Conflicting social norms and community conservation compliance

Though the success of conservation initiatives relies on changing behaviour, little social psychological research has examined factors such as attitudes and social norms in the context of actual conservation campaigns. In the context of reducing light pollution around sea turtle nesting habitats, researching technological solutions has clear merit. Problems such as light glow are, however, fundamentally about human behaviour, and so finding ways to effect behavioural change is critical. Social norms, or perceptions about what other people think and do, have been widely used in behaviour change campaigns across various domains, including campaigns to promote conservation behaviour. Here, we investigate how the norms of different groups may influence our behaviour in the context of a campaign to alter behavioural norms about light glow pollution in a community. We examine attitudes, social norms, and the degree of conflict (versus congruence) between the behaviours of different groups, and their relationship with intentions to engage in conservation behaviours relevant to sea turtle conservation. We show that attitudes and norms are related to behavioural intentions, and conflicts between social norms influence intentions, over and above the norms themselves. This highlights an important consideration for conservation campaigns utilising social norms-based behaviour change appeals.     

The influence of social norms on the dynamics of vaccinating behaviour for paediatric infectious diseases

Mathematical models that couple disease dynamics and vaccinating behaviour often assume that the incentive to vaccinate disappears if disease prevalence is zero. Hence, they predict that vaccine refusal should be the rule, and elimination should be difficult or impossible. In reality, countries with non-mandatory vaccination policies have usually been able to maintain elimination or very low incidence of paediatric infectious diseases for long periods of time. Here, we show that including injunctive social norms can reconcile such behaviour-incidence models to observations. Adding social norms to a coupled behaviour-incidence model enables the model to better explain pertussis vaccine uptake and disease dynamics in the UK from 1967 to 2010, in both the vaccine-scare years and the years of high vaccine coverage. The model also illustrates how a vaccine scare can perpetuate suboptimal vaccine coverage long after perceived risk has returned to baseline, pre-vaccine-scare levels. However, at other model parameter values, social norms can perpetuate depressed vaccine coverage during a vaccine scare well beyond the time when the population''s baseline vaccine risk perception returns to pre-scare levels. Social norms can strongly suppress vaccine uptake despite frequent outbreaks, as observed in some small communities. Significant portions of the parameter space also exhibit bistability, meaning long-term outcomes depend on the initial conditions. Depending on the context, social norms can either support or hinder immunization goals.     

General practitioner attitudes towards referral of eating-disordered patients: a vignette study based on the theory of planned behaviour

Objective The study examined individual differences between general practitioners (GPs) to determine their impact on variations in intention to refer a hypothetical patient with disordered eating to specialist eating disorder services. The study also examined the impact of patient weight on intention to refer.Method GPs within three primary care trusts (PCTs) were posted a vignette depicting a patient with disordered eating, described as either normal weight or underweight. A questionnaire was developed from the theory of planned behaviour to assess the GPs' attitudes, perception of subjective norms, perceived behavioural control, and intention to refer the patient. Demographic details were also collected.Results Responses were received from 88 GPs (33%). Intention to refer the patient was significantly related to subjective norms and cognitive attitudes. Together these predictors explained 86% of the variance in the intention to refer. GP or practice characteristics did not have a significant effect on the GPs' intention to refer, and nor did the patient's weight.Conclusion Despite National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence current guidance, patient weight did not influence GPs' decisions to refer. Much of the variance in actual referral behaviour may be explained by cognitive attitudes and subjective norms. Interventions to reduce this variation should be focused on informing GPs about actual norms, and best practice guidelines.     

Do Online Voting Patterns Reflect Evolved Features of Human Cognition? An Exploratory Empirical Investigation

Online votes or ratings can assist internet users in evaluating the credibility and appeal of the information which they encounter. For example, aggregator websites such as Reddit allow users to up-vote submitted content to make it more prominent, and down-vote content to make it less prominent. Here we argue that decisions over what to up- or down-vote may be guided by evolved features of human cognition. We predict that internet users should be more likely to up-vote content that others have also up-voted (social influence), content that has been submitted by particularly liked or respected users (model-based bias), content that constitutes evolutionarily salient or relevant information (content bias), and content that follows group norms and, in particular, prosocial norms. 489 respondents from the online social voting community Reddit rated the extent to which they felt different traits influenced their voting. Statistical analyses confirmed that norm-following and prosociality, as well as various content biases such as emotional content and originality, were rated as important motivators of voting. Social influence had a smaller effect than expected, while attitudes towards the submitter had little effect. This exploratory empirical investigation suggests that online voting communities can provide an important test-bed for evolutionary theories of human social information use, and that evolved features of human cognition may guide online behaviour just as it guides behaviour in the offline world.     

