This dissertation consists of three essays exploring the heterogeneity of gender differences in behavior across contrasting societies. Are women naturally wired to behave differently than men or is it the social context in which the gender roles operate that motivate their behavior? I study this question in the contexts of risk, trust, and trustworthiness, moral hazard and repayment behavior in microfinance. I use the approach of conducting controlled field experiments in neighboring matrilineal and patrilineal societies in rural India. The two societies differ in gender roles but are comparable otherwise. Understanding the societal and cultural factors that drive gender differences in behavior helps to prescribe optimally-targeted policy designs. The first essay evaluates the universal policy of gender targeting to mitigate microfinance loan defaults and studies the reasons for such gender differences in default. I design and conduct microfinance field experiments with individual and group liability treatments in comparable matrilineal and patrilineal societies in India. I observe a reversal of gender effect on loan default across the two societies. I find that women have a lower default in the patrilineal society but higher default in the matrilineal society compared to their male counterparts. I also find that group liability leads to moral hazard among the individual group members but reduces overall default due to risk sharing among them. My results suggest that while women are better clients on average, a universal policy of gender targeting to reduce defaults in microfinance might be suboptimal. The second essay builds on the findings of the first essay that group liability contracts lead to moral hazard among the borrowers. In this essay, I evaluate the policy of gender targeting to mitigate moral hazard problems in microfinance and study the underlying reasons for such gender differences in moral hazard. I address this question by following a similar methodology to the first essay. My experimental design allows decomposing the different moral hazard channels through which default occurs in microfinance and interact them with gender and types of societies (matrilineal and patrilineal). I find that women in matrilineal society are more prone to exhibit moral hazard behavior than patrilineal women. Based on my findings, I argue that the gender differences in moral hazard is driven by the difference in social context, norms and the gender roles between the two societies. The final essay examines what drives gender differences in trust and trustworthiness, by conducting trust experiments in neighboring matrilineal and patrilineal societies in India. I find that on average the matrilineal subjects are more trusting as well as more trustworthy than the patrilineal subjects, but there is a significant heterogeneity in gender effects. Women in matrilineal society are both less trusting and less trustworthy than patrilineal women, compared to their male counterparts. This finding holds true even after controlling for risk preference and other individual characteristics. My findings suggest that societal structures are crucially linked to the observed gender differences in trust and trustworthiness.

Intellectual property law theory is premised on a utilitarian justification granting limited time monopolies for encouraging creation, innovation and its dissemination to society. However, in the last several decades, scholars have been mounting empirical evidence to show that in some industries, creativity and innovation exist outside the contours of intellectual property law and thrive despite their lack of reliance on the laws. Instead, what they uncovered is that creators in these industries follow norms that mitigate issues surrounding some kinds of copying. Intellectual property protection for fashion design in Canada is fragmented across a complex legal landscape that entails several different laws, unique in scope, eligibility requirements and rights. This complex framework is not unique to the fashion design industry but is similar for design industries generally. Navigating through these laws can be daunting and thus inaccessible for the some segments of the design industry that are small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs) that have limited resources to expend on legal advice and registration. Using grounded theory methodology and qualitative and quantitative methods, this research explored the use of intellectual property law and social norms by the independent fashion design segment in Montreal and in Toronto and the contours of copying and the public domain. What the empirical research reveals is that independent fashion designers do not use the law to protect their designs and instead, use mechanisms that centre on the negative copying norm. Negative copying is copying that is negatively perceived. It is not necessarily legally infringing or economically harmful, although it can be both. Further, it can apply to subject matter that is not the subject matter of intellectual property law. This norm against negative copying is supported by extra-legal prevention and enforcement mechanisms that have been developed by individuals within the segment in order to mitigate the issue of copying. The empirical research also reveals that in addition to the economic incentives to create, there are also a number of non-economic incentives such as identity and reputational interests that drive creativity and help reinforce the norm against negative copying. Using grounded theory enabled me to draw on literature from a number of disciplines in order to help contextualize these findings and approach the analysis from the perspective of intellectual property theory, policy and law, social norms (sociology and psychology) as well as economic geography, and design.

