Submission 457
Motivational Versus Cognitive Approaches to Rules and Behavior
SymposiumTalk-01
Presented by: Roland Pfister
Research on behavioral rules and norms has typically adopted a motivational perspective to determine when human agents decide to follow or violate what they ought to do. How rules are represented in the human cognitive system, however, is surprisingly elusive. I will present key findings for a cognitive perspective on rules and norms including key challenges for grounding this perspective in basic approaches to human cognition. In addition to filling a critical gap in the current theoretical landscape, these findings also challenge common narratives that are prevalent in fields such as behavioral economics or public policy by documenting the mind’s striking affinity to any rule or norm.