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######## Table 5.1 Community values that represent aspirational norms for CYWR communities

CYWR trial, 2006–2007 Engagement phase We will respect ourselves, our families, our children and our place. We will love our children and will do everything to nurture, protect and educate our children. Our community will be a place that works together to build a better place for our children and families. We will be an example for other communities in the Cape by addressing our problems with alcohol, drugs, gambling, violence, and welfare dependency so that we can lead healthier, more active lives. We acknowledge the importance of ‘hard’ work as a key to open the doors to the good life. Work is central for the survival of our culture. We will honour and protect our culture. We value the rules that our old people set through our culture, they guide us and teach us to be respectful and wise.

The impact of social norms on behaviour is recognised in many disciplines in the social and behavioural sciences (e.g. sociology, economics). While some disciplines have difficulty explaining the process through which social norms come to impact directly on one’s attitudes and behaviour, social psychology has devoted considerable attention to the question of how groups shape behaviour. One central mechanism is social identity. An important insight is that people can define themselves as individuals (‘I’ and ‘me’) and as group members (‘we’ and ‘us’). Personal identity or the personal self is used to describe situations where individuals perceive themselves to be distinct and different from others (‘I’ and ‘me’). On the other hand, a social identity or the social self (‘we’ and ‘us’) refers to an individual’s ‘knowledge that he [or she] belongs to certain groups membership’.11 together with some emotional and value significance to him [or her] of the group When people define themselves as members of a particular group they take on the norms, values and beliefs of the group. So group norms come to shape behaviour because they become ‘self’; they come to define ‘who we are’ and make the coordination of attitudes, goals and behaviour possible. The more people think the group in question is important and self- defining for them, the more likely they will be to act in line with the norms, values and beliefs that define the group. This insight into group memberships and social identity processes is important in understanding attitude and behaviour change. Norm change is something that happens at the level of the group or community, rather than individual by individual. In other words, it is a group-based process whereby a change in ‘our’ shared aspirations and goals produces change at the level of individual attitudes and behaviours. For many in the CYWR trial communities, aspirations or aspirational norms (see Table 5.1) already shape behaviour, but for others different group memberships and associated standards are at work. It is necessary to build belonging and connection to the community (and wider Australian society) so that the broader aspirational norms can have a sustainable impact on behaviour. Importantly, influential group members (leaders or leadership bodies) are an integral part of defining and shaping group norms. Research demonstrates that, in order to have impact, leaders need to be perceived as representing the group (‘being one of us’) and acting in the interest of the group or community of interest. Thus, in the context of the CYWR trial, in order to be effective among those not adhering to the agreed aspirational norms, the FRC would need to be seen as a legitimate authority in the eyes of those community members. It is only through achieving this that the FRC would be able to shape the norms and values of the entire community in sustainable ways.

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