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1
McAlaney, John, and J. McMahon. "Normative beliefs, misperceptions, and heavy episodic drinking in a British student sample." Rutgers University, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/10454/2798.
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YesObjective: Numerous studies have demonstrated the existence and effect of normative misperceptions on heavy episodic drinking behavior. However, there has been little work on these processes or application of normative-belief interventions outside the U.S. college system. The aim of the current study, therefore, was to investigate heavy episodic drinking and normative misperceptions in a U.K. university setting. Method: An email containing a link to a survey Web site was distributed to all current undergraduate students at the University of Paisley, Scotland. In addition to age and gender questions, the survey contained items on students¿ personal behavior and perception of the level of that behavior in three groups of increasing social distance: close friends, other students of the same age, and other people of the same age in U.K. society in general. Results: Completed surveys from 500 respondents were returned. In keeping with previous research, significant correlations were found between the respondents¿ behavior and the perception of that behavior in others, with beliefs about the most proximal individuals being the most strongly correlated. The majority of respondents were also found to overestimate alcohol consumption in other students. An age effect was noted, in which misperceptions appeared to decrease with age but did not vary between genders. Conclusions: The findings of the study indicate that the normative-belief alcohol consumption processes that have been found on U.S. college campuses also operate in U.K. university settings. This raises the possibility of applying social-norms interventions from the United States to the United Kingdom and potentially elsewhere in the world. Furthermore, the study noted apparent age effects in the degree of misperception, the implications of which are discussed
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Al, Rifai Aroub A. Y. "Stakeholders and corporate philanthropy of non-economic nature in a developing country of intense Islamic beliefs, values and norms : an institutional framework." Thesis, Brunel University, 2013. http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/7647.
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The widespread use of Corporate Philanthropy (CP) in the US and the UK has resulted in a significant body of literature on the phenomena and its use. However, the literature generated around CP is criticised for being of an economic nature and for being biased toward the context of developed Western countries. This thesis suggests that the context of developing countries is important in relation to the non-economic nature of CP, due to the existence of intense religious beliefs and values. However, there has been little attempt to explicitly examine how the institutional pressures within this context shape the CP of a non-economic and more precisely of an altruistic nature, and how firms act in response to these influences. This thesis leverages institutional theory by proposing that stakeholders – including communities, competitors, NGOs and politicians – may impose coercive and mimetic pressures encouraging isomorphic field-level CP of a non-economic nature in a context of intense Islamic beliefs, values and norms. However, the way in which firms perceive and act upon these pressures may differ depending on specific factors related to the firm itself, including the identity of the firm, the competitive position of the firm, and shareholder pressures. These differences between firms result in the adoption of different CP strategies as decided by each firm, expressing its appropriate responses to field pressures. This study uses a qualitative methodology using data collected from 27 of the key personnel responsible for CP decisions (shareholders and managers) in the Kuwaiti banking sector. Questions were developed to assess the relationships between institutional pressures at the field and organisational levels of analysis. Data was collected through multiple sources such as in-depth interviews, documentation, and archival records. The contributions of the thesis are in relation to: a) the institutional theory; b) gaining more understanding of CP in developing countries; C) offering a robust understanding of altruistic CP influenced by an Islamic context; and d) practical implementations of CP in Islamic banks.
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Pierre, Jean Abel. "Sociologie économique de la corruption : Vers une étude de l'implémentation des politiques publiques de lutte contre la corruption en Haïti." Thesis, Paris 4, 2014. http://www.theses.fr/2014PA040089/document.
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La corruption est une thématique récurrente dans les agendas publics des pays en voie de développement. En Haïti, elle fait l’objet, depuis la fin des années 1980, d’une préoccupation nationale et d’un ensemble de mesures juridico-légales par les pouvoirs publics qui cherchent peu ou prou à l’éradiquer. Cependant, plus de trois décennies après, elle constitue encore un phénomène social persistant qui semble participer de la structuration des rapports entre les individus et les groupes de la société en général, et de l’administration publique en particulier. Cette thèse se propose d’expliquer la récurrence des phénomènes de corruption dans l’administration publique haïtienne. Elle démontre que les processus d’inscription de la corruption aux agendas publics, c’est-à-dire la manière dont le phénomène a acquis le statut de problème public, participent à la construction des perceptions, croyances ou représentations (PCR) fortes sur son existence. Dans une relation de détermination réciproque, de telles PCR influencent le choix des fonctionnaires et des contribuables d’entrer dans des transactions corruptives. A partir, entre autres, de l’examen des formes de justification langagières, nous procédons à une extraction du sens des pratiques corruptives pour les individus en reconstituant leur système de raisons à exécuter des pratiques qu’ils jugent pourtant, pour la plupart, inacceptables. En complément à ce premier moment d’analyse, nous examinons les mécanismes de la corruption en mettant en lumière la nature et la structure des réseaux d’allégeance personnelle et politique qui se permutent, dans les circonstances qui sont celles de l’administration publique, en réseaux de corruptionCorruption is a recurring theme in public agendas of developing countries. In Haiti, since the late 1980s, it has been subject of a national concern and a set of legal actions by the public authorities trying more or less to eradicate it. However, more than three decades later, it is still a persistent social phenomenon that seems to participate in structuring relationships between individuals and groups in the society in general and public administration in particular. This study aims to explain the widespread recurrence of corruption in the Haitian public administration. It demonstrates that the agenda-setting process of corruption, that is the way the phenomenon has acquired the status of a public issue, participates in the construction of strong perceptions, beliefs or representations (PCR) on its very existence. In a reciprocal determination relationship, such PCR influence the choice of officials and taxpayers to enter into corrupt transactions. Based on the examination of different forms of verbal justification, we extract the meaning of individuals’ actions by restoring their system of reasons in executing actions that they consider yet, for the most, unacceptable. In addition to that analysis, we examine the mechanisms of corruption by highlighting the nature and structure of personal and political affiliation networks, which change into corruption networks in circumstances such as those of the public administration
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Le, Grand Tchagnéno Téné Charles. "Analyse des déterminants sociocognitifs de l'intention de s'engager dans les programmes de restructuration du travail informel au Cameroun." Thesis, Université Grenoble Alpes (ComUE), 2018. http://www.theses.fr/2018GREAH005.
