Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures and Tables
- Preface
- 1 Economic Development, Interdependence, and Incentives
- 2 Games
- 3 Development Traps and Coordination Games
- 4 Rural Poverty, Development, and the Environment
- 5 Risk, Solidarity Networks, and Reciprocity
- 6 Understanding Agrarian Institutions
- 7 Savings, Credit, and Microfinance
- 8 Social Learning and Technology Adoption
- 9 Property Rights, Governance, and Corruption
- 10 Conflict, Violence, and Development
- 11 Social Capital
- 12 The Political Economy of Trade and Development
- Appendix
- Exercises for Interested Readers
- References
- Index
8 - Social Learning and Technology Adoption
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 September 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures and Tables
- Preface
- 1 Economic Development, Interdependence, and Incentives
- 2 Games
- 3 Development Traps and Coordination Games
- 4 Rural Poverty, Development, and the Environment
- 5 Risk, Solidarity Networks, and Reciprocity
- 6 Understanding Agrarian Institutions
- 7 Savings, Credit, and Microfinance
- 8 Social Learning and Technology Adoption
- 9 Property Rights, Governance, and Corruption
- 10 Conflict, Violence, and Development
- 11 Social Capital
- 12 The Political Economy of Trade and Development
- Appendix
- Exercises for Interested Readers
- References
- Index
Summary
Imitation is the sincerest flattery.
– Mahatma GandhiIN 1968, SOCIAL psychologist Philip Zimbardo conducted a novel experiment. With the assistance of his graduate students from New York University, he bought a used 1959 Oldsmobile and left it on the street in the Bronx, hood up and license plates removed. The same experiment was repeated near the Stanford University campus in Palo Alto, California.
From a hidden position behind a nearby apartment window, Zimbardo and his students continuously monitored the abandoned car in the Bronx. What they observed over the next sixty-four hours astounded them. Within ten minutes, the Oldsmobile encountered its first, and rather unlikely, group of assailants: a family of three – father, mother, and 8-year-old son. While the mother acted as a lookout, the 8-year-old helped his father remove the battery and the radiator. Shortly after, a steady procession of passersby proceeded to remove the air cleaner, radio antenna, windshield wipers, chrome strips, hubcaps, and other sundry parts and accessories. After about nine hours, random destruction of the Oldsmobile began: A couple of laughing teenagers ripped off the rearview mirror and hurled it at the windshield and headlights. Reminiscent of a scene from Lord of the Flies, a group of smaller children began indiscriminately smashing the car's windows and slashing its tires. At the end of the sixty-four hours, the 1959 Oldsmobile was a mere shadow of its former self, a useless carcass of twisted metal, the victim of no less than twenty-three incidents of theft and vandalism.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Games in Economic Development , pp. 122 - 146Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2007