Social Norms: When Does It Work? Deborah A. Prentice (bio) social norms are an increasingly popular target for interventions designed to change behavior. The logic of these interventions is simple: Change people’s beliefs about what other people think is appropriate and desirable behavior, and their own behavior will fall in line. Participants in a norm-based intervention may learn that the majority of people buckle up when …
Changing Norms to Change Behavior
Providing people with information about the behavior and attitudes of their peers is a strategy commonly employed by those seeking to reduce behavior deemed harmful either to individuals (e.g., high alcohol consumption) or the collective (e.g., high energy consumption). We review norm-based interventions, detailing the logic behind them and the various forms they can take. We give special attention to interventions designed to decrease college st…
Targeting ignorance to change behavior
Ignorance is a popular explanation for dysfunctional behavior. This perspective on human dysfunction has given rise to a family of behavior-change strategies that target ignorance. This chapter begins with an overview of the facts and assumptions about human psychology that have guided the development of the approach to behavior change and then proceeds to an examination of the strategies themselves and their effectiveness. If ignorance is what s…
Being Much Better and No Worse than Others: Deviance Regulation, Self-Guides, and the Motive to be Distinct
Five studies examined whether the concern for self-other distinction is moderated by self-guide activation, with the predictions based on deviance regulation theory that distinctiveness striving is amplified by activation of ideal self-guides and diminished by activation of ought self-guides. In Study 1, trait differences in self-guides predicted trait differences in self-reported distinctiveness motives. In Studies 2–5, state activation of ought…
The Self- and Other-Interest Inventory
Five studies develop and validate the Self- and Other-Interest Inventory, an individual-difference measure of the motivation to act in one's own interest and the motivation to act in another's interest that measures these motivations at the level of self-beliefs. Study 1 demonstrates that self- and other-interest can be measured reliably and validly, as independent constructs, with a self-report measure. Study 2 develops a version of the Self- an…
The Psychology of Social Norms and the Promotion of Human Rights
In Chapter 2, social psychologist Deborah Prentice describes her empirical work on social-norms marketing campaigns. Prentice highlights two key empirical findings: (1) actors often overestimate the prevalence of many undesirable behaviors, and (2) actors use their perceptions of peer norms as a standard against which to compare their own behaviors. Social-norms campaigns reduce problem behaviors (or increase desirable behaviors) by conveying inf…
The Neural Underpinnings of Group Life
International audience
Psychological Essentialism of Human Categories
Psychological essentialism is an ordinary mode of category representation that has powerful social-psychological consequences. This article reviews those consequences, with a focus on the distinctive ways people perceive, evaluate, and interact with members of human categories they essentialize. Why and when people engage in this mode of thinking remain open questions. Variability in essentialism across cultures, categories, and contexts suggests…
Essentializing Differences Between Women and Men
People represent many social categories, including gender categories, in essentialist terms: They see category members as sharing deep, nonobvious properties that make them the kinds of things they are. The present research explored the consequences of this mode of representation for social inferences. In two sets of studies, participants learned (a) that they were similar to a member of the other gender on a novel attribute, (b) that they were d…
Pay attention! Attention to the primes increases attitude assessment accuracy
The emergence of homegrown stereotypes
Homegrown stereotypes are generalizations that groups develop about their own typical characteristics. They are a distinct class of in-group stereotypes in the contexts and processes that give rise to them, as well as in their consequences for individual group members. The authors develop the concept of homegrown stereotypes and locate the origins of these stereotypes in self-presentation processes. They discuss the accuracy of these stereotypes …
The emergence of homegrown stereotypes
Life Task Pursuit in Social Groups: Balancing Self-Exploration and Social Integration
Personal well-being and resilience are contingent on the ability to negotiate and successfully pursue personal goals through life tasks and opportunities afforded by one's social environment. Our research addresses these processes by examining college students' participation in campus groups. We investigated simultaneous strivings toward the development of a distinct personal identity and toward social integration. Specifically, we argue that gro…
What Women and Men Should Be, Shouldn't be, are Allowed to be, and don't Have to Be: The Contents of Prescriptive Gender Stereotypes