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Cette thèse a un double objectif : évaluer la pertinence théorique du modèle du comportement planifié dans le contexte camerounais et valider un modèle intégratif d’explication de l’intention de s’engager dans des programmes de restructuration du travail informel. Nous sommes parti du constat d’un décalage entre la mobilisation croissante en vue de formaliser les activités informelles et leur paradoxale persistance dans les pays en voie de développement en général et au Cameroun en particulier. Il est question de comprendre pourquoi les acteurs du travail informel adhèrent peu aux politiques publiques en faveur dudit secteur.La littérature sur le travail informel l’aborde comme une catégorie d’analyse (Busso, 2005) et a tendance à expliquer l’échec des programmes par des causes exogènes, socioéconomiques et politiques. De ce fait, elle néglige l’importance de la dimension psychosociale dans l’implémentation des politiques publiques et l’accompagnement du changement. L’échec des programmes successifs initiés au Cameroun en vue de restructurer le travail informel justifie l’intérêt d’étudier les déterminants sociocognitifs de l’engagement dans lesdits programmes. En nous appuyant sur les modèles cognitivo-comportementaux, nous nous attendons à ce que les représentations, les croyances et les perceptions puissent permettre de mieux comprendre les intentions des acteurs du ce secteur à s’engager dans les programmes de restructuration dudit travail. Plusieurs approches théoriques sont ainsi mobilisés. La théorie des représentations sociales (Jodelet, 1996), la théorie du comportement planifié (Ajzen, 2015), la théorie du comportement orienté par un but (Locke & Latham, 2002) entre autres.Sept études ont été réalisées. La première explore les représentations sociales du travail informel et des programmes visant sa restructuration. Les six autres études sont empiriques. Elles explorent les liens entre représentations sociales, croyances et attitudes des travailleurs informels et des promoteurs d’unités de production informelles (études 2 et 3). Elles évaluent également la pertinence théorique du modèle du comportement planifié tout comme le rôle médiateur du désir (Bagozzi, 1992) entre l’intention comportementale et ses déterminants (études 4 et 5). Dans les études 6 et 7 sont évaluées l’impact de la connaissance, de la crédibilité perçue des programmes et des acteurs chargés de les piloter, ainsi que la perception de l’information sur l’intention. Les hypothèses sont vérifiées auprès de deux échantillons (travailleurs informels, N =337, et promoteurs d’unités de production informelle, N = 175, respectivement). Le modèle global est évalué.Les résultats confortent les hypothèses de la thèse. Malgré la pertinence du modèle du comportement planifié dans l’explication de l’intention de s’engager dans les programmes, l’intégration de variables nouvelles dans un modèle intégratif permet d’améliorer de façon significative la variance expliquée de l’intention. En effet, cette variance passe de 52.40% à 76% chez les travailleurs informels et de 44% à 78.30% chez les promoteurs d’unités de production informelle avec la prise en compte de ces variables supplémentaires. Par ailleurs, les résultats montrent que la connaissance des programmes joue un rôle prépondérant non seulement dans l’explication de l’intention, mais également de l’attitude. Ces résultats vont dans le sens des travaux antérieurs (Radovic & Hasking, 2013). La crédibilité perçue des programmes apparait aussi comme un déterminant majeur de l’intention chez les travailleurs informels alors qu’elle l’est moins chez les promoteurs d’UPI. Chez ces derniers, on note un effet élevé de la perception de l’information sur l’intention de s’engager dans les programmes de restructuration du travail informel. Ces résultats sont aussi consonants avec la littérature (Lunemberg, 2011) qui soutient que le désir est le déterminant proximal de l’intentionThis thesis has a double objective: to evaluate the theoretical pertinence of the planned behaviour theory (PBT) in the Cameroonian context and to validate an integrative explanatory model of the intention of engaging in the informal work sector restructuring programs. Our stating point was the observation of the distance that exists between the increasing mobilisation towards the formalisation of informal activities and their paradoxical persistence in developing countries in general and particularly in Cameroon. Our preoccupation is to understand why the informal work actors refuse to adhere to public policies in favour of the said sector. Which psycho-social variables could justify their intention and consequentLiterature on the informal work considers it as a category of analysis (Busso, 2005) and has the tendency of explaining the failure of programs by external, socioeconomic and political causes. By doing so, they neglect the psycho-social dimension in the implementation of public policies and the accompaniment of change. The successive failure of programs initiated in Cameroon in order to restructure the informal work justifies the interest towards socio-cognitive determinants of engagement in the said programs. Based on the cognitions-behaviours models, we expect that the representations, beliefs and perceptions could help in the understanding of the intentions of the actors to engage in informal work restructuring programs. Therefore, prediction models of behaviour have been mobilised in order to discern those socio-cognitive factors that can likely explain those intentions. Several theoretical approaches have been used in this framework. These include: the theory of social representations (Jodelet, 1996), the theory of planned behaviour (Ajzen, 2015), the goal oriented behaviour theory (Locke & Latham, 2002), etc.Seven studies have been realised. The first one which is exploratory, analyses the social representations of the informal work and the programs geared towards its reorganization. The six other studies are empirical. They analyse the relationship between social representations, beliefs and attitudes respectively of the informal workers and the informal business promoters (studies 2 and 3); they evaluate the theoretical pertinence of the planned behaviour model just as the mediator role of the desire (Bagozzi, 1992) between the behavioural intention and its determinants (studies 4 and 5). In the 6th and 7th studies are evaluated the impact of the knowledge, the perceived credibility of the programs and the actors in charge of piloting them, as well as the perception of information about those programs on the intention. The hypotheses are verified on two samples (337 informal workers and 175 informal business promoters respectively). The global model is evaluated.The results reinforce the thesis. Despite the pertinence of the planned behaviour model in the explanation of the intention of engaging in the programs, the integration of new variables improve significantly the explained variance of the intention. Indeed, this variance goes from 52.40% to 76% among informal workers and from 44% to 78.30% among informal business promoters. Moreover, the results show that knowledge of programs plays a major role not only in explaining the intention, but also in the attitude. These results are in line with previous works (Radovic & Hasking, 2013). The perceived credibility of the programs appears also as a major determinant of the intention among informal workers while it is less among informal work promoters. Among the latter, there is quite a high effect of the perception of information on the intention of engaging in the informal work restructuring programs. These results are also consistent with the literature (Lunenberg, 2011) which considers the desire as the proximate determinant of the intention
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Ncitakalo, Nolusindiso. "Socio-cultural influences in decision making involving sexual behaviour among adolescents in Khayelitsha, Cape Town." Thesis, University of the Western Cape, 2011. http://etd.uwc.ac.za/index.php?module=etd&action=viewtitle&id=gen8Srv25Nme4_8419_1307434451.
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The aim of the study was to explore the socio-cultural influences in decision making involving sexual behaviour among adolescents in Khayelitsha, Cape Town. Cultural beliefs associated with adolescents&rsquo
decision to become sexually active were explored, as well as the social norms influences involved in adolescents&rsquo
sexual behaviour. The theoretical framework used for the study was Bronfenbrenner&rsquo
s ecological systems theory of development. The results indicated that adolescent pregnancy was perceived as unacceptable behaviour although found widespread in communities. Social influences such as peer influence, low socioeconomic status, alcohol use and lack of parental supervision were found to play a role in adolescents&rsquo
risky sexual behaviour. Cultural beliefs, cultural myths and social norms were identified as socio-cultural influences that endorsed issues such as gender disparities, which made adolescent mothers vulnerable. Findings from this study suggest that female adolescents are faced with sexual behaviour complexities.
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Al-Amri, Jehad. "An analysis of the influence of cultural backgrounds of individuals upon their perspective towards privacy within internet activities." Thesis, De Montfort University, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/2086/9028.
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Concern about privacy is an important consideration for users of information and communication technologies (ICT), particularly when using computer-mediated communication (CMC), i.e. Internet usage. Several researchers have studied privacy issues by taking into account the views of users to include individuals, organisations, privacy policy makers, governments and trust organisations. This thesis investigates whether an individual's perspectives about privacy are culturally relevant when using the Internet. This research used a survey in the form of a questionnaire in two countries, namely, Saudi Arabia and Malaysia to compare online privacy perspectives of young and mature (male and female) Saudi and Malaysian students. The research examines the relationship of the effect of the cultural background including the effect of social norms, religious belief, Internet regulation and IT skills of these Internet users upon their attitude towards privacy online and their perspectives about privacy. It also examines the effect of nationality (Malaysian and Saudi), gender and age groups. In this study, online privacy perspectives are a synthesis of three perceptions; what is 'personal' information online, the online privacy concerns and the Internet trust, whereby the cultural effects are the effect of religious beliefs, social norms, Internet regulation and IT skills in the privacy attitudes of keeping personal information safe, caring about their and others' privacy online and when revealing personal information. The demographic factors in this research are nationality, gender and age. To study these relationships, the research uses t-test, ANOVA, and single regression methods as data analysis techniques. The results show that the level of concern and degree of trust exhibited by Malaysian students with regard to submitting personal information via the Internet was affected the most by their gender, and social norms upon their online privacy attitudes. For Saudi students, the level of concern and trust with regard to submitting personal information via the Internet was found to be related to the effect of their age, gender, and religious beliefs on their online privacy attitudes. The other cultural factors, i.e. Internet regulation in force in each country and the IT skills of participants, are likely to have equal effects on both Malaysian and Saudi privacy perspectives. This research adds the cultural background, age and gender effects to the model of the calculus of the privacy concern that is proposed by Dinev and Hart (2006, pp. 63-64). The research also establishes what is 'private' in Malaysia and Saudi Arabia, by identifying 'what counts as personal information with regard to Internet users' and provides a comparison in this concept between the two countries, their gender and age groups. For examples, Malaysian students consider name, e-mail address, date of birth, nationality and religion as 'personal' information and Saudi students consider home address, phone number, photographic image and credit card number as 'personal' information. In addition Saudi females tend to consider, particularly, home address, phone number, and photographic image as 'personal' information more than Saudi males. These findings should help both web designers and Internet policy makers in Saudi Arabia and Malaysia to consider these cultural effects when designing the privacy policies of their websites.
