News by Subject Policy & Ethics

A biological account of human behavior can benefit human welfare and marketing can play a critical role in facilitating public understanding and acceptance of biological causation.

Research from the University of Kent's Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology (DICE) has found that elephant ivory is still being sold on the online marketplace eBay, despite its 10-year-old policy banning the trade in ivory.

The Ben-Gurion U. researchers showed that by using digital "foot-in-the-door" techniques, such as requesting personal information from less important to more private (ascending privacy-intrusion order), websites can successfully entice users to reveal more of their private information. Similarly, by placing each request on consecutive, separate webpages, users are more likely to reveal more private data. Websites can further manipulate their users by spreading out information requests over the course of several pages, rather than consolidating all requests on one page.

A new study has shown that films demonstrating responsible behavior could lead to young drivers taking fewer risks on the road than if they only saw videos aimed at provoking fear of accidents.

New research from a team of scientists at four leading universities has shed new light on the effectiveness of social advertising in specific product categories to learn which product categories tend to benefit more from social advertising, and which may not.

Social media influencers vaping glamorously into their social media feeds are often not doing so for free. And new research suggests that calling out their pay-to-play posts as advertisements in a plain, obvious way might have an impact on young people.

Tobacco control efforts have reduced cigarette smoking for many, but those efforts have disproportionately helped white smokers, while other racial and ethnic groups are still struggling, an Oregon State University researcher's analysis found.

The UNC Charlotte study examined financial penalties imposed by government agencies using a sample of 26 large pharmaceutical firms over 13 years. Results indicated that 22 firms (85%) were penalized for illegal activities with most firms engaging in illegal activities for four or more years. Total penalties imposed during this period were $33 billion. The most common penalties were pricing violations, off-label marketing, and kickbacks. Four firms had no penalties assessed during the period.