IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/osf/socarx/z5m9h.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Disentangling material, social, and cognitive determinants of human behavior and beliefs

Author

Listed:
  • Tverskoi, Denis
  • Guido, Andrea

    (Institute for Futures Studies)

  • Andrighetto, Giulia
  • Sánchez, Angel
  • Gavrilets, Sergey

Abstract

In social interactions, human decision-making, attitudes, and beliefs about others coevolve. Their dynamics are affected by cost-benefit considerations, cognitive processes (such as cognitive dissonance, social projecting, and logic constraints), and social influences by peers (via descriptive and injunctive social norms) and by authorities (e.g., educational, cultural, religious, political, administrative, individual or group, real or fictitious). Here we attempt to disentangle some of this complexity by using an integrative mathematical modeling and a 35-day online behavioral experiment. We utilize data from a Common Pool Resources experiment with or without messaging promoting a group-beneficial level of resource extraction. We first show that our model provides a better fit than a wide variety of alternative models. Then we directly estimate the weights of different factors in decision-making and beliefs dynamics. We show that material payoffs accounted only for about 20\% of decision-making. The remaining 80\% was due to different cognitive and social forces which we evaluated quantitatively. Without messaging, personal norms (and cognitive dissonance) have the largest weight in decision-making. Messaging greatly influences personal norms and normative expectations. Between-individual variation is present in all measured characteristics and notably impacts observed group behavior. At the same time, gender differences are not significant. We argue that one can hardly understand social behavior without understanding the dynamics of personal beliefs and beliefs about others and that cognitive, social, and material factors all play important roles in these processes. Our results have implications for understanding and predicting social processes triggered by certain shocks (e.g., social unrest, a pandemic, or a natural disaster) and for designing policy interventions aiming to change behavior (e.g. actions aimed at environment protection or climate change mitigation).

