1
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Masoom MR. Social capital and health beliefs: Exploring the effect of bridging and bonding social capital on health locus of control among women in Dhaka. Heliyon 2024; 10:e28932. [PMID: 38601530 PMCID: PMC11004818 DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e28932] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/12/2023] [Revised: 03/01/2024] [Accepted: 03/27/2024] [Indexed: 04/12/2024] Open
Abstract
This cross-sectional study examined if social capital affects women's health attributions. The study used the Internet Social Capital Scale (ISCS) and Multidimensional Health Locus of Control (MHLC) Scale to measure Social Capital and Health Locus of Control. A predefined 38-item questionnaire was used to survey 485 purposively selected women. A bidirectional reciprocal structural equation model was used to measure the covariance between Social Capital and Health Locus of Control. We hypothesized that women with strong social capital, particularly those rich in bridging ties, would exhibit a greater sense of agency and empowerment over their health, attributing their health outcomes less to internal factors like fate and more to external influences like powerful others and broader social support. However, we found that when women have higher social capital, their external health locus of control increases. Bridging and bonding social capital lower women's internal health control, but bridging social capital leads to higher attributes to powerful others. Likewise, we expected women with more social capital would exhibit a lower perception of uncontrollability over their health, but is not the case. The findings underscore the necessity for women to have more social capital.
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Affiliation(s)
- Muhammad Rehan Masoom
- School of Business & Economics, United International University, Dhaka-1212, Bangladesh
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2
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Gavrilets S, Tverskoi D, Sánchez A. Modelling social norms: an integration of the norm-utility approach with beliefs dynamics. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2024; 379:20230027. [PMID: 38244599 PMCID: PMC10799741 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2023.0027] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/13/2023] [Accepted: 09/09/2023] [Indexed: 01/22/2024] Open
Abstract
We review theoretical approaches for modelling the origin, persistence and change of social norms. The most comprehensive models describe the coevolution of behaviours, personal, descriptive and injunctive norms while considering influences of various authorities and accounting for cognitive processes and between-individual differences. Models show that social norms can improve individual and group well-being. Under some conditions though, deleterious norms can persist in the population through conformity, preference falsification and pluralistic ignorance. Polarization in behaviour and beliefs can be maintained, even when societal advantages of particular behaviours or belief systems over alternatives are clear. Attempts to change social norms can backfire through cognitive processes including cognitive dissonance and psychological reactance. Under some conditions social norms can change rapidly via tipping point dynamics. Norms can be highly susceptible to manipulation, and network structure influences their propagation. Future models should incorporate network structure more thoroughly, explicitly study online norms, consider cultural variations and be applied to real-world processes. This article is part of the theme issue 'Social norm change: drivers and consequences'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sergey Gavrilets
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA
- Department of Mathematics, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA
- Center for the Dynamics of Social Complexity, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA
| | - Denis Tverskoi
- Department of Mathematics, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA
- Center for the Dynamics of Social Complexity, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA
| | - Angel Sánchez
- Grupo Interdisciplinar de Sistemas Complejos, Departamento de Matemáticas Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Leganés, Madrid 28911, Spain
- Instituto de Biocomputación y Física de Sistemas Complejos, Universidad de Zaragoza, Zaragoza 50018, Spain
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3
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Efferson C, Ehret S, von Flüe L, Vogt S. When norm change hurts. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2024; 379:20230039. [PMID: 38244606 PMCID: PMC10799740 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2023.0039] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/30/2023] [Accepted: 11/21/2023] [Indexed: 01/22/2024] Open
Abstract
Applied cultural evolution includes any effort to mobilize social learning and cultural evolution to promote behaviour change. Social tipping is one version of this idea based on conformity and coordination. Conformity and coordination can reinforce a harmful social norm, but they can also accelerate change from a harmful norm to a beneficial alternative. Perhaps unfortunately, the link between the size of an intervention and social tipping is complex in heterogeneous populations. A small intervention targeted at one segment of society can induce tipping better than a large intervention targeted at a different segment. We develop and examine two models showing that the link between social tipping and social welfare is also complex in heterogeneous populations. An intervention strategy that creates persistent miscoordination, exactly the opposite of tipping, can lead to higher social welfare than another strategy that leads to tipping. We show that the potential benefits of miscoordination often hinge specifically on the preferences of people most resistant to behaviour change. Altogether, ordinary forms of heterogeneity complicate applied cultural evolution considerably. Heterogeneity weakens both the link between the size of a social planner's intervention and behaviour change and the link between behaviour change and the well-being of society. This article is part of the theme issue 'Social norm change: drivers and consequences'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Charles Efferson
- University of Lausanne, Faculty of Business and Economics, University of Lausanne, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Sönke Ehret
- University of Lausanne, Faculty of Business and Economics, University of Lausanne, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Lukas von Flüe
- University of Lausanne, Faculty of Business and Economics, University of Lausanne, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Sonja Vogt
- University of Lausanne, Faculty of Business and Economics, University of Lausanne, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
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4
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Gelfand MJ, Gavrilets S, Nunn N. Norm Dynamics: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Social Norm Emergence, Persistence, and Change. Annu Rev Psychol 2024; 75:341-378. [PMID: 37906949 DOI: 10.1146/annurev-psych-033020-013319] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/02/2023]
Abstract
Social norms are the glue that holds society together, yet our knowledge of them remains heavily intellectually siloed. This article provides an interdisciplinary review of the emerging field of norm dynamics by integrating research across the social sciences through a cultural-evolutionary lens. After reviewing key distinctions in theory and method, we discuss research on norm psychology-the neural and cognitive underpinnings of social norm learning and acquisition. We then overview how norms emerge and spread through intergenerational transmission, social networks, and group-level ecological and historical factors. Next, we discuss multilevel factors that lead norms to persist, change, or erode over time. We also consider cultural mismatches that can arise when a changing environment leads once-beneficial norms to become maladaptive. Finally, we discuss potential future research directions and the implications of norm dynamics for theory and policy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michele J Gelfand
- Graduate School of Business and Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA;
| | - Sergey Gavrilets
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and Department of Mathematics, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee, USA
| | - Nathan Nunn
- Vancouver School of Economics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
- Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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5
