According to the gunman theory many revolutions do not take place, in spite of the fact that the majority stands to gain if they can put an end to the oppression exercised over it, since a gunman can see to it that egoistic individuals have no incentive to take part in the revolution. Champions of the idea that there is a paradox of revolution go further: Even if individuals care about the common good, they will not take action. This is wrong. If they care about the common good revolution will take place. This is good news. The bad news is, however, that those conditions, as we find them in social psychological literature, that are helpful to the revolutionary cause tend to get undermined by the oppressive system when it is well functioning.

Abstract The role of marketing in social issues has grown over the last thirty years since Kotler himself introduced the concept (Kotler & Zaltman, 1971). In the evolution of social marketing it has moved from being entirely marketing process orientated towards expanding its vision to other useful theories from the subject’s parent disciplines. Social dilemma theory, one such theory, evolved in the laboratories, computer programmes and field experiments of psychologists and economists. In 1991 marketers proposed the theory as an aid to understanding individual action in collective problems. The current study assesses the relevance of social dilemma theory for the marketing of water conservation behaviours in an emerging market. As such, it seeks to establish if the key variables were present and what, if any, impact large cultural forces, such as individualism and collectivism have on individual conserving behaviour. Individualism and collectivism were studied at the personal level of idiocentrism and allocentrism and along the sub-dimensions of horizontal and vertical individualism and collectivism. The interactions of these values on individual behaviour were studied, together with two key variables in social dilemma theory namely, perceived consumer effectiveness (PCE) and faith in others (FIO). Individual perceptions of resource abundance and attitudes towards non-marketing solutions, such as a sanctioning system, were investigated. The study was conducted among 444 teenage learners at secondary schools in Gauteng. A descriptive research design was used. The study found that there was an interaction between social dilemma variables and individualism/collectivism which did have an impact on individual conserving behaviour. Most, but not all relationships were verified. Collectivists required higher levels of perceived consumer effectiveness in order to engage in conservation actions, while individualists needed a greater sense of the co-operation of others. Faith in others and individualism/collectivism emerged as having a direct impact on consumer behaviour, while perceived consumer effectiveness was a moderator of the other variables and had no main, direct, effect on behaviour. Water was thought of as an abundant resource and in little need of conservation. Low income consumers favoured a sanctioning system to enforce compliance. The implications of the study for marketing theory and practice are discussed. -

El texto completo de este trabajo no está disponible en el Repositorio Académico UPC por restricciones de la casa editorial donde ha sido publicado. / The COVID-19 pandemic presents threats, such as severe disease and economic hardship, to people of different ages. These threats can also be experienced asymmetrically across age groups, which could lead to generational differences in behavioral responses to reduce the spread of the disease. We report a survey conducted across 56 societies (N = 58,641), and tested pre-registered hypotheses about how age relates to (a) perceived personal costs during the pandemic, (b) prosocial COVID-19 responses (e.g., social distancing), and (c) support for behavioral regulations (e.g., mandatory quarantine, vaccination). We further tested whether the relation between age and prosocial COVID-19 responses can be explained by perceived personal costs during the pandemic. Overall, we found that older people perceived more costs of contracting the virus, but less costs in daily life due to the pandemic. However, age displayed no clear, robust associations with prosocial COVID-19 responses and support for behavioral regulations. We discuss the implications of this work for understanding the potential intergenerational conflicts of interest that could occur during the COVID-19 pandemic. / New York University Abu Dhabi

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Using vignette experiments, this thesis examines individuals’ decision-making in various social dilemmas. A case study of littering behavior amongst university students in Lao People's Democratic Republic is used to investigate whether individual preferences are stable across littering dilemmas and other social dilemmas. This study further investigates if a visual prompt can encourage prosocial behavior in littering situations. The results show that behavior in social dilemmas is dependent on individual preferences. Additionally, the study finds little evidence that visual prompts could be used in order to efficiently decrease littering in Laos. However, a negative relationship is found between littering behavior and knowledge regarding the consequences of littering. These findings indicate that policy makers could use knowledge increasing campaigns in order to increase prosocial decision making regarding littering. Yet, further studies are needed in order to validate the results. Lastly, we also find differences in what influence littering behavior, depending on the item being littered.

