Measuring Social Norms and Preferences Using Experimental Games: A Guide for Social Scientists

Can culture be a policy variable, and hence of use to change society? What can we infer from the existing datasets and methods in economics? How different it is from what social scientists define as culture? Drawing on evidence from migrants interviewed in the European Values Study 2008- 2010 we show evidence of cultural persistence on a large set of attitudes suggesting that culture is a relevant variable for policy to account for. We then offer its downsides and then move to the meaning of culture in other social sciences which allows for more general equilibrium effects, and we propose to focus instead on cultural identity change reflecting newly internalized cultural norms. We argue that on the basis of the existing evidence there is some scope for changing cultural social norms that shape the locus of value (meaningfulness) in a society, which can in induce forms of ‘social change’. However, unlike with social norms, core beliefs in a society are likely to be culturally persistent.

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Introduction: the puzzling scope of rationality

European Journal of Sociology ◽

10.1017/s0003975600006159 ◽

1991 ◽

Vol 32 (1) ◽

pp. 81-83 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Clauss Offe

Keyword(s):

Social Norms ◽

Social Theory ◽

Social Action ◽

Social Scientists ◽

The Core ◽

To Come

The question of how social norms and the rational pursuit of interests combine into social action continues to be one of the core puzzles of social theory. The essays by Jon Elster and Ralph Turner and the comments by Margaret Levi and Steven Lukes published in the following pages of the Archives are fine and, we believe, representative contemporary examples of how social scientists try to come to terms with this puzzle.

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Dynamics of social influence: an evolutionary approach

International Journal of Social Economics ◽

10.1108/ijse-10-2012-0188 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 41 (2) ◽

pp. 123-145

Author(s):

Maryam Dilmaghani

Keyword(s):

Social Norms ◽

Social Influence ◽

Evolutionary Dynamics ◽

Fitness Function ◽

Mathematical Formulation ◽

Social Institutions ◽

Peer Pressure ◽

Social Scientists ◽

Content Type ◽

The Social

Purpose – The paper aims to propose an analytical framework for social influence and mathematical formulation for its main components: conformity and peer-pressure. The framework is conceived to explain why certain behaviours and beliefs propagate in a society and some others disappear. It can also be used to study the emergence and the evolution of the status of the norms in terms of their adoption by the population. Design/methodology/approach – The paper is theoretical, making use of economic quantitative methods. The author proposes a new formulation for the evolutionary dynamics, increasingly borrowed by social scientists. Then, mathematically treating the equation, the author draws general conclusions in form of lemmas, which are proved. Findings – The author's main contribution is to show that even behavioural rules and beliefs that emerge in a minority subset of the population, do not procure any benefit for the agents adopting them can under certain conditions, evolve into the consensus of a society, become a norm. Research limitations/implications – More general conclusion (theorems and lemmas) could be stated and proved. But given that the main contribution of the paper is to the fields of social and behavioural economics, along a number of disciplines less mathematical than economics, the author kept the analysis that required fairy advance mathematics for later. Practical implications – The paper contributes to the evolutionary game theory, evolution of preferences, and evolution of beliefs and social norms. More precisely, the equation proposed in the paper can be used in the contexts the patterns of heterogeneity in a population are affected or caused by social influence. Or in the contexts, the social institutions are susceptible to affect an agent's sense of identity (e.g. voting, fashion industry, marketing). Originality/value – In this paper, for the first time, a mathematical formulation is proposed for the social influence and its main psychological components (conformity and status seeking). Using the above, the author proposed a new parametric fitness function for the evolutionary dynamics. The author believes the paper matters to a multidisciplinary public. It answers a question that challenged and puzzled the economists (as well other social scientists): the reasons behind the emergence and the prevalence of social norms do not positively contribute to the utility or payoff of the agents adopting them (and at times they are costly).