Evolutionary precursors of social norms in chimpanzees: a new approach

Moral behaviour, based on social norms, is commonly regarded as a hallmark of humans. Hitherto, humans are perceived to be the only species possessing social norms and to engage in moral behaviour. There is anecdotal evidence suggesting their presence in chimpanzees, but systematic studies are lacking. Here, we examine the evolution of human social norms and their underlying psychological mechanisms. For this, we distinguish between conventions, cultural social norms and universal social norms. We aim at exploring whether chimpanzees possess evolutionary precursors of universal social norms seen in humans. Chimpanzees exhibit important preconditions for their presence and enforcement: tolerant societies, well-developed social-cognitive skills and empathetic competence. Here, we develop a theoretical framework for recognizing different functional levels of social norms and distinguish them from mere statistical behavioural regularities. Quasi social norms are found where animals behave functionally moral without having moral emotions. In proto social norms, moral emotions might be present but cannot be collectivized due to the absence of a uniquely human psychological trait, i.e. shared intentionality. Human social norms, whether they are universal or cultural, involve moral emotions and are collectivized. We will discuss behaviours in chimpanzees that represent potential evolutionary precursors of human universal social norms, with special focus on social interactions involving infants. We argue that chimpanzee infants occupy a special status within their communities and propose that tolerance towards them might represent a proto social norm. Finally, we discuss possible ways to test this theoretical framework.     

Collective Management of Water Resources in Coastal Bangladesh: Formal and Substantive Approaches

We examine the processes of collective management of water resources for agriculture within the wider context of environmental change in a coastal region of Bangladesh. We argue that while the formal propositions of rational-actor theories (such as the Institutional Analysis and Design Framework) help to identify the potential constraints to collective action (e.g., the free rider problem), these propositions need to be seen in the substantive social context of any given case. Findings show that the pattern of collective water management is crucially dependent on the individual economic incentives for participation as well as the social structures and norms that influence the behaviour of different classes of actor, including those with conflicting economic incentives. By examining the substantive processes of negotiation and decision-making around specific problems of water management, we are able to identify the contingent set of factors that shape the responses of different actors, enabling or constraining desirable collective outcomes.     

Context-dependent aggregation in Common Frog Rana temporaria tadpoles: influence of developmental stage, predation risk and social environment

1. This study examines the aggregation behaviour and activity of larvae of the Common Frog Rana temporaria in relation to the early social environment, ontogeny and the presence of chemical cues from a predatory fish to address three main questions: (i) Does previous social interaction influence aggregation behaviour in later developmental stages? (ii) To what extent does aggregation behaviour depend upon the risk level perceived by the individual? (iii) Does aggregation behaviour change through ontogeny?
2. Tadpoles were reared from eggs either in small groups or in complete isolation. In relatively early stages of development, tadpoles showed no preference for the side of the test container containing siblings over the side containing no larvae regardless of the social context experienced (isolation or contact with siblings).
3. The presence of chemical cues from a potential predator did not trigger the aggregation behaviour of tadpoles, but it had a remarkable effect on their activity and spatial distribution. Tadpoles exposed to water preconditioned by a predator spent significantly less time swimming and avoided the central area of the test container more frequently than did controls exposed to unconditioned water.
4. Tadpoles were more active, avoided the central section and associated preferentially with conspecifics (siblings) at later stages of development regardless of the social conditioning they had previously experienced.
5. Individuals reared in groups were twice as active as individuals reared in isolation. This suggests that the early social environment experienced by larvae can influence future behaviour and thereby growth and development rates.
6. The expression of conspecific attraction is probably linked to an ontogenetic shift in larval behaviour. However, reduced activity, rather than aggregation, appears to be the basic antipredator mechanism in larval Common Frog.     

The context of social learning: association patterns in a captive flock of brown-headed cowbirds

Much work on social learning has involved behaviour transmission between pairs of individuals, but recently the need to examine the social context in which learning occurs has been recognized. Previous studies using small numbers of animals have shown social influence on the behavioural development of juvenile male brown-headed cowbirds, Molothrus ater. Here we looked at the larger social context that forms the framework for such influence in more natural settings. We allowed a captive group of over 70 cowbirds, comprising adult and juvenile males and females, to associate freely in a large complex of connected aviaries. Highly organized social assortment emerged in the group, with individuals associating with others based on similarity in age and sex. Juvenile males that associated more with adult males had higher courtship success. Juvenile males that associated more with females sang less over the year. These results indicate that the social context of social learning for juvenile males is not just random association with all other birds in the social group, but is a selective and structured pattern of interaction. Differences in navigating this social structure correlated with courtship success and vocalization, behaviour known to be affected by social learning. Studies such as this, using large groups with free assortment of individuals, are the first step towards understanding the effects of the larger social context surrounding social learning.     

