Descriptive Norms and Pre-Gaming Behavior - Essay Example

Article Review: Descriptive Norms and Pre-Gaming Behavior Here s Here Article Review: Descriptive Norms and Pre-Gaming Behavior Problematic alcohol consumption among college students has been a popular topic and a widespread issue for many years. Binge drinking and other dangerous drinking behaviors have implications for the biological, psychological, and social systems of the consumer, just as these systems influence behaviors and each other (Cacioppo, Berntson, Sheridan, & McClintock, 2000). This reciprocal network of relationships provides a framework through which many alcohol consuming behaviors may be examined. We will review a piece of research on problem drinking and will determine if it has flaws that may lead to a misrepresentation of this complex network of interactions. A recent study by Burger, LaSalvia, Hendricks, Mehdipour, and Neudect (in press) inspected the drinking behavior known as pre-gaming. This term was formerly used to refer to alcohol consumption that occurs prior to attending a sporting event (where more alcohol was to be consumed), but it has expanded to include all drinking that occurs before going to a bar, party, or other location where alcohol will continue to be consumed with a larger number of people (Zamboanga, Schwartz, Ham, Borsari, & Van Tyne, 2010). Pre-gaming usually includes having multiple drinks in a short period of time, which is a binging-related behavior, though it is not exactly the same as binge drinking. The authors introduce the topic and propose that social norms will provide a suitable basis for the understanding of pre-gaming and for developing related intervention strategies. This decision may have been appropriate considering potential time and/or methods restrictions, but it is unfortunate that the study did not examine concepts from biology or preferably psychology in addition to the social variable of norms so that potential interactions may be revealed. However, such a task may be too complex to design. Two types of social norms are described. The injunctive variety represents the general social standards of behavior, and descriptive norms are perceptions of how people will behave in certain situations. The norm that this experiment employs as independent variable is of the descriptive type. The authors describe literature that supports the role of perceived social norms in other kinds of college drinking behaviors. This section provided adequate information to support the decision to use social norms to study pre-gaming by college students According to this information, perceptions of peer social norms are highly correlated with drinking behaviors, but students are not correctly informed of the actual perceptual norms related to drinking in college. The role of misinformation provides an avenue for insight into the nature of specific problem drinking behaviors and the formation of potential treatments. At this point, the researchers have established a solid case for studying social norms and pre-game drinking. Two experiments were performed as a part of this research, which was a potential problem for maximizing the accessibility of this information. Multi-part studies sometimes result in the convolution of the topic, but two experiments were ultimately necessary for this research to be completed. Unfortunately it was a lack of foresight on the part of the researchers that led to the need for a second experiment, as we will explain later. Study 1 was based on the hypothesis that providing students with information regarding social norms would be directly related to their pre-gaming drinking behavior. Additional research goals were to determine if college students overestimate the pre-gaming behavior of their peers, and if this perception influenced their own pre-gaming behavior. Participants in this study were 110 undergraduate students (44 male, 66 female) who received class credit in exchange for participation. This sample is problematic for two reasons. First, while the subjects are representative of the intended population, they still represent a convenience sample. Secondly, the exchange of credit for participation may have systematically excluded less motivated students from the study. These students make up a large portion of drinkers on college campuses and may have changed the results of this study completely if included. The students were split into two condition groups, one of which was the control. Both groups attended two sessions, one week apart. The experimental group received information regarding social norms during their first visit while the control did not. One of the main characteristics of the provided information is that it was false. While this manipulation may have been necessary, the use of false norm information to alter a behavior may be considered socially questionable, though the research did pass an ethical examination. All participants completed a nine-item questionnaire regarding pre-gaming drinking in the first and second sessions. The survey is highly questionable as no validity or reliability information was provided. Without ensuring the accuracy of the questionnaire, the author’s findings lose credibility and become impossible to interpret. We will assume that these qualities are present in the survey, for the sake of completing this review. The results of this first experiment showed that students did overestimate the amount of drinking during pre-gaming behaviors by their peers. It was also found that the participants’ perception of typical student pre-gaming behaviors significantly influenced their own behaviors. No effect of information was found for males, but females displayed a significantly lower frequency of pre-gaming. This result was consistent with findings that females are more responsive to descriptive information, but is still entirely suspicious. The minimal design of the study (only one instance of information provided, only two measurements times) is hardly sufficient to reliably reveal an effect. Perhaps the biggest oversight in the design of the first experiment comes from the failure to make the dependent variable compatible with the concept that they were researching. The dependent measure in this experiment was the number of times subjects pre-gamed in the week between sessions, when the experimenters were actually interested in the amount of alcohol consumed during pre-gaming. This problem created the need for a second study, and the use of further resources. The second study was designed as a replication of experiment one, and it contained almost all of the same flaws as the first investigation. This time, the researchers had three additional research goals. The experiment tested the effect sex on norm expectations, whether alcohol consumption during pre-gaming will decrease after the intervention (rather than time spent drinking). Additionally this study asked how often student’s pre-game, and for their perceptions of how often other students pre-game (as opposed to amount of drinking as in the first study). The participants were 89 undergraduate females who received credit. The failure to include male subjects in this experiment is puzzling. It is true that the first intervention only produced effects for females, but the authors stated outright that they sought to replicate the first study (which had a relatively even amount of both sexes). Like study one, groups attended two sessions that were a week apart where questionnaires were issued (this time with 10 items). Again, the time seems insufficient and the survey is not validated. This time there were three conditions with the extra one receiving information based only on gender-specific norms. The same results as the first study were observed for the perception-related hypotheses, and in this experiment, a significant intervention effect was found for the amount of time spent pre-gaming (for both non-control groups). There was no significant effect on the amount of alcohol consumed while pre-gaming. The authors interpret the results of these experiments as support for the relationship between pre-gaming and perception of descriptive norms in college students. It was also suggested that female students reduced the frequency of their pre-gaming behavior in the week following the intervention in both parts of the study. Along with the numerous flaws we have found throughout this study, there are conceptual problems that damage the ability of these findings to be helpful in any way. The use of false social norm information during this study was especially troubling. The reason for this discomfort is not based in any harm done to the subject (they were trying to reduce a problem behavior after all) but rather the implications that come with changing behaviors through false information. When this occurs at a large level of the population (most often by governments and media) it is commonly designated as propaganda, which is a term that is associated with a long history of controversy. The intervention had no effect on the number of drinks consumed while pre-gaming, and this is suggested to be an effect of either the information about norms provided (it was about how often as opposed to how much), or the influence of the environment once pre-gaming begins. Regardless of the validity of the finding and the shabbiness of the design, the experimenters make good observations after the fact. The immediate environment would appear to have a larger impact on pre-gaming behavior in comparison to (false) information about social norms. This may provide another path for interventions if social norms prove problematic in further studies. Behavioral experiments are difficult and complex. This paper is an example of what can happen when these characteristics are not given the proper amount of respect. The authors do not acknowledge the network of influences that are related to behavior. Psychology, biology, and other social factors are ignored in favor of a single social influence in the form of norms. While the effect of social norm descriptions on pre-gaming behaviors is a worthy topic of study, the inclusion of other independent variables would have greatly increased the usefulness of this study as a source of new information. The experiments we reviewed in this study are plagued with problems. It stated with a promising but variable-deprived set of hypotheses, a good review of the literature, and then falls apart with unsubstantiated measured and convoluted subject conditions between experiments. Some information can be taken from this study and applied to further research, but the majority of the experimental data may not be valid or reliable. If this investigation were to be reattempted, the researchers would be better served by considering more independent variables, including validity/reliability information regarding their questionnaire, collecting more data over a longer period of time, and clarifying their research goals beforehand so that a second experiment is not necessary to account for oversights. References Burger, J. M., LaSalvia, C. T., Hendricks, L. A., Mehdipour, T., & Neudeck, E. M. (in press). Partying before the party gets started: The effects of descriptive norms on pre-gaming behavior. Journal of Applied Social Psychology. Cacioppo, J. T., Berntson, G. G., Sheridan, J. F., & McClintock, M. K. (2000). Multilevel integrative analyses of human behavior: Social neuroscience and the complementing nature of social and biological approaches. Psychological Bulletin, 126(6), 829-843. Zamboanga, B. L., Schwartz, S. J., Ham, L. S., Borsari, B., & Van Tyne, K. (2010). Alcohol expectancies, pregaming, drinking games, and hazardous alcohol use in a multiethnic sample of college students. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 34(2), 124-133. Read More