The Experts below are selected from a list of 81210 Experts worldwide ranked by ideXlab platform
Sylvie Thoron - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Morality Beyond Social Preferences: Smithian Sympathy, Social Neuroscience and the Nature of Social Consciousness
Œconomia - History Methodology Philosophy, 2016Co-Authors: Sylvie ThoronAbstract:The theory of Social preferences expanded the definition of the utility function in order to reproduce the proSocial behavior observed in experiments. Does this then mean that this is the route towards a positive theory of morality in economics? We do not think so. Our claim is that there is an epistemic contradiction between methodological individualism which assumes that the economic agent's rationality is autonomous from society, and the nature of Social Consciousness. Therefore, we argue that a positive theory of morality should rely on Social mechanisms that could not fit in this framework. We give two examples of lines of research that go in this direction. The first one is drawn from 18th century moral philosophy, this is the approach adopted by Adam Smith in The Theory of Moral Sentiments. The other one is drawn from a very recent domain of research, that of Social neuroscience. We show how, in both cases, the objective is not only to understand how moral judgements shape behavior but also to get an understanding of how people form these moral judgements. Smith's thought and recent developments in Social neuroscience seem to be mutually illuminating on this second aspect. Smith's model is an essential model of a moral agent embedded in society. The sympathy operator and the impartial spectator find an echo in the way in which Social neuroscience tries to understand how emotional and cognitive empathy intermesh. Furthermore, Social neuroscience attempts to go further in the understanding of the complex empathy mechanism, by considering it as a learning process.
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Morality Beyond Social Preferences: Smithian Sympathy, Social Neuroscience and the Nature of Social Consciousness [La moralité au delà des préférences Sociales. La sympathie Smithienne, les neurosciences Sociales et la nature d’une conscience Sociale
2016Co-Authors: Sylvie ThoronAbstract:The theory of Social preferences expanded the definition of the utility function in order to reproduce the proSocial behavior observed in experiments. Does this then mean that this is the route towards a positive theory of morality in economics? We do not think so. Our claim is that there is an epistemic contradiction between methodological individualism which assumes that the economic agent's rationality is autonomous from society, and the nature of Social Consciousness. Therefore, we argue that a positive theory of morality should rely on Social mechanisms that could not fit in this framework. We give two examples of lines of research that go in this direction. The first one is drawn from 18th century moral philosophy, this is the approach adopted by Adam Smith in The Theory of Moral Sentiments. The other one is drawn from a very recent domain of research, that of Social neuroscience. We show how, in both cases, the objective is not only to understand how moral judgements shape behavior but also to get an understanding of how people form these moral judgements. Smith's thought and recent developments in Social neuroscience seem to be mutually illuminating on this second aspect. Smith's model is an essential model of a moral agent embedded in society. The sympathy operator and the impartial spectator find an echo in the way in which Social neuroscience tries to understand how emotional and cognitive empathy intermesh. Furthermore, Social neuroscience attempts to go further in the understanding of the complex empathy mechanism, by considering it as a learning process.
Barbara J. Grosz - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Socially Conscious Decision-Making
Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems, 2003Co-Authors: Alyssa Glass, Barbara J. GroszAbstract:For individually motivated agents to work collaboratively to satisfy shared goals, they must make decisions about actions and intentions that take into account their commitments to group activities. This paper examines the role of Social Consciousness in the process of reconciling intentions to do group-related actions with other, conflicting intentions. We operationalize the notion of Social Consciousness and provide a first attempt to formally add Social Consciousness to a cooperative decision-making model. We define a measure of Social Consciousness; describe its incorporation into the SPIRE experimental system, a simulation environment that allows the process of intention reconciliation in team contexts to be studied; and present results of several experiments that investigate the interaction in decision-making of measures of group and individual good. In particular, we investigate the effect of varying levels of Social Consciousness on the utility of the group and the individuals it comprises. A key finding is that an intermediate level of Social Consciousness yields better results in certain circumstances than an extreme commitment. We suggest preliminary principles for designers of collaborative agents based on the results.
