The Role of Subjective Norm in Persuasion Through the Restoration of Personal Freedom

Human behavior is largely influenced by social norms. While the social norm approach is frequently used in public health campaigns, their effectiveness is inconsistent. This study investigated the role of normative reactance–the amplification of subjective norms as a means of restoring threatened freedom–across two health behaviors: college drinking and STD testing. A 2 (message threat: low vs. high) × 2 (health topic: college drinking vs. STD testing) between-subjects experiment was conducted with 765 participants. The results indicated that, similar to attitudes, subjective norms could also be amplified as a self-justification strategy to restore threatened freedom, which led to reduced intention to follow a message recommendation. In addition, results showed that the role of subjective norms and attitudes can vary across health behaviors and individual differences, particularly concerning an individual’s degree of self-monitoring. Theoretical implications, limitations, and future directions are discussed.