Training programmes can change behaviour and encourage the cultivation of over-harvested plant species

Cultivation of wild-harvested plant species has been proposed as a way of reducing over-exploitation of wild populations but lack of technical knowledge is thought to be a barrier preventing people from cultivating a new species. Training programmes are therefore used to increase technical knowledge to encourage people to adopt cultivation. We assessed the impact of a training programme aiming to encourage cultivation of xaté (Chamaedorea ernesti-augusti), an over-harvested palm from Central America. Five years after the training programme ended, we surveyed untrained and trained individuals focusing on four potential predictors of behaviour: technical knowledge, attitudes (what individuals think about a behaviour), subjective norms (what individuals perceive others to think of a behaviour) and perceived behavioural control (self assessment of whether individuals can enact the behaviour successfully). Whilst accounting for socioeconomic variables, we investigate the influence of training upon these behavioural predictors and examine the factors that determine whether people adopt cultivation of a novel species. Those who had been trained had higher levels of technical knowledge about xaté cultivation and higher belief in their ability to cultivate it while training was not associated with differences in attitudes or subjective norms. Technical knowledge and perceived behavioural control (along with socio-economic variables such as forest ownership and age) were predictors of whether individuals cultivate xaté. We suggest that training programmes can have a long lasting effect on individuals and can change behaviour. However, in many situations other barriers to cultivation, such as access to seeds or appropriate markets, will need to be addressed.     

Donors to charity gain in both indirect reciprocity and political reputation

Darwinian evolution can explain human cooperative behaviour among non-kin by either direct or indirect reciprocity. In the latter case one does not expect a return for an altruistic act from the recipient as with direct reciprocity, but from another member of the social group. However, the widespread human behaviour of donating to poor people outside the social group, for example, to charity organizations, that are unlikely to reciprocate indirectly and thus are equivalent to defectors in the game is still an evolutionary puzzle. Here we show experimentally that donations made in public to a well-known relief organization resulted both in increased income (that the donors received from the members of their group) and in enhanced political reputation (they were elected to represent the interests of their group). Donations may thus function as an honest signal for one's social reliability.     

The norm-dependent effect of watching eyes on donation

Although many previous studies have shown that eye-like images promote generosity, the mechanism of this “watching eyes effect” remains unclear. One possible cause is the concern for a good reputation as a generous person, while the other is the concerns for a bad reputation as a norm violator. To elucidate which of these two concerns is the main influencer, the present study conducted a laboratory experiment that investigated whether the watching eyes effect changed depending on social norms. If the concern for a good reputation leads to the effect, prosocial behavior would be more likely in the presence of watching eyes, regardless of the social norms involved. However, if the concern for avoiding a bad reputation as a norm violator leads to the effect, watching eyes promote prosocial behavior only in the existence of prosocial norms. In the original study, participants were asked to make a charitable donation under conditions in which eye-like images either were or were not present. In addition to the eye-like images, we manipulated prosocial norms by informing each participant of either high or low mean donation amounts given by previous participants. We found that watching eyes promoted donations only when a prosocial norm existed. This supports the idea that the watching eyes effect is caused by a concern for avoiding a bad reputation from violating norms. However, in a replication study, we were unable to replicate the original results; watching eyes did not promote generosity regardless of the norm. Taken together, we discussed the moderation effect of norms and the possibility of other moderators.     

The Odor Context Facilitates the Perception of Low-Intensity Facial Expressions of Emotion

It has been established that the recognition of facial expressions integrates contextual information. In this study, we aimed to clarify the influence of contextual odors. The participants were asked to match a target face varying in expression intensity with non-ambiguous expressive faces. Intensity variations in the target faces were designed by morphing expressive faces with neutral faces. In addition, the influence of verbal information was assessed by providing half the participants with the emotion names. Odor cues were manipulated by placing participants in a pleasant (strawberry), aversive (butyric acid), or no-odor control context. The results showed two main effects of the odor context. First, the minimum amount of visual information required to perceive an expression was lowered when the odor context was emotionally congruent: happiness was correctly perceived at lower intensities in the faces displayed in the pleasant odor context, and the same phenomenon occurred for disgust and anger in the aversive odor context. Second, the odor context influenced the false perception of expressions that were not used in target faces, with distinct patterns according to the presence of emotion names. When emotion names were provided, the aversive odor context decreased intrusions for disgust ambiguous faces but increased them for anger. When the emotion names were not provided, this effect did not occur and the pleasant odor context elicited an overall increase in intrusions for negative expressions. We conclude that olfaction plays a role in the way facial expressions are perceived in interaction with other contextual influences such as verbal information.     

