Yes / Objective: Numerous studies have demonstrated the existence and effect of normative misperceptions on heavy episodic drinking behavior. However, there has been little work on these processes or application of normative-belief interventions outside the U.S. college system. The aim of the current study, therefore, was to investigate heavy episodic drinking and normative misperceptions in a U.K. university setting. Method: An email containing a link to a survey Web site was distributed to all current undergraduate students at the University of Paisley, Scotland. In addition to age and gender questions, the survey contained items on students¿ personal behavior and perception of the level of that behavior in three groups of increasing social distance: close friends, other students of the same age, and other people of the same age in U.K. society in general. Results: Completed surveys from 500 respondents were returned. In keeping with previous research, significant correlations were found between the respondents¿ behavior and the perception of that behavior in others, with beliefs about the most proximal individuals being the most strongly correlated. The majority of respondents were also found to overestimate alcohol consumption in other students. An age effect was noted, in which misperceptions appeared to decrease with age but did not vary between genders. Conclusions: The findings of the study indicate that the normative-belief alcohol consumption processes that have been found on U.S. college campuses also operate in U.K. university settings. This raises the possibility of applying social-norms interventions from the United States to the United Kingdom and potentially elsewhere in the world. Furthermore, the study noted apparent age effects in the degree of misperception, the implications of which are discussed

In November 2022, the Swedish government decided to abolish the electric vehicle (EV) policyincentive “Klimatbonus”. We create a synthetic control group based on other countries withsimilar continuous policies to gauge the outcome of EV registration in Sweden had theabolishment not occurred. The purpose of this study was to estimate whether this decision hasgenerated a significant post-abolishment impact on the demand for EVs in the Swedish carmarket. Our findings show that even though the demand has decreased, the result is statisticallyinsignificant. We conclude the policymakers have correctly estimated that the effects ondemand will be small. With this study, we contribute to evaluating the treatment effects ofabolished EV policies.

Syftet med studien var att undersöka om exposekonton reproducerar befintliga maktstrukturer och samhällsnormer bland unga. Därtill hur fenomenet påverkar dagens unga i deras liv och relationer. Målet var att öka kunskapen och lyfta ämnet kring exposekonton då det är ett socialt fenomen som saknar omfattande vetenskaplig forskning. Det är viktigt att vuxna har kunskap om ämnet, eftersom det är en del av ungas digitala vardag. Att bidra med kunskap hoppas vi leder till en ökad dialog bland vuxna. Studien genomfördes med kvantitativ metod och enkätundersökningar, totalt deltog 109 respondenter mellan 15–18 år i undersökningen i Skåne län. Resultatet i studien visar att det främst är killar som är förövare och tjejer som blir utsatta för att blir uthängda på exposekonto, vilket visar på att det finns en tydlig maktförskjutning. En stor andel av respondenterna menar på att exposekonton skapar förväntningar och normer på respektive kön. Det är tydligt att den utsatta påverkas på flera plan i livet samt upplever starka känslor av skam, nedstämdhet och ilska. Resultatet analyseras utifrån Michel Foucault & Judith Butlers teori om könsmakt samt Thomas Scheffs teorier om skam och sociala band och Raewyn Connells teori om maskuliniteter. / The aim of the study was to investigate if expose accounts reproduce society's existing power structure and social norms among young people. In addition, how the phenomenon affects the lives and relationships of today's youth. The goal was to raise awareness about the topic, as it is a social phenomenon that has no scientific research. It's important for adults around young people to have knowledge about the subject, as it is a part of young people's digital life. The study was conducted using a quantitative method with surveys. A total of 109 respondents participated in the region Skane. The results of the study show that primarily boys are the perpetrators and girls are the ones who become victims for being exposed, indicating a clear power imbalance. A large percentage of the respondents believe that expose accounts create expectations and norms for each gender. It is clear that the victim is affected on several levels in life and experiencing strong emotions of shame, sadness, and anger. The results are analyzed based on Michel Foucault & Judith Butler's theory of gender power, Thomas Scheff's theories of shame and social bonds, and Raewyn Connell's theory of masculinity.

