Title: Digital christmas greetings - the viral communicators, public sphere and democracy(Digitala julhälsningar - de virala kommuniktörerna, offentligheten och demokratin)Number of pages: 41Author : Anna-Sara TorgnysdotterTutor: Ylva EkströmCourse : Media and Communication Studies DPeriod: Spring, semester 2010University: Devision of Media and Communications, Department of Information Science,Uppsala UniversityPurpose: The purpose of this study is to see if social media could be an arena for the usersto increase democracy and the public sphere. Studying the role and possibilitys of the individual.Is there a space for any one to act and debate?Method: A qualitative analysis based on interviews with ten users of social media - viralcommunicators. They were discussing public and private sphere, democracy, norms andbehavior in social media.Theoretical platform: The theoretical basis has its roots in sociology: Ervin Goffman´sidea on self-presentation and social interaction, Manuel Castels´ theories of the networksociety and Jürgen Habermas idea of the public spehere.Main result: The viral communicators are ambivalent in their use of socialmedia. They are users because they want to be but also because they feel forced to - professionalor private. Their primary aim in communicating in social media could summarize“self-expression”.The users of social media talks contradictivly about their feelings wheter they feel safe orunsafe in the social media situation.They talk about lacking time to debate on the internet and they feel confused about what´sprivate and whats public.Social norms and unwritten laws rules communication in social media and the loosening inpublic and private sphere creates confusion about to whom and where you communicate.This results in avoiding messages that might offend or harass. Because the viral communicatorscommunicate with a broad group of people, including every one - from your cousin toyour boss - there is a vague idea of the tolerance from the target audiences and therefor themessages tend to be very conservative and safe.The viral communicator uses that public arena the social media offers like traditional postcards. A christmas greeting to keep in touch and stress their prosperity and wellbeing.Keywords : Social media, viral communication, Habermas, Goffman, Castells, publicsphere, private sphere, social norms, unwritten laws

Abstract This study used an exploratory research focus to investigate if making electricity consumption public and subject to social norms and networks resulted in consumption decreases for households in Milton, Ontario. In the first phase, Milton Hydro identified customers who fell within an average annual electricity consumption category and these customers were invited to participate by mail. Due to lack of participant uptake, cold-calling, targeting of service and faith groups and commuters, and snowball sampling were employed to obtain a total participant size of 17. The second phase saw participants grouped according to social network type (occupational, faith group, etc) and exposed to approval or disapproval indicators within their group about their daily electricity consumption rates via an on-line ‘energy pool’. There were five main groups: one of neighbours, one of members of a faith group, one of members of a company, one of strangers and one of a control group. Group members saw other members’ indicators with the exception of the control group, whose indicators were privately delivered. All group’s electricity consumption was tracked through daily smart meter readings. Participants also had the option of commenting on each other’s electricity use via an online ‘comment box’. In the third phase participants were asked to participate in a questionnaire to assess: 1) the perceived efficacy of the intervention; 2) perceptions of electricity consumption; and 3) the influence of the group on these perceptions. This sequential methodology was chosen for its ability to “...explain significant (or non-significant) results, outlier results, or surprising results” (Cresswell, 2006, p. 72). The findings of this exploratory research seem to suggest the following: 1) that publicity or group type does not seem to affect electricity consumption in comparative electricity consumption feedback for this study; 2) that participants used injunctive norms to comment on their electricity consumption but directed these comments solely at themselves; and 3) that the stronger the relationships in the group, the more likely participants were to engage with the website through checking it and commenting on it. This study may be useful to those in the fields of: 1) electricity conservation who wish to leverage feedback technologies; 2) social networks who wish to better understand how tie strength interacts with social norms and; 3) those in social marketing who wish to develop norm-based campaigns.