Empowerment-based approaches to social development has attracted substantial attention in the last two decades. At the core of this debate is the preposition that empowering marginalised groups can improve their agency, with possible favourable implications for their life outcomes. The household bargaining literature has examined the effect of women’s empowerment/bargaining power on development outcomes (e.g. health, education, agriculture and household expenditure). A core issue in this literature is the measurement of what constitute women’s empowerment. The literature in economics and human development has tended to rely on the use of proxies that capture women’s access to resources and or capabilities/functioning. This approach tends to ignore or deemphasise the importance of social norms/informal institutions (norms, values, traditions, beliefs etc), which via patriarchal gender stereotypes, restrict women’s voice and access to resources. Although some researchers in demography have used proxies that capture social norms, they have been used alone, thus telling a single sided story as in the case of the economics and human development literature. Secondly, the discussion on the instrumental importance of women’s empowerment in this literature seem to have focused mainly on mean development outcomes compared to the distributions of such outcomes in the population (inequality). Thus, the current study, using Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) data from 20 Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries, computes a composite women’s empowerment Index (CWEI), together with two sub-indices (social norms and access to resources) representing two dimensions of CWEI. The study further examines the comparative effect of social norms and women’s access to resources on household health (i.e. mean health outcomes for women and children and poor child health inequality). Results suggest that in general, women from Southern Africa have a higher score on CWEI compared to their counterparts from East and Central Africa and West Africa. In addition, Southern African women are more able to negotiate social norms that constrain their voice and agency, whiles women from West Africa perform better on the access to resources index. Information from the DHS data and other external data sources (World Development Indicators database, International Labour Office and WEIGO), together with the SSA literature on the politics of liberation struggles and the formal/informal dichotomy of SSA economies, suggest that the sub-regional differences may be due to the unique history of liberation struggles in Southern Africa and the relatively large size of the informal sector in West Africa. Multivariate results also confirm the long held view that women’s empowerment positively influences household health (mean health outcomes and inequality), with social norms having a much higher effect on household health compared to women’s access to resources. In addition, the results suggest that other factors such as women’s education, household wealth, access to and availability of health services, rural/urban and provincial differences have a higher effect on household health compared to the two dimensions of women’s empowerment. The study concludes, advocating that interventions aimed at improving women’s empowerment and bargaining emphasise issues of social norms, since they are likely to constrain women’s voice, access to resources and consequently implications on household outcomes. This emphasis must however take into consideration the importance of other equally important factors (women’s education, household wealth, access to and availability of health services etc), given that women’s empowerment (especially informal institutions such as social norms) could take a long time to change and their effect realized in the long-term.

This study examined how Trump frames various countries and their leaders and whether the framing changes from different factors. It also observed whether foreign leaders were following the same path as Trump in their diplomatic communication and interaction on Twitter. This was to contribute more knowledge that connects global politics with social media to see if changes of frames through Twitter caused any global political consequences. Theories including realist constructivism and framing theory, along with concepts of social norms, political context, events, and enemy images, were applied to the study. Using directed content analysis, together with longitudinal and comparative elements, the findings showed a separation between Trump’s and the other leaders’ tweets. Almost all tweets were connected to the concepts, and various techniques of framing were identified in tweets from most leaders. However, Trump’s informal,disdain, and dramatics in his tweets have distanced himself from the rest of the leaders’ posts. Although a couple of leaders’ attempt to be hostile towards Trump and the U.S. in their tweets, they were still formal. It shows that not only is Trump’s Twiplomacy a reflection of American superpower forcefulness, but also a unique form that the rest choose to ignore.

<p>My dissertation is divided into five relatively freestanding yet thematically linked essays, investigating a number of ways in which social norms and the question of racism are related. In these chapters, I aim to show the vital influence of social norms on our interpersonal relationships, going beyond the futile binary between individual (moral philosophy) and state (political philosophy), thereby affirming the primacy of the social over the political. Considering social norms can help us to see how individual agents are socially and culturally mediated, shaped, and distorted. In the dissertation, I discuss the racial contract (John Rawls and Charles Mills), racism as volitional states (Jorge Garcia), racism as ideology (Tommie Shelby and Sally Haslanger), and anti-racism through social movements (Elizabeth Anderson). By engaging them, I argue that racism as a socially harmful norm should be understood in the context of broader social environments. My thesis is that racism as a socially harmful norm should be understood as a manifestation in broad social environments where the mechanisms of social norms function structurally. In conclusion, I argue for the relevance of social critique instead of a narrow moral critique of racism. In this regard, my solution is not intended as a complete solution for the termination of all forms of racism, rather as certainly a needed viable approach both morally warranted and pragmatically efficacious.</p>

