Realigning individual behavior with societal values: The role of planning in injunctive-norm interventions aimed at increasing voter turnout

Abstract

Voting is highly valued in democratic societies. However, in recent years there has been a marked decline in voting. To realign voting behavior with democratic values, we turn to the study of injunctive-norm interventions. These interventions advance that by making injunctive norms, the norms representing collective values, salient to a targeted group of individuals, individuals will likely conform to the promoted norm. However, studies testing the effectiveness of injunctive-norm interventions have produced mixed results. We hypothesize that individuals with few plans to vote are those who will be most influenced by these interventions. Individuals with few plans should be more receptive to normative influence because they do not have preconceived commitments about how to engage with voting. Study 1 (N = 141) shows that injunctive-norm interventions influence the voting behavior of those with few plans about voting. Studies 2 (N = 152) and 3 (N = 195) bring forth evidence that this influence is also present when the salient injunctive norms are from close meaningful groups, such as family and friends.