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Littering and Government Ethics
Tuesday, January 4th, 2011
Robert Wechsler
Sometimes concepts derived from one area of study, for one purpose, can
be valuable in another area of study, for another purpose. This is true
of the concepts of "injunctive norm" and "descriptive norm" derived by social psychology professor Robert Cialdini of Arizona State University for
use in the area of persuading people not to do certain things, such as litter.
An "injunctive norm," according to one of Cialdini's essays, involves "perceptions of which behaviors are typically approved or disapproved."
A "descriptive norm" involves perceptions of which behaviors are typically performed or not performed.
Cialdini did a series of experiments with littering in parking garages. He found that people were less likely to litter when the garage was clean than when it was dirty, even after observing someone else littering. The idea is that an individual littering in a clean garage is unusual, a breaker of both the injunctive and descriptive norms. But an individual littering in a dirty garage is someone doing as others do, that is, following the descriptive norm, even if there is an injunctive norm, a law, that shows there is disapproval of the conduct.
The application to government ethics is clear. In a poor ethics environment (that is, where the descriptive norm does not follow the injunctive norm), when an official sees another official violating an ethics provision, he is more likely to do the same than he would in a good ethics environment.
Some might ask, but how often does an official see another official violating an ethics provision? The answer is, at least in a poor ethics environment, every day. In fact, all the time. The central unethical act in a poor ethics environment is not voting with a conflict or accepting a gift from a developer. It is saying and doing nothing when these things occur.
In a good ethics environment, ethical decision-making is discussed out in the open. Officials are encouraged to raise ethics issues and analyze, even criticize, what others are doing, or even better, thinking of doing, or not doing. In a clean parking garage like this, people don't even think of littering. In fact, they pick up others' litter.
Robert Wechsler
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics
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An "injunctive norm," according to one of Cialdini's essays, involves "perceptions of which behaviors are typically approved or disapproved."
A "descriptive norm" involves perceptions of which behaviors are typically performed or not performed.
Cialdini did a series of experiments with littering in parking garages. He found that people were less likely to litter when the garage was clean than when it was dirty, even after observing someone else littering. The idea is that an individual littering in a clean garage is unusual, a breaker of both the injunctive and descriptive norms. But an individual littering in a dirty garage is someone doing as others do, that is, following the descriptive norm, even if there is an injunctive norm, a law, that shows there is disapproval of the conduct.
The application to government ethics is clear. In a poor ethics environment (that is, where the descriptive norm does not follow the injunctive norm), when an official sees another official violating an ethics provision, he is more likely to do the same than he would in a good ethics environment.
Some might ask, but how often does an official see another official violating an ethics provision? The answer is, at least in a poor ethics environment, every day. In fact, all the time. The central unethical act in a poor ethics environment is not voting with a conflict or accepting a gift from a developer. It is saying and doing nothing when these things occur.
In a good ethics environment, ethical decision-making is discussed out in the open. Officials are encouraged to raise ethics issues and analyze, even criticize, what others are doing, or even better, thinking of doing, or not doing. In a clean parking garage like this, people don't even think of littering. In fact, they pick up others' litter.
Robert Wechsler
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics
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