Teknikens snabba utveckling har förändrat hur människor använder teknik och hur vanor bildas kring den. Tidigare forskning visar att majoriteten av smartphoneanvändare ofta använder sin enhet under sociala aktiviteter, även om det inte anses vara socialt accepterat. Detta faktum gör det intressant att undersöka vilka faktorer och funktioner som påverkar användningen av smartphones under sociala aktiviteter samt om det finns några situationer som motiverar till eventuella undantag. I denna undersökning utforskas Medieteknikstudenters ställningstagande vad gäller användningen av smartphones under sociala situationer. De sociala situationerna har begränsats till en grupp bestående av tre till fem vänner i en café- eller restaurangmiljö. För att besvara frågeställningen har en studie genomförts i form av dels en kvantitativ enkät som skickades ut till studenterna, samt en kvalitativ studie i form av fokusgrupper. Resultatet av de båda visade att det inte fanns ett definitivt svar på studenternas inställning till användandet av smartphones i dessa situationer, utan de flesta studenterna ansåg vad som var acceptabelt eller inte var beroende av situationen. Majoriteten tyckte också att användande som inte var märkbar eller användning som bidrog till den sociala situationen var acceptabelt. / Technology’s swift development has changed the way people use it and the way habits form around it. Research has shown that the majority of smartphone users use their device during social activities, even though it is deemed unacceptable. This idea is what makes it interesting to investigate what factors, and if there are applications, that affect the use of smartphones during social activities and if there are any situations that warrants exceptions. The problem this essay will explore is:" What is Media Technology students’ stance on the use of smartphones during social activities?". The social activities were narrowed down to a group consisting of three to five friends in a café or restaurant setting. To answer the problem a quantitative survey was sent out to the target group and qualitative focus groups were conducted. The result of both showed that there was not a definitive answer on the students’ stance. Most students felt that whether something was acceptable or not was contingent on the situation at hand. The majority felt like unnoticeable use or use that contributed to the social activity was acceptable.

Although prior work has investigated the important influence of social norms, research has yet to explore the differential impact of internalization (i.e., the degree to which social norms regulate one’s behavior by integrated personal values versus external pressures) on different types of social norms. This dissertation compares the motivational underpinnings of moral rules and social conventions. To do so, I examine both norm adherence and responses to observed violations. Chapter 1 examines how internalization influences adherence to different norms. In three studies across different contexts, I found that intrinsic motivation (i.e., inner valuation) drives adherence to moral rules, whereas extrinsic motivation (i.e., the weight placed on the community’s judgments and sanctions) drives adherence to social conventions. Chapter 2 investigates individuals’ reactions to moral or conventional norm violations. Across seven studies, I showed that extrinsic and intrinsic motivations for norms moderate observers’ responses to different types of norm violations in terms of inappropriateness (i.e., cognitive response), anger (i.e., emotional response), punishment (i.e., behavioral tendency), and heart rate reactivity (i.e., physiological response). Results suggest that for moral norms, negative reactions to violations are stronger for individuals feeling higher intrinsic motivation. However, for social conventions, negative reactions are greater for individuals with higher extrinsic motivation. Chapter 3 introduces an important motivational concept—need for cognitive closure (NFCC, i.e., desperation to seek an answer). With two different studies, I found that NFCC is more likely to make people stressed out when confronting violations to moral than to conventional norms. Taken together, this dissertation has established the critical interaction between the domain of norms and one’s motivation to influence norm adherence and enforcement.

People often base their behaviors on social norms—what they think others do or approve of. This is likely true of fruit and vegetable (FV) intake as well. College students typically don’t get enough FV. We attempted to encourage FV eating by providing students with messages or demonstrations that eating FV is normal. First, we tried to encourage FV intake by providing students with messages regarding the average skin carotenoid concentration and where they fit within their peers (Chapter II). Carotenoids are compounds found in FV that cannot be made by the body, making them an estimate of FV intake. We found that students did not increase their self-reported FV intake or skin carotenoids as a result of these social norms messages, messages about the recommendation for FV or no message at all. We then added an approval/disapproval message (as ☺︎, :| or ☹︎ ) to the average carotenoid scores and where a student fit within their peers’ scores (Chapter V). This resulted in small increases in self-reported FV intake and skin carotenoids for those receiving the approval/disapproval message and those who only got information about the average score of their peers and where they fit within the average. To test whether self-report was influenced by messages regarding social norms, we sent out messages telling students they were lower than average—whether this was true or not, higher than average, providing the recommendation for FV, no message. Those told they were lower than their peers reported a half-cup increase in FV intake immediately after receiving the message. Finally, we attempted to influence student’s FV intake by having other students come into a weekly class, pose as students in the class and eat vegetables (Chapter III). We found that those exposed to these vegetable-eating students were no more likely to increase FV than those not exposed to it. Overall, we found very small or no effects from any of the included studies and that self-reported FV intake should be interpreted with caution. Interventions that include other factors, such as time, cost, availability or knowledge/skills, might increase FV more than social norms alone.

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