  Language can exert a strong influence on human behaviour. In experimental
studies, it is for example well-known that the framing of an experiment or
priming at the beginning of an experiment can alter participants' behaviour.
However, few studies have been conducted to determine why framing or priming
specific words can alter people's behaviour. Here, we show that the behaviour
of participants in a game-theoretical experiment is driven mainly by social
norms, and that participants' adherence to different social norms is influenced
by the exposure to economic terminology. To explore how these
terminology-driven changes impact behavior at the system level, we use
established frameworks for modeling collective cooperative behaviour. We find
that economic terminology induces a behavioural difference which is larger than
that caused by financial incentives in the magnitude usually employed in
experiments and simulation. These findings place an increased responsibility on
scientists and science communicators, as scientific terminology is increasingly
communicated to the general population.
