Efficiency, equality and reciprocity in social preferences: A comparison of students and a representative population.

The debate between Engelmann and Strobel (2004, 2006) and Fehr, Naef, and Schmidt (2006) highlights the important question of the extent to which lab experiments on student populations can serve to identify the motivational forces present in society at large. We address this question by comparing the lab behavior of a student group and a non-student group, where the non-student group on all observable factors is almost identical to the representative adult population in Norway. All participants take part in exactly the same lab experiment. Our study shows that students may not be informative of the role of social preferences in the broader population. We nd that the representative participants differ fundamentally from students both in their level of selfishness and in the relative importance assigned to different moral motives. It is also interesting to note that while we do not find any substantial gender differences among the students, males and females in the representative group differ fundamentally in their moral motivation.Representative sample; Social preferences; Laboratory experiment.

Social Preferences in the Lab: A Comparison of Students and a Representative Population

Can lab experiments on student populations serve to identify the motivational forces present in society at large? We address this question by conducting, to our knowledge, the first study of social preferences that brings a nationally representative population into the lab, and we compare their behavior to the behavior of different student populations. Our study shows that students may not be informative of the role of social preferences in the broader population. We find that the representative participants differ fundamentally from students both in their level of selfishness and in the relative importance assigned to different moral motives. It is also interesting to note that while we do not find any substantial gender differences among the students, males and females in the representative group differ fundamentally in their moral motivation.social preferences, representative population, dictator game, trust game

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Social preferences in the lab: A comparison of students and a representative population

Can lab experiments on student populations serve to identify the motivational forces present in society at large? We address this question by conducting, to our knowledge, the first study of social preferences that brings a nationally representative population into the lab, and we compare their behavior to the behavior of different student populations. Our study shows that students may not be informative of the role of social preferences in the broader population. We find that the representative participants differ fundamentally from students both in their level of selfishness and in the relative importance assigned to different moral motives. It is also interesting to note that while we do not find any substantial gender differences among the students, males and females in the representative group differ fundamentally in their moral motivation

How the public understands news media trust: An open-ended approach

Despite the central role that ordinary citizens play as ‘trustors’ (i.e. the actor that places trust) in the literature on news media trust, prior quantitative studies have paid little attention to how ordinary citizens understand and define news media trust. Here, trust tends to be studied from a researcher-defined – rather than an audience-defined – perspective. To address this gap, we investigate how the public describes news media trust in their own words by asking them directly. We analyse 1500 written responses collected through a Norwegian online probability-based survey, here using a semisupervised quantitative text analysis technique called structural topic modelling (STM). We find that citizens’ own understanding of news media trust can be categorised into four distinct topics that, in some instances, are comparable to academic and professional discourse. We show that citizens’ written descriptions of news media trust vary by many of the same variables that prior research has found to be important predictors of levels of trust. Respondents’ written descriptions of news media trust vary by education and satisfaction with democracy but not other known predictors of trust, such as ideological self-placement and political preferences.publishedVersio

Organic Food and Health: A new project to study the effects of plant cultivation methods (organic and conventional) on nutritional value, health and reproduction in an animal experiment

Many consumers believe that food from plants grown under certain conditions, such as organic agriculture, will benefit health more than conventional food. This cannot be determined simply by analysing the material, since our understanding of the connections between food components and health is still to imprecise for such a purpose. Rather than waiting until basic research provides the knowledge needed for this approach, in the spring of 2001 we have initiated a project to study physiological effects of plant quality directly, in an animal experiment. The following cultivation treatments are used to grow plants that are typical ingredients for a human diet (potato, mature peas, kale, spring wheat, oilseed rape, carrots and apples): 1. A model of a distinct conventional cultivation system, with high input of mineral nutrients and use of as much pesticides as is allowed. 2. A model of a distinct organic cultivation system, with low input of organic plant nutrients and no use of pesticides. 3. A combination of model 1 and 2, with low input of nutrients and use of pesticides. The materials from each cultivation treatment will be thoroughly characterised, by measuring contents of nutrients (protein, minerals, energy content, vitamins), the biological value of major protein sources of feed plants will be assessed, selected secondary metabolites including known anti-nutrients will be measured and other quality indicators will be assessed including biocrystallization. Based on these results, 3 feed mixtures will be prepared, either based on defined weight percentages of each material from each treatment, or, if large variation in biological value is found, one or two feed mixtures can be adjusted to provide the same availability of protein and energy as the reference treatment (model 1). Potato, mature peas and kale will be cooked and freeze-dried, wheat is ground and baked to biscuits, oil is produced from the rapeseed, and raw carrots and apples are shredded and freeze dried, before feed pellets with the desired composition are prepared from the material. Three groups of rats are each provided one of the dietary treatments during 2.5 generation, and reproductive characteristics and performance are recorded. Subgroups of the last generation are selected for an intensive study in which uptake and excretion of energy and protein and selected micronutrients are determined. Respiration trials are performed to assess the energy metabolism, and simultaneous measurements of the activity levels of the rats are performed. In addition, blood and tissue samples of the rats will be obtained to study the effect of the dietary treatments on the immunological and antioxidant status of the rats. Data from the experiments are assembled and analysed using relevant statistical models, and the relationship to the nutritional characteristics of the plant material is described. Funding for the core project for a 4-year period is secured from the Danish Research Centre for Organic Farming (DARCOF). However, the intention is to provide a platform for international collaboration, since the well-documented material of plants and animals can provide multiple opportunities for associated projects. To investigate other aspects of plant composition or health than what is foreseen in the present project, or to follow up on it with additional experiments

How Integrated Ocean governance in the Barents Sea was created by a drive for increased oil production

-The Norwegian integrated management plan for the Lofoten–Barents Sea areas (BSMP) was initiated in 2002 following an international push for implementing ecosystem-based management, as well as a national drive to make new areas available for petroleum exploitation.. Governance of the plan was achieved through an inter-ministerial steering group working through its underlying institutions that have been tasked to work together during both development and implementation. This has achieved a high degree of integration across sectors and between government levels. Having the dual objectives of sustainable exploitation and conservation gives rise to a conflict over whether or not to allow petroleum industry access to the ecologically most valuable and vulnerable areas. There was an attempt at resolving this conflict by acquiring more knowledge, but the conflict is fundamentally a value-based question, which is impossible to resolve by gathering empirical knowledge alone. Nevertheless, the BSMP has been a positive vehicle for increasing the legitimacy of the complex decisions a modern society has to take in the management of ocean resources