The Alcohol Social Norms Campaign

Welcome to the Social Norms page at WPU. This page provides information about research conducted at WPU on alcohol consumption and our marketing campaign designed to reduce excessive drinking.

Alcohol Social Norms Research/Marketing Campaign

At William Paterson University and across the nation research consistently indicates that there is a misperception among college students regarding alcohol consumption. College students typically overestimate how much alcohol their peers are consuming. Students often incorrectly believe that the majority of their peers are drinking excessively. However, for three consecutive years studies indicate that most WPU student’s actually drink alcohol moderately or not all. Specifically, the studies suggest that 61% to 67% of WPU students have between 0-4 drinks when they go out.

Social psychological theory suggests that if students hold the misperception that most of their peers are drinking alcohol excessively they may feel that this behavior is normative and possibly what is expected of them to fit in. To reduce high risk drinking at WPU our social norms research and marketing campaign is designed to correct faulty misperceptions by communicating that most WPU students drink moderately or not at all. Research has shown that when students’ perception of how much their peers drink becomes more accurate their alcohol consumption decreases.

This academic term our campaign has been focused on combining random facts along with our social norms message. The hope is that the random facts will get people’s attention and be interesting enough so that students will eagerly anticipate new social norm ads in the future. Please give us feedback to our social norms campaign by emailing the social norms committee at snorms@wpu.edu.

Misperceptions – Why They Occur:

There are several reasons why college students may overestimate the amount of alcohol that their peers consume. One reason is that at social gatherings the behavior of students who drink alcohol excessively is more extravagant or provocative than students who refrain from drinking or drink moderately. When recalling what happened at social gatherings, students will often attend to the more outlandish or extreme behavior perceiving it as more common while the behavior of students who drink moderately may go unnoticed.

Another reason college students have an inflated view regarding how much their peer’s drink is related to how college life is portrayed in the media. The media often amplifies, and glamorizes substance use making it appear more common than it really is among college students.

Click here to view the latest Alcohol Social Norms Campaign.