On the Effectiveness of Social Norms Intervention in College Drinking: The Roles of Identity Verification and Peer Influence.

Background: The application of social norms theory in the study of college drinking centers on the ideas that incorrect perceptions of drinking norms encourage problematic drinking behavior and that correcting misperceptions can mitigate problems. The design and execution of social norms interventions can be improved with a deeper understanding of causal mechanisms connecting misperception to drinking behavior.

Methods: We develop an agent-based computational simulation that uses identity control theory and peer influence (PI) to model interactions that affect drinking.