This article presents a four-category framework to characterize the contents of prescriptive gender stereotypes. The framework distinguishes between prescriptions and proscriptions that are intensified by virtue of one's gender, and those that are relaxed by virtue of one's gender. Two studies examined the utility of this framework for characterizing prescriptive gender stereotypes in American society (Study 1) and in the highly masculine context…
Pluralistic Ignorance and Inconsistency Between Private Attitudes and Public Behaviors
Minimal conditions for the creation of a unit relationship: The social bond between birthdaymates
We hypothesize that sharing a birthday is sufficient to create a unit relationship. Two studies demonstrated that individuals cooperated more in a prisoners dilemma game when their (fictitious) opponent shared their birthday. They also reacted more negatively to betrayal and were less sensitive to relative gains for self versus other. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Pluralistic Ignorance and the Perpetuation of Social Norms by Unwitting Actors
Asymmetries in Attachments to Groups and to their Members: Distinguishing between Common-Identity and Common-Bond Groups
Two studies sought to validate the distinction between common-identity groups, which are based on direct attachments to the group identity, and common-bond groups, which are based on attachments among group members. Study 1 focused on members of selective and nonselective university eating clubs. Study 2 focused on members of a diverse sample of campus groups. Both studies revealed asymmetries in group and member attachments: Individuals in commo…
The Self in Social Contexts
CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 297 MOTIVES OF THE SELF 298 STRATEGIES OF THE SELF 299 Social Reasoning Strategies 300 Social Comparison and Interaction Strategies 302 Self-Presentation Strategies 306 Collective Identification Strategies 310 MODERATING VARIABLES 315 Social Categories 315 Individual Differences 319 Culture 320 INFLUENCE OF STRATEGIES ON THE SELF 322 Self-Maintenance Processes 323 Self-Concept Change 324 FINAL COMMENT ...... . . ....... ....…
The Self and the Collective
Do Language Reforms Change Our Way of Thinking
A naturalistic experiment investigated the effects of language reforms on several aspects of thought. Half of the students in an introductory psychology class received corrections any time they used "he" as a generic pronoun in their written work; the other half received no corrections to their written language use. At the end of the semester, all students completed measures of their language use, their gender imagery, and their attitudes to-ward…
Pluralistic ignorance and alcohol use on campus: Some consequences of misperceiving the social norm
When small effects are impressive
Effect size is becoming an increasingly popular measure of the importance of an effect, both in individual studies and in meta-analyses. However, a large effect size is not the only way to demonstrate that an effect is important. This article describes 2 alternative methodological strategies, in which importance is a function of how minimal a manipulation of the independent variable or how difficult-to-influence a dependent variable will still pr…
Familiarity and differences in self- and other-representations
Two studies compared representations of the self and of other people, guided by the hypothesis that self-other differences derive from one's greater familiarity with oneself than with others. For the first study, participants wrote open-ended descriptions of themselves, a familiar person, and an unfamiliar person, which were analyzed for the amount and types of information they contained and for consistency in specific content across stimulus peo…
What Women and Men Should Be, Shouldn't be, are Allowed to be, and don't Have to Be: The Contents of Prescriptive Gender Stereotypes
This article presents a four-category framework to characterize the contents of prescriptive gender stereotypes. The framework distinguishes between prescriptions and proscriptions that are intensified by virtue of one's gender, and those that are relaxed by virtue of one's gender. Two studies examined the utility of this framework for characterizing prescriptive gender stereotypes in American society (Study 1) and in the highly masculine context…
Pluralistic ignorance and alcohol use on campus: Some consequences of misperceiving the social norm
When small effects are impressive
Effect size is becoming an increasingly popular measure of the importance of an effect, both in individual studies and in meta-analyses. However, a large effect size is not the only way to demonstrate that an effect is important. This article describes 2 alternative methodological strategies, in which importance is a function of how minimal a manipulation of the independent variable or how difficult-to-influence a dependent variable will still pr…
Familiarity and differences in self- and other-representations
Two studies compared representations of the self and of other people, guided by the hypothesis that self-other differences derive from one's greater familiarity with oneself than with others. For the first study, participants wrote open-ended descriptions of themselves, a familiar person, and an unfamiliar person, which were analyzed for the amount and types of information they contained and for consistency in specific content across stimulus peo…
Psychological correspondence of possessions, attitudes, and values
Do Language Reforms Change Our Way of Thinking
