The politics of public behaviour
This project is a chance to explore the tensions in the current debate between fostering a 'nanny state' and finding a response to some of the most pressing social issues of our time.
"social_norms"
7 items tagged with this theme in this project. Find more on this theme : » show items from across the site
- Don't force me. I'm open to persuasion-Comment - Daniel Finkelstein - 'Not even 1% of passengers have taken up BA's very reasonably priced offer to offset the carbon emissions of their flights (£5 for London-Madrid, £13.50 for London-Johannesburg). That may be because people are selfish—or it may be because they are rational enough to know that their individual economic choices are not going to make a blind bit of difference to the future of the planet. Nobody is going to save a polar bear by turning off the lights.' from : duncanoleary 15th June 2007
- Car wrecks and Hutus: a guide to good conduct - Comment - Daniel Finkelstein Discusses Professor Zimbardo's book 'The Lucifer Effect'. 'Give us peer pressure or the cloak of anonymity or the need to adhere to a consistent philosophy or a group code, give us the right situation and its amazing what we will do, whatever our disposition.' from : duncanoleary 15th June 2007
- The Lucifer Effect by Philip Zimbardo Writes: 'Solomon Asch and Muzafer Sherif have shed light on the determinants of conformity. Their research and that of others (Morton Deutsch and Hal Gerard) has demonstrated two main types of conformity: informational and normative.' i.e. we look to others because we don't know what to do, or because we want to fit in. from : duncanoleary 15th June 2007
- Social Preferences and Public Economics: Are good laws a substitute for good citizens? (pdf) Argues: 'Laws and policies designed to harness self-regarding preferences to public ends may fail when they compromise the beneficial effects of pro-social preferences. Experimental evidence indicates that incentives that appeal to self interest may reduce the salience of intrinsic motivation, reciprocity, and other civic motives.' from : duncanoleary 3rd August 2007
- Half 'are smoking less' since ban | BBC NEWS Half are smoking less since the ban on smoking in indoor public spaces in England took effect six weeks ago, a survey reveals. A third of 1,000 smokers polled by Ciao Surveys said they now smoked less when out in bars and clubs and more than one in 10 said they smoked less altogether. But only 1.8% said they had quit since the ban. from : duncanoleary 17th August 2007
- Daniel Finkelstein: Show me the smoking gun New figures suggest the smoking ban has produced a pretty small reduction in the number of people who smoke. But we are told that making people quit is not the point of the legislation...no evidence is provided about the impact of the ban on passive smoking. from : duncanoleary 17th August 2007
- Morals make people fat | Guardian daily comment Argues: 'Today, common sense about diet points in the opposite direction. Nothing can be socially shaped. We're all free individuals swimming in an ocean of uncoerced choice. Yet those choices are shaped, every day, by the food industry, by the rhythm of our lives and by the architecture of the modern world, all of which induces us to snack, gobble and dash...The prescription for overweight Britain is clear: less bariatrics, more sociology; less morality, more politics.' from : duncanoleary 17th August 2007