Cooperation in joint enterprises poses a social dilemma. How can altruistic behavior be sustained if selfish alternatives provide a higher payoff? This social dilemma can be overcome by the threat of sanctions. But a sanctioning system is itself a public good and poses a second-order social dilemma. In this paper, we show by means of deterministic and stochastic evolutionary game theory that imitation-driven evolution can lead to the emergence of cooperation based on punishment, provided the participation in the joint enterprise is not compulsory. This surprising result - cooperation can be enforced if participation is voluntary - holds even in the case of 'strong altruism', when the benefits of a player's contribution are reaped by the other participants only. (authors' abstract)

Aujourd’hui, les consommateurs sont sans cesse sollicités à consommer de manière responsable… en achetant des produits respectueux de l’environnement ou issus du commerce équitable. Depuis quelques temps maintenant, il leur est demandé de privilégier les produits made in France pour soutenir économiquement les fabricants français et plus globalement la santé économique du pays. Mais ces consommateurs français se sentent-ils responsables et engagés envers la santé économique de leur pays ? Et si oui, cela a –t-il une influence sur la formation de leurs préférences pour un produit industriel « made in France » ? En effet, malgré les sondages qui affirment qu’ils sont prêts à payer plus cher pour un produit domestique, l’écart existant entre leurs intentions et leurs comportements ne fait aucun doute. L’objet de cette thèse sera tout d’abord de conceptualiser ce qu’est la responsabilité et l’engagement économique du consommateur. Elle visera ensuite à identifier le rôle de ces concepts sur la formation de préférences des consommateurs pour ces produits « made in France ». Pour cela, après une étude qualitative exploratoire, une expérimentation in vivo est mise en place auprès d’un échantillon représentatif de 596 répondants. Considérant que la dimension économique ne doit pas être déconnectée des autres préoccupations sociétales des consommateurs (environnementales et sociales), nous analysons également l’influence parallèle de ces préoccupations sur l’utilité accordée par le consommateur à l’origine domestique du produit. Enfin, le rapport qu’entretient le consommateur avec son territoire est lui aussi étudié, en cherchant à comprendre son influence sur la décision du consommateur à s’engager pour la santé économique de son pays. / Consumers today are constantly asked to consume responsibly ... buying products environmentally friendly or fair trade. For some time now, we even asked to favor products made in France to economically support the French manufacturers and, more generally, the country's economic health. But do consumers feel responsible and committed to the economic health of their country? If so, what is the influence on the formation of their preference for an industrial product "made in France"? Indeed despite the various surveys that say, they are willing to pay more for a domestic product, the largest gap between their intentions and actual behavior is no doubt. The purpose of this thesis will be, first, to conceptualize the consumer economic responsibility and engagement. This research also aims to identify the role of these concepts on the formation of consumer preferences for these products. For this, after an exploratory qualitative study, in vivo experiment is set up with a representative sample of 596 respondents. This research then will highlight the impact of the various components of economic responsibility of consumers (ERC) on their economic engagement, and, be joined, also, to identify the role of this commitment on the formation of preferences. But the economic dimension should not be disconnected from other societal concerns of consumers (environmental and social). We therefore analyze, too, the influence of these parallel concerns about the utility provided by the consumer to the domestic origin. Finally, the relation that the consumer with its territory will also be scrutinized, seeking to understand its role in the consumer's decision to commit to the economic health of the country.

O presente trabalho compreende o estudo de campanhas de comunicação de racionamento de água e luz elétrica pela ótica dos conceitos de dilema social e comunicação de riscos. Para tal, revisamos a bibliografia desses temas e elaboramos uma proposta de análise de conteúdo temática que busca identificar valores e normas sociais desses conceitos nas campanhas publicitárias de dois casos brasileiros escolhidos. / This dissertation involves the study of communication campaigns of water and electrical energy in rationing situations by using concepts of social dilemmas and risk communication. In order to achieve these results, we have reviewed the literature of these subjects, and we have proposed a model of content thematic analysis to identify values and norms of these two concepts on social campaigns of two Brazilian cases.

