Eugen Dimant Profile picture
Refugee || Professor at University of Pennsylvania @Penn_CSNBD @PennMBDS || Studying dark side of human behavior || 🇲🇩 born — 🇩🇪 grown — 🇺🇸 based
Nov 17, 2022 26 tweets 19 min read
🚨New Publication🚨

𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝘀𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗻𝗼𝗿𝗺𝘀 & 𝗯𝗲𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗼𝗿 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲?

💡Yes? You're in luck: @CBicchieri @MicheleJGelfand @silviasondereg2 & I might have just the right insights to share.

A little🧵 Last year, we took on the endeavor to be co-editors on a special issue on social norms & behavior change at JEBO.

We were floored by the demand: received 120 submissions & ultimately accepted 22 papers ranging from theory & non-experimental to laboratory & extra-lab experiments
Dec 9, 2021 4 tweets 10 min read
👣First publication of 2022 is✔️

We show when & how social #norm compliance erodes over time + the role that group #identity plays in mitigating it

Paper: doi.org/10.1016/j.geb.…
Results in🧵👇
👀@jayvanbavel @CassSunstein @BrendanNyhan @eckelcc @RFisman @erezyoeli #EconTwitter Apologies, the DOI link seems not to be active just yet

Link that works: sciencedirect.com/science/articl…

Sep 8, 2021 9 tweets 6 min read
💡New paper (with the fantastic @BellaRen19 & @ME_Schweitzer @Wharton) examining the role of social motives in spreading misinformation/conspiracy theories.

Paper: tinyurl.com/4mch6mk9

Short🧵with results
#EconTwitter @DG_Rand @Sander_vdLinden @GordPennycook @jayvanbavel
1/n 2/N

Great research analyzing the dissimination of misinformation & what to do about it has been produced by @DG_Rand @Sander_vdLinden @GordPennycook @jayvanbavel... et al. (& their teams)

They show how pervasive misinfo spread is & how people reason at the individual level.
May 19, 2021 8 tweets 8 min read
☢️New @CESifoGroup WP☢️
⦿I quantify impact of political polarization on social preferences via 15(!) incentive-compatible experiments
⦿I also test if #nudging can reduce polarization (it can't)

Paper: cesifo.org/en/publikation…
#EconTwitter

Short🧵on what's new in this version 1/7

1st of all, the paper contains many experiments and interventions. After the initial submission of this paper, reviewers asked to not only quantify the detrimental impact of polarization but also test behavioral interventions to alleviate it.

So now I have ~9,000 obs.
Sep 4, 2020 13 tweets 9 min read
💥New WP: Hate Trumps Love💥
RQ: study behavioral-, belief- & norm-based mechanisms through which perceptions of closeness, altruism & cooperativeness are affected by political polarization under @realDonaldTrump

Findings: it’s grim
Paper: bit.ly/32TNKrk

Short thread👇 Image 1/11

Rising political polarization is often linked to fractured societies rife with racial inequality, factional conflict & partisan animosity.

In the U.S., many issues yield a surprising partisan divide, think mask wearing (see also recent paper by @spbhanot & @dhopkins1776)
Feb 5, 2019 11 tweets 5 min read
🚨New WP (theory + experiment): lying & belief distortion under norm-uncertainty🚨
w/ @cbicchieri (@Penn) & Sonderegger (@CeDEx)

RQ: how do we engage in deviant behavior when social #norms are uncertain?
A: self-serving belief distortion
Paper: bit.ly/2Go0tJk

Thread ⬇ 1/

Known:
#Lies are ubiquitous & people often lie for their own benefit or for others (@UriGneezy et al., 2018 AER, Abeler et al., 2019 Ecta)
◈ Reasons (not) to lie: ethical dissonance, image concerns...

--> we take a complementary approach: norm-following considerations
Dec 13, 2018 12 tweets 4 min read
🚨WP on deterrence & optimal design of institutions🚨
(w/ colleagues @econ_uzh @UniCologne @kielinstitute)

RQ: How to design institutions effective at deterring deviant behavior & recidivism?
A: Proper use of swiftness & uncertainty

Paper: bit.ly/2SJ9D63

Thread 1/n Governments use substantial resources to keep society safe and punish people for criminal acts. Mass incarceration is both costly and ineffective.

Understanding how to design proper institutions is important from both the social and economic perspective.