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von Flüe L, Efferson C, Vogt S. Green preferences sustain greenwashing: challenges in the cultural transition to a sustainable future. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2024; 379:20220268. [PMID: 37952622 PMCID: PMC10645117 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2022.0268] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/30/2022] [Accepted: 07/05/2023] [Indexed: 11/14/2023] Open
Abstract
Discussions of the environmental impact that revolve around monetary incentives and other easy-to-measure factors are important, but they neglect culture. Pro-environmental values will be crucial when facing sustainability challenges in the Anthropocene, and demand among green consumers is arguably critical to incentivise sustainable production. However, owing to asymmetric information, consumers might not know whether the premium they pay for green production is well-spent. Reliable monitoring of manufacturers is meant to solve this problem. To see how this might work, we develop and analyse a game theoretic model of a simple buyer-seller exchange with asymmetric information, and our analysis shows that greenwashing can exist exactly because reliable monitoring co-exists with unreliable monitoring. More broadly, promoting pro-environmental values among consumers might even amplify the problem at times because a manufacturer with significant market power can exploit both consumer preferences for sustainability and trustworthy monitoring to gouge prices and in extreme cases green wash in plain sight. We discuss several strategies to address this problem. Promoting accurate beliefs and a large-scale behavioural change based on pro-environmental values might be necessary for a rapid transition to a sustainable future, but recent evidence from the cultural evolution literature highlights many important challenges. This article is part of the theme issue 'Evolution and sustainability: gathering the strands for an Anthropocene synthesis'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lukas von Flüe
- Faculty of Business and Economics, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, 1015, Switzerland
| | - Charles Efferson
- Faculty of Business and Economics, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, 1015, Switzerland
| | - Sonja Vogt
- Faculty of Business and Economics, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, 1015, Switzerland
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6
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Richerson PJ, Boyd RT, Efferson C. Agentic processes in cultural evolution: relevance to Anthropocene sustainability. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2024; 379:20220252. [PMID: 37952614 PMCID: PMC10645076 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2022.0252] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/23/2022] [Accepted: 07/11/2023] [Indexed: 11/14/2023] Open
Abstract
Humans have evolved culturally and perhaps genetically to be unsustainable. We exhibit a deep and consistent pattern of short-term resource exploitation behaviours and institutions. We distinguish agentic and naturally selective forces in cultural evolution. Agentic forces are quite important compared to the blind forces (random variation and natural selection) in cultural evolution and gene-culture coevolution. We need to use the agentic policy-making processes to evade the impact of blind natural selection. We argue that agentic forces became important during our Pleistocene history and into the Anthropocene present. Human creativity in the form of deliberate innovations and the deliberate selective diffusion of technical and social advances drove this process forward for a long time before planetary limits became a serious issue. We review models with multiple positive feedbacks that roughly fit this observed pattern. Policy changes in the case of large-scale existential threats like climate change are made by political and diplomatic agents grasping and moving levers of institutional power in order to avoid the operation of blind natural selection and agentic forces driven by narrow or short-term goals. This article is part of the theme issue 'Evolution and sustainability: gathering the strands for an Anthropocene synthesis'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Peter J. Richerson
- Department of Environmental Science and Policy, University of California, Davis, 95616, CA, USA
| | - Robert T. Boyd
- School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Institute of Human Origins, Arizona State University, Tempe, 85281, AZ, USA
| | - Charles Efferson
- Faculty of Business and Economics, University of Lausanne, 1015, Lausanne, Switzerland
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7
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Pisor AC, Borgerhoff Mulder M, Smith KM. Long-distance social relationships can both undercut and promote local natural resource management. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2024; 379:20220269. [PMID: 37952627 PMCID: PMC10645093 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2022.0269] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/15/2022] [Accepted: 07/05/2023] [Indexed: 11/14/2023] Open
Abstract
The management of large common-pool resources, like fisheries and forests, is more difficult when more people and more communities can access them-a particular problem given increased population sizes, higher mobility and globalized trade in the Anthropocene. Social relationships spanning communities, such as kin relationships, business or trade relationships and friendships, can make management even more challenging by facilitating and transmitting norms of overharvesting. However, these long-distance relationships can also bolster management by transmitting norms for sustainability, promoting interdependence and laying the groundwork for nested management systems. Here, we review the negative and positive impacts of long-distance relationships on local natural resource management (NRM), providing illustrative examples from our field research on forest and fisheries management in Tanzania. Drawing on the evolutionary literature, the development literature and our field data, we offer suggestions for how development partners can avoid the pitfalls of long-distance relationships and how they can use or even deliberately foster long-distance relationships to promote successful local NRM. This article is part of the theme issue 'Evolution and sustainability: gathering the strands for an Anthropocene synthesis'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anne C. Pisor
- Department of Anthropology, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, USA
- Department of Human Behavior, Ecology, and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, 04103, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Monique Borgerhoff Mulder
- Department of Human Behavior, Ecology, and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, 04103, Leipzig, Germany
- Santa Fe Institute, New Mexico, 87506, NM, USA
- Department of Anthropology, University of California at Davis, Davis, 95616, CA, USA
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8
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Battu B, Rahwan T. Cooperation without punishment. Sci Rep 2023; 13:1213. [PMID: 36681708 PMCID: PMC9867775 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-28372-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/14/2022] [Accepted: 01/17/2023] [Indexed: 01/22/2023] Open
Abstract
A fundamental question in social and biological sciences is whether self-governance is possible when individual and collective interests are in conflict. Free riding poses a major challenge to self-governance, and a prominent solution to this challenge has been altruistic punishment. However, this solution is ineffective when counter-punishments are possible and when social interactions are noisy. We set out to address these shortcomings, motivated by the fact that most people behave like conditional cooperators-individuals willing to cooperate if a critical number of others do so. In our evolutionary model, the population contains heterogeneous conditional cooperators whose decisions depend on past cooperation levels. The population plays a repeated public goods game in a moderately noisy environment where individuals can occasionally commit mistakes in their cooperative decisions and in their imitation of the role models' strategies. We show that, under moderate levels of noise, injecting a few altruists into the population triggers positive reciprocity among conditional cooperators, thereby providing a novel mechanism to establish stable cooperation. More broadly, our findings indicate that self-governance is possible while avoiding the detrimental effects of punishment, and suggest that society should focus on creating a critical amount of trust to harness the conditional nature of its members.
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Affiliation(s)
- Balaraju Battu
- Science Division, New York University Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, UAE.
| | - Talal Rahwan
- Science Division, New York University Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, UAE.