A naturalistic experiment investigated the effects of language reforms on several aspects of thought. Half of the students in an introductory psychology class received corrections any time they used "he" as a generic pronoun in their written work; the other half received no corrections to their written language use. At the end of the semester, all students completed measures of their language use, their gender imagery, and their attitudes to-ward…
The Self- and Other-Interest Inventory
Five studies develop and validate the Self- and Other-Interest Inventory, an individual-difference measure of the motivation to act in one's own interest and the motivation to act in another's interest that measures these motivations at the level of self-beliefs. Study 1 demonstrates that self- and other-interest can be measured reliably and validly, as independent constructs, with a self-report measure. Study 2 develops a version of the Self- an…
The Self and the Collective
Intervening to Change Social Norms: When Does It Work
Intervening to Change Social Norms: When Does It Work? Deborah A. Prentice (bio) social norms are an increasingly popular target for interventions designed to change behavior. The logic of these interventions is simple: Change people’s beliefs about what other people think is appropriate and desirable behavior, and their own behavior will fall in line. Participants in a norm-based intervention may learn that the majority of people buckle up when …
Pay attention! Attention to the primes increases attitude assessment accuracy
The Neural Underpinnings of Group Life
International audience
Psychological correspondence of possessions, attitudes, and values
Familiarity and differences in self- and other-representations
Two studies compared representations of the self and of other people, guided by the hypothesis that self-other differences derive from one's greater familiarity with oneself than with others. For the first study, participants wrote open-ended descriptions of themselves, a familiar person, and an unfamiliar person, which were analyzed for the amount and types of information they contained and for consistency in specific content across stimulus peo…
When small effects are impressive
Effect size is becoming an increasingly popular measure of the importance of an effect, both in individual studies and in meta-analyses. However, a large effect size is not the only way to demonstrate that an effect is important. This article describes 2 alternative methodological strategies, in which importance is a function of how minimal a manipulation of the independent variable or how difficult-to-influence a dependent variable will still pr…
Pluralistic ignorance and alcohol use on campus: Some consequences of misperceiving the social norm
Asymmetries in Attachments to Groups and to their Members: Distinguishing between Common-Identity and Common-Bond Groups
Two studies sought to validate the distinction between common-identity groups, which are based on direct attachments to the group identity, and common-bond groups, which are based on attachments among group members. Study 1 focused on members of selective and nonselective university eating clubs. Study 2 focused on members of a diverse sample of campus groups. Both studies revealed asymmetries in group and member attachments: Individuals in commo…
The Self in Social Contexts
CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 297 MOTIVES OF THE SELF 298 STRATEGIES OF THE SELF 299 Social Reasoning Strategies 300 Social Comparison and Interaction Strategies 302 Self-Presentation Strategies 306 Collective Identification Strategies 310 MODERATING VARIABLES 315 Social Categories 315 Individual Differences 319 Culture 320 INFLUENCE OF STRATEGIES ON THE SELF 322 Self-Maintenance Processes 323 Self-Concept Change 324 FINAL COMMENT ...... . . ....... ....…
The Self and the Collective
Do Language Reforms Change Our Way of Thinking
A naturalistic experiment investigated the effects of language reforms on several aspects of thought. Half of the students in an introductory psychology class received corrections any time they used "he" as a generic pronoun in their written work; the other half received no corrections to their written language use. At the end of the semester, all students completed measures of their language use, their gender imagery, and their attitudes to-ward…
Pluralistic Ignorance and the Perpetuation of Social Norms by Unwitting Actors
Minimal conditions for the creation of a unit relationship: The social bond between birthdaymates
We hypothesize that sharing a birthday is sufficient to create a unit relationship. Two studies demonstrated that individuals cooperated more in a prisoners dilemma game when their (fictitious) opponent shared their birthday. They also reacted more negatively to betrayal and were less sensitive to relative gains for self versus other. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Pluralistic Ignorance and Inconsistency Between Private Attitudes and Public Behaviors
The emergence of homegrown stereotypes
Homegrown stereotypes are generalizations that groups develop about their own typical characteristics. They are a distinct class of in-group stereotypes in the contexts and processes that give rise to them, as well as in their consequences for individual group members. The authors develop the concept of homegrown stereotypes and locate the origins of these stereotypes in self-presentation processes. They discuss the accuracy of these stereotypes …
The emergence of homegrown stereotypes
Life Task Pursuit in Social Groups: Balancing Self-Exploration and Social Integration
