Majority Rules: How Social Norms Shape Children's Environmental Investment Restricted; Files Only

Abstract

Climate change is destroying ecosystems, raising sea levels, and increasing the prevalence of natural disasters. The implications of climate change are especially consequential for children who are facing these environmental challenges now and will continue to face them in the future. Thus, increasing sustainable behaviors among children is important to help combat the climate crisis. The present study explored whether normative information could increase environmentally friendly actions in five- to seven-year-olds. Children (N = 126) engaged in a token donation task in which they earned tokens and could spend them on a selfish (i.e., video time) or a selfless (i.e., environmental or non-environmental) cause. Prior to donating, children either heard a prescriptive norm (telling them everyone should donate to a cause), a descriptive norm (telling them everyone donates to a cause), or no normative information whatsoever (reminding them to spend all their tokens). Children donated more tokens when provided with a descriptive norm relative to the two other conditions. Additionally, children donated more to environmental than non-environmental causes; older children also donated more than younger children. Lastly, there were no gender differences in donations. These findings suggest that normative information regarding what everyone is doing may be an effective way of increasing children’s sustainable behaviors.

Table of Contents

Introduction...1

Children’s Role in the Climate Crisis...1

Children’s Environmental Perceptions...2

Children’s Norm Acquisition...3

The Present Study…5

Method…7

Participants…7

Procedure…7

Data Analysis Plan…9

Results…10

Exploratory Analyses…10

Gender Differences in Donations…10

Discussion…11

Limitations/Future Directions…14

Conclusion…15

References…16

Table…24

Figures…25

About this Honors Thesis

Rights statement

• Permission granted by the author to include this thesis or dissertation in this repository. All rights reserved by the author. Please contact the author for information regarding the reproduction and use of this thesis or dissertation.

School	Emory College
Department	Psychology
Degree	B.A.
Submission	Honors Thesis
Language	English
Research Field	Psychology, Developmental
Keyword	Climate change Prescriptive norms Descriptive norms
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor	Arber Tasimi , Emory University
Committee Members	Cathryn Johnson , Emory University Stella Lourenco, Emory University

Last modified

Primary PDF

Thumbnail	Title	Date Uploaded	Actions
	File download under embargo until 28 May 2027	2026-04-06 21:45:45 -0400	File download under embargo until 28 May 2027

Supplemental Files

Thumbnail	Title	Date Uploaded	Actions