There are several potential processes that might be responsible
for the enhanced towel reuse among those in the
provincial norm condition. However, with the limitations of
field experiment data, we can only speculate at this point.
One possible explanation for why provincial norms might
be especially influential stems from the fact that it is typically
beneficial to follow the norms that most closely match
one’s immediate settings, situations, and circumstances. As
a natural part of the learning process, individuals are attuned
to the extent to which their inferences, decisions, and behaviors
have led to adaptive outcomes in the past. To make
information processing and decision making more manageable
in novel or uncertain circumstances, individuals often
generalize the associations they learn from previous experiences
(Zebrowitz 1990). Although such generalizationsoften
lead to correct interpretations of stimuli, successful decisions,
and effective behaviors, they occasionally lead to errors due to
the unavailability of information or to the overgeneralization
of their previous association (Zebrowitz and Collins 1997). For
example, a consumer who has been satisfied with the reliability
of her previous automobile purchases from several different
Japanese manufacturers may overgeneralize this association,
leading her to believe, even mistakenly, that all Japanese-made
cars are reliable. Such an overgeneralization could affect her
future purchases—and possibly lead to a mistake when purchasing g a Japanese brand with which she has no previous experience