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Imitation, Hayek, and the Significance of Cultural Learning

A Different Kind of Animal ◽

10.23943/princeton/9780691195902.003.0004 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 125-134

Author(s):

H. Allen Orr

Keyword(s):

Social Norms ◽

Local Knowledge ◽

Social Evolution ◽

Free Market ◽

Cultural Learning ◽

Social Scientists ◽

Social Success ◽

Social Theorist ◽

Imitative Model ◽

Friedrich Hayek

This chapter discusses biologist H. Allen Orr's two large and interesting questions about Robert Boyd's model of cultural learning. He wonders, first, whether Boyd exaggerates the contrast between the “Big Brain” model, which emphasizes cognitive explanations for human success, and the imitative model that Boyd prefers. Orr argues that successful imitation often requires considerable “neuronal firepower.” In addition, Orr usefully describes the partial convergence of Boyd's view with that advanced by the well-known free-market economist and social theorist Friedrich Hayek. Hayek also emphasized that social success and progress depend on the use of tacit and dispersed local knowledge, culturally transmitted social norms and ethical mores, and institutions that are the product of social evolution. Orr wonders whether scientists and social scientists pay less attention to Hayek than they should because of Hayek's politics.

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Cooperation and obligation in early parent-child relationships

Behavioral and Brain Sciences ◽

10.1017/s0140525x19002474 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 43 ◽

Author(s):

Ross A. Thompson

Keyword(s):

Social Norms ◽

Moral Psychology ◽

Close Relationships ◽

Social Agency ◽

Infant Survival ◽

Peer Experiences ◽

Early Experiences ◽

Early Parent ◽

Collaborative Skills ◽

Parent Child Relationships

Abstract Tomasello's moral psychology of obligation would be developmentally deepened by greater attention to early experiences of cooperation and shared social agency between parents and infants, evolved to promote infant survival. They provide a foundation for developing understanding of the mutual obligations of close relationships that contribute (alongside peer experiences) to growing collaborative skills, fairness expectations, and fidelity to social norms.

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The Structure Among Measures of Personality, Social Attitudes, Values, and Social Norms

Journal of Individual Differences ◽

10.1027/1614-0001.28.4.240 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 28 (4) ◽

pp. 240-251 ◽

Cited By ~ 28

Author(s):

Lazar Stankov

Keyword(s):

Factor Analysis ◽

Individual Differences ◽

Social Norms ◽

Social Interactions ◽

Correlation Matrix ◽

Social Attitudes ◽

Group Differences ◽

Factor Scores ◽

Ethnic Group Differences ◽

Inside Out

Abstract. This paper presents the results of a study that employed measures of personality, social attitudes, values, and social norms that have been the focus of recent research in individual differences. These measures were given to a sample of participants (N = 1,255) who were enrolled at 25 US colleges and universities. Factor analysis of the correlation matrix produced four factors. Three of these factors corresponded to the domains of Personality/Amoral Social Attitudes, Values, and Social Norms; one factor, Conservatism, cut across the domains. Cognitive ability showed negative correlation with conservatism and amoral social attitudes. The study also examined gender and ethnic group differences on factor scores. The overall interpretation of the findings is consistent with the inside-out view of human social interactions.

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Accentuating Your Masculine Side

Social Psychology ◽

10.1027/1864-9335/a000144 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 44 (2) ◽

pp. 103-108 ◽

Cited By ~ 16

Author(s):

Chongzeng Bi ◽

Oscar Ybarra ◽

Yufang Zhao

Keyword(s):

Social Norms ◽

Gender Role ◽

Cultural Context ◽

Self Esteem ◽

Western Countries ◽

Self Evaluation ◽

Two Samples ◽

Agency And Communion

Recent research investigating self-judgment has shown that people are more likely to base their evaluations of self on agency-related traits than communion-related traits. In the present research, we tested the hypothesis that agency-related traits dominate self-evaluation by expanding the purview of the fundamental dimensions to consider characteristics typically studied in the gender-role literature, but that nevertheless should be related to agency and communion. Further, we carried out these tests on two samples from China, a cultural context that, relative to many Western countries, emphasizes the interpersonal or communion dimension. Despite the differences in traits used and cultural samples studied, the findings generally supported the agency dominates self-esteem perspective, albeit with some additional findings in Study 2. The findings are discussed with regard to the influence of social norms and the types of inferences people are able to draw about themselves given such norms.

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