There has been plenty of shame since the 80's, it didn't stop HIV then and it's not suddenly going to start working now.

You were marked as [dead] btw. Have vouched.

Is shame especially effective at preventing irrational behavior? Is there anything in your life you would be doing differently if you were a 100% rational agent with unlimited willpower? If so, do you ever feel ashamed when you fall short?

To your last two questions: Yes and yes.

Then your answer to the first question is no? Or am I misunderstanding?

I didn't answer that question because I'm less certain that I know what I'm talking about. Sure, shame motivates. Maybe fear of shame could even be called a strong motivator? I don't know. Is it "especially" effective? Maybe. Compared to what? I feel like you could answer that with some experiments and better, more precise definitions.

I didn't write the foregoing at first because it's a pretty boring answer. To contrast, your last two questions are in essence asking if I could be a better person. That's a no-brained.

Both divorce and out-of-wedlock births (and sexually transmitted infections) are highest, in the U.S., within the southern evangelical communities that most readily practice exactly the sort of shaming and stigmatizing you're talking about.

> Both divorce and out-of-wedlock births (and sexually transmitted infections) are highest, in the U.S., within the southern evangelical communities

I was skeptical, but yeah that looks pretty much true for divorce in the Midwest / South (in 2000), at least:

https://www.bgsu.edu/ncfmr/resources/data/original-data/coun...

Here's a study that found "Increased religiosity in residents of states in the U.S. strongly predicted a higher teen birth rate.... With data aggregated at the state level, conservative religious beliefs strongly predict U.S. teen birth rates, in a relationship that does not appear to be the result of confounding by income or abortion rates. One possible explanation for this relationship is that teens in more religious communities may be less likely to use contraception."

https://reproductive-health-journal.biomedcentral.com/articl...