How Social Norms Can Make the World More Regular and Better

• Autore: Federico Cecconi, Giulia Andrighetto, Rosaria Conte
• Pagine: 99-100

How Social Norms

Can Make the World More Regular and Better

FEDE RIC O CECC ONI , GIUL IA AND RIG HET TO, ROSA RIA CO NTE∗

SUMM ARY:1. Introduction – 2. Normative Agents – 3. EMIL-A – 3.1. Norm Recogni-

tion Module – 4. Three Colored World – 5. Results – 6. FinalRemarks and Discussion

1. INT RODU CTI ON

Is there any difference between social norms and mere regularitiesemerg-

ing spontaneously from the behaviours of entities that have no norm-based

cognition? And if so, which effects do we expect to observe in a world in

which agents are endowed with such a type of cognition? In other words,

what type of regularities, if any, does such normative cognition establish?

The scientif‌ic literature on the subject matter encourages investigation.

In a six-year study conducted at the University of Virginia, Turner and col-

laborators1found that exposing college students to information that cor-

rected misperceptions about campus drinking patterns resulted in dramatic

reductions in alcohol-related negative consequences2.

There are different models describing what a social norm is, its proper-

ties, modalities of creation and diffusion. They are essentially inspired to

two main directions of thought based on two unrelated notions, regulari-

ties and obligations. Regularities, or behavioural norms, are spontaneously

emerging phenomena3. Obligations, or institutional norms, are deliberately

∗F. Cecconi is a senior researcher at the Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technolo-

gies, National Research Council of Italy (ISTC-CNR),Rome; G. Andrighetto is a researcher

at ISTC-CNR and at the European University Institute (EUI), Florence; R. Conte is a re-

search director at ISTC-CNR and head of the Laboratory of Agent Based Social Simulation

(LABSS).

1J. TURN ER, H. WE SLEY PE RKI NS, J. BAUER LE,Declining Negative Consequences Re-

lated to Alcohol Misuse Among Students Exposed to a Social Norms Marketing Intervention on

a College Campus, in “Journal of American College Health”, 2008, n. 57, pp. 85-93.

2R.B. CIAL DIN I, R.R. RENO, C.A. K ALLGRE N,A Focus Theory of Normative Conduct:

Recycling the Concept of Norms to Reduce Littering in Public Places, in “Journal of Personality

and Social Psychology”, Vol. 58, 1990, n. 6, pp. 1015-1026.

3D. LEWI S,Convention: A Philosophical Study, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press,

1969; H.P.YOU NG,The Evolution of Conventions, in “Econometrica”, n. 61,1993, pp. 57-84.

“Informatica e diritto”, Vol. XXII, 2013, n. 1, pp. 99-113

XXXIX annata – Seconda Serie - Fasc. monografico S. Faro, N. Lettieri (a cura di), "Law and Computational Social Science", ESI, Napoli, 2013, 352 p.