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The Influence of Social Norms and Social Consciousness on Intention Reconciliation
Artificial Intelligence, 2002Co-Authors: Barbara J. Grosz, Sarit Kraus, David G. Sullivan, Sanmay DasAbstract:Abstract Research on resource-bounded agents has established that rational agents need to be able to revise their commitments in light of new opportunities. In the context of collaborative activities, rational agents must be able to reconcile their intentions to do team-related actions with other, conflicting intentions. The SPIRE experimental system allows the process of intention reconciliation in team contexts to be simulated and studied. Initial work with SPIRE examined the impact of environmental factors and agent utility functions on individual and group outcomes in the context of one set of Social norms governing collaboration. This paper extends those results by further studying the effect of environmental factors and the agents' level of Social Consciousness and by comparing the impact of two different types of Social norms on agent behavior and outcomes. The results show that the choice of Social norms influences the accuracy of the agents' responses to varying environmental factors, as well as the effectiveness of Social Consciousness and other aspects of agents' utility functions. In experiments using heterogeneous groups of agents, both sets of norms were susceptible to the free-rider effect. However, the gains of the less responsible agents were minimal, suggesting that agent designers would have little incentive to design agents that deviate from the standard level of responsibility to the group.
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Agents - Socially conscious decision-making
Proceedings of the fourth international conference on Autonomous agents - AGENTS '00, 2000Co-Authors: Alyssa Glass, Barbara J. GroszAbstract:For individually motivated agents to work collaboratively to satisfy shared goals, they must make decisions about actions and intentions that take into account their commitments to group activities. This paper examines the role of Social Consciousness in the process of reconciling intentions to do group-related actions with other, conflicting intentions. We operationalize the notion of Social Consciousness and provide a first attempt to formally add Social Consciousness to a cooperative decision-making model. We define a measure of Social Consciousness; describe its incorporation into the SPIRE experimental system, a simulation environment that allows the process of intention reconciliation in team contexts to be studied; and present results of several experiments that investigate the interaction in decision-making of measures of group and individual good. In particular, we investigate the effect of varying levels of Social Consciousness on the utility of the group and the individuals it comprises. A key finding is that an intermediate level of Social Consciousness yields better results in certain circumstances than an extreme commitment. We suggest preliminary principles for designers of collaborative agents based on the results.
Nikolaos Georgantzis - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Market Effects of Changes in Consumers' Social Responsibility
Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, 2009Co-Authors: Aurora García-gallego, Nikolaos GeorgantzisAbstract:In a duopoly model of vertical differentiation, we study market equilibrium and the resulting Social welfare following an increase in the consumer's willingness to pay (WTP) for products sold by Socially responsible manufacturers. Different types of such changes emerge depending on their effects on consumer heterogeneity. We show that, in most cases, increases in the consumers' Social Consciousness yield higher profits to Socially responsible firms and may lead to higher levels of Social welfare, provided that the market structure is left unchanged. However, when an increase in the consumer's Social Consciousness changes the market structure, welfare may fall, while the duopolists' profits rise. The resulting tension between private and Social interest calls for a cautious attitude toward information campaigns aimed at increasing the consumer's Social Consciousness.
Wybe Popma - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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A practical approach for developing Social Consciousness and responsibility in marketing students
Responsible People, 2019Co-Authors: Veronique Boulocher-passet, Francisca Farache, Nadia Lonsdale, Wybe PopmaAbstract:This chapter discusses what being Socially conscious means for marketers and draws on the experience of developing CSR and sustainability education at a UK business school, to gain understanding of the role universities can play in enhancing future marketing managers’ sense of Social Consciousness and responsibility. Literature shows that Socially conscious marketing practices are no longer just a ‘perk’ or selling point for PR purposes. Both from a business and profitability standpoint, and also from a moral standpoint, being Socially conscious should be a requirement. Marketing education has a role in helping students develop their Consciousness of society. If marketing educators fail to integrate those dimensions into their teaching, they will fail to prepare students to be responsible members of the marketing community. A case study method was used to enhance discussion. Qualitative data were collected via interviews of different protagonists within the business school to capture how they incorporate CSR and sustainability issues into their marketing curriculum. Analysis shows that, beyond creating explicit student opportunities around CSR, universities can play an active role in embedding Social Consciousness and responsibility as part of their own strategic plan. Educating students to be responsible individuals and become responsible managers who will affect their world in the best possible way.
