Exposing Pluralistic Ignorance to Reduce Alcohol Use Among College Students¹

TLDR

Students’ perceptions of alcohol use are marked by pluralistic ignorance, with most believing peers are more comfortable with campus drinking than they are. This study investigates whether informing students about pluralistic ignorance can reduce their drinking. Freshmen were assigned to either a peer‑oriented discussion on pluralistic ignorance or an individual‑oriented discussion on decision making in drinking situations. Four to six months later, those in the peer‑oriented group drank significantly less, and the discussion also weakened the prescriptive strength of the drinking norm, supporting models of social influence.

Abstract

Research has shown that students' beliefs about alcohol use are characterized by pluralistic ignorance: The majority of students believe that their peers are uniformly more comfortable with campus alcohol practices than they are. The present study examines the effects of educating students about pluralistic ignorance on their drinking behavior. Entering students (freshmen) participated in either a peer‐oriented discussion, which focused on pluralistic ignorance, or an individual‐oriented discussion, which focused on decision making in a drinking situation. Four to 6 months later, students in the peer‐oriented condition reported drinking significantly less than did students in the individual‐oriented condition. Additional results suggest that the peer‐oriented discussion reduced the prescriptive strength of the drinking norm. The implications of these results for models of social influence and for the representation of peer opinion are discussed.