Social Identity and Group Contests

OpenAIRE

Zaunbrecher, Henrik; Riedl, Arno

2016-01-01

Social identity has been shown to successfully enhance cooperation and effort in cooperation and coordination games. Little is known about the causal effect of social identity on the propensity to engage in group conflict. In this paper we explore theoretically and experimentally whether social identity increases investments in group contests. We show theoretically that increased social identity with the own group implies higher investments in Tullock contests. Empirically we find that induce...

Simulating social complexity a handbook

CERN Document Server

Meyer, Ruth

2013-01-01

Social systems are among the most complex known. This poses particular problems for those who wish to understand them. The complexity often makes analytic approaches infeasible and natural language approaches inadequate for relating intricate cause and effect. However, individual- and agent-based computational approaches hold out the possibility of new and deeper understanding of such systems.  Simulating Social Complexity examines all aspects of using agent- or individual-based simulation. This approach represents systems as individual elements having each their own set of differing states and internal processes. The interactions between elements in the simulation represent interactions in the target systems. What makes these elements "social" is that they are usefully interpretable as interacting elements of an observed society. In this, the focus is on human society, but can be extended to include social animals or artificial agents where such work enhances our understanding of human society.  The phenom...

Post-Disaster Social Justice Group Work and Group Supervision

Science.gov (United States)

Bemak, Fred; Chung, Rita Chi-Ying

2011-01-01

This article discusses post-disaster group counseling and group supervision using a social justice orientation for working with post-disaster survivors from underserved populations. The Disaster Cross-Cultural Counseling model is a culturally responsive group counseling model that infuses social justice into post-disaster group counseling and…

Naive Theories of Social Groups

Science.gov (United States)

Rhodes, Marjorie

2012-01-01

Four studies examined children's (ages 3-10, Total N = 235) naive theories of social groups, in particular, their expectations about how group memberships constrain social interactions. After introduction to novel groups of people, preschoolers (ages 3-5) reliably expected agents from one group to harm members of the other group (rather than…

Attitudes toward group-based inequality: social dominance or social identity?

Science.gov (United States)

Schmitt, Michael T; Branscombe, Nyla R; Kappen, Diane M

2003-06-01

In five studies we explored how the context in which people think about the social structure and the implications of the social structure for one's in-group affect attitudes toward inequality. In Studies 1 and 2 we found that social dominance orientation (SDO) scores reflect attitudes toward specific types of inequality that are salient in context. Consistent with social identity theory, in Studies 3 to 5 we found that SDO scores reflected the interests of specific group identities. Indeed, when we compared existing privileged and disadvantaged groups, and when we manipulated in-group status, we found that participants held more positive attitudes toward inequality when the in-group was privileged, compared to when the in-group was disadvantaged. Across all of our studies, results were consistent with the contention that attitudes toward inequality are group-specific and depend on the social-structural position of salient in-groups. We discuss the implications of our findings for social dominance theory.

Social Complexity and Nesting Habits Are Factors in the Evolution of Antimicrobial Defences in Wasps

OpenAIRE

Hoggard, Stephen J.; Wilson, Peter D.; Beattie, Andrew J.; Stow, Adam J.

2011-01-01

Microbial diseases are important selective agents in social insects and one major defense mechanism is the secretion of cuticular antimicrobial compounds. We hypothesized that given differences in group size, social complexity, and nest type the secretions of these antimicrobials will be under different selective pressures. To test this we extracted secretions from nine wasp species of varying social complexity and nesting habits and assayed their antimicrobial compounds against cultures of S...

Ability Grouping in Social Studies.

Science.gov (United States)

Social Education, 1992

1992-01-01

Presents a position statement of the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS). Reports that the NCSS objects to ability grouping in social studies. Argues that ability grouping disadvantages minority, handicapped, and low ability students. Suggests that ability grouping undermines the democratic ideals that should be the basis of the social…

THE PROBLEMS OF SOCIALIZATION OF CHILDREN IN A CHILDREN’S MUSICAL GROUP

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Larysa Ostapenko

2017-07-01

Full Text Available The article studies the process of the socialization of children in a musical group. The author has studied diverse factors of the socialization of children and its types (spontaneous socialization; relatively controlled socialization and socially controlled socialization. The author has also given characteristics of creative activity stimulation and described the need to be accepted by peers being realized during the participation in children’s music festivals. The notion of socialization was defined as a complex process of a child’s personality development, especially during the school/teen age, whereby an individual acquires a personal identity and learns the norms, values, behavior, and social skills appropriate to his or her social position in the context of a musical group. Educational work conducted be teachers, family members and society contributes to this process. School education in terms of a musical group consists of activities organised in order to educate personality traits through the organization of practical creative communication. Schoolchildren’s interpersonal relations are always based on social relations. It is proved that the personality development in a children’s musical group is placed in social environment and social communication. The key role belongs here to the motivation and the incentive of the schoolchildren’s creative activity. Creative communication in a children’s musical group turns out to be a powerful inner stimulation for children to fulfil their abilities. It pushes a child towards self-assertion and the gain of authority among peers. The article proves that pedagogical guidance of the creative process can be led professionally only in a well-organised musical group.

Disentangling Memories. Complex (Be)longings and Social Categories

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pedersen, Chistina Hee; Frølunde, Lisbeth

2013-01-01

This presentation analyses the complex workings of social categories in constructions of (be)longing in memories of young university students in Bolivia and Peru. In a methodology course the participants explored how socio economic and socio cultural differences had affected the lives...... belonging to a specific social or racial group. (Be)longing to a specific gendered and radicalised body constitutes in the analysis of these stories an excellent “location,” from which to analyse how socio/cultural and socio/economic categories like class, nationality and age intersect with one another...... to produce insights and consciousness about the socio-cultural impact of sense making processes....

Social group and mobbing

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Baltezarević Vesna

2009-01-01

Full Text Available Our reality, having been subject to the numerous social crises during the last decades of the 20th century, is characterized by frequent incidences of powerlessness and alienation. The man is more frequently a subject to loneliness and overcomes the feeling of worthlessness, no matter whether he considers himself an individual or a part of a whole larger social. Such an environment leads to development of aggression in all fields of ones life. This paper has as an objective the pointing out of the mental harassment that is manifested in the working environment. There is a prevalence of mobbing cases, as a mode of pathological communication. The result of this is that a person, subjected to this kind of abuse, is soon faced with social isolation. This research also aspires to initiate the need for social groups self-organization of which victims are part of. The reaction modality of a social group directly conditions the outcome of the deliberate social drama, one is subjected to it as a result of mobbing.

Sutherland models for complex reflection groups

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Crampe, N.; Young, C.A.S.

2008-01-01

There are known to be integrable Sutherland models associated to every real root system, or, which is almost equivalent, to every real reflection group. Real reflection groups are special cases of complex reflection groups. In this paper we associate certain integrable Sutherland models to the classical family of complex reflection groups. Internal degrees of freedom are introduced, defining dynamical spin chains, and the freezing limit taken to obtain static chains of Haldane-Shastry type. By considering the relation of these models to the usual BC N case, we are led to systems with both real and complex reflection groups as symmetries. We demonstrate their integrability by means of new Dunkl operators, associated to wreath products of dihedral groups

Social dimension and complexity differentially influence brain responses during feedback processing.

Science.gov (United States)

Pfabigan, Daniela M; Gittenberger, Marianne; Lamm, Claus

2017-10-30

Recent research emphasizes the importance of social factors during performance monitoring. Thus, the current study investigated the impact of social stimuli -such as communicative gestures- on feedback processing. Moreover, it addressed a shortcoming of previous studies, which failed to consider stimulus complexity as potential confounding factor. Twenty-four volunteers performed a time estimation task while their electroencephalogram was recorded. Either social complex, social non-complex, non-social complex, or non-social non-complex stimuli were used to provide performance feedback. No effects of social dimension or complexity were found for task performance. In contrast, Feedback-Related Negativity (FRN) and P300 amplitudes were sensitive to both factors, with larger FRN and P300 amplitudes after social compared to non-social stimuli, and larger FRN amplitudes after complex positive than non-complex positive stimuli. P2 amplitudes were solely sensitive to feedback valence and social dimension. Subjectively, social complex stimuli were rated as more motivating than non-social complex ones. Independently of each other, social dimension and visual complexity influenced amplitude variation during performance monitoring. Social stimuli seem to be perceived as more salient, which is corroborated by P2, FRN and P300 results, as well as by subjective ratings. This could be explained due to their given relevance during every day social interactions.

Social Exclusion of Disadvantaged Groups in the Modern Russian Society

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Evelina Ravilevna Galieva

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Social exclusion is both a scientific theory and a socio-political discourse. This paper deals with the study of social exclusion of deprived groups such as drug users, which is based on an analysis of complex issues arising from the spread and use of psychoactive substances. The spread of drug abuse as a phenomenon is the cause of the stigmatization of communities and the exclusion of drug users from societies. The problem carriers are not only patients with drug addiction, but also those who have experience of one-time, episodic experiments with drugs and psychotropic substances. This paper is based on the results of empirical studies, which the subject was the study of drug use practices in modern society. The combination of a quantitative and qualitative strategy for data collection and analysis represented a dynamic accumulation of information at different levels about the object under study – social exclusion of drug users: methods of document analysis were applied such as regulatory legal acts, interviews with drug users and experts in the field of drug use and questionnaire survey, as well as secondary analysis of data from all-Russian sociological research. The social exclusion of deprived groups and ways to overcome it directly depend on the nature of the scenarios for social exclusion, which is the result of the stigmatization of deprived groups.

Social group utility maximization

CERN Document Server

Gong, Xiaowen; Yang, Lei; Zhang, Junshan

2014-01-01

This SpringerBrief explains how to leverage mobile users' social relationships to improve the interactions of mobile devices in mobile networks. It develops a social group utility maximization (SGUM) framework that captures diverse social ties of mobile users and diverse physical coupling of mobile devices. Key topics include random access control, power control, spectrum access, and location privacy.This brief also investigates SGUM-based power control game and random access control game, for which it establishes the socially-aware Nash equilibrium (SNE). It then examines the critical SGUM-b

Group Freedom : A Social Mechanism Account

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hindriks, Frank

2017-01-01

Many existing defenses of group rights seem to rely on the notion of group freedom. To date, however, no adequate analysis of this notion has been offered. Group freedom is best understood in terms of processes of social categorization that are embedded in social mechanisms. Such processes often

Social Identity and Group Contests

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Zaunbrecher, Henrik; Riedl, Arno

2016-01-01

Social identity has been shown to successfully enhance cooperation and effort in cooperation and coordination games. Little is known about the causal effect of social identity on the propensity to engage in group conflict. In this paper we explore theoretically and experimentally whether social

A complex social-ecological disaster: Environmentally induced forced migration.

Science.gov (United States)

Rechkemmer, Andreas; O'Connor, Ashley; Rai, Abha; Decker Sparks, Jessica L; Mudliar, Pranietha; Shultz, James M

2016-01-01

In the 21 st century, global issues are increasingly characterized by inter-connectedness and complexity. Global environmental change, and climate change in particular, has become a powerful driver and catalyst of forced migration and internal displacement of people. Environmental migrants may far outnumber any other group of displaced people and refugees in the years to come. Deeper scientific integration, especially across the social sciences, is a prerequisite to tackle this issue.

Cultural Values in Intergroup and Single-Group Social Dilemmas.

Science.gov (United States)

Probst; Carnevale; Triandis

1999-03-01

Do cultural values influence the manner in which people cooperate with one another? This study assessed cultural characteristics of individuals and then related these characteristics to cooperative behavior in social dilemmas. Participants were assessed for their degree of vertical and horizontal individualism and collectivism, cultural values identified by Triandis (1995). They made choices in either a single-group or an intergroup social dilemma. The single-group dilemma entailed a three-person dilemma; the intergroup dilemma was identical but added subgroup competition, i.e., an opposing three-person group. The results indicated an interaction between cultural characteristics and type of dilemma for cooperation. The single-group versus intergroup effect reported by Bornstein and Ben-Yossef (1994) was replicated, but only for vertical individualists. The vertical individualists were least cooperative in the single-group dilemma but were more cooperative in the intergroup dilemma-where cooperation with the group maximized personal outcomes. The vertical collectivists were most cooperative in the single-group dilemma but were less cooperative in the intergroup dilemma- where group defection resulted in maximum group outcomes. The horizontal individualists and collectivists exhibited an intermediate level of cooperation, with no differences in cooperation between the single-group and intergroup dilemmas. Taken together, the results suggest that the relationship between cultural values and cooperation, in particular with reference to vertical and horizontal components of individualism and collectivism, is more complex than has been suggested in past research. Copyright 1999 Academic Press.

Small group experience for socially withdrawn girls.

Science.gov (United States)

Houck, Gail M; Stember, Lisa

2002-08-01

Social competence is the effectiveness of social interaction behavior. Given its link to mental health outcomes, it is an important consideration in child and adolescent development. Social withdrawal is associated with depression. Socially withdrawn children make few social initiations and tend to be isolated in their play, further limiting their social involvement. To develop effective social behavior, experiences must be provided to learn relationship skills. This practice improvement project provided a small group experience for five socially withdrawn school-age girls. Weekly group meetings provided a social situation in which conversations could occur around a shared snack and craft project. The school nurse facilitated self-assertion and the expression of prosocial behavior in a socially safe (nonrejecting) environment and promoted social problem solving. On completion of the program, the participants not only showed more effective social reasoning and social skills, but developed friendships with each other that lasted beyond the life of the group.

Group Effects on Individual Attitudes Toward Social Responsibility.

Science.gov (United States)

Secchi, Davide; Bui, Hong T M

2018-01-01

This study uses a quasi-experimental design to investigate what happens to individual socially responsible attitudes when they are exposed to group dynamics. Findings show that group engagement increases individual attitudes toward social responsibility. We also found that individuals with low attitudes toward social responsibility are more likely to change their opinions when group members show more positive attitudes toward social responsibility. Conversely, individuals with high attitudes do not change much, independent of group characteristics. To better analyze the effect of group dynamics, the study proposes to split social responsibility into relative and absolute components. Findings show that relative social responsibility is correlated with but different from absolute social responsibility although the latter is more susceptible than the former to group dynamics.

A riot on campus: The effects of social identity complexity on emotions and reparative attitudes after ingroup-perpetrated violence.

Science.gov (United States)

Costabile, Kristi A; Austin, Adrienne B

2018-01-01

When a group commits a transgression, members who identify closely with the group often engage in defensive strategies in which they are less likely to experience guilt and shame in response to the transgression than are less identified group members. Subsequently, highly identified group members are often less willing to offer reparations to the injured parties. Because appropriate emotional responses and reparations are critical to community reconciliation, the present investigation examined whether social identity complexity-the degree to which individuals perceive their multiple social identities as interrelated-reduced these defensive responses. In the aftermath of a campus riot, emotional responses and reparative attitudes of undergraduate students were assessed. Results indicated that individuals who closely identified with the university were in fact capable of experiencing guilt and shame, but only if they also had complex social identities. A path model indicated that emotional responses, in turn, predicted willingness to provide reparations to the campus community. Accordingly, social identity complexity provides a new approach to understanding responses to ingroup-perpetrated violence. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The Dynamics of Hope and Motivations in Groups Working on Complex Societal Issues

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pia Andersson

2016-01-01

Full Text Available This paper reports results from a study of how participants’ sense of personal hope and motivation was affected by a facilitated process in which four groups of people worked on different complex social issues. The group interventions were designed to scaffold increased understanding of the complexity of the chosen issue. A method called The Integral Process for Working on Complex Issues was used in all of the groups. Issues addressed in the four groups were: neighborhood deterioration, lack of community engagement, the need for better strategies for communication between rescue service actors in critical life-and-death situations, and transition to a more environmentally sustainable city. The study investigated the participants’ self-reported changes in their levels of hope regarding the possibility of achieving positive results on the selected issue, and changes in their motivation to engage in work to that end. The data were gathered through interviews with individual group participants before and after the group process. The sessions supported group members to develop more awareness of the complexity of the issues, and to develop strategies for action. The study indicates that the discovery of new potential pathways to manage an issue, through a more comprehensive understanding of the complexity involved, was a key factor influencing levels of hope and motivation. Reports from participants showed that when the participants formulated concrete actions that made sense to them, then “particularized hope” emerged, as well as motivation to continue to engage. Thus, increased levels of hope about a delimited part of the issue were reported, while in some cases, participants reported having less hope about the issue complex as a whole.

Social Exclusion Based on Group Membership is a Form of Prejudice.

Science.gov (United States)

Cooley, Shelby; Elenbaas, Laura; Killen, Melanie

Children around the world are affected by bias, prejudice, and discrimination. In this chapter, we argue that intergroup social exclusion-exclusion of peers on the basis of group membership-is a form of prejudice. As such, research efforts should be directed at uncovering the negative intergroup attitudes that sustain these behaviors, and encouraging the development of children's capacity to resist biases in favor of inclusion and just treatment of others. In order to interpret what is known about intergroup social exclusion in childhood, as well as identify compelling issues for current investigation, we introduce our integrative social reasoning developmental model, which emphasizes how children weigh moral and social concerns in everyday peer contexts. This chapter emphasizes three areas of research that have contributed to understanding social inclusion and exclusion decisions in childhood which include the roles of: (1) intergroup contact and friendship, (2) peer group norms, and (3) messages from parents and teachers. While providing a background on the state of research to date, this chapter also pinpoints recent work, shedding new light on the complex interplay of moral reasoning and intergroup attitudes in children's inclusion and exclusion decisions. © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Stereotypes of Norwegian social groups.

Science.gov (United States)

Bye, Hege H; Herrebrøden, Henrik; Hjetland, Gunnhild J; Røyset, Guro Ø; Westby, Linda L

2014-10-01

We present a pilot study and two main studies that address the nature of stereotypes of social groups in Norway within the framework of the Stereotype Content Model (SCM). The first study focused on stereotypes of a wide range of groups across categories such as gender, age, religious conviction, socioeconomic and health status. The second study focused on stereotypes of immigrant groups. Participants (n = 244 and n = 63, respectively) rated the groups on perceived warmth, competence, status, and competition. Results from both studies support the applicability of the SCM in Norway and provides a unique insight into stereotypes of Norwegian social groups. © 2014 The Authors. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology published by Scandinavian Psychological Associations and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

The Development of In-Group Favoritism : Between Social Reality and Group Identity

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Verkuyten, Maykel; Wolf, Angela de

2007-01-01

This study examined how social reality restricts children’s tendency for in-group favoritism in group evaluations. Children were faced with social reality considerations and with group identity concerns. Using short stories, in this experimental study, conducted among 3 age groups (6-, 8-, and

Discrete hierarchical organization of social group sizes.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhou, W-X; Sornette, D; Hill, R A; Dunbar, R I M

2005-02-22

The 'social brain hypothesis' for the evolution of large brains in primates has led to evidence for the coevolution of neocortical size and social group sizes, suggesting that there is a cognitive constraint on group size that depends, in some way, on the volume of neural material available for processing and synthesizing information on social relationships. More recently, work on both human and non-human primates has suggested that social groups are often hierarchically structured. We combine data on human grouping patterns in a comprehensive and systematic study. Using fractal analysis, we identify, with high statistical confidence, a discrete hierarchy of group sizes with a preferred scaling ratio close to three: rather than a single or a continuous spectrum of group sizes, humans spontaneously form groups of preferred sizes organized in a geometrical series approximating 3-5, 9-15, 30-45, etc. Such discrete scale invariance could be related to that identified in signatures of herding behaviour in financial markets and might reflect a hierarchical processing of social nearness by human brains.

Determining sociability, social space, and social presence in (a)synchronous collaborative groups.

Science.gov (United States)

Kreijns, Karel; Kirschner, Paul A; Jochems, Wim; Van Buuren, Hans

2004-04-01

The effectiveness of group learning in asynchronous distributed learning groups depends on the social interaction that takes place. This social interaction affects both cognitive and socioemotional processes that take place during learning, group forming, establishment of group structures, and group dynamics. Though now known to be important, this aspect is often ignored, denied or forgotten by educators and researchers who tend to concentrate on cognitive processes and on-task contexts. This "one-sided" educational focus largely determines the set of requirements in the design of computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) environments resulting in functional CSCL environments. In contrast, our research is aimed at the design and implementation of sociable CSCL environments which may increase the likelihood that a sound social space will emerge. We use a theoretical framework that is based upon an ecological approach to social interaction, centering on the concept of social affordances, the concept of the sociability of CSCL environments, and social presence theory. The hypothesis is that the higher the sociability, the more likely that social interaction will take place or will increase, and the more likely that this will result in an emerging sound social space. In the present research, the variables of interest are sociability, social space, and social presence. This study deals with the construction and validation of three instruments to determine sociability, social space, and social presence in (a)synchronous collaborating groups. The findings suggest that the instruments have potential to be useful as measures for the respective variables. However, it must be realized that these measures are "first steps."

Determining sociability, social space, and social presence in (a)synchronous collaborating groups

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kreijns, C.J.; Kirschner, P.A.; Jochems, W.M.G.; Buuren, van H.

2004-01-01

The effectiveness of group learning in asynchronous distributed learning groups depends on the social interaction that takes place. This social interaction affects both cognitive and socioemotional processes that take place during learning, group forming, establishment of group structures, and group

Determining sociability, social space, and social presence in (A)synchronous collaborative groups

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kreijns, K.; Kirschner, P.A.; Jochems, W.; Buuren, H. van

2004-01-01

The effectiveness of group learning in asynchronous distributed learning groups depends on the social interaction that takes place. This social interaction affects both cognitive and socioemotional processes that take place during learning, group forming, establishment of group structures, and group

Complex group algebras of the double covers of the symmetric and alternating group

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bessenrodt, Christine; Nguyen, Hung Ngoc; Olsson, Jørn Børling

2015-01-01

We prove that the double covers of the alternating and symmetric groups are determined by their complex group algebras......We prove that the double covers of the alternating and symmetric groups are determined by their complex group algebras...

Social Maturation: Work Group Proceedings.

Science.gov (United States)

Resnick, Michael D.; And Others

1985-01-01

Each of the seven factors that affect adolescent social development is presented together with a description of potentially important research, service, and policy initiatives within each topic area. The factors are self-esteem, peer group, parenting, family, services, enforced dependency, and positive sexual socialization. (CT)

Revealing the hidden networks of interaction in mobile animal groups allows prediction of complex behavioral contagion.

Science.gov (United States)

Rosenthal, Sara Brin; Twomey, Colin R; Hartnett, Andrew T; Wu, Hai Shan; Couzin, Iain D

2015-04-14

Coordination among social animals requires rapid and efficient transfer of information among individuals, which may depend crucially on the underlying structure of the communication network. Establishing the decision-making circuits and networks that give rise to individual behavior has been a central goal of neuroscience. However, the analogous problem of determining the structure of the communication network among organisms that gives rise to coordinated collective behavior, such as is exhibited by schooling fish and flocking birds, has remained almost entirely neglected. Here, we study collective evasion maneuvers, manifested through rapid waves, or cascades, of behavioral change (a ubiquitous behavior among taxa) in schooling fish (Notemigonus crysoleucas). We automatically track the positions and body postures, calculate visual fields of all individuals in schools of ∼150 fish, and determine the functional mapping between socially generated sensory input and motor response during collective evasion. We find that individuals use simple, robust measures to assess behavioral changes in neighbors, and that the resulting networks by which behavior propagates throughout groups are complex, being weighted, directed, and heterogeneous. By studying these interaction networks, we reveal the (complex, fractional) nature of social contagion and establish that individuals with relatively few, but strongly connected, neighbors are both most socially influential and most susceptible to social influence. Furthermore, we demonstrate that we can predict complex cascades of behavioral change at their moment of initiation, before they actually occur. Consequently, despite the intrinsic stochasticity of individual behavior, establishing the hidden communication networks in large self-organized groups facilitates a quantitative understanding of behavioral contagion.

Effects of reproductive status, social rank, sex and group size on vigilance patterns in Przewalski's gazelle.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chunlin Li

Full Text Available Quantifying vigilance and exploring the underlying mechanisms has been the subject of numerous studies. Less attention has focused on the complex interplay between contributing factors such as reproductive status, social rank, sex and group size. Reproductive status and social rank are of particular interest due to their association with mating behavior. Mating activities in rutting season may interfere with typical patterns of vigilance and possibly interact with social rank. In addition, balancing the tradeoff between vigilance and life maintenance may represent a challenge for gregarious ungulate species rutting under harsh winter conditions. We studied vigilance patterns in the endangered Przewalski's gazelle (Procapra przewalskii during both the rutting and non-rutting seasons to examine these issues.Field observations were carried out with focal sampling during rutting and non-rutting season in 2008-2009. Results indicated a complex interplay between reproductive status, social rank, sex and group size in determining vigilance in this species. Vigilance decreased with group size in female but not in male gazelles. Males scanned more frequently and thus spent more time vigilant than females. Compared to non-rutting season, gazelles increased time spent scanning at the expense of bedding in rutting season. During the rutting season, territorial males spent a large proportion of time on rutting activities and were less vigilant than non-territorial males. Although territorial males may share collective risk detection with harem females, we suggest that they are probably more vulnerable to predation because they seemed reluctant to leave rut stands under threats.Vigilance behavior in Przewalski's gazelle was significantly affected by reproductive status, social rank, sex, group size and their complex interactions. These findings shed light on the mechanisms underlying vigilance patterns and the tradeoff between vigilance and other crucial

Modelling animal group fission using social network dynamics.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cédric Sueur

Full Text Available Group life involves both advantages and disadvantages, meaning that individuals have to compromise between their nutritional needs and their social links. When a compromise is impossible, the group splits in order to reduce conflict of interests and favour positive social interactions between its members. In this study we built a dynamic model of social networks to represent a succession of temporary fissions involving a change in social relations that could potentially lead to irreversible group fission (i.e. no more group fusion. This is the first study that assesses how a social network changes according to group fission-fusion dynamics. We built a model that was based on different parameters: the group size, the influence of nutritional needs compared to social needs, and the changes in the social network after a temporary fission. The results obtained from this theoretical data indicate how the percentage of social relation transfer, the number of individuals and the relative importance of nutritional requirements and social links influence the average number of days before irreversible fission occurs. The greater the nutritional needs and the higher the transfer of social relations during temporary fission, the fewer days will be observed before an irreversible fission. It is crucial to bridge the gap between the individual and the population level if we hope to understand how simple, local interactions may drive ecological systems.

Complexities of Emotional Responses to Social and Nonsocial Affective Stimuli in Schizophrenia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Joel S. Peterman

2015-03-01

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Adaptive emotional responses are important in interpersonal relationships. We investigated self-reported emotional experience, physiological reactivity, and micro-facial expressivity in relation to the social nature of stimuli in individuals with schizophrenia.METHOD: Galvanic skin response (GSR and facial electromyography (fEMG were recorded in medicated outpatients with schizophrenia (SZ and demograph-ically-matched healthy controls (CO while they viewed social and non-social im-ages from the International Affective Pictures System (IAPS. Participants rated the valence and arousal, and selected a label for experienced emotions. Symp-tom severity in the SZ, and schizotypy in CO were assessed.RESULTS: The two groups did not differ in their labeling of the emotions evoked by the stimuli, but individuals with schizophrenia were more positive in their va-lence ratings. Although self-reported arousal was similar in both groups, GSR was greater in schizophrenia, suggesting differential awareness or calibration of internal states. Both groups reported social images to be more arousing than non-social images but their physiological responses to nonsocial vs. social imag-es were different. Self-reported arousal to neutral social images was correlated with positive symptoms in schizophrenia. Negative symptoms in SZ and disor-ganized schizotypy in CO were associated with reduced fEMG. Greater corruga-tor fEMG activity for positive images in SZ indicates valence-incongruent facial expressions.CONCLUSIONS: The patterns of emotional responses differed between the two groups. While both groups were in broad agreement in self-reported arousal and emotion labels, their GSR and fEMG correlates of emotion diverged in relation to the social nature of the stimuli and clinical measures. Importantly, these results suggest disrupted self awareness of internal states in schizophrenia and under-score the complexities of emotion processing in health and

Group Modeling in Social Learning Environments

Science.gov (United States)

Stankov, Slavomir; Glavinic, Vlado; Krpan, Divna

2012-01-01

Students' collaboration while learning could provide better learning environments. Collaboration assumes social interactions which occur in student groups. Social theories emphasize positive influence of such interactions on learning. In order to create an appropriate learning environment that enables social interactions, it is important to…

Enhancing Social Communication Between Groups

NARCIS (Netherlands)

T. Stevens; P. Hughes (Peter); D. Williams; I. Craigie; I. Kegel; P.S. Cesar Garcia (Pablo Santiago); A.J. Jansen (Jack); M.F. Usrsu; M. Frantzis; N. Farber; M. Lutzky; S. Vogel

2010-01-01

htmlabstractThis paper describes a prototype software platform that supports advanced communications services, specifically services enabling effective group-to-group communications with a social purpose, between remote homes. The architecture, the individual components, their interfaces, and the

Analysis and modeling of complex data in behavioral and social sciences

CERN Document Server

Okada, Akinori; Ragozini, Giancarlo; Weihs, Claus

2014-01-01

This volume presents theoretical developments, applications and computational methods for the analysis and modeling in behavioral and social sciences where data are usually complex to explore and investigate. The challenging proposals provide a connection between statistical methodology and the social domain with particular attention to computational issues in order to effectively address complicated data analysis problems. The papers in this volume stem from contributions initially presented at the joint international meeting JCS-CLADAG held in Anacapri (Italy) where the Japanese Classification Society and the Classification and Data Analysis Group of the Italian Statistical Society had a stimulating scientific discussion and exchange.

