How to create new norms in groups

Issue 101: A story about behavioral contagion and how you can harness the power of social norms

One of the questions we get all the time is: How do I apply the insights from social psychology to create change in my own organization or community?

To address this issue, we have created and delivered talks and workshops about the “Power of Us”, collective psychology, and social norms to people around the world. In addition to sharing this research with people who can use it, it has helped us generated new insights by talking to people outside academia and working on these issues in the real world.

One of those insights happened at a recent full-day workshop that Jay gave to 100 leaders in Bergen, Norway. He thought it provided a powerful example of how to create new—and healthier—social norms. We decided to share it here since it provides some practical tools that anyone can use.

After the first section of the workshop, Jay asked the audience to turn to the person sitting to their left or right and share their insights. This was designed to help people digest the knowledge, connect wi…