Social psychology plays an important role in explicating mechanisms of legal effect. From a social psychological perspective, laws and regulations can be classified according to the type of causal pathway by which behaviors are modified, for example, through changing attitudes, normative beliefs or self-efficacy concerning a specific behavior.
This monograph outlines plausible pathways for many types of laws/regulations, including: 1) prevention and safety laws; 2) environmental exposure regulations; 3) laws regulating availability of health enhancing and health-inhibiting products and resources; and, 4) "soft" laws that prompt or inform rather than command the ultimate actor (for example, labeling laws).

Alternatively available for download at the Social Sciences Research Network (SSRN):