SUPERCOMPUTER SIMULATION OF CRITICAL PHENOMENA IN COMPLEX SOCIAL SYSTEMS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Petrus M.A. Sloot

2014-09-01

Full Text Available The paper describes a problem of computer simulation of critical phenomena in complex social systems on a petascale computing systems in frames of complex networks approach. The three-layer system of nested models of complex networks is proposed including aggregated analytical model to identify critical phenomena, detailed model of individualized network dynamics and model to adjust a topological structure of a complex network. The scalable parallel algorithm covering all layers of complex networks simulation is proposed. Performance of the algorithm is studied on different supercomputing systems. The issues of software and information infrastructure of complex networks simulation are discussed including organization of distributed calculations, crawling the data in social networks and results visualization. The applications of developed methods and technologies are considered including simulation of criminal networks disruption, fast rumors spreading in social networks, evolution of financial networks and epidemics spreading.

Advancing Social Justice in Urban Schools through the Implementation of Transformative Groups for Youth of Color

Science.gov (United States)

Shin, Richard Q.; Rogers, Jennifer; Stanciu, Amalia; Silas, Melany; Brown-Smythe, Claudette; Austin, Brenda

2010-01-01

The unique challenges faced by some youth of color living in high poverty contexts necessitate the creation of innovative, culturally relevant, group interventions. Framing the work of group counselors from a social justice perspective provides a structure for emphasizing the complex intersection of economic, political, and socio-historical issues…

"Build Your Social Confidence": A Social Anxiety Group for College Students

Science.gov (United States)

Damer, Diana E.; Latimer, Kelsey M.; Porter, Sarah H.

2010-01-01

Social anxiety, a common concern among college students, carries significant negative consequences. Group therapy is an efficient and cost-effective way to provide treatment, and cognitive-behavioral group therapy (CBGT; Heimberg & Becker, 2002) is the most widely researched and empirically supported treatment for persons with social anxiety…

Groups 4 Health: Evidence that a social-identity intervention that builds and strengthens social group membership improves mental health.

Science.gov (United States)

Haslam, Catherine; Cruwys, Tegan; Haslam, S Alexander; Dingle, Genevieve; Chang, Melissa Xue-Ling

2016-04-01

Social isolation and disconnection have profound negative effects on mental health, but there are few, if any, theoretically-derived interventions that directly target this problem. We evaluate a new intervention, Groups 4 Health (G4H), a manualized 5-module psychological intervention that targets the development and maintenance of social group relationships to treat psychological distress arising from social isolation. G4H was tested using a non-randomized control design. The program was delivered to young adults presenting with social isolation and affective disturbance. Primary outcome measures assessed mental health (depression, general anxiety, social anxiety, and stress), well-being (life satisfaction, self-esteem) and social connectedness (loneliness, social functioning). Our secondary goal was to assess whether mechanisms of social identification were responsible for changes in outcomes. G4H was found to significantly improve mental health, well-being, and social connectedness on all measures, both on program completion and 6-month follow-up. In line with social identity theorizing, analysis also showed that improvements in depression, anxiety, stress, loneliness, and life satisfaction were underpinned by participants' increased identification both with their G4H group and with multiple groups. This study provides preliminary evidence of the potential value of G4H and its underlying mechanisms, but further examination is required in other populations to address issues of generalizability, and in randomized controlled trials to address its wider efficacy. Results of this pilot study confirm that G4H has the potential to reduce the negative health-related consequences of social disconnection. Future research will determine its utility in wider community contexts. Crown Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Social grooming network in captive chimpanzees: does the wild or captive origin of group members affect sociality?

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Levé, Marine; Sueur, Cédric; Petit, Odile; Matsuzawa, Tetsuro; Hirata, Satoshi

2016-01-01

Many chimpanzees throughout the world are housed in captivity, and there is an increasing effort to recreate social groups by mixing individuals with captive origins with those with wild origins. Captive origins may entail restricted rearing conditions during early infant life, including, for example, no maternal rearing and a limited social life. Early rearing conditions have been linked with differences in tool-use behavior between captive- and wild-born chimpanzees. If physical cognition can be impaired by non-natural rearing, what might be the consequences for social capacities? This study describes the results of network analysis based on grooming interactions in chimpanzees with wild and captive origins living in the Kumamoto Sanctuary in Kumamoto, Japan. Grooming is a complex social activity occupying up to 25% of chimpanzees' waking hours and plays a role in the emergence and maintenance of social relationships. We assessed whether the social centralities and roles of chimpanzees might be affected by their origin (captive vs wild). We found that captive- and wild-origin chimpanzees did not differ in their grooming behavior, but that theoretical removal of individuals from the network had differing impacts depending on the origin of the individual. Contrary to findings that non-natural early rearing has long-term effects on physical cognition, living in social groups seems to compensate for the negative effects of non-natural early rearing. Social network analysis (SNA) and, in particular, theoretical removal analysis, were able to highlight differences between individuals that would have been impossible to show using classical methods. The social environment of captive animals is important to their well-being, and we are only beginning to understand how SNA might help to enhance animal welfare.

Determining sociability, social space, and social presence in (A)synchronous collaborative groups

OpenAIRE

Kreijns, K.; Kirschner, P.A.; Jochems, W.; Buuren, H. van

2004-01-01

The effectiveness of group learning in asynchronous distributed learning groups depends on the social interaction that takes place. This social interaction affects both cognitive and socioemotional processes that take place during learning, group forming, establishment of group structures, and group dynamics. Though now known to be important, this aspect is often ignored, denied or forgotten by educators and researchers who tend to concentrate on cognitive processes and on-task contexts. This...

Parents, Peer Groups, and Other Socializing Influences.

Science.gov (United States)

Vandell, Deborah Lowe

2000-01-01

Critically examines three propositions of Harris' group socialization theory (1995, 1998) related to parents' long-term effects on children's psychological characteristics, peer groups' influences, and the nature of dyadic relationships. Maintains that available evidence is more consistent with a model of multiple socialization agents. Proposes a…

Effect of social group dynamics on contagion

Science.gov (United States)

Zhao, Zhenyuan; Calderón, J. P.; Xu, Chen; Zhao, Guannan; Fenn, Dan; Sornette, Didier; Crane, Riley; Hui, Pak Ming; Johnson, Neil F.

2010-05-01

Despite the many works on contagion phenomena in both well-mixed systems and heterogeneous networks, there is still a lack of understanding of the intermediate regime where social group structures evolve on a similar time scale to individual-level transmission. We address this question by considering the process of transmission through a model population comprising social groups which follow simple dynamical rules for growth and breakup. Despite the simplicity of our model, the profiles produced bear a striking resemblance to a wide variety of real-world examples—in particular, empirical data that we have obtained for social (i.e., YouTube), financial (i.e., currency markets), and biological (i.e., colds in schools) systems. The observation of multiple resurgent peaks and abnormal decay times is qualitatively reproduced within the model simply by varying the time scales for group coalescence and fragmentation. We provide an approximate analytic treatment of the system and highlight a novel transition which arises as a result of the social group dynamics.

Control of complex physically simulated robot groups

Science.gov (United States)

Brogan, David C.

2001-10-01

Actuated systems such as robots take many forms and sizes but each requires solving the difficult task of utilizing available control inputs to accomplish desired system performance. Coordinated groups of robots provide the opportunity to accomplish more complex tasks, to adapt to changing environmental conditions, and to survive individual failures. Similarly, groups of simulated robots, represented as graphical characters, can test the design of experimental scenarios and provide autonomous interactive counterparts for video games. The complexity of writing control algorithms for these groups currently hinders their use. A combination of biologically inspired heuristics, search strategies, and optimization techniques serve to reduce the complexity of controlling these real and simulated characters and to provide computationally feasible solutions.

Asymmetry within social groups

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Barker, Jessie; Loope, Kevin J.; Reeve, H. Kern

2016-01-01

Social animals vary in their ability to compete with group members over shared resources and also vary in their cooperative efforts to produce these resources. Competition among groups can promote within-group cooperation, but many existing models of intergroup cooperation do not explicitly account...... of two roles, with relative competitive efficiency and the number of individuals varying between roles. Players in each role make simultaneous, coevolving decisions. The model predicts that although intergroup competition increases cooperative contributions to group resources by both roles, contributions...... are predominantly from individuals in the less competitively efficient role, whereas individuals in the more competitively efficient role generally gain the larger share of these resources. When asymmetry in relative competitive efficiency is greater, a group's per capita cooperation (averaged across both roles...

Narrative-collaborative group coaching develops social capital

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Stelter, Reinhard; Nielsen, Glen; Wikman, Johan Michael

2011-01-01

The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of narrative-collaborative group coaching on career development, self-reflection and the general functioning of young sports talents with the goal of achieving integration of their sports careers, educational demands and private lives...... study included six participants. The group-coaching intervention had a significant effect on the scores for social recovery and general well-being. The qualitative study showed that groupcoaching participants valued the shared process of meaning-making as especially valuable. Narrative......-collaborative group coaching can be understood as a community psychological intervention that helps to support the development of durable social networks and the increase of social capital....

Empirical study on social groups in pedestrian evacuation dynamics

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von Krüchten, Cornelia; Schadschneider, Andreas

2017-06-01

Pedestrian crowds often include social groups, i.e. pedestrians that walk together because of social relationships. They show characteristic configurations and influence the dynamics of the entire crowd. In order to investigate the impact of social groups on evacuations we performed an empirical study with pupils. Several evacuation runs with groups of different sizes and different interactions were performed. New group parameters are introduced which allow to describe the dynamics of the groups and the configuration of the group members quantitatively. The analysis shows a possible decrease of evacuation times for large groups due to self-ordering effects. Social groups can be approximated as ellipses that orientate along their direction of motion. Furthermore, explicitly cooperative behaviour among group members leads to a stronger aggregation of group members and an intermittent way of evacuation.

Effect of Spatial-Dependent Utility on Social Group Domination

Science.gov (United States)

Rodriguez, Nathaniel; Meyertholen, Andrew

2012-02-01

The mathematical modeling of social group competition has garnered much attention. We consider a model originated by Abrams and Strogatz [Nature 424, 900 (2003)] that predicts the extinction of one of two social groups. This model assigns a utility to each social group, which is constant over the entire society. We find by allowing this utility to vary over a society, through the introduction of a network or spatial dependence, this model may result in the coexistence of the two social groups.

Group colocation behavior in technological social networks.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chloë Brown

Full Text Available We analyze two large datasets from technological networks with location and social data: user location records from an online location-based social networking service, and anonymized telecommunications data from a European cellphone operator, in order to investigate the differences between individual and group behavior with respect to physical location. We discover agreements between the two datasets: firstly, that individuals are more likely to meet with one friend at a place they have not visited before, but tend to meet at familiar locations when with a larger group. We also find that groups of individuals are more likely to meet at places that their other friends have visited, and that the type of a place strongly affects the propensity for groups to meet there. These differences between group and solo mobility has potential technological applications, for example, in venue recommendation in location-based social networks.

Group Recommendation Systems Based on External Social-Trust Networks

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Guang Fang

2018-01-01

Full Text Available With the development of social networks and online mobile communities, group recommendation systems support users’ interaction with similar interests or purposes with others. We often provide some advices to the close friends, such as listening to favorite music and sharing favorite dishes. However, users’ personalities have been ignored by the traditional group recommendation systems while the majority is satisfied. In this paper, a method of group recommendation based on external social-trust networks is proposed, which builds a group profile by analyzing not only users’ preferences, but also the social relationships between members inside and outside of the group. We employ the users’ degree of disagreement to adjust group preference rating by external information of social-trust network. Moreover, having a discussion about different social network utilization ratio, we proposed a method to work for smaller group size. The experimental results show that the proposed method has consistently higher precision and leads to satisfactory recommendations for groups.

Social Groups Prioritize Selective Attention to Faces: How Social Identity Shapes Distractor Interference.

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Gewnhi Park

Full Text Available Human faces automatically attract visual attention and this process appears to be guided by social group memberships. In two experiments, we examined how social groups guide selective attention toward in-group and out-group faces. Black and White participants detected a target letter among letter strings superimposed on faces (Experiment 1. White participants were less accurate on trials with racial out-group (Black compared to in-group (White distractor faces. Likewise, Black participants were less accurate on trials with racial out-group (White compared to in-group (Black distractor faces. However, this pattern of out-group bias was only evident under high perceptual load-when the task was visually difficult. To examine the malleability of this pattern of racial bias, a separate sample of participants were assigned to mixed-race minimal groups (Experiment 2. Participants assigned to groups were less accurate on trials with their minimal in-group members compared to minimal out-group distractor faces, regardless of race. Again, this pattern of out-group bias was only evident under high perceptual load. Taken together, these results suggest that social identity guides selective attention toward motivationally relevant social groups-shifting from out-group bias in the domain of race to in-group bias in the domain of minimal groups-when perceptual resources are scarce.

Theoretical Issues in Clinical Social Group Work.

Science.gov (United States)

Randall, Elizabeth; Wodarski, John S.

1989-01-01

Reviews relevant issues in clinical social group practice including group versus individual treatment, group work advantages, approach rationale, group conditions for change, worker role in group, group composition, group practice technique and method, time as group work dimension, pretherapy training, group therapy precautions, and group work…

Balancing the Quantitative and Qualitative Aspects of Social Network Analysis to Study Complex Social Systems

OpenAIRE

Schipper, Danny; Spekkink, Wouter

2015-01-01

Social Network Analysis (SNA) can be used to investigate complex social systems. SNA is typically applied as a quantitative method, which has important limitations. First, quantitative methods are capable of capturing the form of relationships (e.g. strength and frequency), but they are less suitable for capturing the content of relationships (e.g. interests and motivations). Second, while complex social systems are highly dynamic, the representations that SNA creates of such systems are ofte...

Polyether complexes of groups 13 and 14.

Science.gov (United States)

Swidan, Ala'aeddeen; Macdonald, Charles L B

2016-07-21

Notable aspects of the chemistry of complexes of polyether ligands including crown ethers, cryptands, glycols, glymes, and related polyether ligands with heavier group 13 and 14 elements are reviewed with a focus on results from 2005 to the present. The majority of reported polyether complexes contain lead(ii) and thallium(i) but recent breakthroughs in regard to the preparation of low oxidation state reagents of the lighter congeners have allowed for the generation of complexes containing indium(i), gallium(i), germanium(ii), and even silicon(ii). The important roles of ligand size, donor types, and counter anions in regard to the chemical properties of the polyether complexes is highlighted. A particular focus on the structural aspects of the numerous coordination complexes provides a rationale for some of the spectacular contributions that such compounds have made to Modern Main Group Chemistry.

Non-commutative cryptography and complexity of group-theoretic problems

CERN Document Server

Myasnikov, Alexei; Ushakov, Alexander

2011-01-01

This book is about relations between three different areas of mathematics and theoretical computer science: combinatorial group theory, cryptography, and complexity theory. It explores how non-commutative (infinite) groups, which are typically studied in combinatorial group theory, can be used in public-key cryptography. It also shows that there is remarkable feedback from cryptography to combinatorial group theory because some of the problems motivated by cryptography appear to be new to group theory, and they open many interesting research avenues within group theory. In particular, a lot of emphasis in the book is put on studying search problems, as compared to decision problems traditionally studied in combinatorial group theory. Then, complexity theory, notably generic-case complexity of algorithms, is employed for cryptanalysis of various cryptographic protocols based on infinite groups, and the ideas and machinery from the theory of generic-case complexity are used to study asymptotically dominant prop...

Social categorization of social robots: anthropomorphism as a function of robot group membership.

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Eyssel, Friederike; Kuchenbrandt, Dieta

2012-12-01

Previous work on social categorization has shown that people often use cues such as a person's gender, age, or ethnicity to categorize and form impressions of others. The present research investigated effects of social category membership on the evaluation of humanoid robots. More specifically, participants rated a humanoid robot that either belonged to their in-group or to a national out-group with regard to anthropomorphism (e.g., mind attribution, warmth), psychological closeness, contact intentions, and design. We predicted that participants would show an in-group bias towards the robot that ostensibly belonged to their in-group--as indicated by its name and location of production. In line with our hypotheses, participants not only rated the in-group robot more favourably--importantly, they also anthropomorphized it more strongly than the out-group robot. Our findings thus document that people even apply social categorization processes and subsequent differential social evaluations to robots. ©2011 The British Psychological Society.

Relations Between Nonverbal and Verbal Social Cognitive Skills and Complex Social Behavior in Children and Adolescents with Autism.

Science.gov (United States)

Demopoulos, Carly; Hopkins, Joyce; Lewine, Jeffrey D

2016-07-01

Although there is an extensive literature on domains of social skill deficits in individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), little research has examined the relation between specific social cognitive skills and complex social behaviors in daily functioning. This was the aim of the present study. Participants were 37 (26 male and 11 female) children and adolescents aged 6-18 years diagnosed with ASD. To determine the amount of variance in parent-rated complex social behavior accounted for by the linear combination of five directly-assessed social cognitive variables (i.e., adult and child facial and vocal affect recognition and social judgment) after controlling for general intellectual ability, a hierarchical regression analysis was performed. The linear combination of variables accounted for 35.4 % of the variance in parent-rated complex social behavior. Vocal affect recognition in adult voices showed the strongest association with complex social behavior in ASD. Results suggest that assessment and training in vocal affective comprehension should be an important component of social skills interventions for individuals with ASD.

Effects of Community-Based Collaborative Group Characteristics on Social Capital

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Wagner, Cheryl L.; Fernandez-Gimenez, Maria E.

2009-10-01

Recent research suggests that community-based collaboration may build social capital—defined as trust, norms of reciprocity, and networks. Social capital may improve a group’s ability to collaborate, manage risk, innovate, and adapt to change. We used mail surveys of group participants and key informant interviews to assess whether the following collaborative group characteristics affected social capital built within 10 collaborative groups in northwest Colorado: perceived success, conflict, activeness, stakeholder diversity, previous collaboration experience, similar values and beliefs, group size, group age, and initial social capital. Perceived success and initial levels of social capital were the strongest predictors of current levels of and changes in social capital over time. Collaboration experience negatively influenced current levels of trust. Our results suggest that collaborative groups may need to consider the outcomes of collaborative interactions in order to build social capital.

Group as social microcosm: Within-group interpersonal style is congruent with outside group relational tendencies.

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Goldberg, Simon B; Hoyt, William T

2015-06-01

The notion that individuals' interpersonal behaviors in the context of therapy reflects their interpersonal behaviors outside of therapy is a fundamental hypothesis underlying numerous systems of psychotherapy. The social microcosm hypothesis, in particular, claims the interpersonal therapy group becomes a reflection of group members' general tendencies, and can thus be used as information about members' interpersonal functioning as well as an opportunity for learning and behavior change. The current study tested this hypothesis using data drawn from 207 individuals participating in 22 interpersonal process groups. Ratings were made on 2 key interpersonal domains (Dominance and Affiliation) at baseline and at Weeks 2, 5, and 8 of the group. Two-level multilevel models (with participants nested within groups) were used to account for the hierarchical structure, and the social relations model (SRM; Kenny, 1994) was used to estimate peer ratings (target effects in SRM) unconfounded with rater bias. Participants showed consensus at all time points during the interpersonal process groups on one another's levels of dominance and affiliation. In addition, self- and peer ratings were stable across time and correlated with one another. Importantly, self-ratings made prior to group significantly predicted ratings (self- and peer) made within the group, with effect sizes within the medium range. Taken together, these results provide robust support for the social microcosm hypothesis and the conjecture that interpersonal style within-group therapy is reflective of broader interpersonal tendencies. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

Significance of grooming behavior in two polygynous groups of western black crested gibbons: Implications for understanding social relationships among immigrant and resident group members.

Science.gov (United States)

Guan, Zhen-Hua; Huang, Bei; Ning, Wen-He; Ni, Qing-Yong; Sun, Guo-Zheng; Jiang, Xue-Long

2013-12-01

In primates, grooming is considered among the most common behaviors for maintaining social bonds; however, to date, few studies have examined grooming behavior in gibbon species in detail. We used both a 5-min interval scan method and social network analysis to study grooming in two groups of polygynous western black-crested gibbon (Nomascus concolor) in Wuliang Mountain, Central Yunnan, China. Individuals in both groups spent little time in social grooming (1.45% and 1.97% of active time). We compared the two groups' grooming networks and found that the group that maintained a more stable social unit had a more complex grooming network while the group with new immigrants had a grooming network characterized by fewer grooming pairs. Females in both groups played important roles in the grooming network. A newly immigrant female spent the most time grooming others and chose the resident adult female as her main adult grooming partner. Other females from both groups chose the adult male as their primary grooming partner (except their offspring). A sub-adult male who had resided in his natal group for 2 years after maturing into an adult also groomed more and was at the center of the network. This male finally replaced the breeding male in his group 3 years after our data collection period ended. We hypothesize that the immigrant female and the resident young adult male engaged in more extensive grooming interactions as a behavioral strategy to gain tolerance from long-term residents. Our results suggest that female gibbons in polygynous groups actively cooperate in maintaining social relationships rather than co-exist through tolerance or avoidance. Our observations indicate that grooming networks in crested gibbons reflect individual dynamics and partly support the social cohesion hypothesis for primate grooming. In this regard, we suggest that changes in gibbon grooming networks can be used to predict social change. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

A Life-Cycle Model of Human Social Groups Produces a U-Shaped Distribution in Group Size.

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Gul Deniz Salali

Full Text Available One of the central puzzles in the study of sociocultural evolution is how and why transitions from small-scale human groups to large-scale, hierarchically more complex ones occurred. Here we develop a spatially explicit agent-based model as a first step towards understanding the ecological dynamics of small and large-scale human groups. By analogy with the interactions between single-celled and multicellular organisms, we build a theory of group lifecycles as an emergent property of single cell demographic and expansion behaviours. We find that once the transition from small-scale to large-scale groups occurs, a few large-scale groups continue expanding while small-scale groups gradually become scarcer, and large-scale groups become larger in size and fewer in number over time. Demographic and expansion behaviours of groups are largely influenced by the distribution and availability of resources. Our results conform to a pattern of human political change in which religions and nation states come to be represented by a few large units and many smaller ones. Future enhancements of the model should include decision-making rules and probabilities of fragmentation for large-scale societies. We suggest that the synthesis of population ecology and social evolution will generate increasingly plausible models of human group dynamics.

Trust and compactness in social network groups.

Science.gov (United States)

De Meo, Pasquale; Ferrara, Emilio; Rosaci, Domenico; Sarné, Giuseppe M L

2015-02-01

Understanding the dynamics behind group formation and evolution in social networks is considered an instrumental milestone to better describe how individuals gather and form communities, how they enjoy and share the platform contents, how they are driven by their preferences/tastes, and how their behaviors are influenced by peers. In this context, the notion of compactness of a social group is particularly relevant. While the literature usually refers to compactness as a measure to merely determine how much members of a group are similar among each other, we argue that the mutual trustworthiness between the members should be considered as an important factor in defining such a term. In fact, trust has profound effects on the dynamics of group formation and their evolution: individuals are more likely to join with and stay in a group if they can trust other group members. In this paper, we propose a quantitative measure of group compactness that takes into account both the similarity and the trustworthiness among users, and we present an algorithm to optimize such a measure. We provide empirical results, obtained from the real social networks EPINIONS and CIAO, that compare our notion of compactness versus the traditional notion of user similarity, clearly proving the advantages of our approach.

Towards identifying Collaborative Learning groups using Social Media

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Selver Softic

2012-11-01

Full Text Available This work reports about the preliminary results and ongoing research based upon profiling collaborative learning groups of persons within the social micro-blogging platforms like Twitter that share potentially common interests on special topic. Hereby the focus is held on spontaneously initiated collaborative learning in Social Media and detection of collaborative learning groups based upon their communication dynamics. Research questions targeted to be answered are: are there any useful data mining algorithms to fulfill the task of pre-selection and clustering of users in social networks, how good do they perform, and what are the metrics that could be used for detection and evaluation in the realm of this task. Basic approach presented here uses as preamble hypothesis that users and their interests in Social Networks can be identified through content generated by them and content they consume. Special focus is held on topic oriented approach as least common bounding point. Those should be also the basic criteria used to detect and outline the learning groups. The aim of this work is to deliver first scientific pre-work for successfully implementation of recommender systems using social network metrics and content features of social network users for the purposes of better learning group communication and information consumption.

Social protection initiatives for Zimbabwe's vulnerable groups ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Saharan African region. ... especially for vulnerable groups. At independence in 1980, Zimbabwe pledged to promote a viable social protection system that would be predicated on the principles of social justice and equality of opportunity.

Cognitive behavioural group treatment for social anxiety in schizophrenia.

Science.gov (United States)

Kingsep, Patrick; Nathan, Paula; Castle, David

2003-09-01

Anxiety symptoms reported by individuals with schizophrenia have been traditionally seen as symptoms associated with the principal disorder and therefore not requiring special attention. The primary aim of this paper is to therapeutically target social anxiety symptoms in individuals with schizophrenia in order to determine the effectiveness of the cognitive behavioural group treatment model as an intervention for social anxiety in this participant group. Thirty-three individuals with schizophrenia and co-morbid social anxiety were allocated to a group-based cognitive behaviour (CBGT) intervention or waitlist control (WLC). Baseline, completion and follow-up ratings consist of measures of social anxiety: the Brief Social Phobia Scale (BSPS), Brief Fear of Negative Evaluation scale (BFNE) and the Social Interaction Anxiety Scale (SIAS); measures of general psychopathology: the Calgary Depression Scale for Schizophrenia (CDSS) and Global Severity Index (GSI) from the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI); and the Quality of Life, Enjoyment and Satisfaction Questionnaire (QLESQ). Pre- and post-treatment measures were subjected to statistical evaluation. All outcome measures displayed statistical improvement in the intervention group compared with no change in the control group. These treatment gains were maintained at follow-up. CBGT for social anxiety in schizophrenia was demonstrated to be effective as an adjunctive treatment for this population.

Peer Group Socialization of Homophobic Attitudes and Behavior during Adolescence

Science.gov (United States)

Poteat, V. Paul

2007-01-01

A social developmental framework was applied to test for the socialization of homophobic attitudes and behavior within adolescent peer groups (Grades 7-11; aged 12-17 years). Substantial similarity within and differences across groups were documented. Multilevel models identified a group socializing contextual effect, predicting homophobic…

Groups acting on CAT(0) cube complexes

OpenAIRE

Niblo, Graham A.; Reeves, Lawrence

1997-01-01

We show that groups satisfying Kazhdan's property (T) have no unbounded actions on finite dimensional CAT(0) cube complexes, and deduce that there is a locally CAT(-1) Riemannian manifold which is not homotopy equivalent to any finite dimensional, locally CAT(0) cube complex.

Group actions, non-Kähler complex manifolds and SKT structures

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Poddar Mainak

2018-02-01

Full Text Available We give a construction of integrable complex structures on the total space of a smooth principal bundle over a complex manifold, with an even dimensional compact Lie group as structure group, under certain conditions. This generalizes the constructions of complex structure on compact Lie groups by Samelson and Wang, and on principal torus bundles by Calabi-Eckmann and others. It also yields large classes of new examples of non-Kähler compact complex manifolds. Moreover, under suitable restrictions on the base manifold, the structure group, and characteristic classes, the total space of the principal bundle admits SKT metrics. This generalizes recent results of Grantcharov et al. We study the Picard group and the algebraic dimension of the total space in some cases. We also use a slightly generalized version of the construction to obtain (non-Kähler complex structures on tangential frame bundles of complex orbifolds.

Social problem solving and social performance after a group social skills intervention for childhood brain tumor survivors.

Science.gov (United States)

Schulte, Fiona; Vannatta, Kathryn; Barrera, Maru

2014-02-01

The aim of this study was to explore the ability of a group social skills intervention program for childhood brain tumor survivors to effect two steps of the social information processing model: social problem solving and social performance. Participants were 15 survivors (eight men and seven women) aged 7-15 years. The intervention consisted of eight 2-h weekly sessions focused on social skills including friendship making. Social problem solving, using hypothetical scenarios, was assessed during sessions 1 and 8. Social performance was observed during intervention sessions 1, 4, and 8. Compared with session 1, significant increases were found in social performance: frequency of maintaining eye contact and social conversations with peers over the course of the intervention. No significant changes in social problem solving were noted. This pilot study is the first to report improvements related to group social skills intervention at the level of observed social performance over the course of intervention. The lack of change in social problem solving suggests that survivors may possess the social knowledge required for social situations but have difficulty enacting social behaviors. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

[Effects of group psychological counseling on self-confidence and social adaptation of burn patients].

