ABSTRACT
This chapter suggests that a very different model of self-defeating consumption—a model that views transgressors as suffering from a debilitating physiological condition stemming from exogenous factors beyond their control. From a social-policy perspective, shows that childhood interventions that prevent neurological damage or ameliorate its effects provide a sizeable social return on investment. The research question for marketing concerns whether the popularization of bioscience will bridge the chasm between science and lay belief. The rousing time to examine the intersection of agency and policy due to developments in neuroscience and genetics that offer causal models of human traits and behavior. From a consumer-policy perspective, pervasive beliefs about human agency place constraints on the ability of policy makers to enact autonomy-threatening rules. However, government intervention requires investment, investment requires public consent, and public consent is dependent on the perceived necessity of intervention versus the sufficiency of self-control, determination, and other traits that are inherent in the autonomous-person view of humanity.
