This paper is an attempt to broaden the standard economic discourse by importing insights into human behaviour not just from psychology, but also from sociology and anthropology. Whereas the concept of the decision maker is the rational actor in standard economics and, in early work in behavioural economics, the quasi-rational actor influenced by the context of the moment of decision-making, in some recent work in behavioural economics the decision-maker could be called the enculturated actor. This actor's preferences and cognition are subject to two deep social influences: (a) the social contexts to which he has become exposed and especially accustomed; and (b) the cultural mental models - including categories, identities, narratives and worldviews - that he uses to process information.

The authors trace how these factors shape individual behaviour through the endogenous determination of both preferences and the lenses through which individuals see the world - their perception, categorisation and interpretation of situations. The paper presents a tentative taxonomy of the social determinants of behaviour and describes results of controlled and natural experiments that only a broader view of the social determinants of behaviour can plausibly explain. The perspective suggests new tools to promote well-being and economic development.