Science.gov (United States)

Dang, Rui; Wang, Yishen; Li, Na; He, Ting; Shi, Mengna; Liang, Yanyan; Zhu, Chan; Zhou, Yongbo; Qi, Zongshi; Hu, Dahai

2014-12-01

To explore the effects of group psychological counseling on the self-confidence and social adaptation of burn patients during the course of rehabilitation. Sixty-four burn patients conforming to the inclusion criteria and hospitalized from January 2012 to January 2014 in Xijing Hospital were divided into trial group and control group according to the method of rehabilitation, with 32 cases in each group. Patients in the two groups were given ordinary rehabilitation training for 8 weeks, and the patients in trial group were given a course of group psychological counseling in addition. The Rosenberg's Self-Esteem Scale was used to evaluate the changes in self-confidence levels, and the number of patients with inferiority complex, normal feeling, self-confidence, and over self-confidence were counted before and after treatment. The Abbreviated Burn-Specific Health Scale was used to evaluate physical function, psychological function, social relationship, health condition, and general condition before and after treatment to evaluate the social adaptation of patients. Data were processed with t test, chi-square test, Mann-Whitney U test, and Wilcoxon test. (1) After treatment, the self-confidence levels of patients in trial group were significantly higher than those in control group (Z = -2.573, P 0.05). (2) After treatment, the scores of psychological function, social relationship, health condition, and general condition were (87 ± 3), (47.8 ± 3.6), (49 ± 3), and (239 ± 10) points in trial group, which were significantly higher than those in control group [(79 ± 4), (38.3 ± 5.6), (46 ± 4), and (231 ± 9) points, with t values respectively -8.635, -8.125, -3.352, -3.609, P values below 0.01]. After treatment, the scores of physical function, psychological function, social relationship, health condition, and general condition in trial group were significantly higher than those before treatment (with t values from -33.282 to -19.515, P values below 0.05). The scores

Trolling new media: violent extremist groups recruiting through social media

OpenAIRE

Chang, Mark D.

2015-01-01

Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited With the advent and subsequent growth of several new media technologies, violent extremist groups have incorporated social media into recruiting strategies. How are violent extremist groups using social media for recruiting? This thesis explores several new media technologies—websites, blogs, social media, mobile phones, and online gaming—to determine if violent extremist groups rely on social media for recruiting. By comparing the com...

Social Group Stories in the Media and Child Development.

Science.gov (United States)

Dill-Shackleford, Karen E; Ramasubramanian, Srividya; Behm-Morawitz, Elizabeth; Scharrer, Erica; Burgess, Melinda C R; Lemish, Dafna

2017-11-01

How do children and youth come to understand what it means to be a member of a particular race, gender, and other social groups? How do they come to hold beliefs about the groups that they do and do not belong to? Both news stories and fictional narratives that we are tuned into as a culture tell stories about what it means to be a member of a particular social group. In this review article, we relate the latest scientific knowledge on news and entertainment media representations of race, gender and other social categories and what they tell us about how these messages are taken in and processed by developing minds. We include research on identity development, social learning about members of other groups, and both positive and negative behavioral outcomes to cultural messages about race, gender, and other social categories. We offer recommendations for stakeholders to understand the role of the media in educating youth about race, gender and other social categories. Copyright © 2017 by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

A social comparison theory analysis of group composition and efficacy of cancer support group programs.

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Carmack Taylor, Cindy L; Kulik, James; Badr, Hoda; Smith, Murray; Basen-Engquist, Karen; Penedo, Frank; Gritz, Ellen R

2007-07-01

Group-based psychosocial programs provide an effective forum for improving mood and social support for cancer patients. Because some studies show more benefit for patients with initially high psychosocial distress, and little or no benefit for patients with initially low distress, support programs may better address patient needs by only including distressed patients. However, distressed patients may benefit particularly from the presence of nondistressed patients who model effective coping, an idea many researchers and extensions of social comparison theory support. We present a theoretical analysis, based on a social comparison perspective, of how group composition (heterogeneous group of distressed and nondistressed patients versus homogeneous group of distressed patients) may affect the efficacy of cancer support programs. We propose that a heterogeneous group allows distressed patients maximal opportunity for the various social comparison activities they are likely to prefer; a homogeneous group does not. Though the presence of nondistressed patients in a heterogeneous group potentially benefits distressed patients, the benefits for nondistressed patients are unclear. For nondistressed patients, heterogeneous groups may provide limited opportunities for preferred social comparison activity and may create the possibility for no benefit or even negative effects on quality of life. We also discuss ethical issues with enrolling nondistressed patients whose presence may help others, but whose likelihood of personal benefit is questionable.

[Asymmetric effect of in-group social values on identity with common-identity and common-bond in-groups].

Science.gov (United States)

Nakashima, Ken'ichiro; Isobe, Chikae; Toshihiko, Souma; Ura, Mitsuhiro

2013-06-01

Moderating effects of group type on the relationship between in-group social values and group identity were investigated. Previous research has indicated that values attached to the in-group, such as its status, privileges, and power, lead to increased group identity. However, these studies have not investigated the role of the type of in-groups on this effect. We conducted an experiment that manipulated the in-group type. In the common-identity type of in-group condition, formation of in- and out-groups on the basis of social categorization was established. In the common-bond type of in-group condition, interactions between the group members were conducted. Results indicated that in the former condition, the degree of in-group social values affected group identity; however, this effect was not found in the latter condition. These results suggest that social values of the in-group have an asymmetric effect on group identity, depending upon the in-group type as a common-identity or common-bond group.

Complex quantum group, dual algebra and bicovariant differential calculus

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Carow-Watamura, U.; Watamura, Satoshi

1993-01-01

The method used to construct the bicovariant bimodule in ref. [CSWW] is applied to examine the structure of the dual algebra and the bicovariant differential calculus of the complex quantum group. The complex quantum group Fun q (SL(N, C)) is defined by requiring that it contains Fun q (SU(N)) as a subalgebra analogously to the quantum Lorentz group. Analyzing the properties of the fundamental bimodule, we show that the dual algebra has the structure of the twisted product Fun q (SU(N))x tilde Fun q (SU(N)) reg *. Then the bicovariant differential calculi on the complex quantum group are constructed. (orig.)

Network-oriented modeling addressing complexity of cognitive, affective and social interactions

CERN Document Server

Treur, Jan

2016-01-01

This book presents a new approach that can be applied to complex, integrated individual and social human processes. It provides an alternative means of addressing complexity, better suited for its purpose than and effectively complementing traditional strategies involving isolation and separation assumptions. Network-oriented modeling allows high-level cognitive, affective and social models in the form of (cyclic) graphs to be constructed, which can be automatically transformed into executable simulation models. The modeling format used makes it easy to take into account theories and findings about complex cognitive and social processes, which often involve dynamics based on interrelating cycles. Accordingly, it makes it possible to address complex phenomena such as the integration of emotions within cognitive processes of all kinds, of internal simulations of the mental processes of others, and of social phenomena such as shared understandings and collective actions. A variety of sample models – including ...

A genomic comparison of two termites with different social complexity

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Korb, Judith; Thomas-Poulsen, Michael; Hu, Haofu

2015-01-01

large and complex societies with morphologically distinct castes that are life-time sterile. Here we compare key characteristics of genomic architecture, focusing on genes involved in communication, immune defenses, mating biology and symbiosis that were likely important in termite social evolution. We......The termites evolved eusociality and complex societies before the ants, but have been studied much less. The recent publication of the first two termite genomes provides a unique comparative opportunity, particularly because the sequenced termites represent opposite ends of the social complexity...

Automated cognitive testing of monkeys in social groups yields results comparable to individual laboratory-based testing.

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Gazes, Regina Paxton; Brown, Emily Kathryn; Basile, Benjamin M; Hampton, Robert R

2013-05-01

Cognitive abilities likely evolved in response to specific environmental and social challenges and are therefore expected to be specialized for the life history of each species. Specialized cognitive abilities may be most readily engaged under conditions that approximate the natural environment of the species being studied. While naturalistic environments might therefore have advantages over laboratory settings for cognitive research, it is difficult to conduct certain types of cognitive tests in these settings. We implemented methods for automated cognitive testing of monkeys (Macaca mulatta) in large social groups (Field station) and compared the performance to that of laboratory-housed monkeys (Laboratory). The Field station animals shared access to four touch-screen computers in a large naturalistic social group. Each Field station subject had an RFID chip implanted in each arm for computerized identification and individualized assignment of cognitive tests. The Laboratory group was housed and tested in a typical laboratory setting, with individual access to testing computers in their home cages. Monkeys in both groups voluntarily participated at their own pace for food rewards. We evaluated performance in two visual psychophysics tests, a perceptual classification test, a transitive inference test, and a delayed matching-to-sample memory test. Despite the differences in housing, social environment, age, and sex, monkeys in the two groups performed similarly in all tests. Semi-free ranging monkeys living in complex social environments are therefore viable subjects for cognitive testing designed to take advantage of the unique affordances of naturalistic testing environments.

How Random Is Social Behaviour? Disentangling Social Complexity through the Study of a Wild House Mouse Population

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Perony, Nicolas; Tessone, Claudio J.; König, Barbara; Schweitzer, Frank

2012-01-01

Out of all the complex phenomena displayed in the behaviour of animal groups, many are thought to be emergent properties of rather simple decisions at the individual level. Some of these phenomena may also be explained by random processes only. Here we investigate to what extent the interaction dynamics of a population of wild house mice (Mus domesticus) in their natural environment can be explained by a simple stochastic model. We first introduce the notion of perceptual landscape, a novel tool used here to describe the utilisation of space by the mouse colony based on the sampling of individuals in discrete locations. We then implement the behavioural assumptions of the perceptual landscape in a multi-agent simulation to verify their accuracy in the reproduction of observed social patterns. We find that many high-level features – with the exception of territoriality – of our behavioural dataset can be accounted for at the population level through the use of this simplified representation. Our findings underline the potential importance of random factors in the apparent complexity of the mice's social structure. These results resonate in the general context of adaptive behaviour versus elementary environmental interactions. PMID:23209394

Systems approach to studying animal sociality: individual position versus group organization in dynamic social network models.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Karlo Hock

2010-12-01

Full Text Available Social networks can be used to represent group structure as a network of interacting components, and also to quantify both the position of each individual and the global properties of a group. In a series of simulation experiments based on dynamic social networks, we test the prediction that social behaviors that help individuals reach prominence within their social group may conflict with their potential to benefit from their social environment. In addition to cases where individuals were able to benefit from improving both their personal relative importance and group organization, using only simple rules of social affiliation we were able to obtain results in which individuals would face a trade-off between these factors. While selection would favor (or work against social behaviors that concordantly increase (or decrease, respectively fitness at both individual and group level, when these factors conflict with each other the eventual selective pressure would depend on the relative returns individuals get from their social environment and their position within it. The presented results highlight the importance of a systems approach to studying animal sociality, in which the effects of social behaviors should be viewed not only through the benefits that those provide to individuals, but also in terms of how they affect broader social environment and how in turn this is reflected back on an individual's fitness.

Parents, peer groups, and other socializing influences.

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Vandell, D L

2000-11-01

Three propositions that are central to J. R. Harris's group socialization theory (1995, 1998) are considered in this review. These propositions are as follows: (a) Parental behaviors have no long-term effects on children's psychological characteristics, (b) peer groups are the primary environmental influence on psychological functioning, and (c) dyadic relationships are situation-specific and do not generalize. The evidence that J. R. Harris has outlined in support of each of these propositions is reviewed, as is additional empirical research not considered by J. R. Harris. Serious limitations to each proposition are identified. The available evidence is more consistent with a model of multiple socialization agents. An expanded research agenda that permits a more definitive test of J. R. Harris's propositions and social relationship theory is proposed.

Simple reactions to nearby neighbours and complex social behaviour in primates

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hemelrijk, Charlotte; Menzel, Randolf; Fischer, Julia

Compared to many other animal taxa, the social behavior of primates is generally regarded to be more complex in its patterns and underlying cognition. This complexity has often been overestimated, because the same patterns of social behavior are found in taxa that are supposed to be cognitively less

Complexities of Social Capital in Boards of Directors

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sulinska, Iwona Magdalena

and firm performance. Chapter 3 explores social capital of board chair, which has been overlooked in previous studies. It suggests that individual social capital of board chair is as important for organizational performance as social capital of CEO and directors. Therefore, performance effect derives from...... and external networks of social relationships created by board members. Evolution paths are consequently proposed for diversity and strength of external network ties, and for internal network cohesion. In light of the overarching research question, the final chapter summarizes the findings.......The aim of the dissertation is to disentangle complexities of social capital in boards of directors through proposing new theoretical perspectives and methodological approaches. Although extant previous research has discussed various aspects of social capital and its association with numerous...

Social participation and mortality: does social position in civic groups matter?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yoshiki Ishikawa

2016-05-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Social participation is known to predict longevity. However, little is known about the effect of social participation according to an individual’s position in civic groups. We evaluated the influence of social position on mortality, using data from a large cohort of Japanese older adults (the AGES cohort. Methods Of 14,804 individuals aged 65 years and older enrolled in the AGES, 14,286 individuals were followed up for approximately 5 years from 2003 to 2008. We performed inverse probability of treatment weighted (IPTW Cox proportional hazards regression with multiple imputation of missing values to compute hazard ratios (HR for all-cause mortality according to the individual’s position in the community organization(s to which they belonged. We examined participation in the following civic groups: neighborhood association/senior citizen club/fire-fighting team, religious group, political organization or group, industrial or trade association, volunteer group, citizen or consumer group, hobby group, and sports group or club. The values for IPTW were computed based on demographic variables, socioeconomic status, and self-reported medical condition. Results During 22,718 person-years of follow-up for regular members of community groups and 14,014 person-years of follow-up for participants in leadership positions, 479 deaths and 214 deaths were observed, respectively. Relative to regular members, crude HR for all-cause mortality for occupying leadership positions (e.g. president, manager, or having administrative roles was 0.72 (95 % CI:0.62–0.85. The IPTW-HR was 0.88 (95 % CI: 0.79–0.99 for participants occupying leadership positions. Conclusions Holding leadership positions in community organization(s may be more beneficial to health than being regular members.

Social immunity and the evolution of group living in insects.

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Meunier, Joël

2015-05-26

The evolution of group living requires that individuals limit the inherent risks of parasite infection. To this end, group living insects have developed a unique capability of mounting collective anti-parasite defences, such as allogrooming and corpse removal from the nest. Over the last 20 years, this phenomenon (called social immunity) was mostly studied in eusocial insects, with results emphasizing its importance in derived social systems. However, the role of social immunity in the early evolution of group living remains unclear. Here, I investigate this topic by first presenting the definitions of social immunity and discussing their applications across social systems. I then provide an up-to-date appraisal of the collective and individual mechanisms of social immunity described in eusocial insects and show that they have counterparts in non-eusocial species and even solitary species. Finally, I review evidence demonstrating that the increased risks of parasite infection in group living species may both decrease and increase the level of personal immunity, and discuss how the expression of social immunity could drive these opposite effects. By highlighting similarities and differences of social immunity across social systems, this review emphasizes the potential importance of this phenomenon in the early evolution of the multiple forms of group living in insects. © 2015 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved.

Individuality and social influence in groups : Inductive and deductive routes to group identity

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Postmes, T; Spears, R; Lee, AT; Novak, RJ

2005-01-01

A distinction between forms of social identity formation in small interactive groups is investigated. In groups in which a common identity is available or given, norms for individual behavior may be deduced; from group properties (deductive identity). In groups in which interpersonal relations are

Social prophylaxis: group interaction promotes collective immunity in ant colonies

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ugelvig, Line V; Cremer, Sylvia

2007-01-01

Life in a social group increases the risk of disease transmission. To counteract this threat, social insects have evolved manifold antiparasite defenses, ranging from social exclusion of infected group members to intensive care. It is generally assumed that individuals performing hygienic behavio...

How Peer Pressure Shapes Consensus, Leadership, and Innovations in Social Groups

Science.gov (United States)

Estrada, Ernesto; Vargas-Estrada, Eusebio

2013-10-01

What is the effect of the combined direct and indirect social influences--peer pressure (PP)--on a social group's collective decisions? We present a model that captures PP as a function of the socio-cultural distance between individuals in a social group. Using this model and empirical data from 15 real-world social networks we found that the PP level determines how fast a social group reaches consensus. More importantly, the levels of PP determine the leaders who can achieve full control of their social groups. PP can overcome barriers imposed upon a consensus by the existence of tightly connected communities with local leaders or the existence of leaders with poor cohesiveness of opinions. A moderate level of PP is also necessary to explain the rate at which innovations diffuse through a variety of social groups.

How peer pressure shapes consensus, leadership, and innovations in social groups.

Science.gov (United States)

Estrada, Ernesto; Vargas-Estrada, Eusebio

2013-10-09

What is the effect of the combined direct and indirect social influences--peer pressure (PP)--on a social group's collective decisions? We present a model that captures PP as a function of the socio-cultural distance between individuals in a social group. Using this model and empirical data from 15 real-world social networks we found that the PP level determines how fast a social group reaches consensus. More importantly, the levels of PP determine the leaders who can achieve full control of their social groups. PP can overcome barriers imposed upon a consensus by the existence of tightly connected communities with local leaders or the existence of leaders with poor cohesiveness of opinions. A moderate level of PP is also necessary to explain the rate at which innovations diffuse through a variety of social groups.

Using social media to facilitate knowledge transfer in complex engineering environments: a primer for educators

Science.gov (United States)

Murphy, Glen; Salomone, Sonia

2013-03-01

While highly cohesive groups are potentially advantageous they are also often correlated with the emergence of knowledge and information silos based around those same functional or occupational clusters. Consequently, an essential challenge for engineering organisations wishing to overcome informational silos is to implement mechanisms that facilitate, encourage and sustain interactions between otherwise disconnected groups. This paper acts as a primer for those seeking to gain an understanding of the design, functionality and utility of a suite of software tools generically termed social media technologies in the context of optimising the management of tacit engineering knowledge. Underpinned by knowledge management theory and using detailed case examples, this paper explores how social media technologies achieve such goals, allowing for the transfer of knowledge by tapping into the tacit and explicit knowledge of disparate groups in complex engineering environments.

Simplifying and Complicating Early Social Complexity: An Introduction

OpenAIRE

Kaulicke, Peter

2012-01-01

This contribution treats some of the basic problems related to the origins of social complexity in ancient Perú and to such crucial definitions as domestication and sedentism. The necessity of including the concept of simplicity in discussions of complexity is stressed, as well as that of discerning the relevance and interrelation between simple and complex institutions. Further, the corresponding chronology of Perú also is in need of standardization and more precise definitions. Lastly, the ...

A Cognition-based View of Decision Processes in Complex Social-Ecological Systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kathi K. Beratan

2007-06-01

Full Text Available This synthesis paper is intended to provide an overview of individual and collective decision-making processes that might serve as a theoretical foundation for a complexity-based approach to environmental policy design and natural resource management planning. Human activities are the primary drivers of change in the Earth's biosphere today, so efforts to shift the trajectory of social-ecological systems must focus on changes in individual and collective human behavior. Recent advances in understanding the biological basis of thought and memory offer insights of use in designing management and planning processes. The human brain has evolved ways of dealing with complexity and uncertainty, and is particularly attuned to social information. Changes in an individual's schemas, reflecting changes in the patterns of neural connections that are activated by particular stimuli, occur primarily through nonconsious processes in response to experiential learning during repeated exposure to novel situations, ideas, and relationships. Discourse is an important mechanism for schema modification, and thus for behavior change. Through discourse, groups of people construct a shared story - a collective model - that is useful for predicting likely outcomes of actions and events. In effect, good stories are models that filter and organize distributed knowledge about complex situations and relationships in ways that are readily absorbed by human cognitive processes. The importance of discourse supports the view that collaborative approaches are needed to effectively deal with environmental problems and natural resource management challenges. Methods derived from the field of mediation and dispute resolution can help us take advantage of the distinctly human ability to deal with complexity and uncertainty. This cognitive view of decision making supports fundamental elements of resilience management and adaptive co-management, including fostering social learning

A Response to "Social Privilege, Social Justice, and Group Counseling: An Inquiry"

Science.gov (United States)

Holcomb-McCoy, Cheryl

2008-01-01

This response discusses the importance of "privilege talk" and relates the concept of privilege to group counseling research. The impact of "colorblindness" on the dynamics of groups is discussed. The importance of understanding social privilege and its influence on counseling groups is emphasized.

Toward a social capital theory of competitive advantage in medical groups.

Science.gov (United States)

Hoelscher, Mark L; Hoffman, James J; Dawley, David

2005-01-01

Social capital can have a positive impact on medical group performance. We forward our theory based on the integration of theories in social capital, resource advantage, and the resource-based view of the firm. Further, we suggest specific ways in which medical groups can increase their levels of social capital. First, medical groups should design or redesign the workplace so that there is ample interaction among employees. Second, employee participation within the community should be encouraged. Third, medical groups should recognize that social capital becomes ingrained in organizational culture. Therefore, medical groups should take steps to ensure a culture that supports its social capital. Fourth, hiring procedures should be designed (or redesigned) to ensure that new employees add social capital to the organization. Finally, trust must be fostered at the employee level.

SOCIAL COMPLEXITY AND LEARNING FORAGING TASKS IN BEES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

AMAYA-MÁRQUEZ MARISOL

2008-12-01

Full Text Available Social complexity and models concerning central place foraging were tested with respect to learning predictions using the social honey bee (Apis mellifera and solitary blue orchard bee (Osmia lignaria when given foraging problems. Both species were presented the same foraging problems, where 1 only reward molarity varied between flower morphs, and 2 only reward volume varied between flower morphs. Experiments utilized blue vs. white flower patches to standardize rewards in each experimental situation. Although honey bees learned faster than blue orchard bees when given a molarity difference reward problem, there was no significant difference in learning rate when presented a volume difference reward problem. Further, the rate at which blue orchard bees learned the volume difference problem was not significantly different from that with which honey bees learned about reward molarity differences. The results do not support the predictions of the social complexity theory, but do support those of the central place model

Group music performance causes elevated pain thresholds and social bonding in small and large groups of singers

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Weinstein, Daniel; Launay, Jacques; Pearce, Eiluned; Dunbar, Robin I. M.; Stewart, Lauren

2016-01-01

Over our evolutionary history, humans have faced the problem of how to create and maintain social bonds in progressively larger groups compared to those of our primate ancestors. Evidence from historical and anthropological records suggests that group music-making might act as a mechanism by which this large-scale social bonding could occur. While previous research has shown effects of music making on social bonds in small group contexts, the question of whether this effect ‘scales up’ to larger groups is particularly important when considering the potential role of music for large-scale social bonding. The current study recruited individuals from a community choir that met in both small (n = 20 – 80) and large (a ‘megachoir’ combining individuals from the smaller subchoirs n = 232) group contexts. Participants gave self-report measures (via a survey) of social bonding and had pain threshold measurements taken (as a proxy for endorphin release) before and after 90 minutes of singing. Results showed that feelings of inclusion, connectivity, positive affect, and measures of endorphin release all increased across singing rehearsals and that the influence of group singing was comparable for pain thresholds in the large versus small group context. Levels of social closeness were found to be greater at pre- and post-levels for the small choir condition. However, the large choir condition experienced a greater change in social closeness as compared to the small condition. The finding that singing together fosters social closeness – even in large contexts where individuals are not known to each other – is consistent with evolutionary accounts that emphasize the role of music in social bonding, particularly in the context of creating larger cohesive groups than other primates are able to manage. PMID:27158219

Rapid Prototyping of Social Group Dynamics in Multiagent Systems

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rehm, Matthias; Endrass, Birgit

2009-01-01

In this article we present an engineering approach for the integration of social group dynamics in the behavior modeling of multiagent systems. To this end, a toolbox was created that brings together several theories from the social sciences, each focusing on different aspects of group dynamics. ...

Aperiodic dynamics in a deterministic adaptive network model of attitude formation in social groups

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Ward, Jonathan A.; Grindrod, Peter

2014-07-01

Adaptive network models, in which node states and network topology coevolve, arise naturally in models of social dynamics that incorporate homophily and social influence. Homophily relates the similarity between pairs of nodes' states to their network coupling strength, whilst social influence causes coupled nodes' states to convergence. In this paper we propose a deterministic adaptive network model of attitude formation in social groups that includes these effects, and in which the attitudinal dynamics are represented by an activato-inhibitor process. We illustrate that consensus, corresponding to all nodes adopting the same attitudinal state and being fully connected, may destabilise via Turing instability, giving rise to aperiodic dynamics with sensitive dependence on initial conditions. These aperiodic dynamics correspond to the formation and dissolution of sub-groups that adopt contrasting attitudes. We discuss our findings in the context of cultural polarisation phenomena. Social influence. This reflects the fact that people tend to modify their behaviour and attitudes in response to the opinions of others [22-26]. We model social influence via diffusion: agents adjust their state according to a weighted sum (dictated by the evolving network) of the differences between their state and the states of their neighbours. Homophily. This relates the similarity of individuals' states to their frequency and strength of interaction [27]. Thus in our model, homophily drives the evolution of the weighted ‘social' network. A precise formulation of our model is given in Section 2. Social influence and homophily underpin models of social dynamics [21], which cover a wide range of sociological phenomena, including the diffusion of innovations [28-32], complex contagions [33-36], collective action [37-39], opinion dynamics [19,20,40,10,11,13,15,41,16], the emergence of social norms [42-44], group stability [45], social differentiation [46] and, of particular relevance

Mutual Group Hypnosis: A Social Interaction Analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Sanders, Shirley

Mutual Group Hypnosis is discussed in terms of its similarity to group dynamics in general and in terms of its similarity to a social interaction program (Role Modeling) designed to foster the expression of warmth and acceptance among group members. Hypnosis also fosters a regression to prelogical thought processes in the service of the ego. Group…

Social identity and the recognition of creativity in groups

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Adarves-Yorno, Inmaculada; Postmes, Tom; Haslam, S. Alexander

This paper develops an analysis of creativity that is informed by the social identity approach. Two studies are reported that support this analysis. Study I (N = 73) manipulated social identity salience and the content of group norms. The group norm was either conservative (i.e. promoted no change)

Understanding Online Health Groups for Depression: Social Network and Linguistic Perspectives.

Science.gov (United States)

Xu, Ronghua; Zhang, Qingpeng

2016-03-10

Mental health problems have become increasingly prevalent in the past decade. With the advance of Web 2.0 technologies, social media present a novel platform for Web users to form online health groups. Members of online health groups discuss health-related issues and mutually help one another by anonymously revealing their mental conditions, sharing personal experiences, exchanging health information, and providing suggestions and support. The conversations in online health groups contain valuable information to facilitate the understanding of their mutual help behaviors and their mental health problems. We aimed to characterize the conversations in a major online health group for major depressive disorder (MDD) patients in a popular Chinese social media platform. In particular, we intended to explain how Web users discuss depression-related issues from the perspective of the social networks and linguistic patterns revealed by the members' conversations. Social network analysis and linguistic analysis were employed to characterize the social structure and linguistic patterns, respectively. Furthermore, we integrated both perspectives to exploit the hidden relations between them. We found an intensive use of self-focus words and negative affect words. In general, group members used a higher proportion of negative affect words than positive affect words. The social network of the MDD group for depression possessed small-world and scale-free properties, with a much higher reciprocity ratio and clustering coefficient value as compared to the networks of other social media platforms and classic network models. We observed a number of interesting relationships, either strong correlations or convergent trends, between the topological properties and linguistic properties of the MDD group members. (1) The MDD group members have the characteristics of self-preoccupation and negative thought content, according to Beck's cognitive theory of depression; (2) the social structure

Institutional Complexity and Social Entrepreneurship: A Fuzzy-Set Approach

OpenAIRE

Munoz, PA; Kibler, E

2016-01-01

This study examines the local institutional complexity of social entrepreneurship. Building on a novel fuzzy-set analysis of 407 social entrepreneurs in the UK, the study identifies five configurations of local institutional forces that collectively explain the confidence of social entrepreneurs in successfully managing their business. The findings demonstrate that local authorities are a dominant condition; yet combinations of other complementary—more and less formalized—local institutions n...

Nonapeptides and the Evolution of Social Group Sizes in Birds

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

James L. Goodson

2011-03-01

Full Text Available Species-typical patterns of grouping have profound impacts on many aspects of physiology and behavior. However, prior to our recent studies in estrildid finches, neural mechanisms that titrate species-typical group size preferences, independent of other aspects of social organization (e.g., mating system and parental care, have been wholly unexplored, likely because species-typical group size is typically confounded with other aspects of behavior and biology. An additional complication is that components of social organization are evolutionarily labile and prone to repeated divergence and convergence. Hence, we cannot assume that convergence in social structure has been produced by convergent modifications to the same neural characters, and thus any comparative approach to grouping must include not only species that differ in their species-typical group sizes, but also species that exhibit convergent evolution in this aspect of social organization. Using five estrildid finch species that differ selectively in grouping (all biparental and monogamous we have demonstrated that neural motivational systems evolve in predictable ways in relation to species-typical group sizes, including convergence in two highly gregarious species and convergence in two relatively asocial, territorial species. These systems include nonapeptide (vasotocin and mesotocin circuits that encode the valence of social stimuli (positive-negative, titrate group-size preferences, and modulate anxiety-like behaviors. Nonapeptide systems exhibit functional and anatomical properties that are biased towards gregarious species, and experimental reductions of nonapeptide signaling by receptor antagonism and antisense oligonucleotides significantly decrease preferred group sizes in the gregarious zebra finch. Combined, these findings suggest that selection on species-typical group size may reliably target the same neural motivation systems when a given social structure evolves

The precariat: A new social group in the global society

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Golenkova Zinaida T.

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The instability of social and labor relations has attained enormous proportions in both modern developed countries and in developing societies. This phenomenon has led to the creation of a new social group in the structure of modern societies, which is called the precariat, and is characterized by the unstable situation in the labor market and by social insecurity. Instability in employment leads to emotional, psychological and social instability, which causes latent social conflict and rebellious behavior of individuals, and therefore this social group, in Western Europe, the U.S. and Japan, is considered to be a 'dangerous class'.

Group membership and social identity in addiction recovery.