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Fraser, John Robert. "An Examination of Environmental Collective Identity Development Across Three Life-stages: The Contribution of Social Public Experiences at Zoos." [Yellow Springs, Ohio] : Antioch University, 2009. http://etd.ohiolink.edu/view.cgi?acc_num=antioch1244223241.
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Thesis (Ph. D.)--Antioch University New England, 2009.Title from PDF t.p. (viewed July 10, 2009). "A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Environmental Studies at Antioch University New England (2009)."--The title page. Advisor: Thomas N. Webler, Ph. D. Includes bibliographical references (p. 210-211).
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Lawrence, Michelle. "Exploring attitudes of University students towards seeking psychological counselling." Thesis, University of the Western Cape, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/11394/3327.
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Magister Psychologiae - MPsychStudent counselling services, typically located within a holistic developmental approach, aim to render comprehensive student services to service users in relation to their psychological, social,educational and spiritual well-being. However, a number of cognitive and affective barriers reportedly reduce the likelihood of young people at universities seeking professional psychological help for personal-emotional problems. Accordingly, the aim of this study, which is located within the Theory of Reasoned Action, was to explore students’ attitudes towards utilising student counselling services, as well as their interpretations of the influence of age, gender and education on their attitudes and self-rated knowledge regarding seeking psychological help. The study thereby attempts to provide an understanding of the factors that influence help-seeking behaviours in university students. The research sample consisted of twenty nine students from the Cape Peninsula University of Technology. The data was collected through focus group discussions, which were conducted using an open-ended and participantcentred approach to the discussion. The qualitative approach of the study was informed by the theory of social phenomenology. Data gathered from the focus group discussions was thematically analysed. The results suggest that attitudes have a potentially important influence on intentions to seek out psychological counselling. Findings show that students feel shame and guilt when they are struggling psychologically and as a result avoid seeking psychological intervention for fear of being negatively stigmatised. The study revealed that education around mental health disorders and the management thereof was crucial in order for them to be demystified and de-stigmatised, and to facilitate openness in the sharing of these problems, and society’s understanding and acceptance of people experiencing psychological disorders. Results also indicate that there is a shift taking place in these attitudes, and suggest ways in which this change can be further facilitated, such as the utilisation of peer helpers who could play a key role in facilitating and reinforcing help seeking behaviour. The outcomes of the study may further contribute to informing universities’ goal to provide accessible, quality and effective development and support services to its students.
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Dumay, Raquel. "Les effets de masquage dans l'expression de la représentation sociale des immigrés. : étude du rôle de quelques facteurs intervenant dans la (dé)légitimation et le (dé)masquage de croyances pro et contre-normatives." Thesis, Aix-Marseille, 2012. http://www.theses.fr/2012AIXM3007.
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On s'intéresse dans le cadre de ce travail de thèse aux variables susceptibles de favoriser ou d'inhiber l'expression de croyances contre-normatives intervenant dans le champ de la représentation sociale des immigrés. On étudie plus précisément l'impact de la protection normative accordée à ce groupe social, de la capacité d'adaptation à leur société d'accueil qui leur est attribuée mais également de la filière universitaire d'appartenance des sujets interrogés sur les stratégies sociocognitives de masquage et de démasquage mises en place dans l'expression de la représentation. On s'attend à ce que ces trois facteurs interagissent avec la variable consigne de passation, en atténuant voire en annulant dans certains cas les différences classiquement observées entre les conditions où les sujets répondent en leur nom propre (hypothèse de masquage) et celles où ils s'expriment au nom d'un autrui de substitution (hypothèse de démasquage). Les résultats des recherches empiriques révèlent comme prévu des effets différenciés de la variable consigne de passation selon les modalités des facteurs testés, confirmant l'implication de processus d'ordre normatif dans les effets de la substitution. En outre, les liens observés entre protection normative attribuée aux immigrés et capacité d'adaptation perçue confirment l'existence de logiques de justification et de légitimation qui semblent présider à l'orchestration des phénomènes de masquage et de démasquage dans l'expression des représentations sociales de groupes minoritairesWe are interested in the context of this Phd thesis to the variables that can facilitate or inhibit the expression of counter-normative beliefs working in the field of social representation of immigrants. We study more precisely the impact of normative protection given to this social group, the perceived ability to adapt to their host society they are assigned but also the academic affiliation of respondents on the socio-cognitive strategies of masking and unmasking set place in the expression of representation. It is expected that these three factors interact with the answering instruction, mitigating or even cancelling in some cases the differences typically observed between conditions where subjects respond in their own name (masking hypothesis) and those where they express an opinion on behalf of a substitute other (unmasking hypothesis). The results of empirical research show as expected differential effects of the answering instruction under the terms of the factors tested, confirming the involvement of a normative process in the effects of substitution. Moreover, the observed associations between normative protection granted to immigrants and their perceived adaptability confirm the existence of justification and legitimation processes that seem to govern the orchestration of the phenomena of masking and unmasking in the expression of social representation about minority groups
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Dahlin, Larsson Pethra. "VEM HÖR TILL? : Eller inte?" Thesis, Högskolan i Halmstad, Sektionen för hälsa och samhälle (HOS), 2012. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hh:diva-19707.
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Over the past two decades, trends of integration processes in terms of citizens of different ethnicities, different gender and different sexual belongings, etc. has grown thanks to debates and new legislations. A marginalized and discriminated group in society such as women, immigrants, homosexuals, transsexuals and people with disabilities during this time has gained momentum in the community. The curiosity over whether these developments have changed our attitudes and values to the world around us, and if so how, is the reason for this master's thesis in disability studies. The Swedish development forms the basis for my belief on a younger generation of people who would be more tolerant than previous generations, in terms of what is considered to belong to the norm in our society, or not. The purpose of this study is therefore to increase knowledge about what beliefs young people today have about people with disabilities. The questions that the study is based on are: What does young people characterizes as a normal or an abnormal human being? What thoughts do young people have about the people who deviate from the norm? What beliefs do they have regarding people with disabilities? To achieve the objective, the choice has fallen on a qualitative approach. Empirical data were collected through a focus group of four 18-year-olds, where they based on specific themes, have associated and discussed freely. For the processing and interpretation of the data collection, Moscovici (1984) theory of social representations has been used. By interpreting the focus groups discussions, the result shows that people with disabilities still are highly regarded and treated as people who should be "corrected" by the individual / medical model.
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Mohlin, Erik. "Essays on belief formation and pro-sociality." Doctoral thesis, Handelshögskolan i Stockholm, Samhällsekonomi (S), 2010. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hhs:diva-975.
