Congratulations to SCOOP researchers Marieke Vermue, Félice van Nunspeet, and Naomi Ellemers for their recent knowledge memorandum, produced in collaboration with colleagues from The Netherlands Institute for Social Research (SCP).
In Kennisnotitie: Sociaal denken en doen (Knowledge note: Social thinking and doing), Marieke and her colleagues determine that social factors are more important to understanding human behaviour than governmental policy accounts for.
Social policy assumes that well-informed people make responsible choices rationally and autonomously. However, as Marieke notes, “in real life, people exist primarily in relation to others.” To create effective policies, individuals’ social context needs to be taken into account. This includes: how people derive meaning from group identity; how moral values are formed by one’s social groups; and finally, that in uncertain situations, people look to others to see how they should respond.
The knowledge memorandum advises policymakers that they can ensure more effective communication if social identities and norms are considered; and also, that policy should be designed by taking into account shared responsibility.
You can read more about this research SCOOP helped make possible here (in Dutch).