Terror management theory (TMT) asserts that cultural worldviews and self-esteem help humans manage death-related concerns. To date, most of the evidence for TMT is from Western cultures which are characterized by individualism. However, cultural values and self-esteem among East Asian cultures characterized by collectivism are distinct from ones among Western cultures. It is unclear how individualist vs. collectivist cultures influence terror management mechanisms and whether TMT findings derived from Western cultures could be generalized to East Asians cultures. This research aimed to explore cultural differences and similarities in three terror management mechanisms involving self-esteem, social norm and perception of control. 825 participants were recruited from two individualist cultures (i.e., Germany, Austria) and one collectivist culture (i.e., China) in four studies. The Pilot Study validated the mortality salience paradigm among Chinese participants. Study 1 examined whether individualists and collectivists utilize different types of self-esteem to manage existential terror. Study 1A tested the correlations between death anxiety and types of self-esteem and showed a negative correlation between death anxiety and self-liking among both Chinese and Austrian participants, but a negative correlation between death anxiety and self-competence only among Austrian participants. Studies 1B and 1C tested the correlations of personal vs. relational self-esteem with death anxiety and their moderating influence on mortality salience effects. Results revealed that for the Chinese, relational self-esteem showed a stronger negative correlation with death anxiety than did personal self-esteem. It also moderated the effects of mortality salience on worldview defense. In contrast, for German participants, personal rather than relational self-esteem moderated the effects of mortality salience on worldview defense. Taken together, these findings indicate that culture determines the type of self-esteem that serves as a buffer against death anxiety. According to TMT, existential terror motivates individuals to follow social norms by which they maintain self-esteem and mitigate terror. Study 2 tested this by examining the changes in self-esteem when Chinese participants followed (or violated) the modesty norm. Results revealed that mortality salience led Chinese participants to follow the modesty norm by showing explicit self-effacement, but their implicit self-esteem also decreased. Moreover, when participants were reminded of their mortality, those who violated the norm by showing explicit self-enhancement reported higher implicit self-esteem than those who followed the norm. These findings indicate that when norm and self-esteem motives collide, following the norm engendered by mortality salience does not benefit self-esteem. / published_or_final_version / Education / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

This research has focused on the correlation between corruption and social norms by the used of the anomic theory, which is supported by six variables: the rule of law, the division of labor, the regulator organisms, the collective consciousness, the homogeneous society and amiguismo. The anomie theory refers primarily to the absence of rules that measure the relationship of the various individuals in a group or parts of a whole society; where it is possible to find human appetites with no limits. This theory contributes to the discussions around, and new understandings of, how societies may develop a culture of anti-corruption; by influencing existing social norms and improvements to existing value systems. Analysing the mandate period of the former president of Peru, Alberto Fujimori (July 28, 1990 - November 17, 2000) will provide a working example to explore and understand the relationship between corruption and social norms within the Peruvian society. All the while analysing these case through the framework of the chosen theory.

Social norms play a pivotal role in both explaining the development and maintenance of collegiate alcohol use and creating prevention and intervention programs targeted at reducing heavy drinking. By theoretically functioning as a model of normative and popular behavior, descriptive and injunctive norms are consistently associated with college drinking. In the current study, we endeavored to test the mechanisms through which social norms influence drinking by experimentally manipulating normative beliefs. Participants (N = 181) were assigned to one of nine conditions in a 3 (descriptive norms (DN): positive, negative, none) x 3 (injunctive norms (IN): positive, negative, none) experimental design. Norms exposure occurred within a series of three same-gender Internet-based chat room sessions. The norms manipulation was partially successful in creating groups with distinct normative beliefs, with the no norms groups failing to maintain a neutral norm for both descriptive and injunctive norms. Consequently, no descriptive norms groups were combined with positive descriptive norms groups and no injunctive norms groups were combined with negative injunctive norms groups, resulting in a 2 (DN: positive, negative) x 2 (IN: positive, negative) design for analyses. Overall findings for type (DN, IN) and valence (positive, negative) of norms indicated that participants globally reduced descriptive norms and drinking from pre-chat room to post-chat room, regardless of the type or valence of the manipulation, indicating that there were no experimental effects by condition. Whereas drinking appeared to stabilize at post-chat room, descriptive norms continued to decrease by three-month follow-up. Injunctive norms and personal attitudes about alcohol use also decreased by three-month follow-up. Although we were unsuccessful in changing normative beliefs in expected directions, these findings have important implications for college prevention and intervention programs for reducing drinking. The lack of experimental effects suggested that changing norms may be more complex than previously hypothesized and that changes in norms may not result in changes in drinking, which is the purported mechanism of change in norms-based interventions. These results further suggested that continued research is necessary to provide empirical support for a causal link between norms and drinking and that alternative explanations for the association between norms and drinking need to be considered. / text