Science.gov (United States)

Buckingham, Sarah A; Frings, Daniel; Albery, Ian P

2013-12-01

Despite a growing interest in how group membership can positively impact health, little research has addressed directly the role social identity processes can have on recovery from addiction. Drawing on social identity theory and self-categorization theory, the present study investigated how recovery group membership can introduce a new social identity associated with recovery, compared to the social identity associated with addiction. We hypothesized that two processes--evaluative differentiation and identity preference--would be linked with higher self-efficacy and positive health outcomes (i.e., reduced relapse, lower levels of appetitive behavior, and elevated feelings of social connectedness [Study 2]). Study 1 recruited members (N = 61) from United Kingdom based mutual aid groups of Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous. Study 2 recruited ex-smokers (N = 81) from online sources. In Study 1, evaluative differentiation was significantly related to lowered relapse and reduced appetitive behavior. Identity preference was related to higher levels of self-efficacy, which was related to months drug-free and reduced levels of appetitive behaviors. In Study 2, evaluative differentiation was related to identity preference. Identity preference was also related to higher self-efficacy, which in turn was related to lower relapse. Although exploratory, these results suggest that developing a social identity as a "recovering addict" or an "ex-smoker" and subsequently highlighting the difference between such identities may be a useful strategy for reducing relapse among people with problems associated with addictive behaviors. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved.

Does aging impair first impression accuracy? Differentiating emotion recognition from complex social inferences.

Science.gov (United States)

Krendl, Anne C; Rule, Nicholas O; Ambady, Nalini

2014-09-01

Young adults can be surprisingly accurate at making inferences about people from their faces. Although these first impressions have important consequences for both the perceiver and the target, it remains an open question whether first impression accuracy is preserved with age. Specifically, could age differences in impressions toward others stem from age-related deficits in accurately detecting complex social cues? Research on aging and impression formation suggests that young and older adults show relative consensus in their first impressions, but it is unknown whether they differ in accuracy. It has been widely shown that aging disrupts emotion recognition accuracy, and that these impairments may predict deficits in other social judgments, such as detecting deceit. However, it is unclear whether general impression formation accuracy (e.g., emotion recognition accuracy, detecting complex social cues) relies on similar or distinct mechanisms. It is important to examine this question to evaluate how, if at all, aging might affect overall accuracy. Here, we examined whether aging impaired first impression accuracy in predicting real-world outcomes and categorizing social group membership. Specifically, we studied whether emotion recognition accuracy and age-related cognitive decline (which has been implicated in exacerbating deficits in emotion recognition) predict first impression accuracy. Our results revealed that emotion recognition accuracy did not predict first impression accuracy, nor did age-related cognitive decline impair it. These findings suggest that domains of social perception outside of emotion recognition may rely on mechanisms that are relatively unimpaired by aging. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved.

Centrality Robustness and Link Prediction in Complex Social Networks

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Davidsen, Søren Atmakuri; Ortiz-Arroyo, Daniel

2012-01-01

. Secondly, we present a method to predict edges in dynamic social networks. Our experimental results indicate that the robustness of the centrality measures applied to more realistic social networks follows a predictable pattern and that the use of temporal statistics could improve the accuracy achieved......This chapter addresses two important issues in social network analysis that involve uncertainty. Firstly, we present am analysis on the robustness of centrality measures that extend the work presented in Borgati et al. using three types of complex network structures and one real social network...

A sense of change: media designers and artists communicating about complexity in social-ecological systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Joost M. Vervoort

2014-09-01

Full Text Available To take on the current and future challenges of global environmental change, fostering a widespread societal understanding of and engagement with the complex dynamics that characterize interacting human and natural systems is essential. Current science communication methods struggle with a number of specific challenges associated with communicating about complex systems. In this study we report on two collaborative processes, a short workshop and longer course, that aimed to harness the insights of interactive media designers and artists to overcome these challenges. The two processes resulted in 86 new interactive media concepts which were selected by the participants and organizers using set criteria and then evaluated using the same criteria by a panel of communication and media design experts and a panel of complex systems scientists using the same criteria. The top eight concepts are discussed in this paper. These concepts fell into the categories of serious games, group interaction concepts, and social media storytelling. The serious games focused directly on complex systems characteristics and were evaluated to be intuitive and engaging designs that combined transparency and complexity well. The group interaction concepts focused mostly on feedbacks and nonlinearity but were fully developed and tested in the workshops, and evaluated as engaging, accessible, and easy to implement in workshops and educational settings. The social media storytelling concepts involved less direct interactions with system dynamics but were seen as highly accessible to large scale audiences. The results of this study show the potential of interdisciplinary collaboration between complex systems scientists, designers, and artists. The results and process discussed in this paper show the value of more structural engagement of interactive media designers and artist communities in the development of communication tools about human and natural systems change.

Theories and simulations of complex social systems

CERN Document Server

Mago, Vijay

2014-01-01

Research into social systems is challenging due to their complex nature. Traditional methods of analysis are often difficult to apply effectively as theories evolve over time. This can be due to a lack of appropriate data, or too much uncertainty. It can also be the result of problems which are not yet understood well enough in the general sense so that they can be classified, and an appropriate solution quickly identified. Simulation is one tool that deals well with these challenges, fits in well with the deductive process, and is useful for testing theory. This field is still relatively new, and much of the work is necessarily innovative, although it builds upon a rich and varied foundation. There are a number of existing modelling paradigms being applied to complex social systems research. Additionally, new methods and measures are being devised through the process of conducting research. We expect that readers will enjoy the collection of high quality research works from new and accomplished researchers. ...

Evolution of Cooperation in Social Dilemmas on Complex Networks

Science.gov (United States)

Iyer, Swami; Killingback, Timothy

2016-01-01

Cooperation in social dilemmas is essential for the functioning of systems at multiple levels of complexity, from the simplest biological organisms to the most sophisticated human societies. Cooperation, although widespread, is fundamentally challenging to explain evolutionarily, since natural selection typically favors selfish behavior which is not socially optimal. Here we study the evolution of cooperation in three exemplars of key social dilemmas, representing the prisoner’s dilemma, hawk-dove and coordination classes of games, in structured populations defined by complex networks. Using individual-based simulations of the games on model and empirical networks, we give a detailed comparative study of the effects of the structural properties of a network, such as its average degree, variance in degree distribution, clustering coefficient, and assortativity coefficient, on the promotion of cooperative behavior in all three classes of games. PMID:26928428

What is complex in the complex world? Niklas Luhmann and the theory of social systems

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Clarissa Eckert Baeta Neves

Full Text Available This paper discusses Niklas Luhmann's understanding of complexity, its function in the theory and the different ways of its use. It starts with the paradigmatic change that occurred in the field of general Science, with the rupture of the Newtonian model. In the 20th century, the paradigm of order, symmetry, regularity, regulation of the intellect to things, collapses.Based on new formulations of Physics, Chemistry, etc., a new universe is built on bases radically opposed to those of modern Science.Chaos, the procedural irreversibility, indeterminism, the observer and the complexity are rehabilitated.This new conceptual context served as substratum to Niklas Luhmann's theoretical reflection.With his Theory of Social Systems, he proposes the reduction of the world's complexity.Social systems have the function of reducing complexity because of their difference in relation to the environment.On the other hand, the reduction of complexity also creates its own complexity. Luhmann defines complexity as the moment when it is not possible anymore for each element to relate at any moment with all the others. Complexity forces the selection, what means contingency and risk. Luhmann expands the concept of complexity when he introduces the figure of the observer and the distinction of complexity as a unit of a multiplicity. He also deals with the limit of relations in connection, the time factor, the self-reference of operations and the representation of complexity in the form of sense. To conclude, the paper discusses the complexity in the system of science, the way it reduces internal and external complexity, in accordance in its own operative basis.

Social Information on Fear and Food Drives Animal Grouping and Fitness.

Science.gov (United States)

Gil, Michael A; Emberts, Zachary; Jones, Harrison; St Mary, Colette M

2017-03-01

Empirical studies in select systems suggest that social information-the incidental or deliberate information produced by animals and available to other animals-can fundamentally shape animal grouping behavior. However, to understand the role of social information in animal behavior and fitness, we must establish general theory that quantifies effects of social information across ecological contexts and generates expectations that can be applied across systems. Here we used dynamic state variable modeling to isolate effects of social information about food and predators on grouping behavior and fitness. We characterized optimal behavior from a set of strategies that included grouping with different numbers of conspecifics or heterospecifics and the option to forage or be vigilant over the course of a day. We show that the use of social information alone increases grouping behavior but constrains group size to limit competition, ultimately increasing individual fitness substantially across various ecological contexts. We also found that across various contexts, foraging in mixed-species groups is generally better than foraging in conspecific groups, supporting recent theory on competition-information quality trade-offs. Our findings suggest that multiple forms of social information shape animal grouping and fitness, which are sensitive to resource availability and predation pressure that determine information usefulness.

Group Discussion and Cooperation in Social Dilemmas.

Science.gov (United States)

Bouas, Kelly S.; Komorita, S. S.

1996-01-01

Face-to-face discussion has been shown to increase cooperation behavior in social dilemmas. Two general explanations of this effect were tested: group identity and perception of consensus. Female undergraduate students (N=160) participated in four-person groups in one of four experimental conditions. Findings indicate the most plausible…

Social Groups and Subjectivity in Modern Society

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Læssøe, Jeppe; Gundelach, Peter

1996-01-01

outlines two examples. The first shows that energy research about the relation between lifestyles and energy consumption has to be aware of the change in social groups from stable communities towards partial imagined communities. Rituals and social signals are important means to constitute and maintain...... such communities. The acceptance or rejection of green consumption is influenced by this social dynamic. The second example attacks the widespread assumption among energy-behaviour researchers and administrators that the only way to change peoples behaviour goes from information to action. Based on psychological...

Synthesis, radiometric determination of functional groups, complexation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pompe, S.; Bubner, M.; Schmeide, K.; Heise, K.H.; Bernhard, G.; Nitsche, H.

2000-01-01

The interaction behavior of humic acids with uranium(VI) and the influence of humic substances on the migration behavior of uranium was investigated. A main focus of this work was the synthesis of four different humic acid model substances and their characterization and comparison to the natural humic acid from Aldrich. A radiometric method for the determination of humic acid functional groups was applied in addition to conventional methods for the determination of the functionality of humic acids. The humic acid model substances show functional and structural properties comparable to natural humic acids. Modified humic acids with blocked phenolic OH were synthesized to determine the influence of phenolic OH groups on the complexation behavior of humic acids. A synthesis method for 14 C-labeled humic acids with high specific activity was developed. The complexation behavior of synthetic and natural humic acids with uranium(VI) was investigated by X-ray absorption spectroscopy, laser-induced fluorescence spectroscopy and FTIR spectroscopy. The synthetic model substances show an interaction behavior with uranium(VI) that is comparable to natural humic acids. This points to the fact that the synthetic humic acids simulate the functionality of their natural analogues very well. For the first time the influence of phenolic OH groups on the complexation behavior of humic acids was investigated by applying a modified humic acid with blocked phenolic OH groups. The formation of a uranyl hydroxy humate complex was identified by laserspectroscopic investigations of the complexation of Aldrich humic acid with uranium(VI) at pH 7. The migration behavior of uranium in a sandy aquifer system rich is humic substances was investigated in column experiments. A part of uranium migrates non-retarded through the sediment, bound to humic colloids. The uranium migration behavior is strongly influenced by the kinetically controlled interaction processes of uranium with the humic colloids

The complexities of governing in a social media world.

Science.gov (United States)

Philpott, Thomas G; Swettenham, Julie

2012-01-01

The complexity of governing has increased with the Internet's introduction of social media. Boards need to be aware of social media impact upon external stakeholder relations, as well as legal responsibilities within the organization. This paper outlines the various implications of social media that a board needs to consider. A governance framework is used to help put the issues in perspective. The conclusion is that boards need to take social media seriously and ensure that their organization has a social media risk mitigation strategy for external communications, as well as eDiscovery. Various other strategies and tactics are suggested to help boards address the challenge.

Infrared multiple photon dissociation spectroscopy of group I and group II metal complexes with Boc-hydroxylamine.

Science.gov (United States)

Dain, Ryan P; Gresham, Gary; Groenewold, Gary S; Steill, Jeffrey D; Oomens, Jos; Van Stipdonk, Michael J

2013-08-30

Hydroxamates are essential growth factors for some microbes, acting primarily as siderophores that solubilize iron for transport into a cell. Here we determined the intrinsic structure of 1:1 complexes between Boc-protected hydroxylamine and group I ([M(L)](+)) and group II ([M(L-H)](+)) cations, where M and L are the cation and ligand, respectively, which are convenient models for the functional unit of hydroxamate siderphores. The relevant complex ions were generated by electrospray ionization (ESI) and isolated and stored in a Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance (FT-ICR) mass spectrometer. Infrared spectra of the isolated complexes were collected by monitoring (infrared) photodissociation yield as a function of photon energy. Experimental spectra were then compared to those predicted by density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The infrared multiple photon dissociation (IRMPD) spectra collected are in good agreement with those predicted to be lowest-energy by DFT. The spectra for the group I complexes contain six resolved absorptions that can be attributed to amide I and II type and hydroxylamine N-OH vibrations. Similar absorptions are observed for the group II cation complexes, with shifts of the amide I and amide II vibrations due to the change in structure with deprotonation of the hydroxylamine group. IRMPD spectroscopy unequivocally shows that the intrinsic binding mode for the group I cations involves the O atoms of the amide carbonyl and hydroxylamine groups of Boc-hydroxylamine. A similar binding mode is preferred for the group II cations, except that in this case the metal ion is coordinated by the O atom of the deprotonated hydroxylamine group. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Responses of bat social groups to roost loss: More questions than answers

Science.gov (United States)

Silvis, Alexander; Abaid, Nicole; Ford, W. Mark; Britzke, Eric R.; Ortega, Jorge

2016-01-01

Though characterization of, and understanding determinants of, social structure in bats is increasing, little is known about how bat social groups respond to disturbance resulting in roost loss. Given that many species of bats roost in ephemeral or transitory resources such as plants, it is clear that bat social groups can tolerate some level of roost loss. Understanding responses of bat social groups to roost loss can provide insight into social structure that have applied conservation use. Herein, we review the existing literature on the effects of disturbance on bat social groups, and present a parameterizable agent-based model that can be used to explore the relationships among roost dynamics, population dynamics, and social behavior.

Social evolution. Genomic signatures of evolutionary transitions from solitary to group living.

Science.gov (United States)

Kapheim, Karen M; Pan, Hailin; Li, Cai; Salzberg, Steven L; Puiu, Daniela; Magoc, Tanja; Robertson, Hugh M; Hudson, Matthew E; Venkat, Aarti; Fischman, Brielle J; Hernandez, Alvaro; Yandell, Mark; Ence, Daniel; Holt, Carson; Yocum, George D; Kemp, William P; Bosch, Jordi; Waterhouse, Robert M; Zdobnov, Evgeny M; Stolle, Eckart; Kraus, F Bernhard; Helbing, Sophie; Moritz, Robin F A; Glastad, Karl M; Hunt, Brendan G; Goodisman, Michael A D; Hauser, Frank; Grimmelikhuijzen, Cornelis J P; Pinheiro, Daniel Guariz; Nunes, Francis Morais Franco; Soares, Michelle Prioli Miranda; Tanaka, Érica Donato; Simões, Zilá Luz Paulino; Hartfelder, Klaus; Evans, Jay D; Barribeau, Seth M; Johnson, Reed M; Massey, Jonathan H; Southey, Bruce R; Hasselmann, Martin; Hamacher, Daniel; Biewer, Matthias; Kent, Clement F; Zayed, Amro; Blatti, Charles; Sinha, Saurabh; Johnston, J Spencer; Hanrahan, Shawn J; Kocher, Sarah D; Wang, Jun; Robinson, Gene E; Zhang, Guojie

2015-06-05

The evolution of eusociality is one of the major transitions in evolution, but the underlying genomic changes are unknown. We compared the genomes of 10 bee species that vary in social complexity, representing multiple independent transitions in social evolution, and report three major findings. First, many important genes show evidence of neutral evolution as a consequence of relaxed selection with increasing social complexity. Second, there is no single road map to eusociality; independent evolutionary transitions in sociality have independent genetic underpinnings. Third, though clearly independent in detail, these transitions do have similar general features, including an increase in constrained protein evolution accompanied by increases in the potential for gene regulation and decreases in diversity and abundance of transposable elements. Eusociality may arise through different mechanisms each time, but would likely always involve an increase in the complexity of gene networks. Copyright © 2015, American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Citizen Data Science for Social Good in Complex Systems

OpenAIRE

Soumya Banerjee

2018-01-01

The confluence of massive amounts of openly available data, sophisticated machine learning algorithms and an enlightened citizenry willing to engage in data science presents novel opportunities for crowd sourced data science for social good. In this submission, I present vignettes of data science projects that I have been involved in and which have impact in various spheres of life and on social good. Complex systems are all around us: from social networks to transportation systems, cities, e...

Group processes in medical education: learning from social identity theory.

Science.gov (United States)

Burford, Bryan

2012-02-01

The clinical workplace in which doctors learn involves many social groups, including representatives of different professions, clinical specialties and workplace teams. This paper suggests that medical education research does not currently take full account of the effects of group membership, and describes a theoretical approach from social psychology, the social identity approach, which allows those effects to be explored. The social identity approach has a long history in social psychology and provides an integrated account of group processes, from the adoption of group identity through a process of self-categorisation, to the biases and conflicts between groups. This paper outlines key elements of this theoretical approach and illustrates their relevance to medical education. The relevance of the social identity approach is illustrated with reference to a number of areas of medical education. The paper shows how research questions in medical education may be usefully reframed in terms of social identity in ways that allow a deeper exploration of the psychological processes involved. Professional identity and professionalism may be viewed in terms of self-categorisation rather than simply attainment; the salience of different identities may be considered as influences on teamwork and interprofessional learning, and issues in communication and assessment may be considered in terms of intergroup biases. Social identity theory provides a powerful framework with which to consider many areas of medical education. It allows disparate influences on, and consequences of, group membership to be considered as part of an integrated system, and allows assumptions, such as about the nature of professional identity and interprofessional tensions, to be made explicit in the design of research studies. This power to question assumptions and develop deeper and more meaningful research questions may be increasingly relevant as the nature and role of the medical profession change

Focus Groups as Social Arenas for the Negotiation of Normativity

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kristiansen, T. M.; Gronkjaer, M.

2018-01-01

Aim: This article aims to demonstrate how focus group discussions act as a social arena for the negotiation of social norms and normativity and to discuss the implications for the analysis of focus group discussions. Participants and methods: We have used sequences of group interactions from...... a focus group study on everyday life and chronic illness to demonstrate how methodological tools from conversation analysis and discursive psychology can be used to facilitate a systematic analysis of the negotiation and legitimization of social norms and normativity in focus groups. The empirical data...... consisted of six focus groups with a total of 32 participants. Results: The analysis demonstrated negotiations on normativity concerning four central aspects related to living with chronic illness: negotiating normativity about adjustment to the disease, negotiating normativity about being a dutiful...

Dominance Weighted Social Choice Functions for Group Recommendations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Silvia ROSSI

2015-12-01

Full Text Available In travel domains, decision support systems provide support to tourists in the planning of their vacation. In particular, when the number of possible Points of Interest (POI to visit is large, the system should help tourists providing recommendations on the POI that could be more interesting for them. Since traveling is, usually, an activity that involves small groups of people, the system should take simultaneously into account the preferences of each group's member. At the same time, it also should model possible intra-group relationships, which can have an impact in the group decision-making process. In this paper, we model this problem as a multi-agent aggregation of preferences by using weighted social choice functions, whereas such weights are automatically evaluated by analyzing the interactions of the group's members on Online Social Networks.

Social Groups, Explanation and Ontological Holism | Sheehy ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The paper begins from the claim that ontological holism is given prima facie plausibility by the apparently ineliminable role of groups in some descriptions and explanations of the social domain. If the individualist accepts the link between indispensabilty and realism, then individualism must show that groups cannot play the ...

Life in groups: the roles of oxytocin in mammalian sociality

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Allison eAnacker

2013-12-01

Full Text Available In recent decades, scientific understanding of the many roles of oxytocin in social behavior has advanced tremendously. The focus of this research has been on maternal attachments and reproductive pair-bonds, and much less is known about the substrates of sociality outside of reproductive contexts. It is now apparent that oxytocin influences many aspects of social behavior including recognition, trust, empathy, and other components of the behavioral repertoire of social species. This review provides a comparative perspective on the contributions of oxytocin to life in mammalian social groups. We provide background on the functions of oxytocin in maternal attachments and the early social environment, and give an overview of the role of oxytocin circuitry in support of different mating systems. We then introduce peer relationships in group-living rodents as a means for studying the importance of oxytocin in non-reproductive affiliative behaviors. We review species differences in oxytocin receptor distributions in solitary and group-living species of South American tuco-tucos and in African mole-rats, as well as singing mice. We discuss variation in oxytocin receptor levels with seasonal changes in social behavior in female meadow voles, and the effects of oxytocin manipulations on peer huddling behavior. Finally, we discuss avenues of promise for future investigation, and relate current findings to research in humans and non-human primates. There is growing evidence that oxytocin is involved in social selectivity, including increases in aggression toward social outgroups and decreased huddling with unfamiliar individuals, which may support existing social structures or relationships at the expense of others. Oxytocin’s effects reach beyond maternal attachment and pair bonds to play a role in affiliative behavior underlying friendships, organization of broad social structures, and maintenance of established social relationships with individuals

How within-group behavioural variation and task efficiency enhance fitness in a social group.

Science.gov (United States)

Pruitt, Jonathan N; Riechert, Susan E

2011-04-22

How task specialization, individual task performance and within-group behavioural variation affects fitness is a longstanding and unresolved problem in our understanding of animal societies. In the temperate social spider, Anelosimus studiosus, colony members exhibit a behavioural polymorphism; females either exhibit an aggressive 'asocial' or docile 'social' phenotype. We assessed individual prey-capture success for both phenotypes, and the role of phenotypic composition on group-level prey-capture success for three prey size classes. We then estimated the effect of group phenotypic composition on fitness in a common garden, as inferred from individual egg-case masses. On average, asocial females were more successful than social females at capturing large prey, and colony-level prey-capture success was positively associated with the frequency of the asocial phenotype. Asocial colony members were also more likely to engage in prey-capture behaviour in group-foraging situations. Interestingly, our fitness estimates indicate females of both phenotypes experience increased fitness when occupying colonies containing unlike individuals. These results imply a reciprocal fitness benefit of within-colony behavioural variation, and perhaps division of labour in a spider society.

Group Rumination: Social Interactions Around Music in People with Depression

Science.gov (United States)

Garrido, Sandra; Eerola, Tuomas; McFerran, Katrina

2017-01-01

One of the most important roles that music serves in human society is the promotion of social relationships and group cohesion. In general, emotional experiences tend to be amplified in group settings through processes of social feedback. However, previous research has established that listening to sad music can intensify negative emotions in people with tendencies to rumination and depression. This study therefore investigated the phenomenon of ruminating with music, and the question of whether listening to sad music in group settings provides social benefits for emotionally vulnerable listeners, or whether it further exaggerates depressive tendencies. Participants recruited via online depression groups and mental health websites were surveyed as to music listening habits. Results revealed that people with depression were more likely to engage in “group rumination” using music, and that this behavior could be partially explained by a general tendency to ruminate using music. Both affective states and coping styles were found to be related to the affective outcomes of group interactions around music. These findings go some way toward clarifying the situations in which group interactions around music are able to provide important social benefits for those involved, and situations in which negative emotions can be amplified by the group context. PMID:28421014

Extended parental care in communal social groups

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stephen H. Forbes

2002-11-01

Full Text Available Recent developments in social insect research have challenged the need for close kinship as a prerequisite for the evolution of stable group living. In a model communal bee species, Lasioglossum (Chilalictus hemichalceum, previous allozyme work indicated that groups of cooperating adult females are not relatives. Yet at any given time, not all group members perform the risky task of foraging. We previously hypothesized that tolerance for non-foragers was a component of extended parental care, previously known only for kin based social systems. DNA microsatellites were used to study colony genetic structure in order to test this hypothesis. Microsatellite polymorphism was substantial (He = 0.775. Overall intracolony relatedness, mainly of immatures, was low but significant in nine, late season nests (r = 0.136 plus or minus0.023, indicating that broods contain five to six unrelated sib ships. Detailed analyses of kinship between pairs of individuals revealed that most pairs were unrelated and most related pairs were siblings. Mothers are absent for 89-91% of the developing immature females, and 97% of developing males. Alternatively, 46% of adult females had neither sibs nor offspring in their nests. These findings indicate that the extended parental care model applies broadly to both kin based and nonkin based social systems in the Hymenoptera.

Defining Social Class Across Time and Between Groups.

Science.gov (United States)

Cohen, Dov; Shin, Faith; Liu, Xi; Ondish, Peter; Kraus, Michael W

2017-11-01

We examined changes over four decades and between ethnic groups in how people define their social class. Changes included the increasing importance of income, decreasing importance of occupational prestige, and the demise of the "Victorian bargain," in which poor people who subscribed to conservative sexual and religious norms could think of themselves as middle class. The period also saw changes (among Whites) and continuity (among Black Americans) in subjective status perceptions. For Whites (and particularly poor Whites), their perceptions of enhanced social class were greatly reduced. Poor Whites now view their social class as slightly but significantly lower than their poor Black and Latino counterparts. For Black respondents, a caste-like understanding of social class persisted, as they continued to view their class standing as relatively independent of their achieved education, income, and occupation. Such achievement indicators, however, predicted Black respondents' self-esteem more than they predicted self-esteem for any other group.

Homogeneity in Social Groups of Iraqis

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Gresham, J.; Saleh, F.; Majid, S.

With appreciation to the Royal Institute for Inter-Faith Studies for initiating the Second World Congress for Middle Eastern Studies, this paper summarizes findings on homogeneity in community-level social groups derived from inter-ethnic research conducted during 2005 among Iraqi Arabs and Kurds

Social skills group training in high-functioning autism: A qualitative responder study.

Science.gov (United States)

Choque Olsson, Nora; Rautio, Daniel; Asztalos, Jenny; Stoetzer, Ulrich; Bölte, Sven

2016-11-01

Systematic reviews show some evidence for the efficacy of group-based social skills group training in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder, but more rigorous research is needed to endorse generalizability. In addition, little is known about the perspectives of autistic individuals participating in social skills group training. Using a qualitative approach, the objective of this study was to examine experiences and opinions about social skills group training of children and adolescents with higher functioning autism spectrum disorder and their parents following participation in a manualized social skills group training ("KONTAKT"). Within an ongoing randomized controlled clinical trial (NCT01854346) and based on outcome data from the Social Responsiveness Scale, six high responders and five low-to-non-responders to social skills group training and one parent of each child (N = 22) were deep interviewed. Interestingly, both high responders and low-to-non-responders (and their parents) reported improvements in social communication and related skills (e.g. awareness of own difficulties, self-confidence, independence in everyday life) and overall treatment satisfaction, although more positive intervention experiences were expressed by responders. These findings highlight the added value of collecting verbal data in addition to quantitative data in a comprehensive evaluation of social skills group training. © The Author(s) 2016.

Social Group Dynamics and Patterns of Latin American Integration Processes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sébastien Dubé

2017-04-01

Full Text Available This article proposes to incorporate social psychology elements with mainstream political science and international relations theories to help understand the contradictions related to the integration processes in Latin America. Through a theoretical analysis, it contributes to the challenge proposed by Dabène (2009 to explain the “resilience” of the Latin American regional integration process in spite of its “instability and crises.” Our main proposition calls for considering Latin America as a community and its regional organizations as “social groups.” In conclusion, three phenomena from the field of social psychology and particularly social group dynamics shed light on these contradictory patterns: the value of the group and the emotional bond, groupthink, and cognitive dissonance.

The Empirical Measurement of a Theoretical Concept: Tracing Social Exclusion among Racial Minority and Migrant Groups in Canada

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Luann Good Gingrich

2015-07-01

Full Text Available This paper provides an in-depth description and case application of a conceptual model of social exclusion: aiming to advance existing knowledge on how to conceive of and identify this complex idea, evaluate the methodologies used to measure it, and reconsider what is understood about its social realities toward a meaningful and measurable conception of social inclusion. Drawing on Pierre Bourdieu’s conceptual tools of social fields and systems of capital, our research posits and applies a theoretical framework that permits the measurement of social exclusion as dynamic, social, relational, and material. We begin with a brief review of existing social exclusion research literature, and specifically examine the difficulties and benefits inherent in quantitatively operationalizing a necessarily multifarious theoretical concept. We then introduce our conceptual model of social exclusion and inclusion, which is built on measurable constructs. Using our ongoing program of research as a case study, we briefly present our approach to the quantitative operationalization of social exclusion using secondary data analysis in the Canadian context. Through the development of an Economic Exclusion Index, we demonstrate how our statistical and theoretical analyses evidence intersecting processes of social exclusion which produce consequential gaps and uneven trajectories for migrant individuals and groups compared with Canadian-born, and racial minority groups versus white individuals. To conclude, we consider some methodological implications to advance the empirical measurement of social inclusion.

Moderating Effects of Group Status, Cohesion, and Ethnic Composition on Socialization of Aggression in Children's Peer Groups

Science.gov (United States)

Shi, Bing; Xie, Hongling

2014-01-01

We explored the effects of 3 group features (i.e., status, cohesion, and ethnic composition) on socialization processes of aggression in early adolescents' natural peer social groups. Gender differences in these effects were also determined. A total of 245 seventh-grade individuals belonging to 65 peer groups were included in the analyses. All 3…

Understanding social behaviour with the help of complexity science (Invited article)

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hemelrijk, C.K.