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9
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Breaking the cycles of violence with narrative exposure: Development and feasibility of NETfacts, a community-based intervention for populations living under continuous threat. PLoS One 2022; 17:e0275421. [PMID: 36534649 PMCID: PMC9762574 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0275421] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/03/2020] [Accepted: 08/10/2022] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Interpersonal violence damages mental health and frequently leads to aggressive defence strategies. If survivors are subsequently blamed for the events, both consequences worsen. Stigma flourishes, especially when survivors are silenced so that details of the trauma remain unknown. Breaking the secrecy both at the individual and collective level is key to enable the healing and reconciliation of individuals and communities living under continuous threat. METHOD The NETfacts health system is a stepped care model with three components: (1) Narrative Exposure Therapy (NET), an evidence-based trauma therapy that includes survivor testimony (2) NET for Forensic Offender Rehabilitation (FORNET) acknowledges that perpetrators are frequently also victims and assists in reducing aggression and the attraction to violence, and (3) a community intervention disseminating and discussing Facts derived from NET treatment (NETfacts) to challenge the collective avoidance of atrocities and other traumatic material. The intervention was piloted in a community with 497 adult residents in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. The willingness of clients to consent to sharing their anonymised testimonies (with a focus on sexual violence survivors and ex-combatants) was investigated, together with other components of feasibility including security and clinical safety, extent of support of respected local authorities and participation rates. As secondary outcomes, clinical and social measures were assessed before and post NETfacts among 200 village residents of whom 160 self-enrolled and 40 had not participated in any form of treatment. RESULTS Implementation was feasible with 248 clients from a partner project giving consent to use their testimonies and high support of respected local authorities and participation rates (56% of residents self-enrolled in NETfacts). Immediate beneficial effects were shown for posttraumatic stress and rejection of rape myths among NETfacts participants who experienced multiple traumatic events in their own past. Attitudes towards ex-combatants improved and the perceived lack of social acknowledgement after trauma increased independent from participation. No significant change was observed for depressive symptoms. CONCLUSION NETfacts is a feasible and promising approach to challenge the culture of secrecy surrounding trauma, suppression and social exclusion. Long term effectiveness requires further evaluation.
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10
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Ehret S, Constantino SM, Weber EU, Efferson C, Vogt S. Group identities can undermine social tipping after intervention. Nat Hum Behav 2022; 6:1669-1679. [PMID: 36138223 DOI: 10.1038/s41562-022-01440-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/09/2021] [Accepted: 07/29/2022] [Indexed: 01/14/2023]
Abstract
Social tipping can accelerate behaviour change consistent with policy objectives in diverse domains from social justice to climate change. Hypothetically, however, group identities might undermine tipping in ways that policymakers do not anticipate. To examine this, we implemented an experiment around the 2020 US federal elections. The participants faced consistent incentives to coordinate their choices. Once the participants had established a coordination norm, an intervention created pressure to tip to a new norm. Our control treatment used neutral labels for choices. Our identity treatment used partisan political images. This simple pay-off-irrelevant relabelling generated extreme differences. The control groups developed norms slowly before intervention but transitioned to new norms rapidly after intervention. The identity groups developed norms rapidly before intervention but persisted in a state of costly disagreement after intervention. Tipping was powerful but unreliable. It supported striking cultural changes when choice and identity were unlinked, but even a trivial link destroyed tipping entirely.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sönke Ehret
- Faculty of Business and Economics, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
| | - Sara M Constantino
- School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA.
- School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA.
- Department of Psychology, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA.
| | - Elke U Weber
- School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA
- Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA
- Department of Psychology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA
| | - Charles Efferson
- Faculty of Business and Economics, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
| | - Sonja Vogt
- Faculty of Business and Economics, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
- Centre for Development and Environment, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
- Nuffield College, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
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11
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Peterson CE, Dykens JA, Weine SM, Holt HK, Fleurimont J, Hutten CG, Wieser J, Abuisneineh F, Awadalla S, Ongtengco NP, Gastala N, Jasenof IG. Assessing the interrelationship between stigma, social influence, and cervical cancer prevention in an urban underserved setting: An exploratory study. PLoS One 2022; 17:e0278538. [PMID: 36454990 PMCID: PMC9714950 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0278538] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/18/2022] [Accepted: 11/18/2022] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
In the US, incidence and mortality from cervical cancer disproportionately affects racial/ethnic minorities and low-income women. Despite affordable access to primary and secondary prevention measures at Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination and screening rates are low, suggesting the presence of non-financial barriers to uptake in this population. This explanatory sequential mixed-methods study sought to explore factors that influence the acceptability of cervical cancer prevention services among parents and legal guardians of vaccine-eligible girls attending an urban FQHC and to assess social influences related to cervical cancer prevention. Participants included eight mothers, one father, and two grandparents/legal guardians. Nine participants self-identified as Black/Afro-Caribbean, or African American, two as Latinx, and one as Native American. The quantitative data suggested discordance between participants' cervical cancer prevention knowledge and their practices. Most indicated that their daughters had received the HPV vaccine but were unsure about HPV transmission modes. Qualitative data revealed that participants were comfortable disclosing information on HPV infection and vaccination status, and most women were likely to share information related to cervical cancer testing and diagnosis. Few comments indicated personal stigma on the part of participants, but there was frequent expression of perceived public stigma (shaming and blaming women), gender differences (men are indifferent to risk), and distrust of the healthcare system. Findings highlight several concepts including the disharmony between knowledge and practice, prevalent perceived public stigma, cumbersome attitudes on the part of men regarding HPV and cervical cancer, and distrust of the healthcare system.
