Café Scientifique is a place where, for the price of a cup of coffee or a glass of wine, anyone can come to explore the latest ideas in science and technology.
Meetings take place in cafes, bars, restaurants or even theatres, but always outside a traditional academic context.
The first Cafés Scientifique in the UK were held in Leeds in 1998. From there, cafes gradually spread across the country. Currently, some 70 cafés meet regularly to hear scientists or writers talk about their work and discuss it with diverse audiences.
Café Scientifique is a forum for debating science issues, not a shop window for science. We are committed to promoting public engagement with science and to making science accountable.
Our monthly meetings take place on the first Monday of the month at 7pm.
If you wish to be informed about future events, then please email one of the organisers and we will happily add you to our email list.
Meet the Organisers
How 'norms' shape our behaviour
Speaker: Dr Zvonimir Basic
How 'norms' shape our behaviour
Monday, 2nd March 2026, 7pm
Waterstones Glasgow, Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow G2 3EW
People often share money with complete strangers, even when there’s nothing in it for them. They contribute to public causes despite knowing their individual contribution won’t really make a difference. And many avoid lying for personal gain even when no one could possibly find out. So what drives this kind of behaviour?
A key common driver in these situations are ‘norms’: the unwritten rules that guide everyday life. Some are ‘injunctive’ norms – group beliefs about what behaviour is appropriate. Some are ‘descriptive’ norms – how people usually act in a situation. And some are ‘personal’ norms – the standards we hold ourselves to, even in private.
These topics have occupied social scientists for decades, yet recent years have brought many important advances. We now have a better understanding of how to quantify norms, how they matter across different contexts, how we might use them to influence behaviour, and also how norm-based interventions might backfire.
In this talk, Dr Basic will discuss these issues from the perspective of a behavioural and experimental economist - and introduce us to the complex yet powerful human driver of norms.
Dr Zvonimir Bašić is a Lecturer in Economics at the University of Glasgow Adam Smith Business School and Director of the Glasgow Experimental Lab (GaEL). He studied in Croatia and Germany, and earned his PhD from the University of Bonn in 2018. He is a behavioural and experimental economist whose research focuses foremost on uncovering the foundations of prosocial, cooperative, and moral behaviour – and on understanding how these behaviours can be shaped. To address his research questions, he primarily conducts behavioural studies with human participants.
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