This dissertation explores Ainslie's account of self-defeating behaviour as portrayed in Breakdown of Will (2001). Self-defeating behaviour can be described as voluntarily doing that which we know we are going to end up regretting (Ainslie 2001:3). It is puzzling why anyone would willingly choose to behave in such an ill-rewarding manner of which they know the negative consequences it will bear prior to them engaging in that behaviour; yet, at the same time, it is also fascinating, as despite it being behaviour people know that they are undoubtedly going to regret; many can claim to have fallen prey to it. Exploring this weakness of self-defeating behaviour, I refer to Ainslie's explanation of the phenomenon and his suggestions regarding possible strategies for curbing it. One of the strategies Ainslie suggests against self-defeating behaviour is personal rules (also known as the will), which he argues is a form of intertemporal bargaining between the successive interests, or temporal stages of the self (Ainslie 2001:78-85). Although, for the most part, his description is quite detailed, comparing our successive selves to players in an iterated prisoner’s dilemma game, there are limitations in his explanation as he seems, for one, not to consider some of the conditions for cooperation associated to the concept of an iterated prisoners' dilemma game. I, thus, turn to social norm theorist, Bicchieri's The Grammar of society (2006), in an attempt at an improved illustration of personal rules beyond its comparison to an iterated prisoner's dilemma game. I note similarities between social norms (Bicchieri) and personal rules (Ainslie) such that the reasons we follow social norms could be analogous to the reasons behind us following certain personal rules. But Bicchieri's description of social norms can be explained in a more general way, which I suggest may be a better framework for thinking about the will than an iterated prisoner's dilemma. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2011.

Although the influence of normative ideas on the behaviour of states occupy an evermore significant place in political science and international relations, important questions remain with respect to how international norms come into existence. International norm scholars have been criticized for failing to demonstrate how actors might forge and change norms. How do norm entrepreneurs influence the process of norm development? Further, under what conditions are norm entrepreneurs likely to be successful in norm diffusion? To begin answering these questions, this paper draws on constructivist insights to present a model of norm evolution highlighting the role of the norm entrepreneur and conducts an interpretive case study methodology to provide an empirical illustration. It examines the evolution of the "Responsibility to Protect" (R2P) norm with particular attention to the norm entrepreneurial role of Canadian foreign policy to highlight how norm-building processes are inextricably intertwined with agents who are engaged in fostering nonnative change. / The R2P is considered to be a nonnative breakthrough in international relations and has emerged as an important instrument for upholding and promoting human security. While Canada has been praised for its leadership in promulgating the R2P, there is little empirical scholarship that links the development process of the R2P norm to Canadian foreign policy. How has Canada, with no demonstrative material capability, been able to advance the R2P on the international stage? This thesis develops an understanding of how agents can shape an international norm by acting as a "tipping agent" in the process of norm creation. It concludes by identifying the possibilities and limitations of norm entrepreneurs to influence world politics.