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This thesis consists of four independent papers. The first two papers use experimental methods to study pro-social behaviors. The other two use theoretical methods to investigate questions about belief formation. The first paper “Communication: Content or Relationship?” investigates the effect on communication on generosity in a dictator game. In the basic experiment (the control), subjects in one room are dictators and subjects in another room are recipients. The subjects are anonymous to each other throughout the whole experiment. Each dictator gets to allocate a sum of 100 SEK between herself and an unknown recipient in the other room. In the first treatment we allow each recipient to send a free-form message to his dictator counterpart, before the dictator makes her allocation decision. In order to separate the effect of the content of the communication, from the relationship-building effect of communication, we carry out a third treatment, where we take the messages from the previous treatment and give each of them to a dictator in this new treatment. The dictators are informed that the recipients who wrote the messages are not the recipients they will have the opportunity to send money to. We find that this still increases donation compared to the baseline but not as much as in the other treatment. This suggests that both the impersonal content of the communication and the relationship effect matters for donations. The second paper, “Limbic justice – Amygdala Drives Rejection in the Ultimatum Game”, is about the neurological basis for the tendency to punish norm violators in the Ultimatum Game. In the Ultimatum Game, a proposer proposes a way to divide a fixed sum of money. The responder accepts or rejects the proposal. If the proposal is accepted the proposed split is realized and if the proposal is rejected both subjects gets zero. Subjects were randomly allocated to receive either the benzodiazepine oxazepam or a placebo substance, and then played the Ultimatum Game in the responder role, while lying in and fMRI camera. Rejection rate is significantly lower in the treatment group than in the control group. Moreover a mygdala was relatively more activated in the placebo group than in the oxazepam group for unfair offers. This is mirrored by differences in activation in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and right ACC. Our findings suggest that the automatic and emotional response to unfairness, or norm violations, are driven by amygdala and that balancing of such automatic behavioral responses is associated with parts of the prefrontal cortex. The conflict of motives is monitored by the ACC. In order to decide what strategy to choose, a player needs to form beliefs about what other players will do. This requires the player to have a model of how other people form beliefs – what psychologists call a theory of mind. In the third paper “Evolution of Theories of Mind” I study the evolution of players’ models of how other players think. When people play a game for the first time, their behavior is often well predicted by the level-k, and related models. According to this model, people think in a limited number of steps, when they form beliefs about other peoples' behavior. Moreover, people differ with respect to how they form beliefs. The heterogeneity is represented by a set of cognitive types {0,1,2,...}, such that type 0 randomizes uniformly and type k>0 plays a k times iterated best response to this. Empirically one finds that most experimental subjects behave as if they are of type 1 or 2, and individuals of type 3 and above are very rare. When people play the same game more than once, they may use their experience to predict how others will behave. Fictitious play is a prominent model of learning, according to which all individuals believe that the future will be like the past, and best respond to the average of past play. I define a model of heterogeneous fictitious play, according to which there is a hierarchy of types {1,2,...}, such that type k plays a k time iterated best response to the average of past play. The level-k and fictitious play models, implicitly assume that players lack specific information about the cognitive types of their opponents. I extend these models to allow for the possibility that types are partially observed. I study evolution of types in a number of games separately. In contrast to most of the literature on evolution and learning, I also study the evolution of types across different games. I show that an evolutionary process, based on payoffs earned in different games, both with and without partial observability, can lead to a polymorphic population where relatively unsophisticated types survive, often resulting in initial behavior that does not correspond to a Nash equilibrium. Two important mechanisms behind these results are the following: (i) There are games, such as the Hawk-Dove game, where there is an advantage of not thinking and behaving like others, since choosing the same action as the opponent yields an inefficient outcome. This mechanism is at work even if types are not observed. (ii) If types are partially observed then there are Social dilemmas where lower types may have a commitment advantage; lower types may be able to commit to strategies that result in more efficient payoffs. The importance of categorical reasoning in human cognition is well-established in psychology and cognitive science, and one of the most important functions of categorization is to facilitate prediction. Prediction on the basis of categorical reasoning is relevant when one has to predict the value of a variable on the basis of one's previous experience with similar situations, but where the past experience does not include any situation that was identical to the present situation in all relevant aspects. In such situations one can classify the situation as belonging to some category, and use the past experiences in that category to make a prediction about the current situation. In the fourth paper, “Optimal Categorization”, I provide a model of categorizations that are optimal in the sense that they minimize prediction error. From an evolutionary perspective we would expect humans to have developed categories that generate predictions which induce behavior that maximize fitness, and it seems reasonable to assume that fitness is generally increasing in how accurate the predictions are. In the model a subject starts out with a categorization that she has learnt or inherited early in life. The categorization divides the space of objects into categories. In the beginning of each period, the subject observes a two-dimensional object in one dimension, and wants to predict the object’s value in the other dimension. She has a data base of objects that were observed in both dimensions in the past. The subject determines what category the new object belongs to on the basis of observation of its first dimension. She predicts that its value in the second dimension will be equal to the average value among the past observations in the corresponding category. At the end of each period the second dimension is observed, and the observation is stored in the data base. The main result is that the optimal number of categories is determined by a trade-off between (a) decreasing the size of categories in order to enhance category homogeneity, and (b) increasing the size of categories in order to enhance category sample size. In other words, the advantage of fine grained categorizations is that objects in a category are similar to each other. The advantage of coarse categorizations is that a prediction about a category is based on a large number of observations, thereby reducing the risk of over-fitting. Comparative statics reveal how the optimal categorization depends on the number of observations as well as on the frequency of objects with different properties. The set-up does not presume the existence of an objectively true categorization “out there”. The optimal categorization is a framework we impose on our environment in order to predict it.Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögskolan, 2010. Sammanfattning jämte 4 uppsatser.
12
Doherty, Kathryn Laing. "From Alarm to Action: Closing the Gap Between Belief and Behavior in Response to Climate Change." Antioch University / OhioLINK, 2014. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=antioch1406552403.
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13
Kim, Minjae Ph D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "Essays on social norms." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/118015.
Full textAbstract:
Thesis: Ph. D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, 2018.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references.
The first essay addresses why people might conform to norms that they do not endorse. One explanation is pluralistic ignorance: when everyone appears to endorse a norm, even nonendorsers will conform so as to feign their commitment to the group's values, thereby exacerbating the misperception. But this explanation is limited because people seem to even conform to norms that are widely known to contradict the group's values ("visibly unpopular norms"), to the point that their conformity appears insincere. I argue that such insincere conformity is an especially potent signal of commitment because it shows that one is willing to sacrifice one's personal preferences on others' behalf. Using both qualitative and experimental methods, I study the visibly unpopular norm prescribing excessive drinking in after-hour business gatherings in South Korea. The analysis indicates that an insincere conformist to the drinking norm is perceived as an especially committed relationship partner. An important implication is that some norms might persist not despite the fact they contradict group members' preferences but because of this contradiction. The second essay (coauthored with Ezra W. Zuckerman Sivan) addresses why norms might not persist despite their wide popularity. Recent research suggests that many norms may be upheld by closet deviants who engage in enforcement so as to hide their deviance. But various empirical accounts indicate that audiences are often quite sensitive to this ulterior motive. Our theory and experimental evidence identify when inferences of ulterior motive are drawn and clarify the implications of such inferences. Our main test pivots on two contextual factors: (1) the extent to which individuals might try to strategically feign commitment and (2) the contrast between "mandated" enforcement, where individuals are asked for their opinions of deviance, and "entrepreneurial" enforcement, where enforcement requires initiative to interrupt the flow of social interaction. When the context is one where individuals might have a strategic motive and enforcement requires entrepreneurial initiative, suspicions are aroused because the enforcers could have remained silent and enjoyed plausible deniability that they had witnessed the deviance or recognized its significance. Given that the mandate for enforcement might be rare, a key implication is that norms might frequently be under-enforced.
by Minjae Kim.
Chapter 1. A Man Is Known by His Cup: Signaling Commitment via Insincere Conformity -- Chapter 2. Faking It Is Hard to Do: Entrepreneurial Norm Enforcement and Suspicions of Deviance (coauthored with Ezra W. Zuckerman Sivan).
Ph. D.
14
Diekmann, Andreas, and Thomas Voss. "Social norms and reciprocity." Universitätsbibliothek Leipzig, 2016. http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bsz:15-qucosa-208162.
Full textAbstract:
In a norm game, under certain conditions, there exist Nash equilibria of mutual cooperation. Experimental work demonstrates that even in one-shot situations the level and proportion of cooperative behavior
increases if an punishment option is available to the players of a public goods game. It is therefore important to analyze conditions such that this is consistent with a rational choice approach. The paper is meant as a first step toward this task. The main result will be that nonstandard
assumptions about human motivations or preferences can explain norms with sanctions even in one-shot situations. This is shown by an analysis of the norm game with two well-known recent models of fairness from behavioral game theory.
15
Clark-Alexander, Barbara. "Dental hygienists' beliefs, norms, attitudes, and intentions toward treating HIV/AIDS patients." [Tampa, Fla] : University of South Florida, 2008. http://purl.fcla.edu/usf/dc/et/SFE0002428.
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16
Dudte, Kari A. "Social influence and gender norms." Connect to resource, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/1811/32098.
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Alhomaidi, Asem. "Social norms and stock trading." ScholarWorks@UNO, 2017. http://scholarworks.uno.edu/td/2373.