This study aimed to analyze the progression of autism information over time and investigate the relationships among various factors such as autism knowledge, awareness, stigma, misinformation, cultural beliefs, and social norms. Utilizing the knowledge-attitude-behavior (KAB) model, a conceptual framework was devised to examine the connections between these variables. Employing a mixed-method approach comprising of systematic literature review and survey, the study initially examined articles spanning twenty-two years to track the progression of autism knowledge, awareness, and stigma. Subsequently, a survey was conducted to assess the current understanding of autism among individuals on the spectrum and their families as well as to evaluate the impact of different autism variables. The systematic literature review indicated an overall increase in autism knowledge and awareness, although it revealed disparities in certain ethnicities and areas such as genetic testing. Despite advancements, stigma was found to persist. Survey findings validated these observations, emphasizing the necessity for heightened autism awareness and the continued presence of stigma. Furthermore, the survey demonstrated that knowledge influences awareness, whereas cultural beliefs and social norms directly affect autism misinformation. Importantly, the study highlighted how cultural beliefs and misinformation can hinder accurate understanding and knowledge of autism, potentially exacerbating stigma. By employing evidence-based approaches, this study offers comprehensive insights into autism, enriching the broader literature on the subject.

For decades, economic theories have been mostly based on rational choices made by selfish individuals to maximize their utility, while sociology spent a lot of efforts describing the environment of individuals and explaining how this environment shapes theirs decisions. However, the last thirty years have seen many sociological concepts appear in the economic literature. For example, behavioral economics introduces things such as envy or altruism in economic theories. Other notions such as social capital, social norms, trust or community became more and more present in economic papers. The objective of this new strand of literature is to engage into sort of socioeconomic approach and to shed some light on interpersonal relationships. This thesis belongs to this socioeconomic approach, and tries to explore new aspects of various concepts. The two first papers are theoretical. In the first one, we explore the negative side of social capital, which has not been studied extensively, by investigating the effect of a norm on consumers when moving is costly. In the second one, we introduce a sociological concept, namely social identity, in a classic economic model in order to show how social interactions modifies its results, and hence, the importance of taking such interpersonal relationships into account. The third and final paper is an empirical case study of social capital in Belgium, an exercise that has not been done before, with the objective of comparing the level of social capital between the various regions of the country. <p><p>In the first paper, The Tyranny of Social Norms on Individual Behavior, we study the negative effect of the existence of a norm and moving cost inside a community. Because of deviation cost (such as social shame or peer pressure for example), consumers inside a given community may not reach their ideal consumption, that is the consumption they would have without social constraint. On the other hand, moving to another community may be too expensive (in terms of social assets needed to be part of the new community). Hence, agents may get stuck in their community, being forced to consume something they do not want to. One example of such behavior is the underinvestment in education in some neighborhood. We show that such equilibria are possible and that they may be socially suboptimal equilibria as well as Pareto inferior equilibria. We also show that state intervention can correct those “bad” equilibria by operating transfers between agents in order to lower the moving cost.<p><p>In the second paper, Social Identity, Advertising and Market Competition, we use a particular approach of a sociological concept, namely Social Identity, which focuses on the fact that people want to signal who they are to others. We assume that this is done by choosing a specific consumption (think of fashion market for example). We show that under this assumption, the classical result of Bertrand Price Competition does not hold anymore, and that prices and profits are positive, meaning that social identity creates market power for firms. Moreover, if the number of goods is limited, groups will be formed, and there will be multiple equilibria, each one corresponding to a particular partition of the consumers. We then add the possibility for firms to use advertising. This allows consumers to have a coordination tool, but increases also market powers for firms. We investigate the various equilibria that arise and their impact in term of welfare.<p><p>In the third paper, Social Capital in Belgium, we construct an index of social capital using the European Social Survey, and we show that this index can be decomposed in three aspects: Trust, Social Activities and Social Network. We then study whether there is a difference in social capital between Belgium’s regions or not. We show that indeed, such difference exists, even when controlling for socioeconomic variables. In a third part, we investigate whether the level of social capital is higher or lower in Belgium than in other European countries, and we analyze European regional differences in term of social capital.<p> / Doctorat en Sciences économiques et de gestion / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