Personal well-being and resilience are contingent on the ability to negotiate and successfully pursue personal goals through life tasks and opportunities afforded by one's social environment. Our research addresses these processes by examining college students' participation in campus groups. We investigated simultaneous strivings toward the development of a distinct personal identity and toward social integration. Specifically, we argue that gro…
What Women and Men Should Be, Shouldn't be, are Allowed to be, and don't Have to Be: The Contents of Prescriptive Gender Stereotypes
This article presents a four-category framework to characterize the contents of prescriptive gender stereotypes. The framework distinguishes between prescriptions and proscriptions that are intensified by virtue of one's gender, and those that are relaxed by virtue of one's gender. Two studies examined the utility of this framework for characterizing prescriptive gender stereotypes in American society (Study 1) and in the highly masculine context…
Essentializing Differences Between Women and Men
People represent many social categories, including gender categories, in essentialist terms: They see category members as sharing deep, nonobvious properties that make them the kinds of things they are. The present research explored the consequences of this mode of representation for social inferences. In two sets of studies, participants learned (a) that they were similar to a member of the other gender on a novel attribute, (b) that they were d…
Pay attention! Attention to the primes increases attitude assessment accuracy
Psychological Essentialism of Human Categories
Psychological essentialism is an ordinary mode of category representation that has powerful social-psychological consequences. This article reviews those consequences, with a focus on the distinctive ways people perceive, evaluate, and interact with members of human categories they essentialize. Why and when people engage in this mode of thinking remain open questions. Variability in essentialism across cultures, categories, and contexts suggests…
The Neural Underpinnings of Group Life
International audience
The Psychology of Social Norms and the Promotion of Human Rights
In Chapter 2, social psychologist Deborah Prentice describes her empirical work on social-norms marketing campaigns. Prentice highlights two key empirical findings: (1) actors often overestimate the prevalence of many undesirable behaviors, and (2) actors use their perceptions of peer norms as a standard against which to compare their own behaviors. Social-norms campaigns reduce problem behaviors (or increase desirable behaviors) by conveying inf…
The Self- and Other-Interest Inventory
Five studies develop and validate the Self- and Other-Interest Inventory, an individual-difference measure of the motivation to act in one's own interest and the motivation to act in another's interest that measures these motivations at the level of self-beliefs. Study 1 demonstrates that self- and other-interest can be measured reliably and validly, as independent constructs, with a self-report measure. Study 2 develops a version of the Self- an…
Being Much Better and No Worse than Others: Deviance Regulation, Self-Guides, and the Motive to be Distinct
Five studies examined whether the concern for self-other distinction is moderated by self-guide activation, with the predictions based on deviance regulation theory that distinctiveness striving is amplified by activation of ideal self-guides and diminished by activation of ought self-guides. In Study 1, trait differences in self-guides predicted trait differences in self-reported distinctiveness motives. In Studies 2–5, state activation of ought…
Targeting ignorance to change behavior
Ignorance is a popular explanation for dysfunctional behavior. This perspective on human dysfunction has given rise to a family of behavior-change strategies that target ignorance. This chapter begins with an overview of the facts and assumptions about human psychology that have guided the development of the approach to behavior change and then proceeds to an examination of the strategies themselves and their effectiveness. If ignorance is what s…
Changing Norms to Change Behavior
Providing people with information about the behavior and attitudes of their peers is a strategy commonly employed by those seeking to reduce behavior deemed harmful either to individuals (e.g., high alcohol consumption) or the collective (e.g., high energy consumption). We review norm-based interventions, detailing the logic behind them and the various forms they can take. We give special attention to interventions designed to decrease college st…
Intervening to Change Social Norms: When Does It Work
Intervening to Change Social Norms: When Does It Work? Deborah A. Prentice (bio) social norms are an increasingly popular target for interventions designed to change behavior. The logic of these interventions is simple: Change people’s beliefs about what other people think is appropriate and desirable behavior, and their own behavior will fall in line. Participants in a norm-based intervention may learn that the majority of people buckle up when …
Psychology (26 works) · Social Psychology (22 works) · Social and Intergroup Psychology (13 works) · Epistemology (11 works) · Cultural Differences and Values (9 works) · Behavioral Health and Interventions (8 works) · Social Psychology (8 works) · Cognitive psychology (7 works) · Ignorance (5 works) · Norm (philosophy) (5 works)