Full textAbstract:
The dissertation consists of two essays. In the first essay we compare the performance of Islamic and conventional stock returns in Saudi Arabia in order to determine whether the Saudi market exhibits characteristics that are consistent with segmented markets and investor recognition effects. We sample the daily stock returns of all Saudi firms from September 2002 to 2015 and calculate important measures, including idiosyncratic volatility (Ang et al, 2006), market integration (Pukthuanthong and Roll, 2009), systematic turnover (Loughran and Schultz, 2005), and stock turnover and liquidity (Amihud, 2002). Integration tests report that Islamic stocks are more sensitive to changes in global and local macroeconomic variables than conventional stocks, supporting the hypothesis that the Islamic and conventional stock markets are segmented in Saudi Arabia. In addition, our results show that Islamic stocks have larger number of investors, lower idiosyncratic risk, higher systematic turnover, and more liquid than conventional stocks, which supports the investor recognition hypothesis. Our results provide new evidence on asset pricing in emerging markets, the evolving Islamic financial markets, and the potential impact of other implicit market barriers on global financial markets. In the second essay we examine the effects of shared beliefs and personal preferences of individual investors on their trading and investment decisions. We anticipate that the process of classifying stocks into Shariah compliant (Islamic) and non-shariah compliant (conventional) has an effect on investibility and acceptance of the stock especially by unsophisticated or individual investors. The wide acceptance of Islamic stocks between individual investors promote and facilitate the circulation of firm-specific information between certain groups of investors. Our results indicate that stock classification has an effect on the stock price comovement through increased stock trading correlation between the groups of Islamic investors. The commonality in preferences between Islamic stocks’ holders generate commonality in trading activity and in stock liquidity. We find that classifying a stock as an Islamic stock increases its price comovement with other Islamic stocks and also increases its commonality in liquidity.
18
Meyer, Jonette. "The role of values, beliefs and norms in female consumers' clothing disposal behaviour." Diss., University of Pretoria, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/2263/41121.
Full textAbstract:
In previous
years,
the
importance
of
sustainable
consumption
has
been
neglected,
and
as
a
result,
so
has
the
disposal
process.
This
has
lead
to
consumers
being
uneducated
about
environmental
issues
associated
with
waste
problems.
The
textile
industry
greatly
contributes
to
waste
problems;
however,
very
little
information
is
available
in
South
Africa
concerning
the
waste
management
of
the
textile
industry.
Furthermore,
very
little
research
has
been
done
in
this
country
regarding
consumer’s
clothing
disposal
behaviour.
South
Africa
is
a
country
with
various
cultures,
and
research
conducted
in
this
country
necessitates
consideration
of
consumers’
values,
beliefs
and
norms.
This
study
acknowledges
the
lack
of
sustainable
lifestyle
literature
in
a
country
such
as
South
Africa
that
has
an
emerging
economy
and
diverse
cultures,
and
therefore
provides
a
framework
that
emphasises theories
and
models
based
on
pro-‐environmental
behaviour.
The
framework
for
this
study
focuses
on
the
concepts
of
the
Value-‐Belief-‐Norm
Theory
and
the
New
Ecological
Paradigm
Scale
as
influencing
factors
for
clothing
disposal
behaviour.
For
this
study
the
clothing
disposal
methods
included
re-‐using,
recycling,
donation,
reselling
and
discarding.
© University of Pretoria
v
Furthermore,
both
the
Value-‐Belief-‐Norm
Theory
and
the
New
Ecological
Paradigm
Scale
are
new
to
the
consumer
behaviour
research
field
in
South
Africa.
The
study
was
conducted
in
the
City
of
Tshwane
and
a
sample
of
306
female
consumers
was
included.
Female
consumers
were
selected
as
it
has
been
found
that
females
tend
to
be
more
environmentally
concerned
than
men.
Respondents
were
reached
through
non-‐
probability,
purposive
and
snowball
sampling
methods.
A
quantitative
research
approach
that
included
a
cross-‐sectional
survey
design
was
used
for
descriptive
and
exploratory
purposes.
Respondents
completed
a
questionnaire
that
was
based
on
objectives
compiled
according
to
the
research
statement.
Data
was
coded
by
the
researcher
herself,
and
was
further
descriptively
and
statistically
analysed
by
statisticians
of
the
University
of
Pretoria.
The
results
for
the
study
indicated
that
the
majority
of
the
consumers
included
in
the
study
mainly
indicated
compassionate
value
orientations;
however,
they
showed
only
moderate
concern
towards
the
environment.
Nevertheless,
results
showed
that
the
majority
of
the
sample
predominantly
disposes
of
their
clothing
by
means
of
pro-‐environmental
clothing
disposal
methods
such
as
recycling,
re-‐using
and
donation.
It
was
however
found
that
different
value
orientations,
beliefs
and
norms
had
varied
influences
on
the
clothing
disposal
behaviour.
Ultimately,
the
findings
indicated
that
it
is
relevant
to
explore
consumer
behaviour
in
a
country
with
a
growing
economy
and
with
various
cultures,
since
values,
beliefs
and
norms
had
a
noteworthy
influence
on
consumers’
clothing
disposal
behaviour.Dissertation (MConsumer Science)--University of Pretoria, 2013.
gm2014
Consumer Science
unrestricted
19
Grammling, David [Verfasser]. "Heterogeneity of Social Norms / David Grammling." Konstanz : KOPS Universität Konstanz, 2020. http://d-nb.info/1219853259/34.
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Baumann, Caroline Monica. "Social norms, skills and rational choice." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 2009. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.611759.
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Jindani, Sam. "Social norms and learning in games." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2017. https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:90268309-1920-4f1d-a769-f50783f435be.
Full textAbstract:
Duelling The norm of duelling endured for hundreds of years in Europe. In the United Kingdom it disappeared abruptly in the mid-nineteenth century, whereas in France it declined slowly. I present a simple model of social norms that explains these phenomena. The model predicts that the evolution of norms is characterised by tipping, whereby norms can shift suddenly due to shocks, and by a ratchet effect, whereby changes in parameters can cause norms to decline gradually. I show that the model can be supported by an equilibrium of a repeated game, with no special assumptions about preferences. Community enforcement using modal actions I prove two folk theorems for repeated games with random matching. A large group of players is rematched at random each period, so that players who deviate must be sanctioned by third parties. Previous analyses have either relied on strong assumptions about information transmission, or have been limited to equilibria that are not robust to noise or in which players are indifferent. I use a simple construction based on modal actions to obtain results for strict and robust equilibria. Learning repeated-game strategies The literature on boundedly rational learning has tended to focus on stagegame actions. I present a stochastic learning rule for repeated-game strategies. Players form beliefs about their opponentâs strategy based on past actions and best-respond. Occasionally, they make mistakes and experiment, and I show that the equilibrium selected depends on exactly how players make mistakes. Simple specifications of the learning rule yield intuitive selection results: the maxmin, or Rawlsian, outcome; the Nash bargaining solution; the maximum of the sum of payoffs; and a generalisation of risk dominance.
22
Lane, Tom. "Experiments on discrimination and social norms." Thesis, University of Nottingham, 2017. http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/43708/.
Full textAbstract:
This dissertation presents three projects within the fields of behavioural and experimental economics. The first consists of a meta-analysis of lab experiments measuring economic discrimination. Most importantly, I find that the strength of discrimination in economics experiments varies depending on the dimension of identity across which discrimination is measured, and depending on the type of game used to measure it. The second project investigates the relationship between discriminatory behaviour and social norms. A lab experiments finds that discrimination is stronger when it is perceived to be more socially appropriate. In the third project, a field experiment investigates the effect of different nudges on voter registration rates. In particular, emphasising the possibility of being fined for failing to register is successful in raising registration rates, but offering the possibility of financial gain for registering is not. An online experiment in the same project suggests the conflicting normative effects of the two nudges may help explain these differences.
23
Ezquerra, Guerra Lara. "Essays on delegation and social norms." Thesis, Middlesex University, 2017. http://eprints.mdx.ac.uk/21874/.