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Affiliation(s)
- Caryn E. Peterson
- Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, United States of America
- * E-mail:
| | - J. Andrew Dykens
- College of Medicine, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, United States of America
| | - Stevan M. Weine
- College of Medicine, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, United States of America
| | - Hunter K. Holt
- College of Medicine, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, United States of America
| | - Judes Fleurimont
- Mile Square Health Center, UI Health, Chicago, Illinois, United States of America
| | - Christina G. Hutten
- Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, United States of America
| | - John Wieser
- College of Medicine, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, United States of America
| | - Fida Abuisneineh
- Mile Square Health Center, UI Health, Chicago, Illinois, United States of America
| | - Saria Awadalla
- Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, United States of America
| | | | - Nicole Gastala
- Mile Square Health Center, UI Health, Chicago, Illinois, United States of America
| | - Ian G. Jasenof
- Mile Square Health Center, UI Health, Chicago, Illinois, United States of America
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12
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Gavrilets S, Richerson PJ. Authority matters: propaganda and the coevolution of behaviour and attitudes. EVOLUTIONARY HUMAN SCIENCES 2022; 4:e51. [PMID: 37588907 PMCID: PMC10426013 DOI: 10.1017/ehs.2022.48] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/12/2022] [Revised: 08/21/2022] [Accepted: 10/05/2022] [Indexed: 11/06/2022] Open
Abstract
Human decision-making is controlled by various factors including material cost-benefit considerations, values and beliefs, social influences, cognitive factors and errors. Among social influences, those by external authorities (e.g. educational, cultural, religious, political, administrative, etc.) are particularly important owing to their potential reach and power. To better understand the effects of 'soft' power of authorities we develop a unifying theoretical framework integrating material, cognitive and social forces controlling the joint dynamics of individual actions and beliefs. We apply our approach to three different phenomena: evolution of food sharing in small-scale societies, participation in political protests and effects of priming social identity in behavioural experiments. For each of these applications, we show that our approach leads to different (or simpler) explanations of human behaviour than alternatives. We highlight the type of measurements which can be helpful in developing practical applications of our approach. We identify and explicitly characterise the degree of mismatch between individual actions and attitudes. We assert that the effects of external authorities, of changing beliefs and of differences between people must be studied empirically, included in mathematical models, and accounted for when developing different policies aiming to modify or sustain human behaviour.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sergey Gavrilets
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Department of Mathematics, Center for the Dynamics of Social Complexity, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN37996, USA
| | - Peter J. Richerson
- Department of Environmental Science and Policy, University of California, Davis, CA95616, USA
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13
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Constantino SM, Sparkman G, Kraft-Todd GT, Bicchieri C, Centola D, Shell-Duncan B, Vogt S, Weber EU. Scaling Up Change: A Critical Review and Practical Guide to Harnessing Social Norms for Climate Action. Psychol Sci Public Interest 2022; 23:50-97. [DOI: 10.1177/15291006221105279] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
Anthropogenic carbon emissions have the potential to trigger changes in climate and ecosystems that would be catastrophic for the well-being of humans and other species. Widespread shifts in production and consumption patterns are urgently needed to address climate change. Although transnational agreements and national policy are necessary for a transition to a fully decarbonized global economy, fluctuating political priorities and lobbying by vested interests have slowed these efforts. Against this backdrop, bottom-up pressure from social movements and shifting social norms may offer a complementary path to a more sustainable economy. Furthermore, norm change may be an important component of decarbonization policies by accelerating or strengthening the impacts of other demand-side measures. Individual actions and policy support are social processes—they are intimately linked to expectations about the actions and beliefs of others. Although prevailing social norms often reinforce the status quo and unsustainable development pathways, social dynamics can also create widespread and rapid shifts in cultural values and practices, including increasing pressure on politicians to enact ambitious policy. We synthesize literature on social-norm influence, measurement, and change from the perspectives of psychology, anthropology, sociology, and economics. We discuss the opportunities and challenges for the use of social-norm and social-tipping interventions to promote climate action. Social-norm interventions aimed at addressing climate change or other social dilemmas are promising but no panacea. They require in-depth contextual knowledge, ethical consideration, and situation-specific tailoring and testing to understand whether they can be effectively implemented at scale. Our review aims to provide practitioners with insights and tools to reflect on the promises and pitfalls of such interventions in diverse contexts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sara M. Constantino
- School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs, Northeastern University
- Department of Psychology, Northeastern University
- School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University
| | - Gregg Sparkman
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Boston College
| | | | - Cristina Bicchieri
- Center for Social Norms and Behavioral Dynamics, University of Pennsylvania
- Departments of Philosophy and Psychology, University of Pennsylvania
- Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania
| | - Damon Centola
- Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania
- School of Engineering, University of Pennsylvania
| | | | - Sonja Vogt
- Faculty of Business and Economics (HEC), University of Lausanne
- Centre for Development and Environment, University of Bern
- Centre for Experimental Social Sciences, Nuffield College, University of Oxford
| | - Elke U. Weber
- School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University
- Department of Psychology, Princeton University
- Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, Princeton University
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14
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Salali GD, Uysal MS, Bozyel G, Akpinar E, Aksu A. Does social influence affect COVID-19 vaccination intention among the unvaccinated? EVOLUTIONARY HUMAN SCIENCES 2022; 4:e32. [PMID: 37588925 PMCID: PMC10426110 DOI: 10.1017/ehs.2022.29] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/06/2022] Open
Abstract
Conformist social influence is a double-edged sword when it comes to vaccine promotion. On the one hand, social influence may increase vaccine uptake by reassuring the hesitant about the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine; on the other hand, people may forgo the cost of vaccination when the majority is already vaccinated - giving rise to a public goods dilemma. Here, we examine whether available information on the percentage of double-vaccinated people affects COVID-19 vaccination intention among unvaccinated people in Turkey. In an online experiment, we divided participants (n = 1013) into low, intermediate and high social influence conditions, reflecting the government's vaccine promotion messages. We found that social influence did not predict COVID-19 vaccination intention, but psychological reactance and collectivism did. People with higher reactance (intolerance of others telling one what to do and being sceptical of consensus views) had lower vaccination intention, whilst people with higher collectivism (how much a person considers group benefits over individual success) had higher vaccination intention. Our findings suggest that advertising the percentage of double-vaccinated people is not sufficient to trigger a cascade of others getting themselves vaccinated. Diverse promotion strategies reflecting the heterogeneity of individual attitudes could be more effective.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gul Deniz Salali
- Department of Anthropology, University College london, 14 Taviton Street, WC1H 0BW, UK
| | - Mete Sefa Uysal
- Department of Social Psychology, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Jena, Germany
| | - Gizem Bozyel
- Department of Psychology, Dokuz Eylul University, Izmir, Turkey
| | - Ege Akpinar
- Deparment of Political Science and International Relations, Altinbas University, Istanbul, Turkey
| | - Ayca Aksu
- Department of Psychology, MEF University, Istanbul, Turkey
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15
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Gutiérrez-García AI, Solano-Ruiz C, Perpiñá-Galvañ J, Siles-González J, Jimenez-Ruiz I. Female Genital Mutilation as a Social Norm: Examining the Beliefs and Attitudes of Women in This Diaspora. QUALITATIVE HEALTH RESEARCH 2022; 32:1153-1166. [PMID: 35576461 DOI: 10.1177/10497323221097885] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
In this article, we explore the beliefs, values and attitudes about female genital mutilation in the diaspora of sub-Saharan women and how the migration process has influenced these beliefs. Our qualitative analysis of the life stories and lifelines of 10 women in the sub-Saharan diaspora in light of the Social Convention Theory indicated that making public statements about the topic is complex and that the taboo permeating the practice remains intact even outside of Africa. Furthermore, we discovered that, in our context, this practice was not a requirement and did not improve the chances of marriage, with female behaviours considered 'appropriate' instead gaining value. Any interventions based on this theory must consider the broad networks that help shape marriages in this diaspora. This work opened new lines of research regarding the situation of the diaspora of sub-Saharan women and the relationship of the practice of female genital mutilation with marriage.
