We often find ourselves (sub)consciously measuring our own behaviour to that of those around us. We do this by asking ourselves: “What would my friends do?” or “Person A always does this..”.
Mirroring ourselves to our peers is completely natural. It can teach us new things, help us gain insights and broaden our horizons. But when it comes to substance use, we often make these decisions based on misperceptions.
The Social Norms Approach believes we overestimate risky behaviour among our peers, while we underestimate healthy behaviour among these same peers. These misperceptions shape our own behavior, because we assume “Everyone uses more than I do”.
With our campaign ‘My Health, My Choice’, we share the findings of our research and we offer you an insight in what’s actually going on.
