Tag Archives: Governance

Cases

Voting at Stanford: A glimpse into the democracy day

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It is Election Day, and these photos capture an intriguing scene for those who may wonder how American students engage in voting. Here, a line of students stretches out the door, each person waiting patiently to cast their vote—a sight that demonstrates just how seriously these young adults take their role in shaping the future.

Yet, some students saw the long queue ahead questioned: “Does my vote really matter?” and “Do I really make a difference?” These sentiments resonate with many, reflecting the common struggle between civic duty and individual doubt.

Ultimately, these snapshots remind me that, despite geographical and cultural differences, the act of voting holds a universal significance. Whether here in Stanford or in Korea, each vote really matters, which is why it is essential to inspire people to visit the voting centers and participate in the electoral process.

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Reference

Bond, Robert M., Christopher J. Fariss, Jason J. Jones, Adam D. I. Kramer, Cameron Marlow, Jaime E. Settle, and James H. Fowler (2012), “A 61-Million-Person Experiment in Social Influence and Politicial Mobilization,” Nature, 489, 295-298.

Human behaviour is thought to spread through face-to-face social networks, but it is difficult to identify social influence effects in observational studies, and it is unknown whether online social networks operate in the same way. Here we report results from a randomized controlled trial of political mobilization messages delivered to 61 million Facebook users during the 2010 US congressional elections. The results show that the messages directly influenced political self-expression, information seeking and real-world voting behaviour of millions of people. Furthermore, the messages not only influenced the users who received them but also the users’ friends, and friends of friends. The effect of social transmission on real-world voting was greater than the direct effect of the messages themselves, and nearly all the transmission occurred between ‘close friends’ who were more likely to have a face-to-face relationship. These results suggest that strong ties are instrumental for spreading both online and real-world behaviour in human social networks.

Cases

From push to wave: How California crosswalks adapt to post-pandemic needs

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Crosswalk signals in Mountain View, California, have undergone an important upgrade. The old system required pedestrians and cyclists to press a button to activate the walk signal. For cyclists, this often meant stopping and dismounting, creating an inconvenience.

In contrast, the new system is a touchless design that allows pedestrians and cyclists to wave their hand to activate the signal. Regardless of whether it is Guardian Wave or nxtCycle Wave, this improvement makes it more convenient for everyone, especially cyclists who no longer need to stop and manually press a button.

This shift may also reflect changing attitudes towards physical touch in public spaces after the COVID-19 pandemic. Consumer researchers highlighted the importance of the “need for touch,” but this need may have diminished as people increasingly avoid touching shared surfaces. The new touch-less crosswalk system may be an adaptation to this evolving preference, signaling a broader trend toward touchless design in public spaces.

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Reference

Peck, J., & Childers, T. L. (2003). Individual differences in haptic information processing: The “need for touch” scale. Journal of consumer research, 30(3), 430-442.

This research details the development of the “Need for Touch” (NFT) scale designed to measure individual differences in preference for haptic (touch) information. The 12-item NFT scale consists of autotelic and instrumental dimensions. Results are reported that support the scale’s hypothesized internal structure as well as its reliability, convergent, discriminant, and nomological validity. Individual differences in chronic accessibility to haptic information across groups varying in NFT were also found in two experiments. Additionally, NFT moderated the relationship between direct experience and confidence in judgment.

Cases

Psychology behind dynamic toll pricing in California

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A recent drive on an express lane showed tolls as high as $9 to Broadway and $10 to I-380, depending on the real-time traffic conditions. The price for using the same road is not predetermined but decided on the spot.

Dynamic tolls or congestion pricing may adjust based on traffic volume, creating an anchor for drivers to evaluate the value of the express lane. If traffic is heavy, the higher toll can feel worth it when compared to the frustration of sitting in congestion.

Mental accounting, the tendency to categorize resources such as money and time, is a key principle at work. The price is not just about the toll but about the potential loss of time stuck in traffic. During a stressful commute, paying $10 to save several minutes is appealing. The system uses behavioral cues to nudge drivers into seeing the express lane as a valuable, time-saving option. This differentiated road pricing taps into our varying perceptions of time.

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Reference

Soman, D. (2001). The mental accounting of sunk time costs: Why time is not like money. Journal of behavioral decision making, 14(3), 169-185.

The sunk-cost effect, an irrational attention to non-recoverable past costs while making current decisions, has been documented widely in the domain of monetary costs. In this paper, I study the effect of past time investments on current decisions. In three experiments using choice situations, I demonstrate that the sunk-cost effect is not observed for past investments of time, but the effect reappears when the investments are expressed as monetary quantities. I further propose that this ‘pseudo-rationality’ is due to the fact that individuals lack the ability to account for time in the same way as they account for money. In two additional experiments, I facilitate the accounting of time and show that the irrational sunk-cost effect reappears. In a final experiment, I test my propositions in a setting where subjects make real investments of time and subsequently make real choices.