Suggested Citation

  • Tverskoi, Denis & Guido, Andrea & Andrighetto, Giulia & Sánchez, Angel & Gavrilets, Sergey, 2022. "Disentangling material, social, and cognitive determinants of human behavior and beliefs," SocArXiv z5m9h, Center for Open Science.
    • Handle: RePEc:osf:socarx:z5m9h
    DOI: 10.31219/osf.io/z5m9h
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://osf.io/download/6273ef10c622401b621bf56c/
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.31219/osf.io/z5m9h?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Erik O. Kimbrough & Alexander Vostroknutov, 2016. "Norms Make Preferences Social," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 14(3), pages 608-638, June.
    2. Rabin, Matthew, 1994. "Cognitive dissonance and social change," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 23(2), pages 177-194, March.
    3. Galesic, Mirta & Stein, D.L., 2019. "Statistical physics models of belief dynamics: Theory and empirical tests," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 519(C), pages 275-294.
    4. Akerlof, George A & Dickens, William T, 1982. "The Economic Consequences of Cognitive Dissonance," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 72(3), pages 307-319, June.
    5. Andrew Schotter & Isabel Trevino, 2014. "Belief Elicitation in the Laboratory," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 6(1), pages 103-128, August.
    6. Frank W. Marlowe, 2004. "What Explains Hadza Food Sharing?," Research in Economic Anthropology, in: Socioeconomic Aspects of Human Behavioral Ecology, pages 69-88, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    7. H. Peyton Young, 2015. "The Evolution of Social Norms," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 7(1), pages 359-387, August.
    8. Pesaran, M. Hashem & Smith, Ron, 1995. "Estimating long-run relationships from dynamic heterogeneous panels," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1), pages 79-113, July.
    9. D'Adda, Giovanna & Drouvelis, Michalis & Nosenzo, Daniele, 2016. "Norm elicitation in within-subject designs: Testing for order effects," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 1-7.
    10. Kölle, Felix & Quercia, Simone, 2021. "The influence of empirical and normative expectations on cooperation," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 190(C), pages 691-703.
    11. Dong, Kangyin & Sun, Renjin & Hochman, Gal, 2017. "Do natural gas and renewable energy consumption lead to less CO2 emission? Empirical evidence from a panel of BRICS countries," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 1466-1478.
    12. Young, H. Peyton, 2004. "Strategic Learning and its Limits," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199269181, Decembrie.
    13. David Y. Yang & Leonardo Bursztyn, 2022. "Misperceptions About Others," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 14(1), pages 425-452, August.
    14. Ostrom, Elinor & Walker, James & Gardner, Roy, 1992. "Covenants with and without a Sword: Self-Governance Is Possible," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 86(2), pages 404-417, June.
    15. Kimbrough, Erik O. & Vostroknutov, Alexander, 2018. "A portable method of eliciting respect for social norms," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 168(C), pages 147-150.
    16. Urs Fischbacher & Simon Gachter, 2010. "Social Preferences, Beliefs, and the Dynamics of Free Riding in Public Goods Experiments," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 100(1), pages 541-556, March.
    17. Frank Marlowe, 2004. "What explains hadza food sharing?," Framed Field Experiments 00190, The Field Experiments Website.
    18. Apesteguia, Jose, 2006. "Does information matter in the commons?: Experimental evidence," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 60(1), pages 55-69, May.
    19. Dal Bó, Ernesto & Dal Bó, Pedro, 2014. "“Do the right thing:” The effects of moral suasion on cooperation," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 28-38.
    20. Alec Brandon & John A. List & Robert D. Metcalfe & Michael K. Price & Florian Rundhammer, 2019. "Testing for crowd out in social nudges: Evidence from a natural field experiment in the market for electricity," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 116(12), pages 5293-5298, March.
    21. Bernheim, B Douglas, 1994. "A Theory of Conformity," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 102(5), pages 841-877, October.
    22. Cristina Bicchieri & Eugen Dimant, 2022. "Nudging with care: the risks and benefits of social information," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 191(3), pages 443-464, June.
    23. Chudik, Alexander & Pesaran, M. Hashem, 2019. "Mean group estimation in presence of weakly cross-correlated estimators," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 175(C), pages 101-105.
    24. Gavrilets, Sergey, 2021. "Coevolution of actions, personal norms, and beliefs about others in social dilemmas," SocArXiv 8sk65, Center for Open Science.
    25. Francis Teal & Markus Eberhardt, 2010. "Productivity Analysis in Global Manufacturing Production," Economics Series Working Papers 515, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    26. d'Adda, Giovanna & Dufwenberg, Martin & Passarelli, Francesco & Tabellini, Guido, 2020. "Social norms with private values: Theory and experiments," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 288-304.
    27. Timur Kuran & William H. Sandholm, 2008. "Cultural Integration and Its Discontents," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 75(1), pages 201-228.
    28. repec:cup:judgdm:v:13:y:2018:i:1:p:99-111 is not listed on IDEAS
    29. Sadorsky, Perry, 2013. "Do urbanization and industrialization affect energy intensity in developing countries?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 52-59.
    30. Catola, Marco & D’Alessandro, Simone & Guarnieri, Pietro & Pizziol, Veronica, 2021. "Personal norms in the online public good game," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 207(C).
    31. Hsiao, C. & Pesaran, M. H. & Tahmiscioglu, A. K., 1998. "Bayes Estimation of Short-run Coefficients in Dynamic Panel Data Models," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 9804, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    32. Ernst Fehr & Ivo Schurtenberger, 2018. "Normative foundations of human cooperation," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 2(7), pages 458-468, July.
    33. Eberhardt, Markus & Teal, Francis, 2008. "Modeling technology and technological change in manufacturing: how do countries differ?," MPRA Paper 10690, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    34. Karl Schlag & James Tremewan & Joël Weele, 2015. "A penny for your thoughts: a survey of methods for eliciting beliefs," Experimental Economics, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 18(3), pages 457-490, September.
    35. Jose Apesteguia & Frank P. Maier-Rigaud, 2006. "The Role of Rivalry," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 50(5), pages 646-663, October.
    36. Walker, James M. & Gardner, Roy & Ostrom, Elinor, 1990. "Rent dissipation in a limited-access common-pool resource: Experimental evidence," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 19(3), pages 203-211, November.