Zebra finches are bolder in an asocial, rather than social, context

Despite an expanding interest in animal personalities, the influence of social interactions and sex differences on individual differences in behaviour remains poorly understood. Using the social zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata), we tested for behavioural differences in exploration of a novel environment and objects, between individuals of both sexes in relation to a social context; the presence of three male companions, three female companions or no companion birds. We predicted that the presence of conspecific companions should result in focal birds reacting to novelty by exploring more extensively because the companion birds contribute to anti-predator vigilance behaviour and because social isolation often causes behavioural inhibition in social species. We found that exploratory behaviour of focal individuals was significantly reduced in the presence of conspecific companions, irrespective of the companion's sex. Moreover, we found a weak trend towards females being more exploratory than males, irrespective of the social context. These results demonstrate the importance of considering the social context in animal personality studies and of exploring sex differences in personalities.     

Choosy moral punishers

The punishment of social misconduct is a powerful mechanism for stabilizing high levels of cooperation among unrelated individuals. It is regularly assumed that humans have a universal disposition to punish social norm violators, which is sometimes labelled "universal structure of human morality" or "pure aversion to social betrayal". Here we present evidence that, contrary to this hypothesis, the propensity to punish a moral norm violator varies among participants with different career trajectories. In anonymous real-life conditions, future teachers punished a talented but immoral young violinist: they voted against her in an important music competition when they had been informed of her previous blatant misconduct toward fellow violin students. In contrast, future police officers and high school students did not punish. This variation among socio-professional categories indicates that the punishment of norm violators is not entirely explained by an aversion to social betrayal. We suggest that context specificity plays an important role in normative behaviour; people seem inclined to enforce social norms only in situations that are familiar, relevant for their social category, and possibly strategically advantageous.     

The epidemics of donations: logistic growth and power-laws

This paper demonstrates that collective social dynamics resulting from individual donations can be well described by an epidemic model. It captures the herding behavior in donations as a non-local interaction between individual via a time-dependent mean field representing the mass media. Our study is based on the statistical analysis of a unique dataset obtained before and after the tsunami disaster of 2004. We find a power-law behavior for the distributions of donations with similar exponents for different countries. Even more remarkably, we show that these exponents are the same before and after the tsunami, which accounts for some kind of universal behavior in donations independent of the actual event. We further show that the time-dependent change of both the number and the total amount of donations after the tsunami follows a logistic growth equation. As a new element, a time-dependent scaling factor appears in this equation which accounts for the growing lack of public interest after the disaster. The results of the model are underpinned by the data analysis and thus also allow for a quantification of the media influence.     

Tolerance and Social Facilitation in the Foraging Behaviour of Free‐Ranging Crows (Corvus corone corone; C. c. cornix)

Social foraging provides animals with opportunities to gain knowledge about available food. Studies indicate that animals are influenced by social context during exploration and are able to learn socially. Carrion and hooded crows, which are opportunistic generalists with flexible social systems, have so far received little focus in this area. We combined observational and experimental approaches to investigate social interactions during foraging and social influences on crow behaviour within a free‐ranging population at Vienna Zoo, which included 115 individually marked crows. We expected the crows to be tolerant of conspecifics during foraging due to high food abundance. We predicted that social context would enhance familiar object exploration, as well as a specific foraging strategy: predation by crows on other species. We found that crows were highly tolerant of one another, as reflected by their high rates of cofeeding – where they fed directly beside conspecific(s) – relative to affiliative or agonistic interactions. Evidence for social facilitation – when the observer's behaviour is affected by the mere presence of a model – was found in both object exploration and predation behaviour. Specifically, crows touched the objects more frequently when others were present (whilst only approaching the objects when alone), and conspecifics were present more frequently during predation events involving the high‐risk target species. Evidence for enhancement during object exploration – where the observer's attention is drawn to a place or object by a model's actions – was not confirmed in this context. Our results highlight the role played by the presence of conspecifics across different contexts: natural foraging behaviour, familiar object exploration and a specific foraging strategy. To our knowledge, this is one of the first corvid studies aimed at teasing apart specific social influence and learning mechanisms in the field. These crows therefore make promising candidates for studying social learning and its consequences under naturalistic conditions.     

Salivary oxytocin increases concurrently with testosterone and time away from home among returning Tsimane’ hunters

Oxytocin, testosterone and cortisol can have opposing effects on social behaviour, yet few studies have examined their interactions. We measured changes in salivary oxytocin, testosterone and cortisol among Tsimane’ men returning home after hunting, an ancient context of male status competition, parental investment and cooperation. Contra normal diurnal rhythm, oxytocin increased relative to baseline and this increase was positively associated with duration of the hunt and change in testosterone, but not cortisol, social context, hunting outcome or physical activity. The concurrent increase in endogenous peripheral oxytocin and testosterone is unexpected given their opposing independent effects on social cognition and behaviour, and has not been observed before. We discuss the potential significance of these effects for the biology of pair-bonding, parenting and social foraging in humans and other species.