Abstract This study used an exploratory research focus to investigate if making electricity consumption public and subject to social norms and networks resulted in consumption decreases for households in Milton, Ontario. In the first phase, Milton Hydro identified customers who fell within an average annual electricity consumption category and these customers were invited to participate by mail. Due to lack of participant uptake, cold-calling, targeting of service and faith groups and commuters, and snowball sampling were employed to obtain a total participant size of 17. The second phase saw participants grouped according to social network type (occupational, faith group, etc) and exposed to approval or disapproval indicators within their group about their daily electricity consumption rates via an on-line ‘energy pool’. There were five main groups: one of neighbours, one of members of a faith group, one of members of a company, one of strangers and one of a control group. Group members saw other members’ indicators with the exception of the control group, whose indicators were privately delivered. All group’s electricity consumption was tracked through daily smart meter readings. Participants also had the option of commenting on each other’s electricity use via an online ‘comment box’. In the third phase participants were asked to participate in a questionnaire to assess: 1) the perceived efficacy of the intervention; 2) perceptions of electricity consumption; and 3) the influence of the group on these perceptions. This sequential methodology was chosen for its ability to “...explain significant (or non-significant) results, outlier results, or surprising results” (Cresswell, 2006, p. 72). The findings of this exploratory research seem to suggest the following: 1) that publicity or group type does not seem to affect electricity consumption in comparative electricity consumption feedback for this study; 2) that participants used injunctive norms to comment on their electricity consumption but directed these comments solely at themselves; and 3) that the stronger the relationships in the group, the more likely participants were to engage with the website through checking it and commenting on it. This study may be useful to those in the fields of: 1) electricity conservation who wish to leverage feedback technologies; 2) social networks who wish to better understand how tie strength interacts with social norms and; 3) those in social marketing who wish to develop norm-based campaigns.

This thesis investigates the question: Can Experience Design be applied to create a perception shift from elderly as a burden to elderly as a resource for society? This is done by researching the social norms about ageing and the aged in Swedish society. To conduct this research I put together a focus group of 7 people with different professional backgrounds and ages ranging from 23 to 74. In four workshops I used design-led research methods to research these “mental models”. Using participatory theatre techniques we investigated the personal view of the ageing process. And through discussions and design thinking we articulated the often unspoken social norms. In the workshops we defined our current social norms regarding ageing as Aged Thinking. A counter philosophy was developed called Ageless Thinking. In order to create a change in mindset from Aged Thinking to Ageless Thinking a tool was developed called the Enticon. With this tool people can show what their focus is in life right now regardless of their chronological age. The Enticon was introduced at the Konstfack Spring Exhibition 2013 and also as a web based application.

This thesis consists of four essays in resource and behavioral economics. Resource Extraction, Capital Accumulation and Time Horizon The paper shows that relaxing the standard infinite horizon assumption can explain the patterns of exhaustible resource extraction and prices for the last century. An empirical test proposes a time horizon of roughly 28 years to be most likely. Model calibration yields an oil price which fits the falling price after WWII and suggests that the sharply increasing price after 1998 is due to scarcity. Optimal Forest Rotation under Climate Change    The scenario of forests growing faster over time, due to climate change, is analyzed. It is shown numerically that ignoring future changes is highly likely to be accurate in terms of harvesting and will cause insignificant profit losses. Tragedy of the Commons versus the Love of Variety    The opposing effects of overharvesting of renewable resources when property rights are missing and increased consumption variety, both due to trade, are analyzed. Trade increases welfare if the resource has strong regenerative power. If, instead, the resource regenerates slowly, then sufficient increases in the number of trade partners harms welfare and the stock may even collapse. Correcting policies may be very harsh and still improve upon laissez faire. The Distribution of Revealed Preferences under Social Pressure    Stated preferences, such as declared political opinions, are studied when individuals make the trade off between being true to their real opinions and conforming to a social norm. In orthodox societies, individuals will tend to either conform fully or ignore the social norm while individuals in liberal societies will tend to compromise between the two extremes. The model sheds light on phenomena such as polarization, alienation and hypocrisy. Furthermore, it suggests that orthodoxy cannot be maintained under pluralism.