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This thesis presents the results of my doctoral studies at Middlesex University London. It contains different papers related to Labour Markets and presents some results on production, delegation and dishonest behaviour. The first study compares how group size interacts with both constrained and un-constrained resource environments, finding that resource limitations diminish production over time and that all the groups learn with experience. The second explores the effects of incentives in dishonest behaviour in both the gain and loss domain finding that contrary to theoretical predictions, subjects do not cheat more when they are facing a loss. The third, studies the distributions derived from different delegation scenarios. We find that the distributions derived from optional delegation are more egalitarian than the ones made under compulsory delegation. Finally, I study gender differences in delegation finding that gender biases only arise in compulsory delegation, and not under endogenous delegation, and at an agent level.
24
Ewing, Lee Elizabeth. "Social Norms' Influence on Gendered Behaviors." Diss., North Dakota State University, 2013. https://hdl.handle.net/10365/27118.
Full textAbstract:
Individual variability in engagement in gendered behavior is primarily assumed to be the result of variability in gender roles (i.e., femininity, masculinity; Bem, 1981). However, contextual factors have also been shown to influence behaving in gendered ways (Leszczynski & Strough, 2008; Pickard & Strough, 2003). The current studies sought to explore engagement in gendered behaviors by examining the influence of social norms on gendered behaviors, as well as how those perceptions interact with gender self-concepts (i.e., gendered contingencies of selfworth, self-efficacy for behaving in gendered ways, similarity to others of one's sex) to influence engagement in gendered behaviors. Two studies were conducted in which participant behavior was measured by having them complete tasks with ambiguous gender stereotypes associated with them: pain threshold and endurance. The norms were presented through direct feedback in Study 1 and through behavioral modeling from confederates in Study 2. Each study also examined the moderating effect of gender self-concepts: gendered contingencies of selfworth, self-efficacy for behaving in gendered ways, and similarity to others of one's sex. In study 1, sex differences were found such that men who were told that their sex was superior evidenced elevated pain threshold when compared to men who were not given any gender specific information. Furthermore, similarity to others of one's sex moderated the association. In study 2, direct tests of the effect of presented norms on groups were not found to be significant. However, when controlling for each of the gender self-concepts, individuals who had same-sex superiority demonstrated had significantly higher pain threshold than those who had observed same-sex confederates demonstrating inferior pain threshold and endurance. Additionally, individuals with higher levels of gender self-efficacy were more likely to have the gendered information impact their behavior than individuals with low levels of gender self-efficacy. Overall, social norms were found to have an impact on individuals' engagement in gendered behaviors, although individual personality factors moderated those relationships. The current work shines a light on how gender norms can both heighten or diminish engagement in gendered behaviors, and underscores the need to examine individual differences when exploring the impact of contextual norms.
25
Li, Jiawen. "Essays on social norms and cooperation." Thesis, University of York, 2014. http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/7364/.
Full textAbstract:
This thesis is a collection of experimental and theoretical studies on social norms and cooperation. The first two chapters focus on effects of social norms on people's behaviour in strategic situations. The Golden Rule is first studied in an ultimatum bargaining experiment. The results show that while most people follow the Golden Rule in the ultimatum game situation, experience and feedback of playing the opposite role has an important effect on golden-rule behaviour. Then the link between people's expectation of social norms and their own behaviour is studied in an experiment of a trust game. Only about half of the subjects show a consistent behaviour according to their own expected norm. Moreover, experience and feedback has asymmetric effects on the behaviour of trustors and trustees. In next two chapters, the way people cooperate and how to sustain a more efficient cooperative result are studied by using both theoretical and experimental methods. I first experimentally explore the mechanisms that make people more willing to cooperate and increase the overall welfare in a public goods game. Then I theoretically study a well-established cooperative solution for the bankruptcy problem and design a non-cooperative game that gives the solution as the unique sub-game perfect equilibrium outcome.
26
Winter, Fabian. "Social Conflict and the Emergence of Norms." Doctoral thesis, Universitätsbibliothek Leipzig, 2012. http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bsz:15-qucosa-88831.
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Traxler, Christian. "Tax Evasion, Social Norms and Conditional Cooperation." Diss., lmu, 2006. http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:19-49518.
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LANE, JESSICA LAUREN. "SOCIAL NORMS: THE WORLDS WE LIVE IN." Thesis, The University of Arizona, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/190665.
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Costello, Barbara Jean. "Social order and the internalization of norms." Diss., The University of Arizona, 1994. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/186942.
Full textAbstract:
The two criminological theories that conflict most sharply in terms of their fundamental assumptions about human nature and social order are control theory and cultural deviance theory. This research tests two major hypotheses derived from these theories. The first is that norms regulating the use of "force and fraud" are universal, and the second is that deviant behavior is caused by parents' failure to adequately socialize their children. The first hypothesis is tested through an analysis of the sanctioning practices of 100 cultures, drawn from the Human Relations Area Files. The results indicate that norms regulating the use of force and fraud are universal, and that the circumstances under which such acts are not sanctioned are quite limited. Apparent exceptions occur mainly when the consequences of the acts for social order are less severe or nonexistent. These findings indicate that certain norms are universal, and this fact can provide insight into human nature. If all societies prohibit some of the same acts, then these acts must present a threat in all societies, and members of all societies must perceive them as such. This indicates that people naturally tend to engage in criminal acts, since it is implausible that all societies would teach people to engage in behavior that they then punish. In order to identify the causes of the failure to learn cultural norms, micro-level data from the National Survey of Children are analyzed. According to Gottfredson and Hirschi (1990), delinquency is most likely to occur among children whose parents do not adequately care for them. The results show that parents with lower self-control are less attached to their children, they do not adequately supervise their children, and they are more likely to use punitive forms of punishment. In turn, their children are less attached to them, they are less likely to report feeling guilty after deviation, and they are more likely to engage in a wide range of deviant acts. In sum, the evidence shows that children's deviance is the result of inadequate child-rearing practices.
30
Esteve-Volart, Berta. "Gender and social norms in economic development." Thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London), 2006. http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/1872/.
Full textAbstract:
Gender and social norms in economic development' analyses gender related issues throughout the development process from an economics point of view. Different issues are examined for countries at different stages of the development process. The issues examined here have a gender component and have to do with participation and social norms. In some cases, the motivation for this differential participation or inequality is the focus of the study; in others, we focus on the economic consequences of this differential participation. In the first chapter, we investigate participation in dowry in a very poor area, namely rural Bangladesh. In that chapter we explore the different possible economic motivations for dowries using household survey information from the Matlab area in rural Bangladesh spanning 1930-1996. We find that dowry participation in the area has increased in recent decades. We also find that religion, coupled with social norms, seems to be an important component in explaining the evolution of dowry. In the second chapter we examine the economic consequences of different participation by gender in the labour market in a poor country - India. We develop a model that suggests distortions in the allocation of talent which we then test with aggregate information by sector using panel data from India's states over 1961-1991. Results suggest that even though implications are different by sector, gender inequality in labour participation in several categories hinders development. In the third chapter, we indirectly study participation of women in top level positions, by analising the different hiring by gender in Spanish public exams. The analysis constitutes a relevant randomised experiment with implications for gender parity rules, or gender quotas. We use information about 75,000 candidates to the judiciary over 1995-2004 who were randomly allocated to evaluating committees. Contrary to expectations behind gender parity rules, we find that recruitment committees with a higher share of women hire fewer women than committees with a higher share of men, suggesting that taste discrimination is not behind the low numbers of women in top level positions.
31
Borgstede, Chris von. "The impact of norms in social dilemmas /." Göteborg : Department of psychology, Göteborg university, 2002. http://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb401412368.
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Farrow, Katherine. "Social norms and prosocial behavior : Experimental insights." Thesis, Montpellier, 2017. http://www.theses.fr/2017MONTD008.