The food choices we make every day have a great impact on our environment. Particularly meat consumption significantly contributes to global climate change. Although the current situation calls for a change towards more sustainable diet, meat consumption is still rising. Previous research show that dynamic social norms, i.e. information about ongoing collective behavioral change, can promote pro- environmental behavior, even in the context of meat consumption. Through two pre- registered online experimental studies conducted on a sample of university students (Study 1, N = 227) and on a sample of adult Czech population (Study 2, N = 462), this thesis examines whether dynamic norm message regarding the changing trends in meat consumption can influence intentions to consume less meat. We did not find any direct or total effect of dynamic norms on the preference for meatless meals. Mediation analysis only revealed rather weak indirect effect of dynamic norms on the preference for meatless meals mediated by perceived dynamic norms. In Study 2, we further examined whether the effect of dynamic norm message is conditioned by strength of the dynamic norms (effect of stronger vs weaker dynamic norm) and whether the provision of dynamic norm information triggers self-defense mechanisms which rationalize...

Text in Afrikaans / The actuality of the pedagogical question concerning the role of ideology, values and norms in the life of man in general and education specifically stimulated the interest of the author and prompted her to examine the past in this respect. The contemporary image of ideology, values, norms, personal and global philosophies are looked at in this study. Particular attention is paid to the ideologies that developed from the Renaissance e.g. Humanistic oriented Realism, Rationalism and Naturalism. Certain role players are briefly referred to. The Communist Educational System influenced more than half of the human race over a period of seventy years resulting in a thorough investigation into this system. The influence of People's Education in education in general was also scrutinized. Because so many South Africans are adherents of Calvinism it was important that attention was paid to: The philosophy of Calvinism; What it entails; How it originated and its impact on South African Education. Particular reference was made to the role of Christian National Education. It is fairly generally accepted that a new period in history of the West in relation to values, norms and education is being entered into. The period discussion is more concerned with spiritual development, culture knowledge and religion of the human race than political and military power, although, the latter is not excluded. It was also necessary to take note of the influence of the New Age movement on values and norms. The study is concluded with the evaluation of ideology, values, norms, personal and global philosophies. Some of the most important conclusions arrived at are that these aspects are interwoven and that education is pertinently influenced by the values, norms, culture, personal and global philosophies of the individual, community and government. / Educational Studies / D. Ed. (Historiese Opvoedkunde)

Concern about privacy is an important consideration for users of information and communication technologies (ICT), particularly when using computer-mediated communication (CMC), i.e. Internet usage. Several researchers have studied privacy issues by taking into account the views of users to include individuals, organisations, privacy policy makers, governments and trust organisations. This thesis investigates whether an individual's perspectives about privacy are culturally relevant when using the Internet. This research used a survey in the form of a questionnaire in two countries, namely, Saudi Arabia and Malaysia to compare online privacy perspectives of young and mature (male and female) Saudi and Malaysian students. The research examines the relationship of the effect of the cultural background including the effect of social norms, religious belief, Internet regulation and IT skills of these Internet users upon their attitude towards privacy online and their perspectives about privacy. It also examines the effect of nationality (Malaysian and Saudi), gender and age groups. In this study, online privacy perspectives are a synthesis of three perceptions; what is 'personal' information online, the online privacy concerns and the Internet trust, whereby the cultural effects are the effect of religious beliefs, social norms, Internet regulation and IT skills in the privacy attitudes of keeping personal information safe, caring about their and others' privacy online and when revealing personal information. The demographic factors in this research are nationality, gender and age. To study these relationships, the research uses t-test, ANOVA, and single regression methods as data analysis techniques. The results show that the level of concern and degree of trust exhibited by Malaysian students with regard to submitting personal information via the Internet was affected the most by their gender, and social norms upon their online privacy attitudes. For Saudi students, the level of concern and trust with regard to submitting personal information via the Internet was found to be related to the effect of their age, gender, and religious beliefs on their online privacy attitudes. The other cultural factors, i.e. Internet regulation in force in each country and the IT skills of participants, are likely to have equal effects on both Malaysian and Saudi privacy perspectives. This research adds the cultural background, age and gender effects to the model of the calculus of the privacy concern that is proposed by Dinev and Hart (2006, pp. 63-64). The research also establishes what is 'private' in Malaysia and Saudi Arabia, by identifying 'what counts as personal information with regard to Internet users' and provides a comparison in this concept between the two countries, their gender and age groups. For examples, Malaysian students consider name, e-mail address, date of birth, nationality and religion as 'personal' information and Saudi students consider home address, phone number, photographic image and credit card number as 'personal' information. In addition Saudi females tend to consider, particularly, home address, phone number, and photographic image as 'personal' information more than Saudi males. These findings should help both web designers and Internet policy makers in Saudi Arabia and Malaysia to consider these cultural effects when designing the privacy policies of their websites.