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16
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Šaffa G, Zrzavý J, Duda P. Global phylogenetic analysis reveals multiple origins and correlates of genital mutilation/cutting. Nat Hum Behav 2022; 6:635-645. [PMID: 35361908 DOI: 10.1038/s41562-022-01321-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/07/2021] [Accepted: 02/18/2022] [Indexed: 12/26/2022]
Abstract
Genital mutilation/cutting is costly in terms of health, survival and reproduction, and the long-term maintenance of these practices is an evolutionary conundrum. Previous studies have suggested a mate-guarding function or various signalling functions of genital mutilation/cutting. Here we use phylogenetic comparative methods and two global ethnographic samples to study the origins and socio-ecological correlates of major types of female and male genital mutilation/cutting. Male genital mutilation/cutting probably originated in polygynous societies with separate residence of co-wives, supporting a mate-guarding function. Female genital mutilation/cutting originated subsequently and almost exclusively in societies already practising male genital mutilation/cutting, where it may have become a signal of chastity. Both have originated multiple times, some as early as in the mid-Holocene (5,000-7,000 years ago), considerably predating the earliest archaeological evidence and written records. Genital mutilation/cutting co-evolves with and may help maintain fundamental social structures, hindering efforts to change these cultural practices.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gabriel Šaffa
- Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia, České Budějovice, Czechia
| | - Jan Zrzavý
- Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia, České Budějovice, Czechia
| | - Pavel Duda
- Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia, České Budějovice, Czechia.
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17
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Evidence supporting a cultural evolutionary theory of prosocial religions in contemporary workplace safety data. Sci Rep 2022; 12:5239. [PMID: 35347211 PMCID: PMC8960878 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-09322-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/01/2021] [Accepted: 03/21/2022] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
A prominent line of cultural evolutionary theory hypothesizes that religiously inspired prosocial behavior enhances the fecundity of pious groups, causing them to outcompete non-religious communities and spread their prosocial values. We present evidence concerning contemporary workplace safety, in the United States, that unexpectedly tested implications of this cultural evolutionary hypothesis. Avoiding workplace injury requires cooperation and injury influences fitness, thus cultural evolutionary theory would anticipate that religious communities should exhibit fewer workplace injuries. Indeed, we find that the proportion of a community adhering to a religion correlates negatively with rates of workplace injury in its private-sector establishments. This correlation emerges primarily when secular workplace safety authorities are not prominent, thus echoing evidence that religiously inspired prosocial behavior mainly occurs absent “earthly” sanctioning authorities. Furthermore, the percent of religiously affiliated individuals in a community correlates with safety investments, suggesting that workplace injury reductions in religious communities result from individually costly, group-benefitting cooperation.
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18
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Hébert-Dufresne L, Waring TM, St-Onge G, Niles MT, Kati Corlew L, Dube MP, Miller SJ, Gotelli NJ, McGill BJ. Source-sink behavioural dynamics limit institutional evolution in a group-structured society. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2022; 9:211743. [PMID: 35345431 PMCID: PMC8941422 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.211743] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/09/2021] [Accepted: 02/04/2022] [Indexed: 05/03/2023]
Abstract
Social change in any society entails changes in both behaviours and institutions. We model a group-structured society in which the transmission of individual behaviour occurs in parallel with the selection of group-level institutions. We consider a cooperative behaviour that generates collective benefits for groups but does not spread between individuals on its own. Groups exhibit institutions that increase the diffusion of the behaviour within the group, but also incur a group cost. Groups adopt institutions in proportion to their fitness. Finally, the behaviour may also spread globally. We find that behaviour and institutions can be mutually reinforcing. But the model also generates behavioural source-sink dynamics when behaviour generated in institutionalized groups spreads to non-institutionalized groups and boosts their fitness. Consequently, the global diffusion of group-beneficial behaviour creates a pattern of institutional free-riding that limits the evolution of group-beneficial institutions. Our model suggests that, in a group-structured society, large-scale beneficial social change can be best achieved when the relevant behaviour and institutions remain correlated.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laurent Hébert-Dufresne
- Department of Computer Science, University of Vermont, Burlington VT, USA
- Vermont Complex Systems Center, University of Vermont, Burlington VT, USA
- Department of Nutrition and Food Sciences, University of Vermont, Burlington VT, USA
| | - Timothy M. Waring
- School of Economics, University of Maine, Orono ME, USA
- Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions, University of Maine, Orono ME, USA
| | - Guillaume St-Onge
- Département de physique, de génie physique et d'optique, Université Laval, Québec (Québec), Canada G1V 0A6
- Centre interdisciplinaire en modélisation mathématique, Université Laval, Québec (Québec), Canada G1V 0A6
| | - Meredith T. Niles
- Department of Nutrition and Food Sciences, University of Vermont, Burlington VT, USA
| | - Laura Kati Corlew
- Department of Social Science, University of Maine at Augusta, Bangor ME, USA
| | - Matthew P. Dube
- Department of Computer Information Systems, University of Maine at Augusta, Bangor ME, USA
| | - Stephanie J. Miller
- Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions, University of Maine, Orono ME, USA
- Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions, University of Maine, Orono ME, USA
| | | | - Brian J. McGill
- Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions, University of Maine, Orono ME, USA
- Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions, University of Maine, Orono ME, USA
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19
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Schimmelpfennig R, Razek L, Schnell E, Muthukrishna M. Paradox of diversity in the collective brain. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2022; 377:20200316. [PMID: 34894736 PMCID: PMC8666911 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2020.0316] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/19/2021] [Accepted: 10/06/2021] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Human societies are collective brains. People within every society have cultural brains-brains that have evolved to selectively seek out adaptive knowledge and socially transmit solutions. Innovations emerge at a population level through the transmission of serendipitous mistakes, incremental improvements and novel recombinations. The rate of innovation through these mechanisms is a function of (1) a society's size and interconnectedness (sociality), which affects the number of models available for learning; (2) fidelity of information transmission, which affects how much information is lost during social learning; and (3) cultural trait diversity, which affects the range of possible solutions available for recombination. In general, and perhaps surprisingly, all three levers can increase and harm innovation by creating challenges around coordination, conformity and communication. Here, we focus on the 'paradox of diversity'-that cultural trait diversity offers the largest potential for empowering innovation, but also poses difficult challenges at both an organizational and societal level. We introduce 'cultural evolvability' as a framework for tackling these challenges, with implications for entrepreneurship, polarization and a nuanced understanding of the effects of diversity. This framework can guide researchers and practitioners in how to reap the benefits of diversity by reducing costs. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue 'The emergence of collective knowledge and cumulative culture in animals, humans and machines'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Robin Schimmelpfennig
- Department of Organizational Behavior, University of Lausanne (UNIL), Chavannes-près-Renens, Lausanne 1015, Switzerland
| | - Layla Razek
- Department of Biology, McGill University, Dr Penfield Avenue, Montreal, Canada H3A 1B1
| | - Eric Schnell
- Department of Psychological and Behavioural Science, London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AE, UK
| | - Michael Muthukrishna
- Department of Psychological and Behavioural Science, London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AE, UK
- Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5G 1M1
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20
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21
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Pre-existing fairness concerns restrict the cultural evolution and generalization of inequitable norms in children. EVOL HUM BEHAV 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2021.07.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
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22
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Segregation and clustering of preferences erode socially beneficial coordination. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2021; 118:2102153118. [PMID: 34876514 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2102153118] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 09/22/2021] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Polarization on various issues has increased in many Western democracies over the last decades, leading to divergent beliefs, preferences, and behaviors within societies. We develop a model to investigate the effects of polarization on the likelihood that a society will coordinate on a welfare-improving action in a context in which collective benefits are acquired only if enough individuals take that action. We examine the impacts of different manifestations of polarization: heterogeneity of preferences, segregation of the social network, and the interaction between the two. In this context, heterogeneity captures differential perceived benefits from coordinating, which can lead to different intentions and sensitivity regarding the intentions of others. Segregation of the social network can create a bottleneck in information flows about others' preferences, as individuals may base their decisions only on their close neighbors. Additionally, heterogeneous preferences can be evenly distributed in the population or clustered in the local network, respectively reflecting or systematically departing from the views of the broader society. The model predicts that heterogeneity of preferences alone is innocuous and it can even be beneficial, while segregation can hamper coordination, mainly when local networks distort the distribution of valuations. We base these results on a multimethod approach including an online group experiment with 750 individuals. We randomize the range of valuations associated with different choice options and the information respondents have about others. The experimental results reinforce the idea that, even in a situation in which all could stand to gain from coordination, polarization can impede social progress.
