Keywords: social norms, descriptive norms, injunctive norms, group norms, local norms
In social psychology there have been different opinions about the predictive power of social
norms. Some authors argue that they are crucial for the full comprehension of human
behavior. Others, however, claim that this concept is too elusive and difficult to test
empirically. The literature on this research topic has recently pointed out how different
kinds of social normative influence can have a more or less important role, depending on
which behavior is analyzed. Specifically, the present review will focus on pro-environmental
behaviors, taking into account the main models and types of normative influence emerging
from social-psychological and environmental-psychological research.