Group Identity Signals Can Be Used to Reduce Risky Health Behavior

Authors Jonah Berger (University of Pennsylvania) and Lindsay Rand (Stanford University) found that linking a risky behavior with an "outgroup" (a group that the targeted audience doesn't want to be confused with) caused participants to reduce unhealthy behaviors.

The studies began by identifying groups of people who study participants liked, but with whom the participants would not want to be confused - "outgroups."  In the first study, the participants were undergraduates and the "outgroup" was graduate students. When participants were led to believe that graduate students consumed more junk food, they chose 28% fewer junk-food items than participants who thought their group ate more junk food.

Read this fascinating report at:  http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/587632