    37. Andreas Flache & Michael Mäs & Thomas Feliciani & Edmund Chattoe-Brown & Guillaume Deffuant & Sylvie Huet & Jan Lorenz, 2017. "Models of Social Influence: Towards the Next Frontiers," Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation, Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation, vol. 20(4), pages 1-2.
    38. Arun G. Chandrasekhar & Horacio Larreguy & Juan Pablo Xandri, 2020. "Testing Models of Social Learning on Networks: Evidence From Two Experiments," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 88(1), pages 1-32, January.
    39. Calabuig, Vicente & Olcina, Gonzalo & Panebianco, Fabrizio, 2018. "Culture and team production," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 32-45.
    40. Valerio Capraro & David G. Rand, 2018. "Do the Right Thing: Experimental evidence that preferences for moral behavior, rather than equity or efficiency per se, drive human prosociality," Judgment and Decision Making, Society for Judgment and Decision Making, vol. 13(1), pages 99-111, January.
    41. Chetan Dave & Catherine Eckel & Cathleen Johnson & Christian Rojas, 2010. "Eliciting risk preferences: When is simple better?," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 41(3), pages 219-243, December.
    42. Marco Catola & Simone D'Alessandro & Pietro Guarnieri & Veronica Pizziol, 2021. "Personal norms in the online public good game," Discussion Papers 2021/276, Dipartimento di Economia e Management (DEM), University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy.
    43. Timothy Cason & Lata Gangadharan, 2015. "Promoting cooperation in nonlinear social dilemmas through peer punishment," Experimental Economics, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 18(1), pages 66-88, March.
    44. Croson, Rachel & Marks, Melanie, 2001. "The Effect of Recommended Contributions in the Voluntary Provision of Public Goods," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 39(2), pages 238-249, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Gavrilets, Sergey & Tverskoi, Denis & Sánchez, Angel, 2023. "Modeling social norms: an integration of the norm-utility approach with beliefs dynamics," SocArXiv n934a, Center for Open Science.
    2. repec:osf:socarx:n934a_v1 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Oliver Braganza & Jakob Kapeller, 2025. "Reappraising consumption nudging—on liberty in the age of climate catastrophe," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 12(1), pages 1-13, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. repec:osf:socarx:n934a_v1 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Gavrilets, Sergey & Tverskoi, Denis & Sánchez, Angel, 2023. "Modeling social norms: an integration of the norm-utility approach with beliefs dynamics," SocArXiv n934a, Center for Open Science.
    3. Bicchieri, Cristina & Dimant, Eugen & Gächter, Simon & Nosenzo, Daniele, 2022. "Social proximity and the erosion of norm compliance," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 59-72.
    4. repec:osf:socarx:z5m9h_v1 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Martinez-Felip, Daniel & Schilizzi, Steven G.M. & Nguyen, Chi, 2025. "How does experienced behavior change normative expectations regarding socially beneficial actions?," SocArXiv vy6z2_v1, Center for Open Science.
    6. Eugen Dimant & Michele Gelfand & Anna Hochleitner & Silvia Sonderegger, 2023. "Strategic Behavior with Tight, Loose and Polarized Norms," CESifo Working Paper Series 10233, CESifo.
    7. Aycinena, Diego & Bogliacino, Francesco & Kimbrough, Erik O., 2024. "Measuring norms: Assessing the threat of social desirability bias to the Bicchieri and Xiao elicitation method," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 222(C), pages 225-239.
    8. Alger, Ingela, 2024. "Norms and norm change - driven by social Kantian preferences," TSE Working Papers 24-1605, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE), revised Apr 2025.
    9. Daniel A. Brent & Lata Gangadharan & Anca Mihut & Marie Claire Villeval, 2019. "Taxation, redistribution, and observability in social dilemmas," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 21(5), pages 826-846, October.
    10. Eugen Dimant & Michele Gelfand & Anna Hochleitner & Silvia Sonderegger, 2022. "Strategic Behavior with Tight, Loose and Polarized Norms," ECONtribute Discussion Papers Series 198, University of Bonn and University of Cologne, Germany.
    11. Cristina Bicchieri & Eugen Dimant & Simon Gächter & Daniele Nosenzo, 2020. "Observability, Social Proximity, and the Erosion of Norm Compliance," ECONtribute Discussion Papers Series 009, University of Bonn and University of Cologne, Germany.
    12. Felix Kölle & Simone Quercia & Egon Tripodi, 2023. "Social Preferences under the Shadow of the Future," Rationality and Competition Discussion Paper Series 406, CRC TRR 190 Rationality and Competition.
    13. De Geest, Lawrence R. & Stranlund, John K., 2019. "Defending public goods and common-pool resources," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 143-154.
    14. De Geest, Lawrence R. & Kingsley, David C., 2021. "Norm enforcement with incomplete information," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 189(C), pages 403-430.
    15. Traub, Stefan & Schwaninger, Manuel & Paetzel, Fabian & Neuhofer, Sabine, 2023. "Evidence on need-sensitive giving behavior: An experimental approach to the acknowledgment of needs," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 105(C).
    16. repec:cup:judgdm:v:17:y:2022:i:2:p:263-283 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Aladejare, Samson Adeniyi, 2023. "Economic prosperity, asymmetric natural resource income, and ecological demands in resource-reliant economies," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    18. Kaba, Mustafa & Koyuncu, Murat & Schneider, Sebastian O. & Sutter, Matthias, 2024. "Social norms, political polarization, and vaccination attitudes: Evidence from a survey experiment in Turkey," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    19. Qiao, Hui & Chen, Siyu & Dong, Xiucheng & Dong, Kangyin, 2019. "Has China's coal consumption actually reached its peak? National and regional analysis considering cross-sectional dependence and heterogeneity," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    20. Amuakwa-Mensah, Franklin & Klege, Rebecca A. & Adom, Philip K. & Amoah, Anthony & Hagan, Edmond, 2018. "Unveiling the energy saving role of banking performance in Sub-Sahara Africa," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 828-842.
    21. Asane-Otoo, Emmanuel, 2015. "Carbon footprint and emission determinants in Africa," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 426-435.
    22. Dimant, Eugen, 2023. "Beyond average: A method for measuring the tightness, looseness, and polarization of social norms," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 233(C).
    23. Peñasco, Cristina & del Río, Pablo & Romero-Jordán, Desiderio, 2017. "Gas and electricity demand in Spanish manufacturing industries: An analysis using homogeneous and heterogeneous estimators," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 45-60.

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:osf:socarx:z5m9h. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: OSF (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://arabixiv.org .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.