The objective of this thesis was to examine the effectiveness of contact and imagined contact (a derivative of direct contact) in reducing intergroup prejudice when the prejudice in question is deemed socially acceptable. Studies focused on two populations that are targets of socially acceptable, prejudice – people suffering from schizophrenia in the U.K., and homosexual men in Jamaica. These target groups were selected because they are similar in that they are both targets of socially acceptable prejudice, but also because of their differences in that the stereotypes associated with them are quite dissimilar. The first part of the thesis empirically tested the assumption that the aforementioned populations are targets of socially acceptable prejudice. Two cross-sectional studies, one of which was also cross-cultural, measured motivation to control prejudice against these target groups, and compared it to motivation to control prejudice against targets of socially unacceptable prejudice. I found that motivation to control prejudice against people with schizophrenia in the U.K. was lower than motivation to control prejudice against Black people in the U.K. Also, motivation to control prejudice against homosexual men was higher in the U.K. and the U.S.A. than in Jamaica, and differences in motivation to control unspecified prejudice were significantly smaller. The second part examined the association between actual contact and prejudice for both populations. Two cross-sectional studies, one of which was also cross-cultural, found that contact was associated with less prejudice. This effect was mediated by intergroup anxiety in all cases, and also by fear in the case of people with schizophrenia. Furthermore, I found that contact was more strongly negatively associated with anti-homosexual prejudice in Jamaica, where the prejudice is socially acceptable, than it was in Britain, where the prejudice is not socially acceptable. The third part tested the effect of imagined contact, a form of extended contact, on prejudice against people with schizophrenia. Four experimental studies demonstrated that imagined contact can be an effective means of reducing prejudice against this group. However imagined contact must be conducted in very specific ways, otherwise it has the potential to increase prejudice against people with schizophrenia.

The study aims to describe variation in the expression of students’ mathematical ability and the various ways in which their mathematical aptitude is acknowledged and supported by their teachers, parents and peers in a Swedish context. Ability is defined as a complex of various abilities each of which may be more or less pronounced in a given individual. The study is based on ten case studies of highly able students (ages 6-19). Six of the studies are longitudinal, ranging from three to six years. In order to validate the results of the case studies, two survey studies were carried out involving 180 teachers (preschool to Grade 9 in Swedish compulsory school) and 284 mathematics developers from 229 Swedish municipalities. The survey studies raised questions concerning the teachers’ personal experience of identifying and supporting highly able students, the nature of their everyday teaching, and the support given to able students. The results show that mathematical abilities can take many different forms and there is great need for pedagogical support for this group of students. Since extra resources are rarely available for the benefit of nurturing talent and since there are, as yet, no Swedish national or local policy documents that specifically address the support of talent in students, teachers are on their own in figuring out how to best help able students develop mathematically. The study points to the importance of the social norms that influence the interaction between teacher and student(s): everyday social norms as well as socio-mathematical norms, i.e. norms specific to the subject of mathematics. The latter place considerable demands on the teachers’ mathematical knowledge and competence. The benefits of early interventions, of supportive teaching environments, and of providing the students with challenging tasks and questions are also discussed.