Darkfrog submitted, created time 1 year 4 months (www.nytimes.com)

Are there any behavioral scientists out there today? Tell me what you think of this one:

In the fine Thai city of Bangkok, acting Chief of the Crime Suppression Division Pongpat Chayaphan has deliberately or otherwise become a proponent of broken window theory, which fosters the idea that stopping small crimes can discourage big ones. This is probably why instead of jumping straight into big issues like police corruption and extrajudicial killings, he has decided to start small.

In a trial program several months back, police officers who were found to have committed minor infractions, such as littering, parking in the wrong place or other conduct unbecoming a stalwart champion of the law were compelled to wear plaid punishment armbands to instill in them a sense of shame and responsibility.

The trial was ineffective. The officers not only continued their offensive behavior -- they stole the armbands. The Bangkok police department only has one left.

Rather than scrapping the idea, however, Pongpat simply tried another tack. In the next trial, the plain plaid armbands will be replaced with pink Hello Kitty armbands covered with hearts. One Bangkok police officer describes himself as "terrified."

Another idea that I've heard here and there is that the color pink actually fosters less aggressive behavior. I don't remember the studies but a few prisons had certain rooms painted pink.

Keywords: behavior change aggression Social behavior color knowledge crime behavioral science human behavior corruption