MANHATTAN -- An article written by Fred Newton and Doug Newton which appeared in the journal, Campus Forum, and in the annual report of Kansas State University's counseling center, is a featured topic on the Jossey-Bass Web site, http://www.josseybass.com/go/aboutcampusforum.
Fred Newton, director of the counseling center, and Doug Newton, project coordinator for the social norms grant, Project Wellness, collaborated on the article. Project Wellness uses social marketing to promote a message to students about responsible and safe drinking.
"The message we wanted to communicate was based upon actual survey data about student behavior and supported the principle that most students act in a reasonable and responsible way when they party," Fred Newton said. "Our purpose was to influence a significant number of students who were acting in more excessive and potentially harmful ways when they 'partied,' and who themselves believed, somewhat mistakenly, that the wild party life was the 'in' and 'normative' behavior of the campus party scene.
"Sending out a message using information about students' own reported behavior seemed a much more positive approach than the more paternalistic messages designed to reduce harmful behavior -- such as the wrecked car parked conspicuously on campus with an admonition about drinking, driving and dying."
The Newtons discovered the "Tipping Point," a book by Malcolm Gladwell, which describes how a few significant people can have tremendous influence on the initiation of trends, fads and social behavior for the many. Gladwell says the emergence of new social behaviors is frequently the result of a few individuals who are able to create a "tipping point" of difference within a rather large sphere of influence.
Influence makers, tippers, are people who have large networks of contact with other people. They are able to connect in ways that cross many different subgroups. They are also sensitive detectors of the interests and whims of their peers. They seem to access the pertinent signals and are able to anticipate the likes and inclinations of the population. This factor makes it easy for them to be trendsetters to promote a message to students about responsible and safe drinking.
A person with tipper potential also is able to communicate a message in a manner that sticks, so others will remember it.
The Newtons, who are father and son, decided to try a "tipping point" experiment at K-State because they saw it as a way to improve the impact of Project Wellness.
According to Doug Newton, "The K-State tipping point experiment began with a paper and pencil poll asking students, 'Who do you know at K-State who seems to have connections and associations with many other students across various areas of campus life? Who do you know who is a trendsetter, is 'up' on the latest fads and can tell you what's happening? Who do you know who is able to communicate well with other K-State students and gets attention of people around them by their verbal skills and charisma?'"
An optional question was "Who do you admire because they are exceptional in what they do and how they act?"
"In order to get a cross section of students," Doug Newton said, "polling locations were set up in common traffic areas including the Student Union, the Recreation Center, residence hall food centers and the lobby of several college classroom buildings."
Through their experiment, they identified 55 influential K-state students, those top 10 percent of students who received multiple nominations as a "very influential person." Of the total group, 13 participated in a focus group to provide input, opinions and ideas. They also reviewed the copy for prospective newspaper ads and provided feedback on them.
In the future, the Newtons hope to identify influential students earlier in the fall, and ask for their help in promoting programs to encourage responsible party behavior. Meanwhile, on the Web site discussion list, Fred Newton asks philosophical questions like "Should we really be trying to influence student culture and individual behavior in this way? This sounds a little like propaganda, manipulation or superficial marketing tactics. Are we even prepared to venture into these areas?"
The counseling center's annual report, with the "Tipping Point" article, is available on the Web at http://www.ksu.edu/counseling/annual2001.pdf.
Sources: Fred Newton, e-mail [email protected]; and Doug Newton, e-mail [email protected]; both at 785-532-6927Fred Newton's Website: http://www-personal.ksu.edu/~newtonf/News release prepared by: Cheryl May, 785-532-6415
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