Social Norms: Do We Love Norms Too Much?

Why do we love medicines so much?

Humans love medicinal drugs; we cannot get enough. Worldwide, the amount of money spent on medicines annually is growing exponen­ tially and is expected to reach around uS$1 trillion in 2012. So far, there has been no satisfactory explanation for human ‘pharmo philia’, our powerful trop­ ism to medicines. Most studies that have attempted to provide an explanation have focused on classical suppl...

Do Social Norms Influence Causal Inferences?

While it is well known that agents only tend to be held accountable for events they have caused, recent findings suggest that the inverse relation between causation and accountability also holds. According to this view, normative evaluations also affect responses to causal test questions. A key problem of this research is that causal queries are typically ambiguous. The question whether somebod...

Social Norms and Moral Norms Workshop Social Norms and Moral Norms Workshop Welcome Address

Dear Participant, We are very pleased to welcome you at the GATE research institute. This workshop aims at developing scientific discussions about Social Norms and Moral Norms. The objective is to better understand when people are more, or less, likely to act honestly and follow the moral course of action and norms instead of serving their strict self-interest at the others' expense. We are ext...

Social Norms

Social norms and customs shape many economic decisions, but they have not always been at the forefront of economic analysis. Indeed, social influences were more prominently acknowledged by the founders of the discipline than by neoclassical theorists of the last century. J.S. Mill, for example, argued that custom was a potent force in setting the terms of contracts and also the wages paid to la...

Social Norms