Wally Christopher M, Cameron Linda D
Psychological Sciences, University of California, Merced, 5200 N. Lake Road, Merced, CA, 95343, USA.
Ann Behav Med. 2017 Oct;51(5):642-651. doi: 10.1007/s12160-017-9887-z.
Physical activity confers numerous health benefits, yet few adults meet recommended physical activity guidelines.
The impact of brief messages providing descriptive and injunctive social norm feedback on physical activity was tested in this conceptual pilot study.
Young adults (N = 111) were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: descriptive norm feedback, descriptive-plus-injunctive norm feedback, or no social feedback (control condition). Participants used pedometers for eight weekdays and recorded their step counts each evening. The descriptive norm group received feedback about the average number of steps taken by group members the previous day. The descriptive-plus-injunctive norm group received feedback about the group average, as well as a sad face if the participant was below the average or a happy face if the participant was above the average. The control group received no feedback throughout the study.
By days 7 and 8, the descriptive-plus-injunctive norm group reported significantly more steps relative to the control group, whereas the descriptive norm group showed a trend toward higher step counts relative to the control group. These effects did not differ for participants above versus below the group average at baseline.
The combined use of descriptive and injunctive social norms increased physical activity over a short period. This simple feedback strategy has potential for achieving wide reach and dissemination on its own or combined with more comprehensive interventions. This initial evidence can guide larger trials of longer duration.
The trial was registered with the ClinicalTrials.gov database (NCT02710201).
体育活动对健康有诸多益处，但很少有成年人达到推荐的体育活动指南要求。
在这项概念性试点研究中，测试了提供描述性和指令性社会规范反馈的简短信息对体育活动的影响。
将年轻成年人（N = 111）随机分配到三个条件之一：描述性规范反馈、描述性加指令性规范反馈或无社会反馈（对照条件）。参与者在八个工作日使用计步器，并在每晚记录步数。描述性规范组收到前一天小组成员平均步数的反馈。描述性加指令性规范组收到小组平均步数的反馈，并且如果参与者低于平均步数则收到一张悲伤的脸，如果参与者高于平均步数则收到一张开心的脸。对照组在整个研究过程中没有收到反馈。
到第7天和第8天，描述性加指令性规范组报告的步数相对于对照组显著更多，而描述性规范组相对于对照组显示出步数更高的趋势。对于基线时高于或低于小组平均水平的参与者，这些影响没有差异。
描述性和指令性社会规范的联合使用在短时间内增加了体育活动。这种简单的反馈策略有可能单独或与更全面的干预措施相结合，实现广泛传播。这一初步证据可为更长时间的大型试验提供指导。
该试验已在ClinicalTrials.gov数据库注册（NCT02710201）。
