Glossary
Information about others' approval
What is information about others’ approval?
Information about others’ approval tells a person whether other people approve or disapprove of a behavior.
Injunctive norms vs. descriptive norms
This concerns injunctive norms—what others approve of—rather than descriptive norms, or what others actually do. The information should not be confused with directly providing praise or with comparing performance.
Illustrative example
An organization shares a staff survey showing colleagues’ approval of a proposed recycling practice. This tells employees what their colleagues support. Reporting how many colleagues already recycle would communicate a different kind of norm.
Evidence and limits
The original BCT Taxonomy v1 definitions specify this as technique 6.3. The intended reason to act is social approval. Whether it matters will depend on whose opinion the person values and what else affects the decision. Do not invent consensus or assume that approval outweighs practical barriers.