Etymologically, “procrastination” is derived from the Latin verb procrastinare — to put off until tomorrow. But it is more than just voluntarily delaying. Procrastination also comes from the ancient Greek word akrasia, which means doing something against our better judgment. To understand what causes procrastination (outside of conditions such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, where executive functioning […]
One of the most pivotal changes that unfolded during the past three decades was the reach of markets and market values into spheres of life traditionally held sway over by nonmarket norms. Healthcare, education, public safety, and environmental protection are some examples of the sectors where the use of market logic was for the most […]
The world “cult” comes from the Latin “cultus”, meaning “to till or cultivate”. In antiquity it was used to describe the sacrifices, offerings, and monuments built to cultivate favor with the gods, whereas in time, it came to mean any unorthodox religion. It is a known fact how dangerous a cult could be: they may […]
In 1951 Eric Dodds, an Irish philologist and anthropologist, published “The Greeks and the Irrational”, a famous book in which he presented two antithetical concepts applied to the study of the Ancient Greece: the “shame culture” and the “guilt culture”. Dodds focused his inquiry on the earliest stages of the Greek culture, analyzing the Homeric world, […]
For the second interview of the initiative “Meet the Experts” we talked with Paulius Yamin, a behavioural scientist with a background in cultural and anthropological studies who researches the possibility of achieving behavioural change by intervening on social norms. He is currently the Managing Director of the Center for Social Norms and Behavioural Dynamics at the […]
Violence against Women (VAW) When you think of BI and crime, shows like Criminal Minds and Mindhunter (both of which the author of this blog post highly recommends) come to mind. However, tackling VAW requires more than psycho-analysing perpetrators. This is because there are a multitude of other factors leading to the creation of a […]
When are nudges most effective? A study by Pelle Guldborg Hansen, founder of the Danish Nudging Network, a non-profit organisation in Copenhagen, suggests that nudges may work only if they are in line with social norms. They tested two potential “social nudges” in partnership with the local government, both using symbols to try to influence […]
How can we nudge people to donate to charities? There are many ways to do so, but we would like to share one in particular which is very simple and surprisingly powerful. It seems that peer effects are an effective tool to change people’s behaviour. We want to do what people like us are doing. […]
Review of the paper by Michael P. Haines (1996) It is well-known that increased alcohol consumption of young people is a persistent problem and college and university students are no exception. The Northern Illinois University (NIU) came up with a solution that has since spread to other US universities and even high schools. It all […]
B.BIAS 