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23
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Schimmelpfennig R, Vogt S, Ehret S, Efferson C. Promotion of behavioural change for health in a heterogeneous population. Bull World Health Organ 2021; 99:819-827. [PMID: 34737474 PMCID: PMC8542272 DOI: 10.2471/blt.20.285227] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/30/2020] [Revised: 07/22/2021] [Accepted: 07/23/2021] [Indexed: 11/27/2022] Open
Abstract
Public health policy often involves implementing cost-efficient, large-scale interventions. When mandating or forbidding a specific behaviour is not permissible, public health professionals may draw on behaviour change interventions to achieve socially beneficial policy objectives. Interventions can have two main effects: (i) a direct effect on people initially targeted by the intervention; and (ii) an indirect effect mediated by social influence and by the observation of other people's behaviour. However, people's attitudes and beliefs can differ markedly throughout the population, with the result that these two effects can interact to produce unexpected, unhelpful and counterintuitive consequences. Public health professionals need to understand this interaction better. This paper illustrates the key principles of this interaction by examining two important areas of public health policy: tobacco smoking and vaccination. The example of antismoking campaigns shows when and how public health professionals can amplify the effects of a behaviour change intervention by taking advantage of the indirect pathway. The example of vaccination campaigns illustrates how underlying incentive structures, particularly anticoordination incentives, can interfere with the indirect effect of an intervention and stall efforts to scale up its implementation. Recommendations are presented on how public health professionals can maximize the total effect of behaviour change interventions in heterogeneous populations based on these concepts and examples.
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Affiliation(s)
- Robin Schimmelpfennig
- Faculty of Business and Economics, University of Lausanne, Internef, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Sonja Vogt
- Faculty of Business and Economics, University of Lausanne, Internef, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Sönke Ehret
- Faculty of Business and Economics, University of Lausanne, Internef, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Charles Efferson
- Faculty of Business and Economics, University of Lausanne, Internef, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
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24
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Schief M, Vogt S, Efferson C. Investigating the Structure of Son Bias in Armenia With Novel Measures of Individual Preferences. Demography 2021; 58:1737-1764. [PMID: 34486643 PMCID: PMC9014863 DOI: 10.1215/00703370-9429479] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
Sex ratios at birth favoring boys are being documented in a growing number of countries, a pattern indicating that families selectively abort females. Son bias also explains why, in many countries, girls have more siblings and are born at relatively earlier parities compared with their brothers. In this study, we develop novel methods for measuring son bias using both questionnaire items and implicit association tests, and we collect data on fertility preferences and outcomes from 2,700 participants in Armenia. We document highly skewed sex ratios, suggesting that selective abortions of females are widespread among parents in our sample. We also provide evidence that sex-selective abortions are underreported, which highlights the problem of social desirability bias. We validate our methods and demonstrate that conducting implicit association tests can be a successful strategy for measuring the relative preference for sons and daughters when social desirability is a concern. We investigate the structure of son-biased fertility preferences within households, across families, and between regions in Armenia, using measures of son bias at the level of the individual decision-maker. We find that men are, on average, considerably more son-biased than women. We also show that regional differences in son bias exist and that they appear unrelated to the socioeconomic composition of the population. Finally, we estimate the degree of spousal correlation in son bias and discuss whether husbands are reliably more son-biased than their wives.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthias Schief
- Department of Economics, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA
| | - Sonja Vogt
- Faculty of Business and Economics, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland; Centre for Development and Environment, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Charles Efferson
- Faculty of Business and Economics, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
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25
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Evans CL, Burdett ERR, Murray K, Carpenter M. When does it pay to follow the crowd? Children optimize imitation of causally irrelevant actions performed by a majority. J Exp Child Psychol 2021; 212:105229. [PMID: 34284228 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2021.105229] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/16/2020] [Revised: 06/18/2021] [Accepted: 06/18/2021] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
Cultural evolutionary theory posits that human cultural complexity rests on a set of adaptive learning biases that help to guide functionality and optimality in social learning, but this sits in contrast with the commonly held view that children are unselective "over-imitators." Here, we tested whether 4- and 6-year-old children use social learning biases flexibly to fine-tune their copying of irrelevant actions. Children watched a video of a majority demonstrating causally irrelevant actions and a minority demonstrating only causally relevant actions. In one condition observers approved of the majority and disapproved of the minority, and in the other condition observers watched the majority and minority neutrally. Results showed that both 4- and 6-year-olds copied the inefficient majority more often than the efficient minority when the observers had approved of the majority's actions, but they copied the efficient minority significantly more when the observers had watched neutrally. We discuss the implications of children's optimal selectivity in copying and the importance of integrating social approval into majority-biased learning when acquiring norms and conventions and in broader processes of cultural evolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cara L Evans
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena 07745, Germany; School of Biology, Centre for Social Learning and Cognitive Evolution, University of St Andrews, St Andrews KY16 9ST, UK
| | - Emily R R Burdett
- School of Psychology, University of Nottingham, University Park Campus, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK; Institute of Cognitive and Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX2 6PN, UK; School of Psychology and Neuroscience, Centre for Social Learning and Cognitive Evolution, University of St Andrews, St Mary's Quad, St Andrews KY16 9JP, UK.