Em uma metacontingência, respostas de dois ou mais indivíduos interagindo (denominadas um culturante) produzem estímulos (denominados de consequências culturais) capazes de afetar a recorrências daquelas respostas. Resultados de experimentos sobre metacontingência têm sido tratados como demonstrações de um tipo de seleção cultural. Além de sugerir a importância de interações verbais entre participantes, alguns desses experimentos têm empregado tarefas baseadas no dilema do prisioneiro repetido (iterated prisoners dilemma, IPD) interpretando-o, porém, como a programação apenas de contingências operantes. O Experimento 1 avaliou se um IPD com mais de 200 tentativas produziria escolhas cooperativas simultâneas de modo fidedigno e se a interação verbal entre participantes aumentaria a cooperação. 4 quartetos de universitários utilizaram 4 computadores conectados em rede (sem contato visual) e foram expostos a condições com ou sem permissão para usar uma sala de bate-papo pelo computador (chat) em um delineamento de linhas de base múltiplas entre quartetos. Os resultados demonstraram claramente que escolhas cooperativas unânimes podem ocorrer fidedignamente em um IPD e que a interação verbal entre participantes aumenta rapidamente tais escolhas. Esses resultados destacam a semelhança entre estudos sobre IPD e sobre metacontingências, nos quais são programadas consequências para comportamentos inter-relacionados de vários indivíduos. No Experimento 2, uma consequência cultural foi sobreposta às consequências já programadas pelo IPD: os quartetos podiam produzir pontos iguais para todos os participantes (feedback do mercado) contingentes a diferentes números de escolhas cooperativas. Como no Experimento 1, condições nas quais o uso do chat eram ou não permitidos foram arranjadas em um delineamento de linhas de base múltiplas entre quartetos. A interação verbal promoveu rápida e marcadamente a seleção cultural pelo feedback do mercado. Um quarteto apresentou algum controle dos culturantes pelo feedback do mercado antes das interações verbais, mas após o uso do chat a produção das consequências culturais aumentou substancialmente. O Experimento 3 replicou o Experimento 2 apresentando o feedback do mercado da mesma forma que os pontos do IPD, i.e., sem diversos estímulos verbais que sugerem a sua produção pelo quarteto como um todo. A interação verbal promoveu ao menos algum controle das escolhas pelo feedback do mercado em 2 dos 3 quartetos, sugerindo que a forma de apresentação da consequência cultural é irrelevante para os efeitos de uma consequência cultural. Os resultados dos 3 experimentos destacam a importância da interação verbal para a seleção cultural. Além disso, sugerem que um IPD programa uma situação análoga à programada em estudos sobre metacontingência, esclarecendo as diferenças entre os procedimentos empregados no estudo do IPD e de metacontingências e permitindo que avanços em uma área possam ser aproveitados pela outra / In a metacontingency, responses of two or more interacting individuals (a culturant) produce stimuli (called cultural consequences) that affect the recurrence of those responses. Results of metacontingency experiments are said to demonstrate a kind of cultural selection. Besides suggesting the importance of verbal interactions between participants, some of these experiments have used tasks based on the iterated prisoner\'s dilemma (IPD) interpreting it, however, as programming only operant contingencies. Experiment 1 examined whether an IPD with 200-plus trials would produce simultaneous cooperative choices reliably and whether verbal interaction between participants would increase cooperation. 4 quartets of undergraduate and graduate students used 4 networked computers (without visual contact), and were exposed to conditions with or without permission to use the computer chat room in a multiple baseline design between quartets. Results clearly demonstrate that unanimous cooperative choices can occur reliably in an IPD, and that verbal interaction between participants rapidly increases such choices. These results highlight the similarity between IPD and metacontingencies studies, both of which program consequences for inter-related behaviors of many individuals. In Experiment 2, a cultural consequence was superimposed on the consequences already programmed by the IPD: quartets could produce equal points for all participants (market feedback) contingent on different numbers of cooperative choices. As in Experiment 1, we arranged conditions in which chat use were or not allowed in a multiple baseline design between quartets. Verbal interaction quickly and markedly promoted cultural selection by the market feedback. One quartet presented some control of culturants by the market feedback before verbal interactions, but production of cultural consequences increased substantially after using the chat. Experiment 3 replicated Experiment 2 presenting the market feedback the same way that the IPD points, i.e., without several verbal stimuli that suggest its production by the quartet as a whole. Verbal interaction promoted at least some control of the choices by the market feedback in 2 of the 3 quartets, suggesting that the form of cultural consequence presentation is irrelevant for the effects of a cultural consequence. The results of the three experiments highlight the importance of verbal interaction for cultural selection. Furthermore, they suggest that an IPD program a situation analogous to the one employed in metacontingency studies, clarifying differences between procedures used in the study of IPD and of metacontingencies, and allowing advances in one area be employed by another