2002-01-01

In the study of complexity, a new kind of explanation has been developed for social behaviour. It shows how patterns of social behaviour can arise as a side-effect of the interaction of individuals with their social or physical environment (e.g. by self-organization). This development may influence

Highly identified power-holders feel responsible: The interplay between social identification and social power within groups.

Science.gov (United States)

Scholl, Annika; Sassenberg, Kai; Ellemers, Naomi; Scheepers, Daan; de Wit, Frank

2018-01-01

Power relations affect dynamics within groups. Power-holders' decisions not only determine their personal outcomes, but also the outcomes of others in the group that they control. Yet, power-holders often tend to overlook this responsibility to take care of collective interests. The present research investigated how social identification - with the group to which both the powerful and the powerless belong - alters perceived responsibility among power-holders (and the powerless). Combining research on social power and social identity, we argue that power-holders perceive more responsibility than the powerless when strongly (rather than when weakly) identifying with the group. A study among leaders and an experiment supported this, highlighting that although power-holders are often primarily concerned about personal outcomes, they do feel responsible for considering others' interests when these others are included in the (social) self. © 2017 The British Psychological Society.

Creating social spaces to tackle AIDS-related stigma: reviewing the role of church groups in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Science.gov (United States)

Campbell, C; Skovdal, M; Gibbs, A

2011-08-01

An expanding body of literature explores the role of African church groups in facilitating or hindering the support of people living with AIDS and challenging or contributing to HIV/AIDS-related stigma. Treating church groups as social spaces in which HIV/AIDS-related stigma may potentially be challenged, we systematically review this literature, identifying five themes that highlight the complex and contradictory role of the church as a potential agent of health-enhancing social change. In many ways the church perpetuates HIV/AIDS-related stigma through (i) moralistic attitudes and (ii) its reinforcement of conservative gender ideologies. However some churches have managed move towards action that makes a more positive contribution to HIV/AIDS management through (iii) promoting various forms of social control for HIV prevention, (iv) contributing to the care and support of the AIDS-affected and (v) providing social spaces for challenging stigmatising ideas and practices. We conclude that church groups, including church leadership, can play a key role in facilitating or hindering the creation of supportive social spaces to challenge stigma. Much work remains to be done in developing deeper understandings of the multi-layered factors that enable some churches, but not others, to respond effectively to HIV/AIDS.

Ethnic Identity and Social-Cognitive Maturity in a Multicultural Group Experience

Science.gov (United States)

Johnson, Jennifer M.; Lambie, Glenn W.

2013-01-01

This study examined a multicultural group experience on students' ("N"= 94) ethnic identity development and social-cognitive maturity. Although no differences were identified between treatment and comparison group participants, group therapeutic factors scores were predictive of ethnic identity development and social-cognitive…

Interactive social contagions and co-infections on complex networks

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Quan-Hui; Zhong, Lin-Feng; Wang, Wei; Zhou, Tao; Eugene Stanley, H.

2018-01-01

What we are learning about the ubiquitous interactions among multiple social contagion processes on complex networks challenges existing theoretical methods. We propose an interactive social behavior spreading model, in which two behaviors sequentially spread on a complex network, one following the other. Adopting the first behavior has either a synergistic or an inhibiting effect on the spread of the second behavior. We find that the inhibiting effect of the first behavior can cause the continuous phase transition of the second behavior spreading to become discontinuous. This discontinuous phase transition of the second behavior can also become a continuous one when the effect of adopting the first behavior becomes synergistic. This synergy allows the second behavior to be more easily adopted and enlarges the co-existence region of both behaviors. We establish an edge-based compartmental method, and our theoretical predictions match well with the simulation results. Our findings provide helpful insights into better understanding the spread of interactive social behavior in human society.

Untangling the influences of voluntary running, environmental complexity, social housing and stress on adult hippocampal neurogenesis.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Catherine-Alexandra Grégoire

Full Text Available Environmental enrichment (EE exerts powerful effects on brain physiology, and is widely used as an experimental and therapeutic tool. Typical EE paradigms are multifactorial, incorporating elements of physical exercise, environmental complexity, social interactions and stress, however the specific contributions of these variables have not been separable using conventional housing paradigms. Here, we evaluated the impacts of these individual variables on adult hippocampal neurogenesis by using a novel "Alternating EE" paradigm. For 4 weeks, adult male CD1 mice were alternated daily between two enriched environments; by comparing groups that differed in one of their two environments, the individual and combinatorial effects of EE variables could be resolved. The Alternating EE paradigm revealed that (1 voluntary running for 3 days/week was sufficient to increase both mitotic and post-mitotic stages of hippocampal neurogenesis, confirming the central importance of exercise; (2 a complex environment (comprised of both social interactions and rotated inanimate objects had no effect on neurogenesis itself, but enhanced depolarization-induced c-Fos expression (attributable to social interactions and buffered stress-induced plasma corticosterone levels (attributable to inanimate objects; and (3 neither social isolation, group housing, nor chronically increased levels of plasma corticosterone had a prolonged impact on neurogenesis. Mouse strain, handling and type of running apparatus were tested and excluded as potential confounding factors. These findings provide valuable insights into the relative effects of key EE variables on adult neurogenesis, and this "Alternating EE" paradigm represents a useful tool for exploring the contributions of individual EE variables to mechanisms of neural plasticity.

Untangling the Influences of Voluntary Running, Environmental Complexity, Social Housing and Stress on Adult Hippocampal Neurogenesis

Science.gov (United States)

Grégoire, Catherine-Alexandra; Bonenfant, David; Le Nguyen, Adalie; Aumont, Anne; Fernandes, Karl J. L.

2014-01-01

Environmental enrichment (EE) exerts powerful effects on brain physiology, and is widely used as an experimental and therapeutic tool. Typical EE paradigms are multifactorial, incorporating elements of physical exercise, environmental complexity, social interactions and stress, however the specific contributions of these variables have not been separable using conventional housing paradigms. Here, we evaluated the impacts of these individual variables on adult hippocampal neurogenesis by using a novel “Alternating EE” paradigm. For 4 weeks, adult male CD1 mice were alternated daily between two enriched environments; by comparing groups that differed in one of their two environments, the individual and combinatorial effects of EE variables could be resolved. The Alternating EE paradigm revealed that (1) voluntary running for 3 days/week was sufficient to increase both mitotic and post-mitotic stages of hippocampal neurogenesis, confirming the central importance of exercise; (2) a complex environment (comprised of both social interactions and rotated inanimate objects) had no effect on neurogenesis itself, but enhanced depolarization-induced c-Fos expression (attributable to social interactions) and buffered stress-induced plasma corticosterone levels (attributable to inanimate objects); and (3) neither social isolation, group housing, nor chronically increased levels of plasma corticosterone had a prolonged impact on neurogenesis. Mouse strain, handling and type of running apparatus were tested and excluded as potential confounding factors. These findings provide valuable insights into the relative effects of key EE variables on adult neurogenesis, and this “Alternating EE” paradigm represents a useful tool for exploring the contributions of individual EE variables to mechanisms of neural plasticity. PMID:24465980

Social capital as norms and resources: Focus groups discussing alcohol

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Demant, Jakob Johan; Järvinen, Margaretha

2011-01-01

and an effect of their drinking experience. We apply Coleman's micro-oriented perspective on local network mechanisms – with a specific focus on collective norms negotiated in the focus groups – in combination with Bourdieu's definition of social capital as resources. The data used in this article come from......The aim of this article is to analyse the relationship between peer-group social capital and the use of alcohol among young people – as this relationship is expressed in focus group interviews. The main point to be made is that social capital affects alcohol use in two different ways: it incites...... focus group interviews with 18–19-year-old Danes. Read More: http://informahealthcare.com/doi/abs/10.3109/16066351003725776...

Selective memory retrieval in social groups: When silence is golden and when it is not.

Science.gov (United States)

Abel, Magdalena; Bäuml, Karl-Heinz T

2015-07-01

Previous research has shown that the selective remembering of a speaker and the resulting silences can cause forgetting of related, but unmentioned information by a listener (Cuc, Koppel, & Hirst, 2007). Guided by more recent work that demonstrated both detrimental and beneficial effects of selective memory retrieval in individuals, the present research explored the effects of selective remembering in social groups when access to the encoding context at retrieval was maintained or impaired. In each of three experiments, selective retrieval by the speaker impaired recall of the listener when access to the encoding context was maintained, but it improved recall of the listener when context access was impaired. The results suggest the existence of two faces of selective memory retrieval in social groups, with a detrimental face when the encoding context is still active at retrieval and a beneficial face when it is not. The role of silence in social recall thus seems to be more complex than was indicated in prior work, and mnemonic silences on the part of a speaker can be "golden" for the memories of a listener under some circumstances, but not be "golden" under others. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Movement Synchrony Forges Social Bonds Across Group Divides

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bahar eTuncgenc

2016-05-01

Full Text Available Group dynamics play an important role in the social interactions of both children and adults. A large amount of research has shown that merely being allocated to arbitrarily defined groups can evoke disproportionately positive attitudes toward one’s in-group and negative attitudes toward out-groups, and that these biases emerge in early childhood. This prompts important empirical questions with far-reaching theoretical and applied significance. How robust are these inter-group biases? Can biases be mitigated by behaviors known to bond individuals and groups together? How can bonds be forged across existing group divides? To explore these questions, we examined the bonding effects of interpersonal synchrony on minimally constructed groups in a controlled experiment. In-group and out-group bonding were assessed using questionnaires administered before and after a task in which groups performed movements either synchronously or non-synchronously in a between-participants design. We also developed an implicit behavioral measure, the Island Game, in which physical proximity was used as an indirect measure of interpersonal closeness. Self-report and behavioral measures showed increased bonding between groups after synchronous movement. Bonding with the out-group was significantly higher in the condition in which movements were performed synchronously than when movements were performed non-synchronously between groups. The findings are discussed in terms of their importance for the developmental social psychology of group dynamics as well as their implications for applied intervention programs.

Shared death: self, sociality and internet group suicide in Japan.

Science.gov (United States)

Ozawa-De Silva, Chikako

2010-07-01

Existing models for understanding suicide fail to account for the distinctiveness of Internet group suicide, a recent phenomenon in Japan. Drawing from an ethnography of Internet suicide websites, two social commentaries in Japanese popular culture, and the work of developmental psychologist Philippe Rochat, I argue that participation in Internet suicide forums and even the act of Internet group suicide result from both a need for social connectedness and the fear of social rejection and isolation that this need engenders. These needs and fears are especially strong in the case of Japan, where the dominant cultural rhetoric ties selfhood closely to the social self that is the object of perception and experience by others. I show how such an understanding of Internet group suicide helps us to understand some of its basic characteristics, which are otherwise difficult to explain and which have puzzled the Japanese media and popular accounts: the "ordinariness" or casual nature of Internet group suicide, the wish for an easy or comfortable death, the wish to die with others, and the wish to "vanish." Internet group suicide sheds light on questions of Japanese selfhood in modernity and expands our understanding of suicide in Japan in general.

Intensive group-based CBT for child social phobia: a pilot study.

Science.gov (United States)

Donovan, Caroline L; Cobham, Vanessa; Waters, Allison M; Occhipinti, Stefano

2015-05-01

Although CBT has proven efficacious in the treatment of child social phobia (SP), most children do not present for treatment and child SP may be less responsive to treatment than other anxiety disorders. Intensive, group-based, SP-specific CBT may improve the efficacy of, and access to, treatment for child SP. The aim of this study was to provide a preliminary examination of such a program. Forty Australian children aged 7-12 years (15 male and 25 female) were allocated into treatment and waitlist groups. Clinical interviews to determine diagnostic status were conducted prior to treatment, following treatment and at 6-month follow-up. Parent and child questionnaire measures of child anxiety symptoms, internalizing symptoms, depression, social skills, social competence, and parental social anxiety were administered at the same time points. Treatment was delivered in 4 separate 3-hour sessions conducted over 3 consecutive weekends. At postassessment, 52.4% of children in the treatment group and 15.8% of children in the waitlist group were free of their SP diagnosis. At postassessment, compared to waitlist children, treatment group children demonstrated a greater drop in clinical severity, a greater increase in overall functioning, and held fewer clinical diagnoses. Treatment group children also reported a greater reduction in SP symptoms compared to waitlist children, and treatment group parents reported a greater reduction in child internalizing and anxiety symptoms, a greater increase in child social competence, and a greater decrease in parental SP symptoms, compared to parents of children in the waitlist group. By 6-month follow-up, 76.9% of the treatment group were free of their SP diagnosis and gains on all other measures were maintained. The results of this study are encouraging, and suggest that brief, intensive, group CBT for children with social anxiety is beneficial for many youngsters. Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Young children seek out biased information about social groups.

Science.gov (United States)

Over, Harriet; Eggleston, Adam; Bell, Jenny; Dunham, Yarrow

2018-05-01

Understanding the origins of prejudice necessitates exploring the ways in which children participate in the construction of biased representations of social groups. We investigate whether young children actively seek out information that supports and extends their initial intergroup biases. In Studies 1 and 2, we show that children choose to hear a story that contains positive information about their own group and negative information about another group rather than a story that contains negative information about their own group and positive information about the other group. In a third study, we show that children choose to present biased information to others, thus demonstrating that the effects of information selection can start to propagate through social networks. In Studies 4 and 5, we further investigate the nature of children's selective information seeking and show that children prefer ingroup-favouring information to other types of biased information and even to balanced, unbiased information. Together, this work shows that children are not merely passively recipients of social information; they play an active role in the creation and transmission of intergroup attitudes. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Political complexity predicts the spread of ethnolinguistic groups

Science.gov (United States)

Currie, Thomas E.; Mace, Ruth

2009-01-01

Human languages show a remarkable degree of variation in the area they cover. However, the factors governing the distribution of human cultural groups such as languages are not well understood. While previous studies have examined the role of a number of environmental variables the importance of cultural factors has not been systematically addressed. Here we use a geographical information system (GIS) to integrate information about languages with environmental, ecological, and ethnographic data to test a number of hypotheses that have been proposed to explain the global distribution of languages. We show that the degree of political complexity and type of subsistence strategy exhibited by societies are important predictors of the area covered by a language. Political complexity is also strongly associated with the latitudinal gradient in language area, whereas subsistence strategy is not. We argue that a process of cultural group selection favoring more complex societies may have been important in shaping the present-day global distribution of language diversity. PMID:19380740

Spatially Distributed Social Complex Networks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gerald F. Frasco

2014-01-01

Full Text Available We propose a bare-bones stochastic model that takes into account both the geographical distribution of people within a country and their complex network of connections. The model, which is designed to give rise to a scale-free network of social connections and to visually resemble the geographical spread seen in satellite pictures of the Earth at night, gives rise to a power-law distribution for the ranking of cities by population size (but for the largest cities and reflects the notion that highly connected individuals tend to live in highly populated areas. It also yields some interesting insights regarding Gibrat’s law for the rates of city growth (by population size, in partial support of the findings in a recent analysis of real data [Rozenfeld et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 105, 18702 (2008.]. The model produces a nontrivial relation between city population and city population density and a superlinear relationship between social connectivity and city population, both of which seem quite in line with real data.

Spatially Distributed Social Complex Networks

Science.gov (United States)

Frasco, Gerald F.; Sun, Jie; Rozenfeld, Hernán D.; ben-Avraham, Daniel

2014-01-01

We propose a bare-bones stochastic model that takes into account both the geographical distribution of people within a country and their complex network of connections. The model, which is designed to give rise to a scale-free network of social connections and to visually resemble the geographical spread seen in satellite pictures of the Earth at night, gives rise to a power-law distribution for the ranking of cities by population size (but for the largest cities) and reflects the notion that highly connected individuals tend to live in highly populated areas. It also yields some interesting insights regarding Gibrat's law for the rates of city growth (by population size), in partial support of the findings in a recent analysis of real data [Rozenfeld et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 105, 18702 (2008).]. The model produces a nontrivial relation between city population and city population density and a superlinear relationship between social connectivity and city population, both of which seem quite in line with real data.

Social networks improve leaderless group navigation by facilitating long-distance communication

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nikolai W. F. BODE, A. Jamie WOOD, Daniel W. FRANKS

2012-04-01

Full Text Available Group navigation is of great importance for many animals, such as migrating flocks of birds or shoals of fish. One theory states that group membership can improve navigational accuracy compared to limited or less accurate individual navigational ability in groups without leaders (“Many-wrongs principle”. Here, we simulate leaderless group navigation that includes social connections as preferential interactions between individuals. Our results suggest that underlying social networks can reduce navigational errors of groups and increase group cohesion. We use network summary statistics, in particular network motifs, to study which characteristics of networks lead to these improvements. It is networks in which preferences between individuals are not clustered, but spread evenly across the group that are advantageous in group navigation by effectively enhancing long-distance information exchange within groups. We suggest that our work predicts a base-line for the type of social structure we might expect to find in group-living animals that navigate without leaders [Current Zoology 58 (2: 329-341, 2012].

The socialization of dominance: peer group contextual effects on homophobic and dominance attitudes.

Science.gov (United States)

Poteat, V Paul; Espelage, Dorothy L; Green, Harold D

2007-06-01

Using the framework of social dominance theory, the current investigation tested for the contextual effects of adolescent peer groups on individuals' homophobic and social dominance attitudes. Results from multilevel models indicated that significant differences existed across peer groups on homophobic attitudes. In addition, these differences were accounted for on the basis of the hierarchy-enhancing or -attenuating climate of the group. A group socialization effect on individuals' social dominance attitudes over time was also observed. Furthermore, the social climate of the peer group moderated the stability of individuals' social dominance attitudes. Findings support the need to examine more proximal and informal group affiliations and earlier developmental periods in efforts to build more comprehensive theoretical models explaining when and how prejudiced and dominance attitudes are formed and the way in which they are perpetuated. (c) 2007 APA, all rights reserved.

Empirical Studies on the Network of Social Groups: The Case of Tencent QQ.

Science.gov (United States)

You, Zhi-Qiang; Han, Xiao-Pu; Lü, Linyuan; Yeung, Chi Ho

2015-01-01

Participation in social groups are important but the collective behaviors of human as a group are difficult to analyze due to the difficulties to quantify ordinary social relation, group membership, and to collect a comprehensive dataset. Such difficulties can be circumvented by analyzing online social networks. In this paper, we analyze a comprehensive dataset released from Tencent QQ, an instant messenger with the highest market share in China. Specifically, we analyze three derivative networks involving groups and their members-the hypergraph of groups, the network of groups and the user network-to reveal social interactions at microscopic and mesoscopic level. Our results uncover interesting behaviors on the growth of user groups, the interactions between groups, and their relationship with member age and gender. These findings lead to insights which are difficult to obtain in social networks based on personal contacts.

A genomic comparison of two termites with different social complexity.

Science.gov (United States)

Korb, Judith; Poulsen, Michael; Hu, Haofu; Li, Cai; Boomsma, Jacobus J; Zhang, Guojie; Liebig, Jürgen

2015-01-01

The termites evolved eusociality and complex societies before the ants, but have been studied much less. The recent publication of the first two termite genomes provides a unique comparative opportunity, particularly because the sequenced termites represent opposite ends of the social complexity spectrum. Zootermopsis nevadensis has simple colonies with totipotent workers that can develop into all castes (dispersing reproductives, nest-inheriting replacement reproductives, and soldiers). In contrast, the fungus-growing termite Macrotermes natalensis belongs to the higher termites and has very large and complex societies with morphologically distinct castes that are life-time sterile. Here we compare key characteristics of genomic architecture, focusing on genes involved in communication, immune defenses, mating biology and symbiosis that were likely important in termite social evolution. We discuss these in relation to what is known about these genes in the ants and outline hypothesis for further testing.

Social anxiety and alcohol use across the university years: Adaptive and maladaptive groups.

Science.gov (United States)

Brook, Christina A; Willoughby, Teena

2016-05-01

University/college can be a challenging time as students face developmental tasks such as building new social networks and achieving academically. Social anxiety may be disadvantageous in this setting given that social situations often include drinking and individuals with social anxiety tend to self-medicate through alcohol use. However, findings are mixed as to whether the association between social anxiety and alcohol use is positive or negative. To clarify the nature of this association, we used a person-centered longitudinal analysis to identify student groups based on levels of social anxiety symptoms and alcohol consumption. Undergraduates (N = 1132, 70.5% female, Mage = 19.06 at Time 1) enrolled in university completed a survey assessing social anxiety and alcohol use over 3 years, and psychosocial functioning and emotion coping behaviors at Time 1. Two out of 5 groups were identified with higher levels of social anxiety, 1 with moderately low alcohol use, and the other with moderately high alcohol use. Both groups reported higher levels of general anxiety, depressive symptoms, behavioral inhibition, emotional reactivity, daily hassles, and lower levels of social ties at Time 1 than the 3 groups with lower levels of social anxiety. Furthermore, the social anxiety-alcohol use group reported significantly lower academic grades and was more likely to endorse problematic emotion coping behaviors (e.g., self-injury) than the social anxiety-low alcohol use group. These results not only help explain the mixed findings in the literature but indicate that 1 group of socially anxious students may be particularly vulnerable to negative adjustment difficulties. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Computational social dynamic modeling of group recruitment.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Berry, Nina M.; Lee, Marinna; Pickett, Marc; Turnley, Jessica Glicken (Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM); Smrcka, Julianne D. (Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM); Ko, Teresa H.; Moy, Timothy David (Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM); Wu, Benjamin C.

2004-01-01

The Seldon software toolkit combines concepts from agent-based modeling and social science to create a computationally social dynamic model for group recruitment. The underlying recruitment model is based on a unique three-level hybrid agent-based architecture that contains simple agents (level one), abstract agents (level two), and cognitive agents (level three). This uniqueness of this architecture begins with abstract agents that permit the model to include social concepts (gang) or institutional concepts (school) into a typical software simulation environment. The future addition of cognitive agents to the recruitment model will provide a unique entity that does not exist in any agent-based modeling toolkits to date. We use social networks to provide an integrated mesh within and between the different levels. This Java based toolkit is used to analyze different social concepts based on initialization input from the user. The input alters a set of parameters used to influence the values associated with the simple agents, abstract agents, and the interactions (simple agent-simple agent or simple agent-abstract agent) between these entities. The results of phase-1 Seldon toolkit provide insight into how certain social concepts apply to different scenario development for inner city gang recruitment.

The Digital Flynn Effect: Complexity of Posts on Social Media Increases over Time

OpenAIRE

Smirnov, Ivan

2017-01-01

Parents and teachers often express concern about the extensive use of social media by youngsters. Some of them see emoticons, undecipherable initialisms and loose grammar typical for social media as evidence of language degradation. In this paper, we use a simple measure of text complexity to investigate how the complexity of public posts on a popular social networking site changes over time. We analyze a unique dataset that contains texts posted by 942, 336 users from a large European city a...

Organodioxygen complexes of some group 4B metal ions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tarafder, M.T.H.; Akhter Hossain; Gino Mariotto

2003-09-01

Organodioxygen complexes of some group 4B metal ions, viz., zirconium(IV), tin(IV) and lead(II) containing monodentate, bidentate and tridentate ligands were synthesized and characterized. The complexes have the compositions of [Zr(O)(O 2 )2C 5 H 5 N.H 2 O], [Zr(O)(O 2 - ) 2 .2OPPh 3 ], [Sn(O 2 )(C 9 H 6 NO) 2 ], [Sn(0 2 ) 2 .(CH 2 ) 2 (NH 2 ) 2 ], [Pb(O 2 - )(C 5 H 5 N) 2 NO 3 ], [Pb(O 2 )(C 8 H 6 NOH)], [Pb(O 2 - )(det)NO 3 ] and [PbO 2 - ) (C 5 H 4 NCOOH)NO 3 .H 2 O]. Because of apparent linearity of M- O 2 grouping, the V 1 (O-O) stretching modes were only Raman active, giving bands at 810- 841 cm 1 for the peroxo complexes (1, 3, ,4 and 6), while the bands in the superoxo complexes (2, 5, 7 and 8) appeared at 1020- 1100 cm -1 . The peroxo complex of Zr(IV) containing monodentate ligands were found to oxidize trans-stilbene to trans-stilbene oxide under stoichiometric conditions. The organoperoxo complexes of tin and lead were insensitive to oxidative processes. (author)

The management of social problems talk in a support group

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andrezza Gomes Peretti

2013-01-01

Full Text Available The comprehension of the health-disease process from a multifactorial perspective has allowed important transformations in the healthcare practices. In this article, we discuss the use of the support group as a resource for mental health care, analyzing how conversations about social issues are managed in this context. Based on contributions from the social constructionist movement, we analyzed the transcripts of the conversations developed in meetings of a support group offered to patients of a mental health outpatient clinic. The analysis of the process of meaning making indicates that the discourse of the social influence on mental health is not legitimized, due to a predominant individualistic discourse, which psychologizes care and is centered on the emotional analysis of the problems of the quotidian. We argue that this mode of management brings limits to the construction of the group as a device for promoting autonomy and encouraging the social transformation processes.

A Poststructuralist View on Student’s Project Groups

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Christensen, Gerd

2016-01-01

The aim of this paper is to demonstrate how poststructuralism and social constructionism can contribute to the empirical research on groups in problem-based learning (PBL). The paper outlines the analytical complexity and shows, through empirical examples, the potentials and limitations of this p...... no guidance for practice. Though both limitations raise serious problems for the practitioner, I intend to argue that the potentials of the analytical perspective are far more important than the challenges when it comes to social psychological research in groups in PBL......The aim of this paper is to demonstrate how poststructuralism and social constructionism can contribute to the empirical research on groups in problem-based learning (PBL). The paper outlines the analytical complexity and shows, through empirical examples, the potentials and limitations...... of this perspective as an alternative to traditional group psychology. While the potentials of poststructuralism and social constructionism as an analytical complex seem to be the endeavor for relentless critique, the limitations are the ‘empty subject’ and the avoidance of any kind of normativity that leave...

Self-categorization, commitment to the group and social self-esteem as related but distinct aspects of social identity.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ellemers, N.; Kortekaas, P.; Ouwerkerk, J.W.

1999-01-01

The aim of this study is to show that, when examining social identification, it is both possible and important to distinguish between self-categorisation, commitment to the group, and group self-esteem, as related but separate aspects of group members' social identity. This was demonstrated in an

Perceiving social inequity: when subordinate-group positioning on one dimension of social hierarchy enhances privilege recognition on another.

Science.gov (United States)

Rosette, Ashleigh Shelby; Tost, Leigh Plunkett

2013-08-01

Researchers have suggested that viewing social inequity as dominant-group privilege (rather than subordinate-group disadvantage) enhances dominant-group members' support for social policies aimed at lessening such inequity. However, because viewing inequity as dominant-group privilege can be damaging to dominant-group members' self-images, this perspective is frequently resisted. In the research reported here, we explored the circumstances that enhance the likelihood of dominant-group members' viewing inequity as privilege. Because social hierarchies have multiple vertical dimensions, individuals may have high status on one dimension but low status on another. We predicted that occupying a subordinate position on one dimension of social hierarchy could enhance perceptions of one's own privilege on a different dimension of hierarchy, but that this tendency would be diminished among individuals who felt they had achieved a particularly high level of success. Results from three studies that considered gender-based and race-based hierarchies in organizational settings supported our hypothesis.

A genomic comparison of two termites with different social complexity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Judith eKorb

2015-03-01

Full Text Available The termites evolved eusociality and complex societies before the ants, but have been studied much less. The recent publication of the first two termite genomes provides a unique comparative opportunity, particularly because the sequenced termites represent opposite ends of the social complexity spectrum. Zootermopsis nevadensis has simple colonies with totipotent workers that can develop into all castes (dispersing reproductives, nest-inheriting replacement reproductives, and soldiers. In contrast, the fungus-growing termite Macrotermes natalensis belongs to the higher termites and has very large and complex societies with morphologically distinct castes that are life-time sterile. Here we compare key characteristics of genomic architecture, focusing on genes involved in communication, immune defenses, mating biology and symbiosis that were likely important in termite social evolution. We discuss these in relation to what is known about these genes in the ants and outline hypotheses for further testing.

Content analysis of neurodegenerative and mental diseases social groups.

Science.gov (United States)

Martínez-Pérez, Borja; de la Torre-Díez, Isabel; Bargiela-Flórez, Beatriz; López-Coronado, Miguel; Rodrigues, Joel J P C

2015-12-01

This article aims to characterize the different types of Facebook and Twitter groups for different mental diseases, their purposes, and their functions. We focused the search on depressive disorders, dementia, and Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases and examined the Facebook (www.facebook.com) and Twitter (www.twitter.com) groups. We used four assessment criteria: (1) purpose, (2) type of creator, (3) telehealth content, and (4) free-text responses in surveys and interviews. We observed a total of 357 Parkinson groups, 325 dementia groups, 853 Alzheimer groups, and 1127 depression groups on Facebook and Twitter. Moreover, we analyze the responses provided by different users. The survey and interview responses showed that many people were interested in using social networks to support and help in the fight against these diseases. The results indicate that social networks are acceptable by users in terms of simplicity and utility. People use them for finding support, information, self-help, advocacy and awareness, and for collecting funds. © The Author(s) 2014.

Agreement in personality judgments within and between nonoverlapping social groups in collectivist cultures.