| | - Keelin Murray
- School of Biology, Centre for Social Learning and Cognitive Evolution, University of St Andrews, St Andrews KY16 9ST, UK
| | - Malinda Carpenter
- School of Psychology and Neuroscience, Centre for Social Learning and Cognitive Evolution, University of St Andrews, St Mary's Quad, St Andrews KY16 9JP, UK
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26
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27
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Abstract
As machines powered by artificial intelligence (AI) influence humans' behaviour in ways that are both like and unlike the ways humans influence each other, worry emerges about the corrupting power of AI agents. To estimate the empirical validity of these fears, we review the available evidence from behavioural science, human-computer interaction and AI research. We propose four main social roles through which both humans and machines can influence ethical behaviour. These are: role model, advisor, partner and delegate. When AI agents become influencers (role models or advisors), their corrupting power may not exceed the corrupting power of humans (yet). However, AI agents acting as enablers of unethical behaviour (partners or delegates) have many characteristics that may let people reap unethical benefits while feeling good about themselves, a potentially perilous interaction. On the basis of these insights, we outline a research agenda to gain behavioural insights for better AI oversight.
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28
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Abstract
Behavioral genetics and cultural evolution have both revolutionized our understanding of human behavior-largely independent of each other. Here we reconcile these two fields under a dual inheritance framework, offering a more nuanced understanding of the interaction between genes and culture. Going beyond typical analyses of gene-environment interactions, we describe the cultural dynamics that shape these interactions by shaping the environment and population structure. A cultural evolutionary approach can explain, for example, how factors such as rates of innovation and diffusion, density of cultural sub-groups, and tolerance for behavioral diversity impact heritability estimates, thus yielding predictions for different social contexts. Moreover, when cumulative culture functionally overlaps with genes, genetic effects become masked, unmasked, or even reversed, and the causal effects of an identified gene become confounded with features of the cultural environment. The manner of confounding is specific to a particular society at a particular time, but a WEIRD (Western, educated, industrialized, rich, democratic) sampling problem obscures this boundedness. Cultural evolutionary dynamics are typically missing from models of gene-to-phenotype causality, hindering generalizability of genetic effects across societies and across time. We lay out a reconciled framework and use it to predict the ways in which heritability should differ between societies, between socioeconomic levels and other groupings within some societies but not others, and over the life course. An integrated cultural evolutionary behavioral genetic approach cuts through the nature-nurture debate and helps resolve controversies in topics such as IQ.
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29
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Abstract
Social tipping—instances of sudden change that upend social order—is rarely anticipated and usually understood only in hindsight. The ability to predict when societies will reach a tipping point has significant implications for welfare, especially when social norms are detrimental. In a large-scale laboratory experiment, we identify a model that accurately predicts social tipping and use it to address a long-standing puzzle: Why do norms sometimes persist when they are detrimental to social welfare? We show that beneficial norm change is often hindered by a desire to avoid the costs associated with transitioning to a new norm. We find that policies that help societies develop a common understanding of the benefits from change foster the abandonment of detrimental norms. The ability to predict when societies will replace one social norm for another can have significant implications for welfare, especially when norms are detrimental. A popular theory poses that the pressure to conform to social norms creates tipping thresholds which, once passed, propel societies toward an alternative state. Predicting when societies will reach a tipping threshold, however, has been a major challenge because of the lack of experimental data for evaluating competing models. We present evidence from a large-scale laboratory experiment designed to test the theoretical predictions of a threshold model for social tipping and norm change. In our setting, societal preferences change gradually, forcing individuals to weigh the benefit from deviating from the norm against the cost from not conforming to the behavior of others. We show that the model correctly predicts in 96% of instances when a society will succeed or fail to abandon a detrimental norm. Strikingly, we observe widespread persistence of detrimental norms even when individuals determine the cost for nonconformity themselves as they set the latter too high. Interventions that facilitate a common understanding of the benefits from change help most societies abandon detrimental norms. We also show that instigators of change tend to be more risk tolerant and to dislike conformity more. Our findings demonstrate the value of threshold models for understanding social tipping in a broad range of social settings and for designing policies to promote welfare.
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30
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Abstract
Injunctive social norms are behaviours that one is expected to follow and expects others to follow in a given social situation; they are maintained by the threat of disapproval or punishment and by the process of internalization. Injunctive norms govern all aspects of our social life but the understanding of their effects on individual and group behaviour is currently rather incomplete. Here I develop a general mathematical approach describing the dynamics of injunctive norms in heterogeneous groups. My approach captures various costs and benefits, both material and normative, associated with norm-related behaviours including punishment and disapproval by others. It also allows for errors in decision-making and explicitly accounts for differences between individuals in their values, beliefs about the population state, and sensitivity to the actions of others. In addition, it enables one to study the consequences of mixing populations with different normative values and the effects of persuasive interventions. I describe how interactions of these factors affect individual and group behaviour. As an illustration, I consider policies developed by practitioners to abolish the norms of footbinding and female genital cutting, to decrease college students' drinking, and to increase pro-environmental behaviours. The theory developed here can be used for achieving a better understanding of historical and current social processes as well as for developing practical policies better accounting for human social behaviour.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sergey Gavrilets
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Department of Mathematics, National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis, Center for the Dynamics of Social Complexity, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN37996USA
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31
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Arnot M, Brandl E, Campbell OLK, Chen Y, Du J, Dyble M, Emmott EH, Ge E, Kretschmer LDW, Mace R, Micheletti AJC, Nila S, Peacey S, Salali GD, Zhang H. How evolutionary behavioural sciences can help us understand behaviour in a pandemic. Evol Med Public Health 2020; 2020:264-278. [PMID: 33318799 PMCID: PMC7665496 DOI: 10.1093/emph/eoaa038] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/21/2020] [Accepted: 10/08/2020] [Indexed: 12/16/2022] Open
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought science into the public eye and to the attention of governments more than ever before. Much of this attention is on work in epidemiology, virology and public health, with most behavioural advice in public health focusing squarely on 'proximate' determinants of behaviour. While epidemiological models are powerful tools to predict the spread of disease when human behaviour is stable, most do not incorporate behavioural change. The evolutionary basis of our preferences and the cultural evolutionary dynamics of our beliefs drive behavioural change, so understanding these evolutionary processes can help inform individual and government decision-making in the face of a pandemic. Lay summary: The COVID-19 pandemic has brought behavioural sciences into the public eye: Without vaccinations, stopping the spread of the virus must rely on behaviour change by limiting contact between people. On the face of it, "stop seeing people" sounds simple. In practice, this is hard. Here we outline how an evolutionary perspective on behaviour change can provide additional insights. Evolutionary theory postulates that our psychology and behaviour did not evolve to maximize our health or that of others. Instead, individuals are expected to act to maximise their inclusive fitness (i.e, spreading our genes) - which can lead to a conflict between behaviours that are in the best interests for the individual, and behaviours that stop the spread of the virus. By examining the ultimate explanations of behaviour related to pandemic-management (such as behavioural compliance and social distancing), we conclude that "good of the group" arguments and "one size fits all" policies are unlikely to encourage behaviour change over the long-term. Sustained behaviour change to keep pandemics at bay is much more likely to emerge from environmental change, so governments and policy makers may need to facilitate significant social change - such as improving life experiences for disadvantaged groups.