Full textAbstract:
Contrairement à l'hypothèse conventionnelle d'égoïsme avancée par la théorie standard, il est largement reconnu que les gens se comportent systématiquement de manière prosociale et, en outre, que la propension à le faire est sensible à plusieurs éléments du contexte décisionnel, qui autrefois étaient systématiquement relégués au second plan. Notre thèse s'intéresse particulièrement au fait que les préférences sociales constituent des éléments contextuels décisifs et examine la mesure dans laquelle les normes sociales peuvent expliquer des déviations comportementales qui autrement pourraient sembler irrationnelles. Dans un contexte où les budgets publics sont limités et ou les défis sociaux et environnementaux sont de plus en plus pressants, les interventions basées sur des approches comportementales peuvent constituer des instruments politiques attrayants, notamment du fait de leur moindre coût en comparaison des mesures basées sur descontraintes réglementaires et/ou sur des incitations économiques. Étant donné que les normes sociales peuvent être un déterminant important des performances globales d'une société dans des domaines très variés, nous étudions plusieurs aspects liés à la conception optimale de ces interventions comportementales qui exploitent les considérations normatives, ainsi que de la dynamique entre les normes sociales et les mesures institutionnelles formelles. Nous réalisons également une revue de la littérature relative à l'impact des interventions basées sur les normes sociales sur les comportementsenvironnementaux ainsi qu'aux mécanismes théoriques sous-jacents permettant d'expliciter le le rôle de ces normes dans le processus décisionnelA growing body of empirical evidence demonstrates that decision-making is embedded within complex personal, cognitive, and social contexts that call for a richer understanding of behavior than that described by traditional neoclassical economic theory. Contrary to the conventional selfishness assumption advanced by standard theory, it has now been established that people systematically behave in prosocial ways and furthermore, that the propensity to do so is sensitive to a variety of elements of decision context that have historically been considered irrelevant. We examine the assumptions that social preferences are outcome-regarding and consistent, and the extent to which social norms may be implicated in the divergences from these assumptions.This work has a strong applied focus. In an environment of limited public budgets and increasingly pressing social and environmental challenges, interventions based on behavioral insights can be appealing policy instruments, as they are often more economical than traditional command-and-control or incentive-based tools, and have the potential to generate reliable and immediate behavior change. Given that social norms can be an important determinant of aggregate societal outcomes in a diverse range of contexts, we investigate several aspects of the optimal design of behavioral interventions that leverage normative considerations, as well as the dynamics between social norms and formal institutional measures. These works are complemented by a review of the literature regarding the impact of social norm interventions on proenvironmental behaviors and of several theoretical accounts of the role that social norms play in the decision-making process.Through the use of both laboratory and online experiments (via Amazon Mechanical Turk and the NSF-funded Time-Sharing Experiments for the Social Sciences), the experimental studies that comprise the thesis examine the impact of valence framing on the effectiveness of a normative intervention, the capacity for a single normative intervention to generate heterogeneous behavioral impacts, and the effectiveness of certain informal norm-enforcement mechanisms and their interaction with formal institutional sanctions. From these studies, we draw a number of policy-relevant implications and identify the need for future work on a number of specific issues related to the role of social norms in behavior and accordingly, to the design of effective behavioral interventions that leverage social norms
33
Kukreja, Dimple. "Essays on Gender, Households and Social Norms." Thesis, Toulouse 1, 2019. http://publications.ut-capitole.fr/43168/.
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Hartman, Cassandra L. "Perceived Peer Norms, Health Beliefs, and Their Links to Sexual Risk Behavior Among College Students." University of Dayton / OhioLINK, 2019. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=dayton1572266551598012.
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Chan, Benjamin Man Hon. "Justifying generic norms for emotions." Diss., Restricted to subscribing institutions, 2009. http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=2004137541&sid=1&Fmt=2&clientId=1564&RQT=309&VName=PQD.
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Niemi, Laura. "Interrogating Moral Norms." Thesis, Boston College, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/2345/bc-ir:104927.
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Thesis advisor: Liane YoungResearch in three parts used behavioral methods and fMRI to shed light on the nature of moral norms and situate them within a broader understanding of how people deploy cognition to navigate the social world. Results revealed that moral norms in two clusters: {1} “universal-rights norms” (i.e., values focused on universal rights to be unharmed and treated as an equal); and {2} “group-elevating norms” (i.e., loyalty, reciprocity, obedience to authority, and concern about purity) predicted prosocial and antisocial moral judgments, interpersonal orientations, and behaviors through cognitive mechanisms including representations of causation and theory of mind (ToM). Five studies reported in Part 1 demonstrated that universal-rights norms were positively associated with prosociality (equal allocations and willingness to help); whereas group-elevating norms were robustly positively associated with antisocial interpersonal orientations (Machiavellianism and Social Dominance Orientation). Three studies in Part 2 showed that group-elevating norms predicted antisocial moral judgments including stigmatization and blame of victims. In contrast, universal-rights values were associated with sensitivity to victims’ suffering and blame of perpetrators. Experimentally manipulating moral focus off of victims and onto perpetrators reduced victim-blaming by reducing perceptions of victims as causal and increasing perceptions of victims as forced. Effects of group-elevating norms on victim-blaming were likewise mediated by perceptions of victim causality and forcedness, suggesting that intervening on focus constitutes one way to modulate effects of moral norms on moral judgments. Four studies in Part 3 examined moral diversity within the domain of fairness and revealed that group-elevating and universal-rights norms are differentially reflected in conceptions of fairness as reciprocity, charity, and impartiality. Reciprocity and charity warranted being clustered together as person-based fairness due to their shared motivational basis in consideration of the unique states of individuals and emotion, and their robust, overlapping recruitment of neural activity indicative of ToM in PC, VMPFC and DMPFC. Impartiality, which favored no particular individual, constituted person-blind fairness, due to its reliance on standard procedures rather than the unique states of individuals or emotion, and its failure to recruit PC, VMPFC and DMPFC. In terms of fairness and moral praiseworthiness, these three allocative processes cleaved along a different line. Person-blind impartiality was rated most fair and highly moral, and person-based fairness broke apart into: charity, deemed highly moral and labeled by the most empathic participants as fair; and reciprocity, which was lowest in fairness and moral praiseworthiness ratings and most esteemed by Machiavellian individuals and those who made a greater number of self-interested allocations. Enhanced activity in LTPJ for unfairness generally, and in judgment of reciprocity in particular, pointed to a role for ToM in moral evaluation of these different conceptions of fairness. Findings across Parts 1-3 have meta-ethical implications. Reduced endorsement of universal-rights norms and increased endorsement of group-elevating norms conferred risk for antisocial judgments, interpersonal orientations and behaviors, suggesting that universal-rights norms and group-elevating norms may differ in their capacity to produce moral outcomes. Results demonstrating a role for ToM and representations of causality in the effects of moral norms on moral judgments deserve focus in future research. It will be important to determine how deeply moral values imbed into individuals’ cognitive architecture, and the extent to which effects of moral values can be modulated via interventions on basic cognition
Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2015
Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
Discipline: Psychology
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Craig, Jaime. "Persecutory beliefs and social reasoning." Thesis, Bangor University, 2000. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.327460.
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Tanner, Rachael Jane. "Dysfunctional beliefs in social anxiety." Thesis, University of Southampton, 2003. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.288411.
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Shang, Yue. "The Effects of Social Information, Social Norms and Social Identity on Giving." Thesis, Connect to resource online, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/1805/1622.
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Indiana University - Purdue University - Indianapolis (IUPUI)This philanthropic studies thesis aims to “increase the understanding of philanthropy, improve its practice, and enhance philanthropic participation” (Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University Overview) by studying the effects of social information, social norms and social identity on giving. It connects philanthropic studies research with theoretical developments in motivations for giving in economics, nonprofit management, nonprofit marketing, consumer behavior, and social psychology. It utilizes personal observations as well as quantitative methods including experiments and surveys on multiple samples including donors, undergraduate students and samples of the U.S. population. It generates actionable and efficacious knowledge to improve the practice of philanthropy. It contributes to the formation and growth of the young field called philanthropic studies - in theory, in methodology and in practice. This thesis includes five chapters. Chapter I will explain how the research question, philosophy and methodology are selected. This discussion will be for the entire thesis. Specific research questions, hypotheses, research designs, findings and implications will be explained in the subsequent chapters. Chapter II demonstrates the immediate and long-term effects of social information on donations and its boundary conditions in existing nonprofit donors in two field experiments. Chapter III shows that the psychological mechanism through which social information influences subsequent giving is perceived descriptive social norms in one field survey of donors and one laboratory experiment on undergraduate students. Chapter IV investigates how social identity congruency moderates the effect of social information on donations. It reports three field experiments on donors and samples of the general U.S. population and two laboratory experiments on undergraduate students. It shows that donors give more money to a public radio station if told that a previous donor with a similar identity also made a large contribution. This effect is more likely to occur when donors have high collective identity esteem and when attention is focused on others. Each chapter provides original fundraising techniques developed from these studies. Chapter V concludes with a discussion of the theoretical, methodological and practical contributions of this thesis and suggests directions for future research in philanthropic studies, and philanthropic psychology in particular.