Science.gov (United States)

Malloy, Thomas E; Albright, Linda; Diaz-Loving, Rolando; Dong, Qi; Lee, Yueh Ting

2004-01-01

The social context hypothesis states that people behave differently in different social groups because group norms and context-specific interpersonal relationships uniquely affect behavior. Consequently, a person who is a member of different, nonoverlapping social groups (i. e., the members of different groups are unacquainted) should be judged consensually on personality traits within each group; however, between groups there should be less agreement in judgments. This research focused on cultural moderation of the social context effect in two collective cultures (China and Mexico) with different norms for interpersonal relationships. Among Chinese, there was greater consensus in trait judgments within groups than between groups, whereas in Mexico, agreement within and between groups was equivalent. Culturally based relationship norms that affect cross-context consistency of behavior and, in turn, the consistency of trait judgments across groups were described.

The Social Relations of a Health Walk Group: An Ethnographic Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Grant, Gordon; Pollard, Nick; Allmark, Peter; Machaczek, Kasia; Ramcharan, Paul

2017-09-01

It is already well established that regular walks are conducive to health and well-being. This article considers the production of social relations of regular, organized weekly group walks for older people. It is based on an ethnographic study of a Walking for Health group in a rural area of the United Kingdom. Different types of social relations are identified arising from the walk experience. The social relations generated are seen to be shaped by organizational factors that are constitutive of the walks; the resulting culture having implications for the sustainability of the experience. As there appears to be no single uniting theory linking group walk experiences to the production of social relations at this time, the findings are considered against therapeutic landscape, therapeutic mobility, and social capital theorizing. Finally, implications for the continuance of walking schemes for older people and for further research are considered.

Identification and characterization of microsatellite loci in two socially complex old world tropical babblers (Family Timaliidae).

Science.gov (United States)

Kaiser, Sara A; Danner, J E; Bergner, Laura; Fleischer, Robert C

2015-11-24

Although the highest diversity of birds occurs in tropical regions, little is known about the genetic mating systems of most tropical species. We describe microsatellite markers isolated in the chestnut-crested yuhina (Staphida everetti), endemic to the island of Borneo, and the grey-throated babbler (Stachyris nigriceps), widely distributed across Southeast Asia. Both species belong to the avian family Timaliidae and are highly social, putatively cooperatively breeding birds in which helpers attend the nests of members of their social group. We obtained DNA from individuals in social groups breeding in Kinabalu Park, Malaysian Borneo. We used a shotgun sequencing approach and 454-technology to identify 36 microsatellite loci in the yuhina and 40 in the babbler. We tested 13 primer pairs in yuhinas and 20 in babblers and characterized eight polymorphic loci in 20 unrelated female yuhinas and 21 unrelated female babblers. Polymorphism at the yuhina loci ranged from 3 to 9 alleles, observed heterozygosities from 0.58 to 1.00, and expected heterozygosities from 0.64 to 0.81. Polymorphism at the babbler loci ranged from 3 to 12 alleles, observed heterozygosities from 0.14 to 0.90 and expected heterozygosities from 0.14 to 0.87. One locus in the yuhina deviated significantly from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. We detected nonrandom allele associations between two pairs of microsatellite loci in each species. Microsatellite markers will be used to describe the genetic mating system of these socially complex species and to measure genetic parentage and relatedness within social groups.

Where sociality and relatedness diverge: the genetic basis for hierarchical social organization in African elephants

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wittemyer, George; Okello, John B. A.; Rasmussen, Henrik B.

2009-01-01

Hierarchical properties characterize elephant fission-fusion social organization whereby stable groups of individuals coalesce into higher order groups or split in a predictable manner. This hierarchical complexity is rare among animals and, as such, an examination of the factors driving its......-tier level bonds, indicating the importance of direct benefits in the emergence of complex, hierarchical social relations among elephants. Future directions and conservation implications are discussed....

Radiology and social media: are private practice radiology groups more social than academic radiology departments?

Science.gov (United States)

Glover, McKinley; Choy, Garry; Boland, Giles W; Saini, Sanjay; Prabhakar, Anand M

2015-05-01

This study assesses the prevalence of use of the most commonly used social media sites among private radiology groups (PRGs) and academic radiology departments (ARDs). The 50 largest PRGs and the 50 ARDs with the highest level of funding from the National Institutes of Health were assessed for presence of a radiology-specific social media account on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, and LinkedIn. Measures of organizational activity and end-user activity were collected, including the number of posts and followers, as appropriate; between-group comparisons were performed. PRGs adopted Facebook 12 months earlier (P = .02) and Twitter 18 months earlier (P = .02) than did ARDs. A total of 76% of PRGs maintained ≥1 account on the social media sites included in the study, compared with 28% of ARDs (P Instagram, 2%. The prevalence of radiology-specific social media accounts for ARDs was: Facebook, 18%; LinkedIn, 0%; Twitter, 24%; YouTube, 6%; Pinterest, 0%; and Instagram, 0%. There was no significant difference between ARDs and PRGs in measures of end-user or organizational activity on Facebook or Twitter. Use of social media in health care is emerging as mainstream, with PRGs being early adopters of Facebook and Twitter in comparison with ARDs. Competitive environments and institutional policies may be strong factors that influence how social media is used by radiologists at the group and department levels. Copyright © 2015 American College of Radiology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Social relationships and reproductive performance in group-living arctic blue foxes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hannu Korhonen

1994-01-01

Full Text Available The aim of the present work was to study social relationships and reproductivity in captive arctic blue fox groups of different genetic origin. The social status of the individuals among groups remained constant during autumn and early winter. Males typically dominated over females in the groups. Males also had higher body weights and more social contacts than females. The locomotor activity of the animals increased during the breeding season, especially in the case of males. Urinary marking had a significant importance during the breeding season, being most pronounced in dominant males. No synchronization was observed in the heat development of females despite some kinship. Behaviours such as escape attempts, bitings and increased aggressiveness occurred in March-April as a result of increasing social tension combined with reproductive behaviour. Whelping success varied depending on group composition. Some of the non-breeding and breeding females were observed to act as communal nursing helpers.

Wii Social Skills Group and Inter-School Tournament

OpenAIRE

Julie Johnson; Juanita Germaine; Diana Maliszewski; Renee Keberer

2011-01-01

Abstract: Two schools in separate cites used the Nintendo Wii gaming system to assist selected boys in developing social skills. Using Skype and Twitter, the two groups collaborated at different stages of the project. The pilot project investigated the benefits of incorporating video games into traditional social skills programming, as well as the benefits of online collaboration between teachers in different school boards and students from different communities.

Wii Social Skills Group and Inter-School Tournament

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Julie Johnson

2011-12-01

Full Text Available Abstract: Two schools in separate cites used the Nintendo Wii gaming system to assist selected boys in developing social skills. Using Skype and Twitter, the two groups collaborated at different stages of the project. The pilot project investigated the benefits of incorporating video games into traditional social skills programming, as well as the benefits of online collaboration between teachers in different school boards and students from different communities.

Developing and Modeling Complex Social Interventions: Introducing the Connecting People Intervention

Science.gov (United States)

Webber, Martin; Reidy, Hannah; Ansari, David; Stevens, Martin; Morris, David

2016-01-01

Objectives: Modeling the processes involved in complex social interventions is important in social work practice, as it facilitates their implementation and translation into different contexts. This article reports the process of developing and modeling the connecting people intervention (CPI), a model of practice that supports people with mental…

Group social rank is associated with performance on a spatial learning task.

Science.gov (United States)

Langley, Ellis J G; van Horik, Jayden O; Whiteside, Mark A; Madden, Joah R

2018-02-01

Dominant individuals differ from subordinates in their performances on cognitive tasks across a suite of taxa. Previous studies often only consider dyadic relationships, rather than the more ecologically relevant social hierarchies or networks, hence failing to account for how dyadic relationships may be adjusted within larger social groups. We used a novel statistical method: randomized Elo-ratings, to infer the social hierarchy of 18 male pheasants, Phasianus colchicus , while in a captive, mixed-sex group with a linear hierarchy. We assayed individual learning performance of these males on a binary spatial discrimination task to investigate whether inter-individual variation in performance is associated with group social rank. Task performance improved with increasing trial number and was positively related to social rank, with higher ranking males showing greater levels of success. Motivation to participate in the task was not related to social rank or task performance, thus indicating that these rank-related differences are not a consequence of differences in motivation to complete the task. Our results provide important information about how variation in cognitive performance relates to an individual's social rank within a group. Whether the social environment causes differences in learning performance or instead, inherent differences in learning ability predetermine rank remains to be tested.

Adult Social Capital and Track Placement of Ethnic Groups in Germany

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Cheng, Simon; Martin, Leslie; Werum, Regina E.

2007-01-01

The dictum that "context matters" notwithstanding, few researchers have focused on how social capital affects educational outcomes for ethnic groups outside of the United States. Using German Socioeconomic Panel (GSOEP) data, analyses highlight the group-specific effects of parental social capital on track placement among 11-16-year-old…

Factors associated with social anxiety disorder in a group

Science.gov (United States)

Özşahin, Akatlı Kürşad; Altıntaş, Ebru

2018-04-30

Background/aim: Mental disorders may accompany obesity. This study aims to evaluate the association between social anxiety disorder (SAD) and obesity and the risk factors for SAD in obese female patients. Materials and methods: A total of 114 obese patients and 110 healthy controls were included. The Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), State and Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI I-II), and Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale (LSAS) were administered to assess anxiety, depression, and social anxiety levels. Scale scores were analyzed statistically. Results: The rate of SAD in obese female patients was found to be 8.8%. Anxiety, depression, and social anxiety levels were significantly higher in the obesity group compared to the control group (P < 0.05). According to linear regression analyses, a significant association between LSAS anxiety level and age, prior surgery, social support, history of being teased, BDI, and BAI was found. Conclusion: The present study shows that many factors are related to obesity and SAD in obese female patients. The clinical implications of these findings should be considered. Interventions for these factors may help prevent SAD in obese female patients.

Information-Theoretic Approaches for Evaluating Complex Adaptive Social Simulation Systems

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Omitaomu, Olufemi A [ORNL; Ganguly, Auroop R [ORNL; Jiao, Yu [ORNL

2009-01-01

In this paper, we propose information-theoretic approaches for comparing and evaluating complex agent-based models. In information theoretic terms, entropy and mutual information are two measures of system complexity. We used entropy as a measure of the regularity of the number of agents in a social class; and mutual information as a measure of information shared by two social classes. Using our approaches, we compared two analogous agent-based (AB) models developed for regional-scale social-simulation system. The first AB model, called ABM-1, is a complex AB built with 10,000 agents on a desktop environment and used aggregate data; the second AB model, ABM-2, was built with 31 million agents on a highperformance computing framework located at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and fine-resolution data from the LandScan Global Population Database. The initializations were slightly different, with ABM-1 using samples from a probability distribution and ABM-2 using polling data from Gallop for a deterministic initialization. The geographical and temporal domain was present-day Afghanistan, and the end result was the number of agents with one of three behavioral modes (proinsurgent, neutral, and pro-government) corresponding to the population mindshare. The theories embedded in each model were identical, and the test simulations focused on a test of three leadership theories - legitimacy, coercion, and representative, and two social mobilization theories - social influence and repression. The theories are tied together using the Cobb-Douglas utility function. Based on our results, the hypothesis that performance measures can be developed to compare and contrast AB models appears to be supported. Furthermore, we observed significant bias in the two models. Even so, further tests and investigations are required not only with a wider class of theories and AB models, but also with additional observed or simulated data and more comprehensive performance measures.

Complex families, the social determinants of health and psychosocial interventions: Deconstruction of a day in the life of hospital social workers.

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Muskat, Barbara; Craig, Shelley L; Mathai, Biju

2017-09-01

The roles of hospital social workers are delineated in the literature; however, their daily interventions have only been described anecdotally. This study analyzes the daily work of social workers in a pediatric hospital through a survey completed which examined factors related to interventions utilized and time spent per case over a 1-day period. Length and types of interventions were associated with the social determinants of health, time since diagnosis, biopsychosocial issues, and perception of complexity. The study offers a snapshot of the personalized expertise, provided by social workers that addresses complex contextual and biopsychosocial concerns of patient and families.

Ecology and Evolution of Communication in Social Insects.

Science.gov (United States)

Leonhardt, Sara Diana; Menzel, Florian; Nehring, Volker; Schmitt, Thomas

2016-03-10

Insect life strategies comprise all levels of sociality from solitary to eusocial, in which individuals form persistent groups and divide labor. With increasing social complexity, the need to communicate a greater diversity of messages arose to coordinate division of labor, group cohesion, and concerted actions. Here we summarize the knowledge on prominent messages in social insects that inform about reproduction, group membership, resource locations, and threats and discuss potential evolutionary trajectories of each message in the context of social complexity. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

How social information can improve estimation accuracy in human groups.

Science.gov (United States)

Jayles, Bertrand; Kim, Hye-Rin; Escobedo, Ramón; Cezera, Stéphane; Blanchet, Adrien; Kameda, Tatsuya; Sire, Clément; Theraulaz, Guy

2017-11-21

In our digital and connected societies, the development of social networks, online shopping, and reputation systems raises the questions of how individuals use social information and how it affects their decisions. We report experiments performed in France and Japan, in which subjects could update their estimates after having received information from other subjects. We measure and model the impact of this social information at individual and collective scales. We observe and justify that, when individuals have little prior knowledge about a quantity, the distribution of the logarithm of their estimates is close to a Cauchy distribution. We find that social influence helps the group improve its properly defined collective accuracy. We quantify the improvement of the group estimation when additional controlled and reliable information is provided, unbeknownst to the subjects. We show that subjects' sensitivity to social influence permits us to define five robust behavioral traits and increases with the difference between personal and group estimates. We then use our data to build and calibrate a model of collective estimation to analyze the impact on the group performance of the quantity and quality of information received by individuals. The model quantitatively reproduces the distributions of estimates and the improvement of collective performance and accuracy observed in our experiments. Finally, our model predicts that providing a moderate amount of incorrect information to individuals can counterbalance the human cognitive bias to systematically underestimate quantities and thereby improve collective performance. Copyright © 2017 the Author(s). Published by PNAS.

Mitigating Local Natural Disaster through Social Aware Preparedness Using Complexity Approach

Science.gov (United States)

Supadli, Irwan; Saputri, Andini; Mawengkang, Herman

2018-01-01

During and after natural disaster, such as, eruption of vulcano, many people have to abandon their living place to a temporary shelter. Usually, there could be several time for the occurrence of the eruption. This situation, for example, happened at Sinabung vulcano, located in Karo district of North Sumatera Province, Indonesia. The people in the disaster area have become indifferent. In terms of the society, the local natural disaster problem belong to a complex societal problem. This research is to find a way what should be done to these society to raise their social awareness that they had experienced serious natural disaster and they will be able to live normally and sustainable as before. Societal complexity approach is used to solve the problems. Social studies referred to in this activity are to analyze the social impacts arising from the implementation of the relocation itself. Scope of social impact assessments include are The social impact of the development program of relocation, including the impact of construction activities and long-term impact of construction activity, particularly related to the source and use of clean water, sewerage system, drainage and waste management (solid waste), Social impacts arising associated with occupant relocation sites and the availability of infrastructure (public facilities, include: worship facilities, health and education) in the local environment (pre-existing). Social analysis carried out on the findings of the field, the study related documents and observations of the condition of the existing social environment Siosar settlements.

Why and how people engage in social comparison while learning social skills in groups.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Buunk, Abraham (Bram); Cohen-Schotanus, J; Nek, R.H.

This study was conducted among 269 medical students who participated in educational training groups. Self-evaluation was the most important motive to engage in social comparison with other group members, followed by, respectively, self-enhancement and self-improvement. Upward comparisons (i.e., with

The Influence of Social Comparison and Peer Group Size on Risky Decision-Making.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Dawei; Zhu, Liping; Maguire, Phil; Liu, Yixin; Pang, Kaiyuan; Li, Zhenying; Hu, Yixin

2016-01-01

This study explores the influence of different social reference points and different comparison group sizes on risky decision-making. Participants were presented with a scenario describing an exam, and presented with the opportunity of making a risky decision in the context of different information provided about the performance of their peers. We found that behavior was influenced, not only by comparison with peers, but also by the size of the comparison group. Specifically, the larger the reference group, the more polarized the behavior it prompted. In situations describing social loss, participants were led to make riskier decisions after comparing themselves against larger groups, while in situations describing social gain, they become more risk averse. These results indicate that decision making is influenced both by social comparison and the number of people making up the social reference group.

Social Skills Group Training in High-Functioning Autism: A Qualitative Responder Study

Science.gov (United States)

Choque Olsson, Nora; Rautio, Daniel; Asztalos, Jenny; Stoetzer, Ulrich; Bölte, Sven

2016-01-01

Systematic reviews show some evidence for the efficacy of group-based social skills group training in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder, but more rigorous research is needed to endorse generalizability. In addition, little is known about the perspectives of autistic individuals participating in social skills group training.…

Oxo-group-14-element bond formation in binuclear uranium(V) pacman complexes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jones, Guy M.; Arnold, Polly L.; Love, Jason B.

2013-01-01

Simple and versatile routes to the functionalization of uranyl-derived U"V-oxo groups are presented. The oxo-lithiated, binuclear uranium(V)-oxo complexes [{(py)_3LiOUO}_2(L)] and [{(py)_3LiOUO}(OUOSiMe_3)(L)] were prepared by the direct combination of the uranyl(VI) silylamide ''ate'' complex [Li(py)_2][(OUO)(N'')_3](N''=N(SiMe_3)_2) with the polypyrrolic macrocycle H_4L or the mononuclear uranyl (VI) Pacman complex [UO_2(py)(H_2L)], respectively. These oxo-metalated complexes display distinct U-O single and multiple bonding patterns and an axial/equatorial arrangement of oxo ligands. Their ready availability allows the direct functionalization of the uranyl oxo group leading to the binuclear uranium(V) oxo-stannylated complexes [{(R_3Sn)OUO}_2(L)] (R=nBu, Ph), which represent rare examples of mixed uranium/tin complexes. Also, uranium-oxo-group exchange occurred in reactions with [TiCl(OiPr)_3] to form U-O-C bonds [{(py)_3LiOUO}(OUOiPr)(L)] and [(iPrOUO)_2(L)]. Overall, these represent the first family of uranium(V) complexes that are oxo-functionalised by Group 14 elements. (Copyright copyright 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH and Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

The Purpose of Tutorial Groups: Social Influence and the Group as Means and Objective

Science.gov (United States)

Rosander, Michael; Chiriac, Eva Hammar

2016-01-01

The aim of this study was to investigate how first-year students view the purpose of tutorial groups in problem-based learning. In all, 147 students from 24 groups participated, providing 399 statements. Data were analysed using thematic analysis. The results showed a focus on both learning and social influence. Learning involved the tutorial as…

A Group in Urban: The Social Capital of Ciliwung Depok Community (KCD)

Science.gov (United States)

Tampi, D. M.; Sumabrata, J.; Zubair, A.; Kinan, N. H.

2018-03-01

Climate change is a phenomenon that not only affects physical aspect of the environment, but also the social aspect. As a consequence, the urban communities are also its group which is highly vulnerable to climate change impact. Depok Ciliwung Community or Komunitas Ciliwung Depok (KCD) is located under Grand Depok City Bridge to keep an environment such as land conversion and garbage. This study aims to determine the social capital of KCD’s group related to the potential of social resilience in Ciliwung riverbank along Depok City. Data were gathered from in-depth interviews, observation, and documentation within 4 months. KCD invited the local people to keep and maintain an environment of Ciliwung riverbank. The result of this study lies on the strengths and weaknesses of KCD’s Group and involvement of human resources, with the support of public and private sectors facilities. Their commitments and actions on behalf of social interests protecting the rights of individuals in society. The conclusions of this research are KCD group have several aspects of social capital that consists of strengths and weaknesses. The presence of social capital and the potential of social resilience helped KCD and the surrounding of Ciliwung riverbank in facing of climate change/threat of natural disruption caused by the humans itself.

Reinforcing Visual Grouping Cues to Communicate Complex Informational Structure.

Science.gov (United States)

Bae, Juhee; Watson, Benjamin

2014-12-01

In his book Multimedia Learning [7], Richard Mayer asserts that viewers learn best from imagery that provides them with cues to help them organize new information into the correct knowledge structures. Designers have long been exploiting the Gestalt laws of visual grouping to deliver viewers those cues using visual hierarchy, often communicating structures much more complex than the simple organizations studied in psychological research. Unfortunately, designers are largely practical in their work, and have not paused to build a complex theory of structural communication. If we are to build a tool to help novices create effective and well structured visuals, we need a better understanding of how to create them. Our work takes a first step toward addressing this lack, studying how five of the many grouping cues (proximity, color similarity, common region, connectivity, and alignment) can be effectively combined to communicate structured text and imagery from real world examples. To measure the effectiveness of this structural communication, we applied a digital version of card sorting, a method widely used in anthropology and cognitive science to extract cognitive structures. We then used tree edit distance to measure the difference between perceived and communicated structures. Our most significant findings are: 1) with careful design, complex structure can be communicated clearly; 2) communicating complex structure is best done with multiple reinforcing grouping cues; 3) common region (use of containers such as boxes) is particularly effective at communicating structure; and 4) alignment is a weak structural communicator.

A comparison of two group-delivered social skills programs for young children with autism.

Science.gov (United States)

Kroeger, K A; Schultz, Janet R; Newsom, Crighton

2007-05-01

A social skills group intervention was developed and evaluated for young children with autism. Twenty-five 4- to 6-year-old (diagnosed) children were assigned to one of two kinds of social skills groups: the direct teaching group or the play activities group. The direct teaching group used a video-modeling format to teach play and social skills over the course of the intervention, while the play activities group engaged in unstructured play during the sessions. Groups met for 5 weeks, three times per week, 1 h each time. Data were derived and coded from videotapes of pre- and post-treatment unstructured play sessions. Findings indicated that while members of both groups increased prosocial behaviors, the direct teaching group made more gains in social skills.

Filipino students' reported parental socialization of academic achievement by socioeconomic group.

Science.gov (United States)

Bernardo, Allan B I

2009-10-01

Academic achievement of students differs by socioeconomic group. Parents' socialization of academic achievement in their children was explored in self-reports of 241 students from two socioeconomic status (SES) groups in the Philippines, using a scale developed by Bempechat, et al. Students in the upper SES group had higher achievement than their peers in the middle SES group, but had lower scores on most dimensions of parental socialization of academic achievement. Regression analyses indicate that reported parental attempts to encourage more effort to achieve was associated with lower achievement in students with upper SES.

Marginalised social groups in contemporary weee management within social enterprises investments: A study in Greece

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Papaoikonomou, K.; Kipouros, S.; Kungolos, A.; Somakos, L.; Aravossis, K.; Antonopoulos, I.; Karagiannidis, A.

2009-01-01

This paper deals with the creation of appropriate conditions aimed at developing social services for reuse and recycling of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE), by the inclusion of handicapped and Roma people in the workforce. Application areas for the project are the Hellenic (Greek) regions of Thessaly and North Aegean, where these groups suffer from professional and social exclusion. The efforts to reduce unemployment in the two aforementioned groups, together with the efforts to implement related Greek and European legislation for sustainable WEEE management, are examined here. Furthermore, networking and cooperation at local, regional and central levels between small enterprises, entrepreneurships and local authorities are examined, so that these social enterprises and their corresponding investments may support the development of the Greek alternative WEEE recycling system

Associations between meal complexity and social context in four Nordic countries

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kahma, Nina; Mäkelä, Johanna; Niva, Mari

2014-01-01

main meals, lunch and dinner. The analysis builds on the concept of eating system, examining the effect sociability has on meal complexity. In the end we ask whether complexity can better be explained by social context, or if it, rather, results from social differentiation. The data (N=8248) are drawn......Contemporary eating is often portrayed by images of snacking, solitary grazing, disintegration of sociability, demise of family meals, and increasingly irregular eating patterns –what Claude Fischler has famously described as gastroanomy. Inspired by the concept of eating system, this article...... from the Food in Nordic Everyday Life survey conducted in Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden in 2012. The Finns and Swedes typically had two hot meals a day, whereas the Danes and Norwegians only had one. Moreover, the differences in the complexity were the greatest in hot dinners, the Danes...

Integrating a Social Behavior Intervention during Small Group Academic Instruction Using a Total Group Criterion Intervention

Science.gov (United States)

Rodriguez, Billie Jo; Anderson, Cynthia M.

2014-01-01

Total group contingencies, a variation of interdependent group contingencies, provide educators with an efficient and effective mechanism to improve social behavior and increase academic skills. Their utility has not been examined in small educational groups. This is unfortunate as supplemental instruction frequently is delivered in small group…

Designing for Social Infrastructures in Complex Service Systems: A Human-Centered and Social Systems Perspective on Service Design

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mieke van der Bijl-Brouwer

Full Text Available Service design is one of the keys to improving how we target today’s complex societal problems. The predominant view of service systems is mechanistic and linear. A service infrastructure—which includes solutions like service blueprints, scripts, and protocols—is, in some ways, designed to control the behavior of service professionals at the service interface. This view undermines the intrinsic motivation, expertise, and creativity of service professionals. This article presents a different perspective on service design. Using theories of social systems and complex responsive processes, I define service organizations as ongoing iterated patterns of relationships between people, and identify them as complex social service systems. I go on to show how the human-centeredness of design practices contributes to designing for such service systems. In particular, I show how a deep understanding of the needs and aspirations of service professionals through phenomenological themes contributes to designing for social infrastructures that support continuous improvement and adaptation of the practices executed by service professionals at the service interface.

Social influence in computer-mediated communication : The effects of anonymity on group behavior

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Postmes, T; Spears, R; Sakhel, K; de Groot, D

2001-01-01

Two studies examined hypotheses derived from a Social Identity model of Deindividuation Effects (SIDE) as applied to social influence in computer-mediated communication (CMC) in groups. This model predicts that anonymity can increase social influence if a common group identity is salient. In a first

Survival benefits select for group living in a social spider despite reproductive costs

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bilde, T.; Coates, K.S.; Birkhofer, K.

2007-01-01

The evolution of cooperation requires benefits of group living to exceed costs. Hence, some components of fitness are expected to increase with increasing group size, whereas others may decrease because of competition among group members. The social spiders provide an excellent system to investig......The evolution of cooperation requires benefits of group living to exceed costs. Hence, some components of fitness are expected to increase with increasing group size, whereas others may decrease because of competition among group members. The social spiders provide an excellent system...... to investigate the costs and benefits of group living: they occur in groups of various sizes and individuals are relatively short-lived, therefore life history traits and Lifetime Reproductive Success (LRS) can be estimated as a function of group size. Sociality in spiders has originated repeatedly...... and survival in the social spider Stegodyphus dumicola in two populations in Namibia. In both populations, the major benefit of group living was improved survival of colonies and late-instar juveniles with increasing colony size. By contrast, female fecundity, female body size and early juvenile survival...

Ideologically motivated activism: How activist groups influence corporate social change activities

NARCIS (Netherlands)

den Hond, F.; de Bakker, F.G.A.; Hickman, G. R.

2010-01-01

Using insights from the social movement literature and institutional change theory, we explore how activism influences corporate social change activities. As the responsibility for addressing a variety of social issues is transferred from the state to the private sector, activist groups increasingly

Beyond Contagion: Reality Mining Reveals Complex Patterns of Social Influence.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Aamena Alshamsi

Full Text Available Contagion, a concept from epidemiology, has long been used to characterize social influence on people's behavior and affective (emotional states. While it has revealed many useful insights, it is not clear whether the contagion metaphor is sufficient to fully characterize the complex dynamics of psychological states in a social context. Using wearable sensors that capture daily face-to-face interaction, combined with three daily experience sampling surveys, we collected the most comprehensive data set of personality and emotion dynamics of an entire community of work. From this high-resolution data about actual (rather than self-reported face-to-face interaction, a complex picture emerges where contagion (that can be seen as adaptation of behavioral responses to the behavior of other people cannot fully capture the dynamics of transitory states. We found that social influence has two opposing effects on states: adaptation effects that go beyond mere contagion, and complementarity effects whereby individuals' behaviors tend to complement the behaviors of others. Surprisingly, these effects can exhibit completely different directions depending on the stable personality or emotional dispositions (stable traits of target individuals. Our findings provide a foundation for richer models of social dynamics, and have implications on organizational engineering and workplace well-being.

Beyond Contagion: Reality Mining Reveals Complex Patterns of Social Influence.

Science.gov (United States)

Alshamsi, Aamena; Pianesi, Fabio; Lepri, Bruno; Pentland, Alex; Rahwan, Iyad

2015-01-01

Contagion, a concept from epidemiology, has long been used to characterize social influence on people's behavior and affective (emotional) states. While it has revealed many useful insights, it is not clear whether the contagion metaphor is sufficient to fully characterize the complex dynamics of psychological states in a social context. Using wearable sensors that capture daily face-to-face interaction, combined with three daily experience sampling surveys, we collected the most comprehensive data set of personality and emotion dynamics of an entire community of work. From this high-resolution data about actual (rather than self-reported) face-to-face interaction, a complex picture emerges where contagion (that can be seen as adaptation of behavioral responses to the behavior of other people) cannot fully capture the dynamics of transitory states. We found that social influence has two opposing effects on states: adaptation effects that go beyond mere contagion, and complementarity effects whereby individuals' behaviors tend to complement the behaviors of others. Surprisingly, these effects can exhibit completely different directions depending on the stable personality or emotional dispositions (stable traits) of target individuals. Our findings provide a foundation for richer models of social dynamics, and have implications on organizational engineering and workplace well-being.