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Affiliation(s)
- Megan Arnot
- Department of Anthropology, University College London, 14 Taviton Street, London, UK
| | - Eva Brandl
- Department of Anthropology, University College London, 14 Taviton Street, London, UK
| | - O L K Campbell
- Department of Anthropology, University College London, 14 Taviton Street, London, UK
| | - Yuan Chen
- State Key Laboratory of Grassland and Agro-ecosystems, School of Life Sciences, Lanzhou University, 222 Tianshui South Rd, Lanzhou, Gansu Province 730000, People's Republic of China
| | - Juan Du
- State Key Laboratory of Grassland and Agro-ecosystems, School of Life Sciences, Lanzhou University, 222 Tianshui South Rd, Lanzhou, Gansu Province 730000, People's Republic of China
| | - Mark Dyble
- Department of Anthropology, University College London, 14 Taviton Street, London, UK
| | - Emily H Emmott
- Department of Anthropology, University College London, 14 Taviton Street, London, UK
| | - Erhao Ge
- State Key Laboratory of Grassland and Agro-ecosystems, School of Life Sciences, Lanzhou University, 222 Tianshui South Rd, Lanzhou, Gansu Province 730000, People's Republic of China
| | - Luke D W Kretschmer
- Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London, 1-19 Torrington Place, London, UK
| | - Ruth Mace
- Department of Anthropology, University College London, 14 Taviton Street, London, UK
| | - Alberto J C Micheletti
- Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse, Université Toulouse 1 Capitole, 1 esplanade de l’Université, 31080 Toulouse Cedex 06, France
| | - Sarah Nila
- Department of Anthropology, University College London, 14 Taviton Street, London, UK
| | - Sarah Peacey
- Department of Anthropology, University College London, 14 Taviton Street, London, UK
| | - Gul Deniz Salali
- Department of Anthropology, University College London, 14 Taviton Street, London, UK
| | - Hanzhi Zhang
- Department of Anthropology, University College London, 14 Taviton Street, London, UK
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Hagen RV, Scelza BA. Adoption of outgroup norms provides evidence for social transmission in perinatal care practices among rural Namibian women. EVOLUTION MEDICINE AND PUBLIC HEALTH 2020; 2020:161-173. [PMID: 33072326 PMCID: PMC7547623 DOI: 10.1093/emph/eoaa029] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/12/2020] [Accepted: 07/21/2020] [Indexed: 11/14/2022]
Abstract
Background and objectives How do new ideas spread in social groups? We apply the framework of cultural evolution theory to examine what drives change in perinatal care norms among Himba women in the Kunene region of Namibia. Access to formal medical care is on the rise in this region, and medical workers regularly visit communities to promote WHO-recommended perinatal care practices. This study investigates how various forms of social transmission affect women's uptake of medical recommendations concerning perinatal care. Methodology Based on interviews with one hundred Himba mothers, we used Bayesian multi-level logistical regression models to examine how perceptions of group preferences, prestige ascribed to outgroup conformers, interaction with the outgroup and access to resources affect norm adoption. Results Women who perceive medical recommendations as common in their group prefer, plan and practice these recommendations more often themselves. We observed a shift toward medical recommendations regarding birth location and contraception use that was in line with conformity bias predictions. Practices that serve as cultural identity markers persist in the population. Conclusions and implications Norm changes, and the cultural evolutionary processes that can lead to them, are not uniform, either in process or pace. Empirical studies like this one provide important examples of how these changes reflect local culture and circumstance and are critical for better understanding the models that currently predominate in cultural evolution work. These cases can also help bridge the gap between evolutionary anthropology and public health by demonstrating where promotion and prevention campaigns might be most effective. Lay Summary The recent promotion of WHO-recommended perinatal care practices in Namibia provides an opportunity to empirically study norm change using a cultural evolution framework. We found women adopt medical recommendations when they believe these are common in their social group. Local norms that were not discouraged persisted in the study group.
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Affiliation(s)
- Renée V Hagen
- Department of Anthropology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.,Department of Anthropology, UCLA Center for Behavior, Evolution and Culture, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Brooke A Scelza
- Department of Anthropology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.,Department of Anthropology, UCLA Center for Behavior, Evolution and Culture, Los Angeles, CA, USA
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Efferson C, McKay R, Fehr E. The evolution of distorted beliefs vs. mistaken choices under asymmetric error costs. EVOLUTIONARY HUMAN SCIENCES 2020; 2:e27. [PMID: 37588359 PMCID: PMC10427456 DOI: 10.1017/ehs.2020.25] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Why do people sometimes hold unjustified beliefs and make harmful choices? Three hypotheses include (a) contemporary incentives in which some errors cost more than others, (b) cognitive biases evolved to manage ancestral incentives with variation in error costs and (c) social learning based on choice frequencies. With both modelling and a behavioural experiment, we examined all three mechanisms. The model and experiment support the conclusion that contemporary cost asymmetries affect choices by increasing the rate of cheap errors to reduce the rate of expensive errors. Our model shows that a cognitive bias can distort the evolution of beliefs and in turn behaviour. Unless the bias is strong, however, beliefs often evolve in the correct direction. This suggests limitations on how cognitive biases shape choices, which further indicates that detecting the behavioural consequences of biased cognition may sometimes be challenging. Our experiment used a prime intended to activate a bias called 'hyperactive agency detection', and the prime had no detectable effect on choices. Finally, both the model and experiment show that frequency-dependent social learning can generate choice dynamics in which some populations converge on widespread errors, but this outcome hinges on the other two mechanisms being neutral with respect to choice.
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Affiliation(s)
- Charles Efferson
- Faculty of Business and Economics, University of Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Ryan McKay
- Department of Psychology, Royal Holloway, University of London, UK
| | - Ernst Fehr
- Department of Economics, University of Zurich, Switzerland
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