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MacDonald, Christopher John. "The moral significance of social conventions." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 1999. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk1/tape9/PQDD_0025/NQ38935.pdf.
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Horne, Laura Christine 1961. "Norms, laws and the provision of social control." Diss., The University of Arizona, 1997. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/288750.
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A society can use two kinds of controls to ensure that individuals comply with its rules. They are legal control and normative control. Legal control refers to punishment of deviant behavior by a legal institution that is supported by taxes. Normative control refers to punishment by individuals themselves who personally take action against a deviant. This research investigates the relationship between these two types of control--specifically, how change in the strength of one control institution affects the strength of the other. A theoretical argument is developed, suggesting two conclusions: (1) cohesive communities with strong normative controls facilitate the growth of strong legal systems; and (2) investment in the legal system, for example, in police and prisons, will weaken normative controls and thus the ability of communities to address social problems like crime in more informal ways. In other words, strong communities contribute to the growth of the legal system which in turn weakens the communities on which it depends. An experiment is conducted to test these and subsidiary hypotheses. In the experiment, subjects interact with each other using computers. They make decisions about sanctioning and about responding to the sanctioning decisions of others. Resulting changes in the strengths of the two types of control are measured.
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Patel, Amrish. "Essays on public goods, esteem and social norms." Thesis, University of Kent, 2009. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.509631.
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Santos, Monica. "Affective adaptation of social norms in workplace design." Thesis, Imperial College London, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/24767.
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Open-plan offices are common in today's organisations. These types of workplaces require people to share a common space, where violation of (implicitly or explicitly stated) social norms can cause instances of incivility. If nothing is done to avoid these situations, bad feeling can lead to diminished productivity and cooperation, and, in the long-term, to more serious problems, such as conflict and aggression. A critical review of literature shows the effects of workplace incivility and the need for an internal reparation mechanism. Inspired by convergence of pervasive, adaptive and affective computing, we have designed and developed a self-regulatory platform for successful collective action, based on participatory adaptation and fair information practises, which we called MACS. MACS addresses the problem of incivility and aims at improving the Quality of Experience in shared workplaces. This thesis presents all studies that led to the development of MACS. Through the analysis of an online questionnaire we gathered information about incivility in shared workplaces, how people deal with those situations, and awareness about uncivil self-behaviours. We concluded the main issue while sharing a workplace is noise, and most people will try to change their own behaviour, rather than confronting the person being uncivil. MACS's avatar-based interface was developed with the purpose of heightening self-awareness and cueing the appropriate social norms, while providing a good User Experience (UX). Avatars created to people's image, rather than photos, were used, to keep MACS's tone light and relatively unintrusive, while still creating self-awareness. MACS's final version went through UX testing, where 6 people were filmed while performing tasks in MACS. The intended work-flow and user interfaces to support the smooth passage of the work-flow have been validated by the UX user testing. There is some preliminary evidence suggesting apology will elicit empathic responses in MACS. Finally, this thesis proposes guidelines for workplace design, which are founded on participatory creation and change of social norms, and ways to make sure they are enforced. In this sense, MACS can also be seen as a prototypical example of a socio-technical system being used as platform for successful collective action.
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Livingstone, Andrew George. "Social identity content and norms in intergroup relations." Thesis, University of Exeter, 2006. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.426166.
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LoÌpez, y. LoÌpez Fabiola. "Social power and norms : impact on agent behaviour." Thesis, University of Southampton, 2003. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.273756.
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Kleimeyer, Katherine Jean. "Social Norms, Body Dissatisfaction, and Eating Disorder Symptoms." Miami University Honors Theses / OhioLINK, 2011. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=muhonors1303224657.
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Li, Xudong. "The Impact of Social Learning and Social Norms on Auditor Choice." Thesis, University of North Texas, 2014. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc700085/.
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The purpose of this dissertation is to explore the influences of industry dynamic factors (e.g., peer selections) on a client’s subsequent decision to select the type of auditor (e.g., Big N versus non-Big N), following auditor turnover. More specifically, drawing on social norms and social learning theories, I develop testable implications and investigate whether and how industry dynamics have an incremental power in explaining auditor choice beyond traditional firm-specific variables documented in prior research. Using a large sample from years 1988 – 2012, I find that clients are more likely to imitate their industry peers’ prior selections to select the type of their succeeding auditors, consistent with the implications of social learning theory. I also find that clients in industries with stronger industry norms, as measured by a greater proportion of clients audited by Big N auditors in an industry, are more likely to select Big N auditors as their succeeding auditors, consistent with the implications of social norms theory. To my best knowledge, this is the first study to explore the impact of social dynamics measured at the industry level on auditor selection and provide large-sample evidence on the relations between industry dynamics and auditor selection at the firm level. Findings of this study provide insights into the dynamic process of auditor selection in which companies do not make auditor-selection decisions in isolation of one another as often posited in existing literature, contribute to the research on the determinants of auditor choice by incorporating industry dynamics into an agent-principal model, and provide a more comprehensive view of the phenomenon of auditor selection.
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Zaleski, Adam C. "Using perceived norms to predict heavy alcohol use among college students| Implications for social norms marketing campaigns." Thesis, Colorado State University, 2015. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3720917.
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The purpose of the present study was to investigate the relationship between perceived norms of heavy peer alcohol use and self-reported heavy alcohol use among college students from a large public university. A total of 865 participants completed a survey in Fall 2008 and 506 of those participants completed the follow-up survey in Spring 2009. As hypothesized, the perceived injunctive norm was found to predict additional unique variance in heavy alcohol use above and beyond gender, year in school, residence hall, retrospective high school alcohol use and the perceived descriptive norm. The interaction between the perceived injunctive norm and perceived descriptive norm was not significant in the prediction of heavy alcohol use, as hypothesized. This suggests that the combined effect of the perceived injunctive norm and perceived descriptive norm in predicting heavy alcohol use is additive and not multiplicative. In a secondary hypothesis, the relationship between the perceived descriptive norm and heavy alcohol use was stronger for males than females. Lastly, as predicted, the results revealed that the relationship between perceived norms of heavy alcohol use and self-reported heavy alcohol use are stronger among more proximal than distal groups. These results suggest that social norms marketing campaigns aimed at reducing heavy alcohol use among college students should include the injunctive norm, target males, and use more proximal reference groups such as the student’s own residence hall rather than more distal reference groups such as the typical university student.
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Acklin, Abraham I. "Beliefs About Fatherhood Among Social Workers." CSUSB ScholarWorks, 2016. https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/etd/371.
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This research was conducted to study the beliefs about fatherhood among social workers. Data for this project were gathered through separate interviews which were conducted using a sample of five individual social workers that worked with children and families. The participants were asked a series of questions regarding their beliefs about fatherhood. Ultimately, this study found that social workers believe that fathers are important and can contribute to their children’s lives in a healthy manner through emotional, educational, and financial support.
The results from this study suggest that fathers play an important role in their children’s lives and greatly contribute to their emotional, mental, financial, educational, health, and overall well being. This study also suggests that though fathers are held in high regard by the social workers in this research study, there is still a pressing need for resources and programs for fathers that support the father/child relationship. Finally, suggestions for future study include the need for quality programs focused on the needs of fathers, training for staff to involve and engage fathers, and to identify the barriers obstructing father involvement.
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Hillenbrand-Gunn, Theresa L. "Acquaintance rape and male high school students : can a social norms intervention change attitudes and perceived norms? /." free to MU campus, to others for purchase, 2004. http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/mo/fullcit?p3137710.
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