Proscriptive vs. prescriptive health recommendations to drink alcohol within recommended limits: effects on moral norms, reactance, attitudes, intentions, and behaviour change

Health advice can be framed in terms of prescriptive rules (what people should do, e.g., you should drink alcohol within recommended limits) or proscriptive rules (what people should not do, e.g., you should not drink alcohol above recommended limits). The current research examines the differing effect that these two types of injunction have on participants’ moral norms, reactance, attitudes, and intentions to consume alcohol within moderation, and their subsequent alcohol consumption.