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Developing marketing students' Social Consciousness: Experience at Brighton Business School
2017Co-Authors: Veronique Boulocher-passet, Francisca Farache Aureliano Da Silva, Wybe PopmaAbstract:In this paper, the authors share and discuss their experience of how the marketing subject team of lecturers at Brighton Business School brings Social concerns at the heart of their teaching, both at undergraduate and postgraduate level, in an attempt to develop students’ Social Consciousness and train Social and environmental leaders of the future with a big- picture vision of the systems they will have to work within. There is a need for marketers who can drive change at organisations by coming up with new product or service ideas supported by business models that also help to address societal needs (Doyle, 2008). Addressing grand societal challenges demands a new kind of innovation, changing existing Social paradigms, innovations that must create new Social networks and capacities that evolve into new Social structures and systems (Benneworth & Cunha, 2015). This corresponds to a shift in society’s expectations of business, forcing marketing educators to retool curriculum content (Borin & Metcalf, 2010). All the more since marketing has often been perceived as part of the problem rather than the solution to societal problems such as pollution, overconsumption, the depletion of natural resources, unhealthy lifestyles, and human rights abuses (Rowntree & Koernig, 2014). If developing learners’ capacities for Social innovation has become part of universities’ objectives, and if particular courses have been designed in business schools to develop students as agents of change (Nicholls et al., 2013; Hesselbarth & Schaltegger, 2014), the biggest part of core marketing modules taught in business schools throughout America and Europe still consist nowadays of strategic marketing, principles of marketing, marketing research, and marketing communications (Kuster & Vila, 2006). The field of nonprofit or Social service marketing is more rarely included (Harrigan & Hulbert, 2011). How can marketing lecturers focus on the areas of “people” and “planet” that appear to be lacking in their subject as most commonly taught? This communication is divided into five sections. First, the authors briefly review what Social Consciousness consists of and why it is of importance to marketing learners. The authors then report, as marketing faculty members at Brighton Business School, their own experience of how they tried and developed marketing students’ Social Consciousness in their modules and courses. First author describes how she, as marketing lecturer, embedded Social matters into traditional modules of strategic marketing and international marketing at Masters’ level. Second and third author explain, as MSc in marketing and BSc business with marketing course leaders, how ethics, CSR, sustainability, Social marketing and other Social matters were integrated within their courses, both at postgraduate and undergraduate level. The final section contains discussion and conclusions.
Aubrey Kent - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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The Roles of Credibility and Social Consciousness in the Corporate Philanthropy-Consumer Behavior Relationship
Journal of Business Ethics, 2012Co-Authors: Matthew C. Walker, Aubrey KentAbstract:The attention paid to the influence of organizational philanthropy on consumer responses has precipitated a shift in the role this practice plays in organizational dynamics—with philanthropy becoming an increasingly strategic marketing tool. The authors develop and test a model predicting that: (1) perceived organizational credibility will mediate the relationship between awareness of philanthropy and the outcomes of advocacy and financial sacrifice; (2) consumer Social Consciousness will moderate the relationship between awareness of philanthropy and firm credibility, and between credibility and the outcome variables; and (3) these moderated relationships will be mediated by perceived credibility. Data obtained from a sample of professional golf patrons support our assertions. Notably, the findings implicate perceived credibility as a key intervening variable in the hypothesized relationships for the PGA Tour.