BEYOND SOCIAL SKILLS: GROUP DYNAMICS AT SOCIAL SKILLS TRAINING FOR HIGH FUNCTIONING ADOLESCENTS WITH AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDERS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Agnieszka Siedler

2015-06-01

Full Text Available The usefulness of group social skills training in Autism Spectrum Disorder therapy has been well established. However, little is known about the group dynamics of this kind of intervention. The current multiple case studies were conducted to demonstrate that, despite of the functioning specifics of participants with ASD, processes associated with the dynamics of the group during group social skills training session may be noticeable. Intervention groups consisted of fifteen adolescents and preadolescents with high functioning Autism Spectrum Disorders aged between 11 to 17 years old divided into three training groups. The social skills training sessions were conducted on a weekly basis. The observation lasted for six months and it included the formation of the group, the period of stability and unexpected changes. After each group session, the therapists filled in a detailed report about the participants’ behavior and interactions between participants. Collected data were carefully analyzed for group dynamic features. It was noticed that adolescents participating in group interventions are susceptible to the influence of the group, take different individual roles and are moderately sensitive to changes in the group structure. The influence of the disorder characteristics on group dynamics was also observed. Although the results show that group dynamics can be observed at a group training for ASD, the need for further structured observation should be emphasized as a current study constituted the first approach to the subject.

Early social isolation impairs development, mate choice and grouping behaviour of predatory mites.

Science.gov (United States)

Schausberger, Peter; Gratzer, Marian; Strodl, Markus A

2017-05-01

The social environment early in life is a key determinant of developmental, physiological and behavioural trajectories across vertebrate and invertebrate animals. One crucial variable is the presence/absence of conspecifics. For animals usually reared in groups, social isolation after birth or hatching can be a highly stressful circumstance, with potentially long-lasting consequences. Here, we assessed the effects of social deprivation (isolation) early in life, that is, absence of conspecifics, versus social enrichment, that is, presence of conspecifics, on developmental time, body size at maturity, mating behaviour and group-living in the plant-inhabiting predatory mite Phytoseiulus persimilis . Socially deprived protonymphs developed more slowly and were less socially competent in grouping behaviour than socially enriched protonymphs. Compromised social competence in grouping behaviour was evident in decreased activity, fewer mutual encounters and larger interindividual distances, all of which may entail severe fitness costs. In female choice/male competition, socially deprived males mated earlier than socially enriched males; in male choice/female competition, socially deprived females were more likely to mate than socially enriched females. In neither mate choice situation did mating duration or body size at maturity differ between socially deprived and enriched mating opponents. Social isolation-induced shifts in mating behaviour may be interpreted as increased attractiveness or competitiveness or, more likely, as hastiness and reduced ability to assess mate quality. Overall, many of the social isolation-induced behavioural changes in P. persimilis are analogous to those observed in other animals such as cockroaches, fruit flies, fishes or rodents. We argue that, due to their profound and persistent effects, early social deprivation or enrichment may be important determinants in shaping animal personalities.

La trampa del antropomorfismo. Hacia una interfaz (más compleja de lo social The trap of anthropomorphism. Towards a (more complex social interface

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Iñaki Martínez de Albeniz

2010-11-01

Full Text Available La enseñanza de la sociología supone, hoy día, una cura de humildad. Por más que acudamos a sofisticados modelos teóricos (la sociedad líquida, la teoría de sistemas, la fluidez social, la teoría del actor-red, que cuestionan las bases fundacionales de la sociología clásica, la práctica docente evidencia que entre los estudiantes sigue imperando una imagen simple o esquemática de lo social. La sorpresa es mayor si asumimos que se trata de una generación que se ha socializado en el uso de herramientas digitales que facilitan, en principio, la elaboración de mapas más acordes con la complejidad que lo social reviste. El antropomorfismo, la idea de que la sociedad es ante todo un agrupamiento más o menos estable de individuos, es el límite infranqueable que sigue imponiéndose a la hora de entender lo social. Para minar esta visión hegemónica es preciso acudir a disciplinas como el arte (digital, las nuevas tecnología y, en general, las innovaciones estéticas, no tanto para destruir esa representación antropomórfica de lo social sino para desfigurándola prefigurar otras más acordes con una complejidad que ya no sólo intuimos y cuyo aliento sentimos muy cerca. The teaching of sociology is today a humbling experience. Although we use complex theoretical models (the liquid society, system theory, social fluidity or Actor-Network Theory that question the foundational bases of classical sociology, teaching practice shows that a simple or schematic picture of the social continues to prevail among students. The surprise is even greater when we consider that this is a generation that has been socialized in the use of digital tools, a resource that, in principle, should facilitate a mapping of social reality more appropriate to its complexity. Anthropomorphism, the idea that society is primarily a more or less stable grouping of individuals, is the impassable limit that continues to be imposed when it comes to understanding

Young children's inclusion decisions in moral and social-conventional group norm contexts.

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Rizzo, Michael T; Cooley, Shelby; Elenbaas, Laura; Killen, Melanie

2018-01-01

Being a member of a peer group involves making decisions about whom to include in or exclude from the group. Sometimes these decisions are related to whether members of the group support or challenge the norms of the group. To examine how young children weigh concerns for group norms and group membership in both moral and social-conventional norm contexts, children (3- to 6-year-olds; N=73) were asked to decide between including an ingroup member who challenged the group's norm or an outgroup member who supported the norm. Groups held either moral (equal or unequal resource allocation) or social-conventional (traditional or nontraditional) norms. In the moral contexts, children were more likely to include the peer who advocated for the moral concern for equality regardless of the peer's group membership or their group's specific norm. In the social-conventional contexts, however, children were more likely to include the peer who advocated for the conventional concern for maintaining traditions but only at the group-specific level. Furthermore, with age children increasingly based their inclusion decisions on normative concerns, rather than on group membership concerns, and differed in their inclusion decisions for ingroups and outgroups. Finally, children reasoned about their decisions by referencing concerns for fairness, group norms, and group membership, suggesting that preschool children weigh multiple concerns when deciding whom to include in their groups. Overall, the current study revealed differences in how preschool children weigh moral and social-conventional concerns in intergroup contexts. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Oxo-group-14-element bond formation in binuclear uranium(V) pacman complexes

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Jones, Guy M.; Arnold, Polly L.; Love, Jason B. [EaStCHEM School of Chemistry, University of Edinburgh (United Kingdom)

2013-07-29

Simple and versatile routes to the functionalization of uranyl-derived U{sup V}-oxo groups are presented. The oxo-lithiated, binuclear uranium(V)-oxo complexes [{(py)_3LiOUO}{sub 2}(L)] and [{(py)_3LiOUO}(OUOSiMe{sub 3})(L)] were prepared by the direct combination of the uranyl(VI) silylamide ''ate'' complex [Li(py){sub 2}][(OUO)(N''){sub 3}](N''=N(SiMe{sub 3}){sub 2}) with the polypyrrolic macrocycle H{sub 4}L or the mononuclear uranyl (VI) Pacman complex [UO{sub 2}(py)(H{sub 2}L)], respectively. These oxo-metalated complexes display distinct U-O single and multiple bonding patterns and an axial/equatorial arrangement of oxo ligands. Their ready availability allows the direct functionalization of the uranyl oxo group leading to the binuclear uranium(V) oxo-stannylated complexes [{(R_3Sn)OUO}{sub 2}(L)] (R=nBu, Ph), which represent rare examples of mixed uranium/tin complexes. Also, uranium-oxo-group exchange occurred in reactions with [TiCl(OiPr){sub 3}] to form U-O-C bonds [{(py)_3LiOUO}(OUOiPr)(L)] and [(iPrOUO){sub 2}(L)]. Overall, these represent the first family of uranium(V) complexes that are oxo-functionalised by Group 14 elements. (Copyright copyright 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH and Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

A content analysis of chronic diseases social groups on Facebook and Twitter.

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De la Torre-Díez, Isabel; Díaz-Pernas, Francisco Javier; Antón-Rodríguez, Míriam

2012-01-01

Research on the use of social networks for health-related purposes is limited. This study aims to characterize the purpose and use of Facebook and Twitter groups concerning colorectal cancer, breast cancer, and diabetes. We searched in Facebook ( www.facebook.com ) and Twitter ( www.twitter.com ) using the terms "colorectal cancer," "breast cancer," and "diabetes." Each important group has been analyzed by extracting its network name, number of members, interests, and Web site URL. We found 216 breast cancer groups, 171 colorectal cancer groups, and 527 diabetes groups on Facebook and Twitter. The largest percentage of the colorectal cancer groups (25.58%) addresses prevention, similarly to breast cancer, whereas diabetes groups are mainly focused on research issues (25.09%). There are more social groups about breast cancer and diabetes on Facebook (around 82%) than on Twitter (around 18%). Regarding colorectal cancer, the difference is less: Facebook had 62.23%, and Twitter 31.76%. Social networks are a useful tool for supporting patients suffering from these three diseases. Regarding the use of these social networks for disease support purposes, Facebook shows a higher usage rate than Twitter, perhaps because Twitter is newer than Facebook, and its use is not so generalized.

Social complexity, modernity and suicide: an assessment of Durkheim's suicide from the perspective of a non-linear analysis of complex social systems.

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Condorelli, Rosalia

2016-01-01

Can we share even today the same vision of modernity which Durkheim left us by its suicide analysis? or can society 'surprise us'? The answer to these questions can be inspired by several studies which found that beginning the second half of the twentieth century suicides in western countries more industrialized and modernized do not increase in a constant, linear way as modernization and social fragmentation process increases, as well as Durkheim's theory seems to lead us to predict. Despite continued modernizing process, they found stabilizing or falling overall suicide rate trends. Therefore, a gradual process of adaptation to the stress of modernization associated to low social integration levels seems to be activated in modern society. Assuming this perspective, the paper highlights as this tendency may be understood in the light of the new concept of social systems as complex adaptive systems, systems which are able to adapt to environmental perturbations and generate as a whole surprising, emergent effects due to nonlinear interactions among their components. So, in the frame of Nonlinear Dynamical System Modeling, we formalize the logic of suicide decision-making process responsible for changes at aggregate level in suicide growth rates by a nonlinear differential equation structured in a logistic way, and in so doing we attempt to capture the mechanism underlying the change process in suicide growth rate and to test the hypothesis that system's dynamics exhibits a restrained increase process as expression of an adaptation process to the liquidity of social ties in modern society. In particular, a Nonlinear Logistic Map is applied to suicide data in a modern society such as the Italian one from 1875 to 2010. The analytic results, seeming to confirm the idea of the activation of an adaptation process to the liquidity of social ties, constitutes an opportunity for a more general reflection on the current configuration of modern society, by relating the

Features of proteolytic properties of tetraphenylporphyrin complex with lanthanide group metals

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Tobolkina, Elena A.; Skripnikova, Tatiana A.; Starikova, Anna A.; Shumilova, Galina I.; Pendin, Andrey A.

2018-01-01

Demetallation of metalloporphyrin molecules is one of the essential degradation reactions in photosynthesis. The effect of metalloporphyrin nature on removal of central metals from tetraphenylporphyrin complexes based on lanthanide group metals (Dy, Er, Lu, Ho) has been studied. pH values, at which the metal ions leave the metalloporphyrin complex were established using two-phase spectrophotometric titration with potentiometric pH-control. The pH values decrease with the increase of atomic numbers of lanthanide groups, as well as with increase of 4f-electrons. The reaction of an extra ligand exchange for the hydroxide ion was studied. For Dy-, Er- and Ho-tetraphenylporphyrin complexes one particle of extra ligand coordinates with one porphyrin complex. A complex with dimeric particles can be formed for the system of Lu-tetraphenylporphyrin. Constants of the ion exchange reactions were calculated.

A Social Network Approach Reveals Associations between Mouse Social Dominance and Brain Gene Expression

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So, Nina; Franks, Becca; Lim, Sean; Curley, James P.

2015-01-01

Modelling complex social behavior in the laboratory is challenging and requires analyses of dyadic interactions occurring over time in a physically and socially complex environment. In the current study, we approached the analyses of complex social interactions in group-housed male CD1 mice living in a large vivarium. Intensive observations of social interactions during a 3-week period indicated that male mice form a highly linear and steep dominance hierarchy that is maintained by fighting and chasing behaviors. Individual animals were classified as dominant, sub-dominant or subordinate according to their David’s Scores and I& SI ranking. Using a novel dynamic temporal Glicko rating method, we ascertained that the dominance hierarchy was stable across time. Using social network analyses, we characterized the behavior of individuals within 66 unique relationships in the social group. We identified two individual network metrics, Kleinberg’s Hub Centrality and Bonacich’s Power Centrality, as accurate predictors of individual dominance and power. Comparing across behaviors, we establish that agonistic, grooming and sniffing social networks possess their own distinctive characteristics in terms of density, average path length, reciprocity out-degree centralization and out-closeness centralization. Though grooming ties between individuals were largely independent of other social networks, sniffing relationships were highly predictive of the directionality of agonistic relationships. Individual variation in dominance status was associated with brain gene expression, with more dominant individuals having higher levels of corticotropin releasing factor mRNA in the medial and central nuclei of the amygdala and the medial preoptic area of the hypothalamus, as well as higher levels of hippocampal glucocorticoid receptor and brain-derived neurotrophic factor mRNA. This study demonstrates the potential and significance of combining complex social housing and intensive

A Social Network Approach Reveals Associations between Mouse Social Dominance and Brain Gene Expression.

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Nina So

Full Text Available Modelling complex social behavior in the laboratory is challenging and requires analyses of dyadic interactions occurring over time in a physically and socially complex environment. In the current study, we approached the analyses of complex social interactions in group-housed male CD1 mice living in a large vivarium. Intensive observations of social interactions during a 3-week period indicated that male mice form a highly linear and steep dominance hierarchy that is maintained by fighting and chasing behaviors. Individual animals were classified as dominant, sub-dominant or subordinate according to their David's Scores and I& SI ranking. Using a novel dynamic temporal Glicko rating method, we ascertained that the dominance hierarchy was stable across time. Using social network analyses, we characterized the behavior of individuals within 66 unique relationships in the social group. We identified two individual network metrics, Kleinberg's Hub Centrality and Bonacich's Power Centrality, as accurate predictors of individual dominance and power. Comparing across behaviors, we establish that agonistic, grooming and sniffing social networks possess their own distinctive characteristics in terms of density, average path length, reciprocity out-degree centralization and out-closeness centralization. Though grooming ties between individuals were largely independent of other social networks, sniffing relationships were highly predictive of the directionality of agonistic relationships. Individual variation in dominance status was associated with brain gene expression, with more dominant individuals having higher levels of corticotropin releasing factor mRNA in the medial and central nuclei of the amygdala and the medial preoptic area of the hypothalamus, as well as higher levels of hippocampal glucocorticoid receptor and brain-derived neurotrophic factor mRNA. This study demonstrates the potential and significance of combining complex social housing

Australian diagnosis related groups: Drivers of complexity adjustment.

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Jackson, Terri; Dimitropoulos, Vera; Madden, Richard; Gillett, Steve

2015-11-01

In undertaking a major revision to the Australian Refined Diagnosis Related Group (ARDRG) classification, we set out to contrast Australia's approach to using data on additional (not principal) diagnoses with major international approaches in splitting base or Adjacent Diagnosis Related Groups (ADRGs). Comparative policy analysis/narrative review of peer-reviewed and grey literature on international approaches to use of additional (secondary) diagnoses in the development of Australian and international DRG systems. European and US approaches to characterise complexity of inpatient care are well-documented, providing useful points of comparison with Australia's. Australia, with good data sources, has continued to refine its national DRG classification using increasingly sophisticated approaches. Hospital funders in Australia and in other systems are often under pressure from provider groups to expand classifications to reflect clinical complexity. DRG development in most healthcare systems reviewed here reflects four critical factors: these socio-political factors, the quality and depth of the coded data available to characterise the mix of cases in a healthcare system, the size of the underlying population, and the intended scope and use of the classification. Australia's relatively small national population has constrained the size of its DRG classifications, and development has been concentrated on inpatient care in public hospitals. Development of casemix classifications in health care is driven by both technical and socio-political factors. Use of additional diagnoses to adjust for patient complexity and cost needs to respond to these in each casemix application. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Social interaction in management group meetings: a case study of Finnish hospital.

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Laapotti, Tomi; Mikkola, Leena

2016-06-20

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to understand the role of management group meetings (MGMs) in hospital organization by examining the social interaction in these meetings. Design/methodology/approach - This case study approaches social interaction from a structuration point of view. Social network analysis and qualitative content analysis are applied. Findings - The findings show that MGMs are mainly forums for information sharing. Meetings are not held for problem solving or decision making, and operational coordinating is limited. Meeting interaction is very much focused on the chair, and most of the discussion takes place between the chair and one other member, not between members. The organizational structures are maintained and reproduced in the meeting interaction, and they appear to limit discussion. Meetings appear to fulfil their goals as a part of the organization's information structure and to some extent as an instrument for management. The significance of the relational side of MGMs was recognized. Research limitations/implications - The results of this study provide a basis for future research on hospital MGMs with wider datasets and other methodologies. Especially the relational role of MGMs needs more attention. Practical implications - The goals of MGMs should be reviewed and MG members should be made aware of meeting interaction structures. Originality/value - The paper provides new knowledge about interaction networks in hospital MGMs, and describes the complexity of the importance of MGMs for hospitals.

Visual social network analysis: effective approach to model complex human social, behaviour & culture.

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Ahram, Tareq Z; Karwowski, Waldemar

2012-01-01

The advent and adoption of internet-based social networking has significantly altered our daily lives. The educational community has taken notice of the positive aspects of social networking such as creation of blogs and to support groups of system designers going through the same challenges and difficulties. This paper introduces a social networking framework for collaborative education, design and modeling of the next generation of smarter products and services. Human behaviour modeling in social networking application aims to ensure that human considerations for learners and designers have a prominent place in the integrated design and development of sustainable, smarter products throughout the total system lifecycle. Social networks blend self-directed learning and prescribed, existing information. The self-directed element creates interest within a learner and the ability to access existing information facilitates its transfer, and eventual retention of knowledge acquired.

New Frontiers in Analyzing Dynamic Group Interactions: Bridging Social and Computer Science.

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Lehmann-Willenbrock, Nale; Hung, Hayley; Keyton, Joann

2017-10-01

This special issue on advancing interdisciplinary collaboration between computer scientists and social scientists documents the joint results of the international Lorentz workshop, "Interdisciplinary Insights into Group and Team Dynamics," which took place in Leiden, The Netherlands, July 2016. An equal number of scholars from social and computer science participated in the workshop and contributed to the papers included in this special issue. In this introduction, we first identify interaction dynamics as the core of group and team models and review how scholars in social and computer science have typically approached behavioral interactions in groups and teams. Next, we identify key challenges for interdisciplinary collaboration between social and computer scientists, and we provide an overview of the different articles in this special issue aimed at addressing these challenges.

How does social essentialism affect the development of inter-group relations?

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Rhodes, Marjorie; Leslie, Sarah-Jane; Saunders, Katya; Dunham, Yarrow; Cimpian, Andrei

2018-01-01

Psychological essentialism is a pervasive conceptual bias to view categories as reflecting something deep, stable, and informative about their members. Scholars from diverse disciplines have long theorized that psychological essentialism has negative ramifications for inter-group relations, yet little previous empirical work has experimentally tested the social implications of essentialist beliefs. Three studies (N = 127, ages 4.5-6) found that experimentally inducing essentialist beliefs about a novel social category led children to share fewer resources with category members, but did not lead to the out-group dislike that defines social prejudice. These findings indicate that essentialism negatively influences some key components of inter-group relations, but does not lead directly to the development of prejudice. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

SOCIAL COMPETENCE FORMATION AMONG TEENAGERS FROM HUMANIST TREND MULTIPLE-AGED GROUPS

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Larisa A. Krapivina

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The paper studies the problems of social development of adolescents in multiple-aged groups (MAG.Methods. The methods involve socio-personal approach, consideration of the subject in a certain ideological humanistic orientation, comparative analysis, and comparison of historical facts, the study of social phenomena of different ages, long-term scientific observations, reflections, a retrospective analysis of personal experience.Results. The author describes objective conditions for the uprise of extremist, subcultural youth of multiple-aged groups, and the reasons whence they begin to perform distinctive functions that are specific for teenagers. Options for models of MAG humanistic educational systems formed in Russian and foreign social and pedagogical practice are listed. A complex of pedagogical conditions provided for the formation of social competence of adolescents in multiple-aged associations of humanistic orientation is considered. It has been found that this type of system is characterized by the following features: the principle of voluntary association of people, independence of subjects, rapid adaptation to changing socio-cultural situation, a variety of activities by interests, alternating change of activities, conflict resolution within the team, a high level of team spirit, selfmanagement, the creative nature of educational process, upbringing, socialization and self-realization. A brief description of conditions for development of fundamental human values among adolescents and formation of new specific complicated humanistic human and personal relations in global world is given.Scientific novelty. The author studies the following concepts: educational system of multiple-aged associations, teenager social competence, ambivalent behavior, emotional and moral compass of personality, invisible assets of the team, emergent effect of multiple-aged groups, inter-age communication. It was found that the specificity of MAG educational

From Social Exclusion to Supported Inclusion: Adults with Intellectual Disability Discuss Their Lived Experiences of a Structured Social Group.

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Wilson, Nathan J; Jaques, Hayden; Johnson, Amanda; Brotherton, Michelle L

2017-09-01

People with intellectual disability often have few friends and experience social exclusion. Recognising this gap, supported social groups with the aim of inclusion and interdependence were created by a supported employment provider. Interviews were undertaken with 10 adults with intellectual disability exploring their lived experiences of a supported social group. Data were analysed using descriptive phenomenology. Two themes emerged (i) supported engagement fosters wellbeing, and (ii) developing social belonging and connectedness. Participants not only acknowledged the support that they needed to participate, but also that the social group had changed their lives in many ways. Adults with intellectual disability want to socialise, have friends and be part of their community. For this to be achieved, they recognise the need to seek some form of support. With appropriate and targeted support, adults with intellectual disability can move from social exclusion towards supported inclusion and experience richer lives. © 2016 The Authors Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

What Difference Does It Make? Implicit, Explicit and Complex Social Cognition in Autism Spectrum Disorders

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Schaller, Ulrich M.; Rauh, Reinhold

2017-01-01

We tested social cognition abilities of adolescents with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and neurotypically developed peers (NTD). A multi-faceted test-battery including facial emotion categorization (FEC), classical false belief tasks (FBT), and complex social cognition (SC), yielded significantly lower accuracy rates for FEC and complex SC tasks…

Social status drives social relationships in groups of unrelated female rhesus macaques.

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Snyder-Mackler, Noah; Kohn, Jordan N; Barreiro, Luis B; Johnson, Zachary P; Wilson, Mark E; Tung, Jenny

2016-01-01

Strong social relationships confer health and fitness benefits in a number of species, motivating the need to understand the processes through which they arise. In female cercopithecine primates, both kinship and dominance rank are thought to influence rates of affiliative behaviour and social partner preference. Teasing apart the relative importance of these factors has been challenging, however, as female kin often occupy similar positions in the dominance hierarchy. Here, we isolated the specific effects of rank on social relationships in female rhesus macaques by analysing grooming patterns in 18 social groups that did not contain close relatives, and in which dominance ranks were experimentally randomized. We found that grooming was asymmetrically directed towards higher-ranking females and that grooming bouts temporarily decreased the likelihood of aggression between grooming partners, supporting the idea that grooming is associated with social tolerance. Even in the absence of kin, females formed the strongest grooming relationships with females adjacent to them in rank, a pattern that was strongest for the highest-ranking females. Using simulations, we show that three rules for allocating grooming based on dominance rank recapitulated most of the relationships we observed. Finally, we evaluated whether a female's tendency to engage in grooming behaviour was stable across time and social setting. We found that one measure, the rate of grooming females provided to others (but not the rate of grooming females received), exhibited modest stability after accounting for the primary effect of dominance rank. Together, our findings indicate that dominance rank has strong effects on social relationships in the absence of kin, suggesting the importance of considering social status and social connectedness jointly when investigating their health and fitness consequences.

Communication and Social Exchange Processes in Community Theater Groups

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Kramer, Michael W.

2005-01-01

This study explores the communication experiences of two volunteer groups involved in the production of community theater musicals. Based on social exchange theory, it examined what group members perceived to be the positive benefits (primarily meeting people and having an opportunity to perform) and the negative costs (primarily disorganization,…

A Psychoeducational School-Based Group Intervention for Socially Anxious Children

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Vassilopoulos, Stephanos P.; Brouzos, Andreas; Damer, Diana E.; Mellou, Angeliki; Mitropoulou, Alexandra

2013-01-01

This study investigated the impact of a psychoeducational group for social anxiety aimed at elementary children. An 8-week psychoeducational program based on empirically validated risk factors was designed. Interventions included cognitive restructuring, anxiety management techniques, and social skills training. Pre-and posttest data from 3 groups…

An Automatic User Grouping Model for a Group Recommender System in Location-Based Social Networks

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Elahe Khazaei

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Spatial group recommendation refers to suggesting places to a given set of users. In a group recommender system, members of a group should have similar preferences in order to increase the level of satisfaction. Location-based social networks (LBSNs provide rich content, such as user interactions and location/event descriptions, which can be leveraged for group recommendations. In this paper, an automatic user grouping model is introduced that obtains information about users and their preferences through an LBSN. The preferences of the users, proximity of the places the users have visited in terms of spatial range, users’ free days, and the social relationships among users are extracted automatically from location histories and users’ profiles in the LBSN. These factors are combined to determine the similarities among users. The users are partitioned into groups based on these similarities. Group size is the key to coordinating group members and enhancing their satisfaction. Therefore, a modified k-medoids method is developed to cluster users into groups with specific sizes. To evaluate the efficiency of the proposed method, its mean intra-cluster distance and its distribution of cluster sizes are compared to those of general clustering algorithms. The results reveal that the proposed method compares favourably with general clustering approaches, such as k-medoids and spectral clustering, in separating users into groups of a specific size with a lower mean intra-cluster distance.

What's in a Name: Dimensions of Social Learning in Teacher Groups

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Vrieling, E.; van den Beemt, A.; de Laat, M.

2016-01-01

Induced by a literature review, this paper presents a framework of dimensions and indicators highlighting the underpinning aspects and values of social learning within teacher groups. Notions of social networks, communities of practice and learning teams were taken as the main perspectives to influence this social learning framework. The review…

A Programmatic Description of a Social Skills Group for Young Children with Autism

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Leaf, Justin B.; Dotson, Wesley H.; Oppenheim-Leaf, Misty L.; Sherman, James A.; Sheldon, Jan B.

2012-01-01

Deficits in social skills are a common problem for children with autism. One method of developing appropriate social skills in children with autism has been group instruction. To date, however, group instruction has produced mixed results. The purpose of this article is to describe a promising method of teaching social skills to children in small…

The group-lending model and social closure: microcredit, exclusion, and health in Bangladesh.

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Schurmann, Anna T; Johnston, Heidi Bart

2009-08-01

According to social exclusion theory, health risks are positively associated with involuntary social, economic, political and cultural exclusion from society. In this paper, a social exclusion framework has been used, and available literature on microcredit in Bangladesh has been reviewed to explore the available evidence on associations among microcredit, exclusion, and health outcomes. The paper addresses the question of whether participation in group-lending reduces health inequities through promoting social inclusion. The group-lending model of microcredit is a development intervention in which small-scale credit for income-generation activities is provided to groups of individuals who do not have material collateral. The paper outlines four pathways through which microcredit can affect health status: financing care in the event of health emergencies; financing health inputs such as improved nutrition; as a platform for health education; and by increasing social capital through group meetings and mutual support. For many participants, the group-lending model of microcredit can mitigate exclusionary processes and lead to improvements in health for some; for others, it can worsen exclusionary processes which contribute to health disadvantage.

The Group-lending Model and Social Closure: Microcredit, Exclusion, and Health in Bangladesh

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Johnston, Heidi Bart

2009-01-01

According to social exclusion theory, health risks are positively associated with involuntary social, economic, political and cultural exclusion from society. In this paper, a social exclusion framework has been used, and available literature on microcredit in Bangladesh has been reviewed to explore the available evidence on associations among microcredit, exclusion, and health outcomes. The paper addresses the question of whether participation in group-lending reduces health inequities through promoting social inclusion. The group-lending model of microcredit is a development intervention in which small-scale credit for income-generation activities is provided to groups of individuals who do not have material collateral. The paper outlines four pathways through which microcredit can affect health status: financing care in the event of health emergencies; financing health inputs such as improved nutrition; as a platform for health education; and by increasing social capital through group meetings and mutual support. For many participants, the group-lending model of microcredit can mitigate exclusionary processes and lead to improvements in health for some; for others, it can worsen exclusionary processes which contribute to health disadvantage. PMID:19761085

Incorporating social groups' responses in a descriptive model for second- and higher-order impact identification

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sutheerawatthana, Pitch; Minato, Takayuki

2010-01-01

The response of a social group is a missing element in the formal impact assessment model. Previous discussion of the involvement of social groups in an intervention has mainly focused on the formation of the intervention. This article discusses the involvement of social groups in a different way. A descriptive model is proposed by incorporating a social group's response into the concept of second- and higher-order effects. The model is developed based on a cause-effect relationship through the observation of phenomena in case studies. The model clarifies the process by which social groups interact with a lower-order effect and then generate a higher-order effect in an iterative manner. This study classifies social groups' responses into three forms-opposing, modifying, and advantage-taking action-and places them in six pathways. The model is expected to be used as an analytical tool for investigating and identifying impacts in the planning stage and as a framework for monitoring social groups' responses during the implementation stage of a policy, plan, program, or project (PPPPs).

