No description available.

We create pure strategy versions of Robert Axelrod's well known norms and metanorms games. To analyze the evolutionary behaviour of these games, we utilize replicator dynamics complemented with agent based model simulations. Our findings show that the only evolutionarily stable strategy in the norms game is one in which a player defects and is lenient. The metanorms game, however, has two evolutionarily stable strategies. The first is a repeat from the norms game, that is, a player defects and is always lenient. The other is one in which a player follows the norm and punishes those who are lenient and those who defect. We also introduce the concept of providing an incentive for players to play a certain strategy in our controlled norms game. This particular game has two evolutionarily stable strategies. In the first, a player follows the norm, while in the second, a player does not. We wish to transition the population of players from a state in which the majority of players initially do not follow the norm to one in which the majority of players do. During this transition, we look to minimize the total use of our incentive. We also utilize agent based model simulations to explore the effect of imposing simple network connections and heterogeneity onto a population of agents playing these games.

No description available.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2000. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 297-308).

Thesis (Ph. D)--UCLA, 2009. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 176-181).

archives@tulane.edu / Conventional wisdom suggests people must be willing to admit a problem exists before they can hope to solve it. This may be especially true in the case of implicit prejudice. Unlike explicit prejudice, which is conscious and deliberate, implicit prejudice is often unconscious and counter to what people intend. In addition, implicit prejudice is undesirable and leads people to respond defensively when told they have such prejudice. In this dissertation, I investigated whether social norms that encourage people to admit prejudice and exert effort to control it can be used to increase people’s willingness to admit their own implicit prejudice. In three experiments, participants watched (Experiments 1 and 2) or read about (Experiment 3) other people’s reactions to implicit attitude feedback. Then, participants were told they have an implicit bias favoring Whites over Blacks and responded to questions assessing defensiveness and willingness to admit prejudice. Experiments 1 and 2 found that seeing others acknowledge prejudice decreased people’s defensiveness to feedback about their own implicit attitudes and increased willingness to admit personal prejudice. Experiment 3 manipulated social norms with summary information about a referent group and found that while learning most other people deny prejudice caused participants to believe denying was more normal, overall, the manipulation had little influence on defensiveness or willingness to admit prejudice. Together, these experiments suggest that social norms can influence people’s willingness to admit personally prejudiced implicit attitudes, but to be effective, the example set by others must be vivid. / 1 / Aaron Moss

Television has developed dramatically over the past six years in Afghanistan with a potential for providing extensive health information to its viewers, yet little is known about the coverage of health issues on Afghan television. Using the theories of agenda-setting and framing, and social norms approach this study explored what health-related topics were covered, how they were covered, and what sociocultural practices were broadcasted by the major Afghan private, national televisions. The study used a sample of six constructed weeks in 2010 of two leading private, national television networks. Firstly, the study found that priority health problems such as maternal and child health, communicable disease and mental health received very less coverage. Secondly, however, individual-level and societal-level causes were blamed equally for the health problems; individual behaviour solutions were the favourite choice of the media, turning a blind eye to government weakness and organizational solutions. Thirdly, self-prescription, religious and traditional health seeking behaviour, and gender inequity were routine practices reflected on television. As the first content analyses of the coverage of health-related issues in Afghanistan, the study provides public health professions, the Afghan media and policy makers a broad picture of health information available to the public on the leading Afghan television stations.

Television has developed dramatically over the past six years in Afghanistan with a potential for providing extensive health information to its viewers, yet little is known about the coverage of health issues on Afghan television. Using the theories of agenda-setting and framing, and social norms approach this study explored what health-related topics were covered, how they were covered, and what sociocultural practices were broadcasted by the major Afghan private, national televisions. The study used a sample of six constructed weeks in 2010 of two leading private, national television networks. Firstly, the study found that priority health problems such as maternal and child health, communicable disease and mental health received very less coverage. Secondly, however, individual-level and societal-level causes were blamed equally for the health problems; individual behaviour solutions were the favourite choice of the media, turning a blind eye to government weakness and organizational solutions. Thirdly, self-prescription, religious and traditional health seeking behaviour, and gender inequity were routine practices reflected on television. As the first content analyses of the coverage of health-related issues in Afghanistan, the study provides public health professions, the Afghan media and policy makers a broad picture of health information available to the public on the leading Afghan television stations.

Television has developed dramatically over the past six years in Afghanistan with a potential for providing extensive health information to its viewers, yet little is known about the coverage of health issues on Afghan television. Using the theories of agenda-setting and framing, and social norms approach this study explored what health-related topics were covered, how they were covered, and what sociocultural practices were broadcasted by the major Afghan private, national televisions. The study used a sample of six constructed weeks in 2010 of two leading private, national television networks. Firstly, the study found that priority health problems such as maternal and child health, communicable disease and mental health received very less coverage. Secondly, however, individual-level and societal-level causes were blamed equally for the health problems; individual behaviour solutions were the favourite choice of the media, turning a blind eye to government weakness and organizational solutions. Thirdly, self-prescription, religious and traditional health seeking behaviour, and gender inequity were routine practices reflected on television. As the first content analyses of the coverage of health-related issues in Afghanistan, the study provides public health professions, the Afghan media and policy makers a broad picture of health information available to the public on the leading Afghan television stations.

Thesis (M.S.)--Auburn University, 2007. / Abstract. Vita. Includes bibliographic references (ℓ. 59-61)