Cultural Evolutionary Behavioural Science in Public Policy

Schimmelpfennig, Robin; Muthukrishna, Michael

doi:10.2139/ssrn.4057679

Cited by 4 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 172 publications

(242 reference statements)

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“…One important aspect of a rigorous, replicable science is a good theory (Gervais, 2021;Muthukrishna & Henrich, 2019;Nosek et al, 2018), which has received less attention in the methodological reforms in psychological science. An inclusive and interdisciplinary framework, such as cultural evolutionary theory, can help to integrate theoretical approaches from different fields and help navigate the much-needed methodological changes in psychology (Gervais, 2021;Schimmelpfennig & Muthukrishna, 2023).…”

Section: Pre-registration Cannot Solve Problems In Theory and Methodo...mentioning

confidence: 99%

A Problem in Theory and More: Measuring the Moderating Role of Culture in Many Labs 2

Schimmelpfennig¹,

Spicer²,

White³

et al. 2023

Preprint

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The multi-site replication study, Many Labs 2 (ML2), attempted to test whether population, site and setting variability moderates the likelihood of replication and effect size. The analysis concluded that sample location and setting did not substantially affect the replicability of findings. In this paper, we raise several issues with the ML2 approach to adjudicating the effect of culture that cast doubt on this conclusion. These theoretical and methodological problems (pre-registered at https://osf.io/6exr4) involve the: (1) selection of studies and sample sites for replication that are not theory-driven, (2) sampling of mostly WEIRD people around the world, (3) conflation of participants’ cultural backgrounds with the country where the samples came from, (4) use of the WEIRD backronym by decomposing it into a scale, and (5) application of a mean split of that WEIRD variable. Moreover, simulations reveal strikingly low statistical power for detecting cultural influences in a multi-side study designed like ML2. We propose methodologies to address problems (3) to( 5) by re-analyzing the ML2 dataset using an alternative approach. These results suggest that tackling only some of the design problems is insufficient to overcome the underlying theoretical and methodological deficiencies. We conclude with specific recommendations for assessing the role of population variability in future multi-site studies that address evidentiary value and effect size.

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Section: Pre-registration Cannot Solve Problems In Theory and Methodo...mentioning

confidence: 99%

A Problem in Theory and More: Measuring the Moderating Role of Culture in Many Labs 2

Schimmelpfennig¹,

Spicer²,

White³

et al. 2023

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…One should also be wary of the potentially confounding effects of the population. For instance, a population—with a specific set of cultural characteristics—may be more susceptible to social norm messengers than other populations with a different set of characteristics (Dolan et al, 2012; Schimmelpfennig & Muthukrishna, 2022). Failure to scale this intervention may be due to the design of the nudge (e.g., choosing the right messenger), but may also come from the relatively lacking importance of social influence within a target population.…”

Section: Scalabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Seeing the nudge from the trees: The 4S framework for evaluating nudges

Mills

Whittle

2023

Public Administration

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Nudging is a popular and influential approach in policymaking. Yet, it has faced substantial criticism from several policy perspectives, with growing concern raised about the efficacy of some nudge interventions. This article offers an evaluative framework for nudging which captures these various perspectives. Our 4S framework highlights the importance of nudges being sufficient, scalable, and subjective, in addition to being statistically significant, to be an effective policy response. We review various nudge interventions, coupled with various methodological critiques, to demonstrate the need for a more expansive evaluative framework. The 4S framework synthesizes these sizeable literatures and numerous critiques to meet this need, serving as an important contribution to behavioral policymakers. We argue that the 4S framework complements existing frameworks for designing behavioral interventions as an evaluative framework. By adopting the 4S framework, policymakers will be better placed to design interventions which are effective in relation to the wider policy environment.

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Green preferences sustain greenwashing: challenges in the cultural transition to a sustainable future

von Flüe,

Efferson,

Vogt

2023

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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Discussions of the environmental impact that revolve around monetary incentives and other easy-to-measure factors are important, but they neglect culture. Pro-environmental values will be crucial when facing sustainability challenges in the Anthropocene, and demand among green consumers is arguably critical to incentivise sustainable production. However, owing to asymmetric information, consumers might not know whether the premium they pay for green production is well-spent. Reliable monitoring of manufacturers is meant to solve this problem. To see how this might work, we develop and analyse a game theoretic model of a simple buyer–seller exchange with asymmetric information, and our analysis shows that greenwashing can exist exactly because reliable monitoring co-exists with unreliable monitoring. More broadly, promoting pro-environmental values among consumers might even amplify the problem at times because a manufacturer with significant market power can exploit both consumer preferences for sustainability and trustworthy monitoring to gouge prices and in extreme cases green wash in plain sight. We discuss several strategies to address this problem. Promoting accurate beliefs and a large-scale behavioural change based on pro-environmental values might be necessary for a rapid transition to a sustainable future, but recent evidence from the cultural evolution literature highlights many important challenges. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Evolution and sustainability: gathering the strands for an Anthropocene synthesis’.

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Cultural Evolutionary Behavioural Science in Public Policy

Cited by 4 publications

References 172 publications

A Problem in Theory and More: Measuring the Moderating Role of Culture in Many Labs 2

A Problem in Theory and More: Measuring the Moderating Role of Culture in Many Labs 2

Seeing the nudge from the trees: The 4S framework for evaluating nudges

Green preferences sustain greenwashing: challenges in the cultural transition to a sustainable future

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