Human activity is changing the biosphere in unprecedented ways, and addressing this challenge will require changes in individual and community patterns of behaviour. One approach to managing individual behaviours is ‘top-down’ and involves imposing sanctions through legislative frameworks. However, of itself, a top-down framework does not appear sufficient to induce the changes required to meet environmental sustainability targets. Thus, there has been interest in changing individual-level behaviour from the ‘bottom-up’ by, for example, fostering desirable pro-environmental behaviours via social norms. Social norms arise from expectations about how others will behave and the consequences of conforming to or departing from them. Meta-analyses suggest that social norms can promote pro-environmental behaviour. Environmental social norms that appear to have both changed in recent decades and have themselves promoted change include recycling, and nascent behavioural shifts such as the move away from single-use plastics and flight shaming. However, whether the conditions under which pro-environmental social norms emerge and are adhered align with the features of environmental systems is unclear. Furthermore, individuals might feel powerless in a global system. This feeling of powerlessness, or lack of self-efficacy, may limit the growth of norms. We review the conditions believed to promote the development of and adherence to social norms, then consider how those conditions relate to the environmental challenges of the Anthropocene. While promoting social norms has a valuable role to play in promoting environmental actions, we conclude that norms are most effective where individual actions are immediately evident and have an obvious and local effect.

中文翻译：

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评估社会规范在促进环保行为中的作用

人类活动正在以前所未有的方式改变生物圈，而应对这一挑战将需要改变个人和社区的行为方式。一种管理个人行为的方法是“自上而下”，涉及通过立法框架实施制裁。然而，就其本身而言，自上而下的框架似乎不足以引发实现环境可持续性目标所需的变化。因此，人们有兴趣通过例如通过社会规范培养理想的环保行为，从“自下而上”改变个人行为。社会规范源于对他人的行为方式的期望以及遵守或背离他人的后果。荟萃分析表明，社会规范可以促进环保行为。在最近几十年中似乎已发生变化并已自身推动变化的环境社会规范包括回收利用和新生的行为转变，例如不再使用一次性塑料和羞辱飞行。但是，尚不清楚形成和遵守有利于环境的社会规范的条件是否符合环境系统的特征。此外，在全球系统中，个人可能会感到无能为力。这种无能为力或缺乏自我效能感的感觉可能会限制规范的发展。我们回顾了认为可以促进社会规范的发展和遵守的条件，然后考虑这些条件如何与人类世的环境挑战相关联。尽管促进社会规范在促进环境行动方面可以发挥重要作用，