In this week’s second research seminar session, Poorvi Iyer from the London School of Economics will join us to present and discuss her paper.

Title: “Social Scrutiny in India – An online survey experiment to examine the effect of social scrutiny on identity-related behaviour in India.”

Date: 16 June 2022

Time: 5 pm

Venue: Seminar Hall, Main Building

Objective: The study’s overall aim is to examine how behavioural intent varies with social scrutiny in India. We select three social identities that are salient in South Asia (caste, gender, and religion) and, based on our prior qualitative research, we identify various behaviours which are influenced by these identities (e.g., intercaste and inter-religious contact, gendered displays of deference, compliance with norms of propriety, etc.). We then ask the overarching question:

How do these behaviours vary with social scrutiny?

The present study is our first attempt to address this question systematically. The study itself is currently data analysis stage following a pilot phase. It consists of an online survey experiment in which 1200 participants (college students and recent graduates in India) were asked to answer the same set of questions under different conditions of hypothetical scrutiny.

About the author: Poorvi is a PhD candidate in Social Research Methods supervised by Dr Flora Cornish and Dr Eleanor Power.

She holds a BA in Economics and Psychology from New York University (NYU) and an MSc in Economics and Business (with a specialisation in behavioural economics) from Erasmus University Rotterdam in the Netherlands and a second MSc in Social Research Methods at the London School of Economics. Additionally, she has research experience in the field of behavioural economics at institutions like NYU, the University of Mumbai and ETH Zurich. Her research interests lie in mixed-methods applications of behavioural economics and social psychology toward understanding intergroup discrimination in India.