In the debate on how to present and prevent climate change, the opinions have been conflicted. Some argue that a pessimistic projection will trigger a doomsday-effect and others argue that an optimistic projection enhances the risk of remaining passive. However, there is a fine line between what is too optimistic and too pessimistic. With the basis from choice architecture and the Zero Contribution Thesis, this study has dealt with how, and if, different projections could influence people's attitudes through nudges. By conducting two surveys which project different outcomes of climate change, one pessimistic, and one optimistic, this study aims at contributing to a greater understanding of how the use of communication can influence peoples’ attitudes and commitment towards climate change. When being a choice architect and constructing a nudge, it is crucial to carefully consider the design of the nudge since it is vital to understand that small details have a significant effect on the choices a person makes. By making small changes in our everyday life, we can reduce the impact of our ecological footprint. With the results it can be concluded that a purely pessimistic or optimistic projection may not be the most effective method when trying to influence environmentally friendly behaviour. Therefore, it could be beneficial to use a combination of both an optimistic- and pessimistic- projection of climate change. Furthermore, nudges could be considered as a legitimate policy tool when trying to create environmentally friendly behaviour.

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Violating social norms often elicits a negative public response aimed at punishing norm violators and dissuading others from following their lead. One way to understand reactions to norm violations is through the moral panic framework. This framework identifies the reactions that an emergent norm-violating social group is likely to experience. These reactions are characterized as overexaggerated, often blaming the group for the consequences of their norm violation and suggesting that the public should fear the group. I hypothesized that social attitudes towards female breadwinner relationships (FBRs), which violate heteronormative gender norms, would reflect these, and other, moral panic characteristics. However, I expected that these characteristics would be less extreme, and thus I proposed that social reactions to FBRs would reflect a kind of moral anxiety. To test this hypothesis, I conducted a qualitative thematic analysis of 94 magazine and newspaper articles concerning FBRs, and five themes emerged. First, the articles emphasized the social change that these relationships represent. Second, gender role expectations were often discussed, with many more articles reinforcing traditional gender role expectations than non-traditional gender role expectations. Third, most articles described costs of FBRs while only a minority described benefits, and most costs concerned the couple as a whole instead of either partner individually. Fourth, societal reactions to this change were often described, and most reactions were negative. And fifth, many articles offered tips for FBRs, often focused on overcoming the costs associated with such bonds. This pattern of reactions to FBRs ultimately demonstrated many of the characteristics of moral anxiety. Overall, these media articles portrayed FBRs as undesirable relationships involving stressed women and emasculated men: a stigmatizing portrayal that could dissuade others from pursuing such relationships. / Graduate / 2021-04-08

This thesis deals with the attitudes of students of two secondary schools to marihuana, alcohol use and their users. Attitudes to alcohol, marihuana and to their users are topics frequently discussed in connection with changing perception of these two substances. This trend can be best seen in adolescents during the period of late adolescence which is the period of secondary school studies. The main aim of the thesis is to find out which factors influence the attitudes of students to alcohol and drug use and if there are any differences concerning those factors between the observed schools. These factors come from theoretical considerations which are subsequently tested in research. As the research showed, the students' attitudes to marihuana and alcohol use, and also to alcohol users are primarily influenced by significant others, among which belong mainly peers and their parents or their own experience. While the individuals form their attitudes to alcohol primarily according to their parents, in case of marihuana, the individuals, who have experience with it, follow mainly their peers and their own experience. Those individuals also tend to be more positive towards other marihuana users. There have not been found out any significant differences concerning the attitudes to marihuana and alcohol...

Visual aesthetics play a vital role in today’s Western society. We built up a society where physical appearance represents high values in our everyday life. Not only the way we consume things and engage with the internet have a connection to how we see and place ourselves in society but the way the system works and treats us. Under the word “system” I refer to the intertwined connection of patriarchy and capitalism. With this project, I explore this connection as well as how the system influences social norms, body aesthetics and acceptance. More specifically, I take shaving and myself as an example and examine the question of “Why do women shave?”. The representation of women in our current society shapes our idea and opinion on shaving therefore I work with questions such as: How are social norms created and how do they influence us? What are the ways to challenge and break these norms, if it is possible at all? How can our capacity for developing autonomy remain while being influenced by the system? My practice investigates these questions comprehensively and addresses the importance of discussions and the understanding of the roots of our behavior as well as how we as individuals contribute to the influence of society and the system.

Before vaccines for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) became available, a set of infection-prevention behaviors constituted the primary means to mitigate the virus spread. Our study aimed to identify important predictors of this set of behaviors. Whereas social and health psychological theories suggest a limited set of predictors, machine-learning analyses can identify correlates from a larger pool of candidate predictors. We used random forests to rank 115 candidate correlates of infection-prevention behavior in 56,072 participants across 28 countries, administered in March to May 2020. The machine-learning model predicted 52% of the variance in infection-prevention behavior in a separate test sample—exceeding the performance of psychological models of health behavior. Results indicated the two most important predictors related to individual-level injunctive norms. Illustrating how data-driven methods can complement theory, some of the most important predictors were not derived from theories of health behavior—and some theoretically derived predictors were relatively unimportant. / New York University Abu Dhabi / Revisión por pares

A survey of 274 adolescents aged 14-16 years in rural Appalachia showed that unhealthy eating habits were prevalent. A few adolescents were teased about weight whereas 20.1% witnessed weight teasing almost everyday. Perception of parents' healthy eating and better social support for healthy eating were associated with healthier eating habits.

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Skin is a novel set in Guatemala which uses narrative shifts in tense and perspective to investigate interpersonal boundaries, social norms, and isolation. It involves a wall, a mole, psychodermatology, limerence, excretion, and the lake.

Costa Rica is in many aspects a well-developed country, but as many other countries there is still a lot of inequality between the genders. Which can take its form in violence towards minorities such as women and children. The region is also influenced heavily by very conservative gender norms. The aim of this study is to conduct an in-depth investigation of the occurrence of gender-based violence (GBV). As well as to understand the societal and cultural factors that serve as institutional mechanisms and how they impact the country's development. The study will focus on institutions as structural features of public policy, and the norms set by these institutions that affect laws and civil society. By identifying these institutional mechanisms through the help of our respondents and relevant theories, the study will analyze the legislation, policies and cultural norms that exist within Costa Rican society and compare them with the insights provided by the respondents. This will be achieved through first-hand experiences and observations obtained from in-depth interviews with women and professionals who work and live in Costa Rica. The responses from the interviews will serve as the primary source of data for analysis. The result will be analyzed using Hirdman gender theories: Bandura A. social learning theory, and new institutional theory. The analysis will be presented in different themes, focusing on the legislation and the implementation of laws. The second theme will discuss in more detail the institutional mechanisms and how they impact the development of the country. The study findings indicate that Costa Rica has an underrepresentation of women in the political sphere and society overall, and there is no priority on women's issues. The patriarchal structure perpetuates a damaging worldview for women, machismo, and cultural traditions are some of the examples of informal mechanisms of influence present in the society. In conclusion, GBV is a significant problem in Costa Rica that leads to a high number of women being hurt or killed each year and makes it harder to move forward when it comes to sustainable development. The study finds that institutionalized norms influence the country's politics and contribute to the rise in cases of GBV. Costa Rica is in a unique position concerning sustainable development, and it is essential to study this issue, especially given the country`s previously positive development trajectory. There is also a lack of studies and work by Sweden and Sida in Central and Latin America.