SOCIAL PROGRESS AND ECONOMIC PROJECTS FOR DISADVANTAGED GROUPS IN ROMANIA

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Aurelian Virgil BALUTA

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The paper aims to analyse the social progress, social politics, social law and successful projects applicable to the some disadvantaged groups: Roma people and woman. Inclusion of Roma people is analysed from economic point of view. The economic problems of equality by gender is presented in terms of labour rate and other relevant ratio. For Roma people the focus of analyse is also on labour involvement. The chapters of the communication are: introduction, literature review ( state of art in the field of social progress, theoretical background, tools for social progress in EU, economic inclusion of Roma population, economic equality by gender, conclusions.

Mindfulness and acceptance-based group therapy and traditional cognitive behavioral group therapy for social anxiety disorder: Mechanisms of change.

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Kocovski, Nancy L; Fleming, Jan E; Hawley, Lance L; Ho, Moon-Ho Ringo; Antony, Martin M

2015-07-01

The present study investigated mechanisms of change for two group treatments for social anxiety disorder (SAD): cognitive behavioral group therapy (CBGT) and mindfulness and acceptance-based group therapy (MAGT). Participants were treatment completers (n = 37 for MAGT, n = 32 for CBGT) from a randomized clinical trial. Cognitive reappraisal was the hypothesized mechanism of change for CBGT. Mindfulness and acceptance were hypothesized mechanisms of change for MAGT. Latent difference score (LDS) analysis results demonstrate that cognitive reappraisal coupling (in which cognitive reappraisal is negatively associated with the subsequent rate of change in social anxiety) had a greater impact on social anxiety for CBGT than MAGT. The LDS bidirectional mindfulness model (mindfulness predicts subsequent change in social anxiety; social anxiety predicts subsequent change in mindfulness) was supported for both treatments. Results for acceptance were less clear. Cognitive reappraisal may be a more important mechanism of change for CBGT than MAGT, whereas mindfulness may be an important mechanism of change for both treatments. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

An Inconvenient Identity: Paradox, Complexity, and Strategies in a Social Foundations Classroom

Science.gov (United States)

Cao, Wei

2011-01-01

This article addresses the paradox and complexity of the interactions of the social-cultural context of my students and my identity, as a female Chinese junior professor in social foundations/diversity in my predominantly European American urban classroom. This article will describe the hidden dimensions of teaching diversity courses, the…

Infrared multiple photon dissociation spectroscopy of group I and group II metal complexes with Boc-hydroxylamine

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Dain, R.P.; Gresham, G.; Groenewold, G.S.; Steill, J.D.; Oomens, J.; van Stipdonk, M.J.

2013-01-01

RATIONALE: Hydroxamates are essential growth factors for some microbes, acting primarily as siderophores that solubilize iron for transport into a cell. Here we determined the intrinsic structure of 1:1 complexes between Boc-protected hydroxylamine and group I ([M(L)](+)) and group II ([M(L-H)](+))

Effects of a music therapy group intervention on enhancing social skills in children with autism.

Science.gov (United States)

LaGasse, A Blythe

2014-01-01

Research indicates that music therapy can improve social behaviors and joint attention in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD); however, more research on the use of music therapy interventions for social skills is needed to determine the impact of group music therapy. To examine the effects of a music therapy group intervention on eye gaze, joint attention, and communication in children with ASD. Seventeen children, ages 6 to 9, with a diagnosis of ASD were randomly assigned to the music therapy group (MTG) or the no-music social skills group (SSG). Children participated in ten 50-minute group sessions over a period of 5 weeks. All group sessions were designed to target social skills. The Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS), the Autism Treatment Evaluation Checklist (ATEC), and video analysis of sessions were used to evaluate changes in social behavior. There were significant between-group differences for joint attention with peers and eye gaze towards persons, with participants in the MTG demonstrating greater gains. There were no significant between-group differences for initiation of communication, response to communication, or social withdraw/behaviors. There was a significant interaction between time and group for SRS scores, with improvements for the MTG but not the SSG. Scores on the ATEC did not differ over time between the MTG and SSG. The results of this study support further research on the use of music therapy group interventions for social skills in children with ASD. Statistical results demonstrate initial support for the use of music therapy social groups to develop joint attention. © the American Music Therapy Association 2014. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

The walking behaviour of pedestrian social groups and its impact on crowd dynamics.

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Mehdi Moussaïd

Full Text Available Human crowd motion is mainly driven by self-organized processes based on local interactions among pedestrians. While most studies of crowd behaviour consider only interactions among isolated individuals, it turns out that up to 70% of people in a crowd are actually moving in groups, such as friends, couples, or families walking together. These groups constitute medium-scale aggregated structures and their impact on crowd dynamics is still largely unknown. In this work, we analyze the motion of approximately 1500 pedestrian groups under natural condition, and show that social interactions among group members generate typical group walking patterns that influence crowd dynamics. At low density, group members tend to walk side by side, forming a line perpendicular to the walking direction. As the density increases, however, the linear walking formation is bent forward, turning it into a V-like pattern. These spatial patterns can be well described by a model based on social communication between group members. We show that the V-like walking pattern facilitates social interactions within the group, but reduces the flow because of its "non-aerodynamic" shape. Therefore, when crowd density increases, the group organization results from a trade-off between walking faster and facilitating social exchange. These insights demonstrate that crowd dynamics is not only determined by physical constraints induced by other pedestrians and the environment, but also significantly by communicative, social interactions among individuals.

Fostering Complexity Thinking in Action Research for Change in Social-Ecological Systems

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Kevin H. Rogers

2013-06-01

Full Text Available Complexity thinking is increasingly being embraced by a wide range of academics and professionals as imperative for dealing with today's pressing social-ecological challenges. In this context, action researchers partner directly with stakeholders (communities, governance institutions, and work resource managers, etc. to embed a complexity frame of reference for decision making. In doing so, both researchers and stakeholders must strive to internalize not only "intellectual complexity" (knowing but also "lived complexity" (being and practicing. Four common conceptualizations of learning (explicit/tacit knowledge framework; unlearning selective exposure; conscious/competence learning matrix; and model of learning loops are integrated to provide a new framework that describes how learning takes place in complex systems. Deep reflection leading to transformational learning is required to foster the changes in mindset and behaviors needed to adopt a complexity frame of reference. We then present three broad frames of mind (openness, situational awareness, and a healthy respect for the restraint/action paradox, which each encompass a set of habits of mind, to create a useful framework that allows one to unlearn reductionist habits while adopting and embedding those more conducive to working in complex systems. Habits of mind provide useful heuristic tools to guide researchers and stakeholders through processes of participative planning and adaptive decision making in complex social-ecological systems.

Group 4 Metalloporphyrin diolato Complexes and Catalytic Application of Metalloporphyrins and Related Transition Metal Complexes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Du, Guodong [Iowa State Univ., Ames, IA (United States)

2003-01-01

In this work, the first examples of group 4 metalloporphyrin 1,2-diolato complexes were synthesized through a number of strategies. In general, treatment of imido metalloporphyrin complexes, (TTP)M=NR, (M = Ti, Zr, Hf), with vicinal diols led to the formation of a series of diolato complexes. Alternatively, the chelating pinacolate complexes could be prepared by metathesis of (TTP)MCl₂ (M = Ti, Hf) with disodium pinacolate. These complexes were found to undergo C-C cleavage reactions to produce organic carbonyl compounds. For titanium porphyrins, treatment of a titanium(II) alkyne adduct, (TTP)Ti(η²-PhC≡CPh), with aromatic aldehydes or aryl ketones resulted in reductive coupling of the carbonyl groups to produce the corresponding diolato complexes. Aliphatic aldehydes or ketones were not reactive towards (TTP)Ti(η²-PhC≡CPh). However, these carbonyl compounds could be incorporated into a diolato complex on reaction with a reactive precursor, (TTP)Ti[O(Ph)₂C(Ph)₂O] to provide unsymmetrical diolato complexes via cross coupling reactions. In addition, an enediolato complex (TTP)Ti(OCPhCPhO) was obtained from the reaction of (TTP)Ti(η²-PhC≡CPh) with benzoin. Titanium porphyrin diolato complexes were found to be intermediates in the (TTP)Ti=O-catalyzed cleavage reactions of vicinal diols, in which atmospheric oxygen was the oxidant. Furthermore, (TTP)Ti=O was capable of catalyzing the oxidation of benzyl alcohol and α-hydroxy ketones to benzaldehyde and α-diketones, respectively. Other high valent metalloporphyrin complexes also can catalyze the oxidative diol cleavage and the benzyl alcohol oxidation reactions with dioxygen. A comparison of Ti(IV) and Sn(IV) porphyrin chemistry was undertaken. While chelated diolato complexes were invariably obtained for titanium porphyrins on treatment with 1,2-diols, the reaction of vicinal diols with tin porphyrins gave a number of products, including mono

Graduate Social Work Education and Cognitive Complexity: Does Prior Experience Really Matter?

Science.gov (United States)

Simmons, Chris

2014-01-01

This study examined the extent to which age, education, and practice experience among social work graduate students (N = 184) predicted cognitive complexity, an essential aspect of critical thinking. In the regression analysis, education accounted for more of the variance associated with cognitive complexity than age and practice experience. When…

The Effects of Social Network Centrality on Group Satisfaction

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Choi, Peter M

2007-01-01

.... To determine the relationship between social network centrality and work group satisfaction, a longitudinal field study was conducted on 440 active duty enlisted military members in a leadership...

Socio-Pedagogical Complex as a Pedagogical Support Technology of Students' Social Adaptation

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Sadovaya, Victoriya V.; Simonova, Galina I.

2016-01-01

The relevance of the problem stated in the article is determined by the need of developing technological approaches to pedagogical support of students' social adaptation. The purpose of this paper is to position the technological sequence of pedagogical support of students' social adaptation in the activities of the socio-pedagogical complex. The…

Online Social Support for the Prevention of Smoking Relapse: A Content Analysis of the WhatsApp and Facebook Social Groups.

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Cheung, Yee Tak Derek; Chan, Ching Han Helen; Wang, Man Ping; Li, Ho Cheung William; Lam, Tai-Hing

2017-06-01

Online social groups have been increasingly used for smoking cessation intervention. This study aimed to explore the social support components of the online discussion through WhatsApp and Facebook, how these components addressed the need of relapse prevention, and how the participants evaluated this intervention. We coded and analyzed the posts (N = 467) by the 82 recent quitters in WhatsApp and Facebook social groups, who were recruited from the eight smoking cessation clinics in Hong Kong to participate in a pragmatic randomized trial of relapse prevention. Participants' postintervention feedback was collected from the 13 qualitative interviews after the intervention. The WhatsApp social groups had more participants' posts than the Facebook counterparts. The participants' posts in the online social groups could be classified as sharing views and experiences (55.5%), encouragement (28.7%), and knowledge and information (15.8%). About half of the participants' posts (52.9%) addressed the themes listed in the U.S. Clinical Practice Guideline for preventing smoking relapse. The participants perceived the posts as useful reminders for smoking cessation, but avoidance of reporting relapse, inactive discussions, and uninteresting content were barriers to the success of the intervention. Online social groups provided a useful platform for the delivery of cessation support and encouragement of reporting abstinence, which support relapse prevention. The effectiveness of such intervention can be improved by encouraging more self-report of relapse, active discussions, sharing of interesting content, and using an appropriate discussion platform. Quitters who participate in the online social groups can benefit from peer support and information sharing, and hence prevent smoking relapse.

RELIGIOUS IDENTIFICATION AND SOCIAL DISTANCE BETWEEN RELIGIOUS GROUPS IN YOGYAKARTA

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Cahyo Pamungkas

2016-01-01

Full Text Available This paper explains how political, religious, and economic changes in Yogyakarta affect the formation of religious identity and social distance between different religious groups. The strengthening of religious identity in this area took place in the period of the Diponegoro War (1825-1830 when religious issues were used in the mobilization against the Dutch colonialist. Then, the spread of Christianity in Java at the end of 19th led to several tensions between missionaries and several Islamic organizations, but never developed into communal violence. In 1930s, the relation between religious groups remain harmonious due to the development of tolerant culture and pluralism. During the 1980s, the use of religious identity grew both in urban and rural areas in line with social processes of modernization. Da’wat activities on Campus (Lembaga Dakwah Kampus plays important roles in promoting religious life in urban areas. The 1998 political reform marked the rise of religious fundamentalist movements that to a certain degree contributes to social distance between religious groups.

Nonlinear model of epidemic spreading in a complex social network.

Science.gov (United States)

Kosiński, Robert A; Grabowski, A

2007-10-01

The epidemic spreading in a human society is a complex process, which can be described on the basis of a nonlinear mathematical model. In such an approach the complex and hierarchical structure of social network (which has implications for the spreading of pathogens and can be treated as a complex network), can be taken into account. In our model each individual has one of the four permitted states: susceptible, infected, infective, unsusceptible or dead. This refers to the SEIR model used in epidemiology. The state of an individual changes in time, depending on the previous state and the interactions with other individuals. The description of the interpersonal contacts is based on the experimental observations of the social relations in the community. It includes spatial localization of the individuals and hierarchical structure of interpersonal interactions. Numerical simulations were performed for different types of epidemics, giving the progress of a spreading process and typical relationships (e.g. range of epidemic in time, the epidemic curve). The spreading process has a complex and spatially chaotic character. The time dependence of the number of infective individuals shows the nonlinear character of the spreading process. We investigate the influence of the preventive vaccinations on the spreading process. In particular, for a critical value of preventively vaccinated individuals the percolation threshold is observed and the epidemic is suppressed.

Etoile Project : Social Intelligent ICT-System for very large scale education in complex systems

Science.gov (United States)

Bourgine, P.; Johnson, J.

2009-04-01

The project will devise new theory and implement new ICT-based methods of delivering high-quality low-cost postgraduate education to many thousands of people in a scalable way, with the cost of each extra student being negligible (Socially Intelligent Resource Mining system to gather large volumes of high quality educational resources from the internet; new methods to deconstruct these to produce a semantically tagged Learning Object Database; a Living Course Ecology to support the creation and maintenance of evolving course materials; systems to deliver courses; and a ‘socially intelligent assessment system'. The system will be tested on one to ten thousand postgraduate students in Europe working towards the Complex System Society's title of European PhD in Complex Systems. Étoile will have a very high impact both scientifically and socially by (i) the provision of new scalable ICT-based methods for providing very low cost scientific education, (ii) the creation of new mathematical and statistical theory for the multiscale dynamics of complex systems, (iii) the provision of a working example of adaptation and emergence in complex socio-technical systems, and (iv) making a major educational contribution to European complex systems science and its applications.

Evidence of complex contagion of information in social media: An experiment using Twitter bots.

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Bjarke Mønsted

Full Text Available It has recently become possible to study the dynamics of information diffusion in techno-social systems at scale, due to the emergence of online platforms, such as Twitter, with millions of users. One question that systematically recurs is whether information spreads according to simple or complex dynamics: does each exposure to a piece of information have an independent probability of a user adopting it (simple contagion, or does this probability depend instead on the number of sources of exposure, increasing above some threshold (complex contagion? Most studies to date are observational and, therefore, unable to disentangle the effects of confounding factors such as social reinforcement, homophily, limited attention, or network community structure. Here we describe a novel controlled experiment that we performed on Twitter using 'social bots' deployed to carry out coordinated attempts at spreading information. We propose two Bayesian statistical models describing simple and complex contagion dynamics, and test the competing hypotheses. We provide experimental evidence that the complex contagion model describes the observed information diffusion behavior more accurately than simple contagion. Future applications of our results include more effective defenses against malicious propaganda campaigns on social media, improved marketing and advertisement strategies, and design of effective network intervention techniques.

Evidence of complex contagion of information in social media: An experiment using Twitter bots.

Science.gov (United States)

Mønsted, Bjarke; Sapieżyński, Piotr; Ferrara, Emilio; Lehmann, Sune

2017-01-01

It has recently become possible to study the dynamics of information diffusion in techno-social systems at scale, due to the emergence of online platforms, such as Twitter, with millions of users. One question that systematically recurs is whether information spreads according to simple or complex dynamics: does each exposure to a piece of information have an independent probability of a user adopting it (simple contagion), or does this probability depend instead on the number of sources of exposure, increasing above some threshold (complex contagion)? Most studies to date are observational and, therefore, unable to disentangle the effects of confounding factors such as social reinforcement, homophily, limited attention, or network community structure. Here we describe a novel controlled experiment that we performed on Twitter using 'social bots' deployed to carry out coordinated attempts at spreading information. We propose two Bayesian statistical models describing simple and complex contagion dynamics, and test the competing hypotheses. We provide experimental evidence that the complex contagion model describes the observed information diffusion behavior more accurately than simple contagion. Future applications of our results include more effective defenses against malicious propaganda campaigns on social media, improved marketing and advertisement strategies, and design of effective network intervention techniques.

Testing problem-solving capacities: differences between individual testing and social group setting.

Science.gov (United States)

Krasheninnikova, Anastasia; Schneider, Jutta M

2014-09-01

Testing animals individually in problem-solving tasks limits distractions of the subjects during the test, so that they can fully concentrate on the problem. However, such individual performance may not indicate the problem-solving capacity that is commonly employed in the wild when individuals are faced with a novel problem in their social groups, where the presence of a conspecific influences an individual's behaviour. To assess the validity of data gathered from parrots when tested individually, we compared the performance on patterned-string tasks among parrots tested singly and parrots tested in social context. We tested two captive groups of orange-winged amazons (Amazona amazonica) with several patterned-string tasks. Despite the differences in the testing environment (singly vs. social context), parrots from both groups performed similarly. However, we found that the willingness to participate in the tasks was significantly higher for the individuals tested in social context. The study provides further evidence for the crucial influence of social context on individual's response to a challenging situation such as a problem-solving test.

The Insensitive Ruins It All: Compositional and Compilational Influences of Social Sensitivity on Collective Intelligence in Groups.

Science.gov (United States)

Meslec, Nicoleta; Aggarwal, Ishani; Curseu, Petru L

2016-01-01

A group's collective intelligence reflects its capacity to perform well across a variety of cognitive tasks and it transcends the individual intelligence of its members. Previous research shows that group members' social sensitivity is a potential antecedent of collective intelligence, yet it is still unclear whether individual or group-level indices are responsible for the positive association between social sensitivity and collective intelligence. In a comprehensive manner, we test the extent to which both compositional (lowest and highest individual score) and compilational aspects (emergent group level) of social sensitivity are associated with collective intelligence. This study has implications for research that explores groups as information processors, and for group design as it indicates how a group should be composed with respect to social sensitivity if the group is to reach high levels of collective intelligence. Our empirical results indicate that collectively intelligent groups are those in which the least socially sensitive group member has a rather high score on social sensitivity. Differently stated, (socially sensitive) group members cannot compensate for the lack of social sensitivity of the other group members.

Treating Social Anxiety in Adolescents: Ten Group Therapy Lesson Plans

Science.gov (United States)

Mazur-Elmer, Alison; McBride, Dawn

2009-01-01

This project provides a comprehensive overview of the research literature on social anxiety disorder (SAD) in adolescents and concludes by offering a set of 10 group therapy lesson plans for SAD that therapists can use in their practice. The overview includes a description of social anxiety disorder and highlights various theories of anxiety. The…

SOCIAL MEASUREMENT OF YOUTH’S HEALTH: DESIGNING OF INDICATORS OF COMPLEX SOCIOLOGICAL RESEARCH

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vitalii Valeriyevich Kulish

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Purpose. The article is devoted to solving the problem of social measurement of modern youth’s health. The subject of the analysis is the content of the concept, characteristics and indicators of the social health of young people, which enable using sociological research’ methods to measure a given status of the younger generation in contemporary Russian society. The purpose of this work is to define the theoretical and methodological foundations of the sociological analysis of the young people social health and to substantiate its main indicators in the tools of complex sociological research. Methodology of the study. The basis of the research is formed by the system approach, the complex approach, the logical-conceptual method and general scientific methods of research: comparative analysis, system analysis, construction of social indicators, modeling. Results. The social health of young people is defined through the category “status” and is considered as an integrated indicator of the social quality of the younger generation. It is substantiated that the social health of youth is a status of socio-demographic community in which it is able not only to adapt to the changing conditions of the social environment but is also ready to transform actively the surrounding reality, having the potential to resist destructive social phenomena and processes. The main indicators that allow measuring the social health of young people by sociological methods are determined: adaptability in the social environment, social activity in all spheres of public life, social orientation and significance of activity, behavior regulativity by social norms and universal values, creativity of thinking and behavior, readiness for social integration and self-development. A system of social indicators and indicators for conducting a sociological study of social health in historical memory, value orientations and everyday practices of young people has been developed.

Group Counseling: Techniques for Teaching Social Skills to Students with Special Needs

Science.gov (United States)

Stephens, Derk; Jain, Sachin; Kim, Kioh

2010-01-01

This paper examines literature that supports the use of group counseling techniques in the school setting to teach social skills to children and adolescents with special needs. From the review of this literature it was found that group counseling is a very effective way of addressing a variety of social skills problems that can be displayed by…

Social groups preferences relation to motivations and ability levels of whitewater kayakers

Science.gov (United States)

Seth Turner; Rod Zwick

2002-01-01

Social groups play an important role in many adventure recreation activities. The purpose of this study was to examine the social group preference relation to motives and ability levels of whitewater kayakers. When participants go out on a kayaking trip they are seeking varying degrees of experiences, a major contributor to that experience comes from the members of...

Structured Play Therapy Groups for Preschoolers: facilitating the emergence of social competence.

Science.gov (United States)

Stone, Susan; Stark, Martha

2013-01-01

Over the years, we have developed a working model of Structured Play Therapy Groups for Preschoolers, an innovative treatment approach designed to address the needs of young children ages 3 to 5 struggling to adjust to the social demands of their preschool classrooms. These short-term therapy groups facilitate development of the young child's social competence and capacity to participate effectively in a classroom environment. Although the literature on therapy groups for children suggests that preschoolers are not yet evolved enough developmentally to engage actively in a group process, our experience indicates otherwise. The model of treatment presented here will therefore challenge that contention with the claim that not only can preschoolers participate in a structured therapy group of peers but they can, by virtue of that very participation, benefit in ways that will prepare them (as they transition from preschool to kindergarten) for the ever-increasing demands of their ever-expanding social milieus.

The Parkinson's experience of group physical activity: Understanding social support, social comparison, physical self-perceptions, and posttraumatic growth

OpenAIRE

Sheehy, Tammy L

2014-01-01

Group physical activity programs for clinical populations can provide opportunities for adaptive social interactions, improving perceptions of competence, and may facilitate posttraumatic growth (positive psychological changes resulting from traumatic life experiences). Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine how people with Parkinson's experience social interactions and physical challenges in a group physical activity program, and to investigate what role they think those experie...

Group Buying: A New Mechanism for Selling Through Social Interactions

OpenAIRE

Xiaoqing Jing; Jinhong Xie

2011-01-01

This paper examines a unique selling strategy, Group Buying, under which consumers enjoy a discounted group price if they are willing and able to achieve a required group size and coordinate their transaction time. We argue that Group Buying allows a seller to gain from facilitating consumer social interaction, i.e., using a group discount to motivate informed customers to work as "sales agents" to acquire less-informed customers through interpersonal information/knowledge sharing. We formall...

CULTURAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL PECULIARITIES OF SOCIAL CAPITAL OF ETHNIC GROUPS IN RUSSIA

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Tatarko, A. N.

2009-01-01

Data of cross-cultural study of social capital of five ethnic groups of Russia (n = 300) is presented. According to proposed psychological point of view trust, social solidarity, civil identity, ethnic tolerance constitute the structure of social capital of polycultural society. The application of

What are the health needs, familial and social problems of Thai migrants in a local community in Australia? A focus group study.

Science.gov (United States)

Vatcharavongvan, Pasitpon; Hepworth, Julie; Lim, Joanne; Marley, John

2014-02-01

This study explored the health needs, familial and social problems of Thai migrants in a local community in Brisbane, Australia. Five focus groups with Thai migrants were conducted. The qualitative data were examined using thematic content analysis that is specifically designed for focus group analysis. Four themes were identified: (1) positive experiences in Australia, (2) physical health problems, (3) mental health problems, and (4) familial and social health problems. This study revealed key health needs related to chronic disease and mental health, major barriers to health service use, such as language skills, and facilitating factors, such as the Thai Temple. We concluded that because the health needs, familial and social problems of Thai migrants were complex and culture bound, the development of health and community services for Thai migrants needs to take account of the ways in which Thai culture both negatively impacts health and offer positive solutions to problems.

Complex Cooperative Strategies in Group-Territorial African Lions

Science.gov (United States)

Heinsohn, Robert; Packer, Craig

1995-09-01

Female lions (Panthera leo) showed persistent individual differences in the extent to which they participated in group-territorial conflict. When intergroup encounters were simulated by playback of aggressive vocalizations, some individuals consistently led the approach to the recorded intruder, whereas others lagged behind and avoided the risks of fighting. The lead females recognized that certain companions were laggards but failed to punish them, which suggests that cooperation is not maintained by reciprocity. Modification of the "odds" in these encounters revealed that some females joined the group response when they were most needed, whereas other lagged even farther behind. The complexity of these responses emphasizes the great diversity of individual behavior in this species and the inadequacy of current theory to explain cooperation in large groups.

Complex contexts and relationships affect clinical decisions in group therapy.

Science.gov (United States)

Tasca, Giorgio A; Mcquaid, Nancy; Balfour, Louise

2016-09-01

Clinical errors tend to be underreported even though examining them can provide important training and professional development opportunities. The group therapy context may be prone to clinician errors because of the added complexity within which therapists work and patients receive treatment. We discuss clinical errors that occurred within a group therapy in which a patient for whom group was not appropriate was admitted to the treatment and then was not removed by the clinicians. This was countertherapeutic for both patient and group. Two clinicians were involved: a clinical supervisor who initially assessed and admitted the patient to the group, and a group therapist. To complicate matters, the group therapy occurred within the context of a clinical research trial. The errors, possible solutions, and recommendations are discussed within Reason's Organizational Accident Model (Reason, 2000). In particular, we discuss clinician errors in the context of countertransference and clinician heuristics, group therapy as a local work condition that complicates clinical decision-making, and the impact of the research context as a latent organizational factor. We also present clinical vignettes from the pregroup preparation, group therapy, and supervision. Group therapists are more likely to avoid errors in clinical decisions if they engage in reflective practice about their internal experiences and about the impact of the context in which they work. Therapists must keep in mind the various levels of group functioning, especially related to the group-as-a-whole (i.e., group composition, cohesion, group climate, and safety) when making complex clinical decisions in order to optimize patient outcomes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Communication Network Integration and Group Uniformity in a Complex Organization.

Science.gov (United States)

Danowski, James A.; Farace, Richard V.

This paper contains a discussion of the limitations of research on group processes in complex organizations and the manner in which a procedure for network analysis in on-going systems can reduce problems. The research literature on group uniformity processes and on theoretical models of these processes from an information processing perspective…

Monogamy, strongly bonded groups, and the evolution of human social structure.

Science.gov (United States)

Chapais, Bernard

2013-01-01

Human social evolution has most often been treated in a piecemeal fashion, with studies focusing on the evolution of specific components of human society such as pair-bonding, cooperative hunting, male provisioning, grandmothering, cooperative breeding, food sharing, male competition, male violence, sexual coercion, territoriality, and between-group conflicts. Evolutionary models about any one of those components are usually concerned with two categories of questions, one relating to the origins of the component and the other to its impact on the evolution of human cognition and social life. Remarkably few studies have been concerned with the evolution of the entity that integrates all components, the human social system itself. That social system has as its core feature human social structure, which I define here as the common denominator of all human societies in terms of group composition, mating system, residence patterns, and kinship structures. The paucity of information on the evolution of human social structure poses substantial problems because that information is useful, if not essential, to assess both the origins and impact of any particular aspect of human society. Copyright © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Direct fitness benefits and kinship of social foraging groups in an Old World tropical babbler

Science.gov (United States)

Kaiser, Sara A.; Martin, Thomas E.; Oteyza, Juan C.; Armstad, Connor E.; Fleischer, Robert C.

2018-01-01

Molecular studies have revealed that social groups composed mainly of nonrelatives may be widespread in group-living vertebrates, but the benefits favoring such sociality are not well understood. In the Old World, birds often form conspecific foraging groups that are maintained year-round and offspring usually disperse to other social groups. We tested the hypothesis that nonbreeding group members are largely unrelated and gain direct fitness benefits through breeding opportunities (males) and brood parasitism (females) in the tropical gray-throated babbler, Stachyris nigriceps, in Malaysian Borneo. Babblers foraged in social groups containing one or more breeding pairs (median = 8 group members of equal sex ratio), but group members rarely assisted with breeding (9% of 67 breeding pairs had a third helper; exhibiting facultative cooperative breeding). Although 20% of 266 group member dyads were first-order relatives of one or both members of the breeding pairs, 80% were unrelated. Male group members gained direct fitness benefits through extrapair and extra-group paternity (25% of 73 offspring), which was independent of their relatedness to the breeding pair and increased with decreasing group size. In contrast, females did not gain direct fitness benefits through brood parasitism. The low levels of relatedness and helping in social groups suggest that most group members do not gain indirect fitness benefits by helping to raise unrelated offspring. These findings highlight the importance of examining benefits of sociality for unrelated individuals that largely do not help and broaden the direct fitness benefits of group foraging beyond assumed survival benefits.

Student attitudes towards socially acceptable and unacceptable group working practices.

Science.gov (United States)

Underwood, Jean D M

2003-08-01

While there is much support for co-operative learning among learning theorists, not all learners exhibit the same enthusiasm for groupwork. A number of factors such as sex, group size and ability mix, subject domain, task type and organization have been shown to influence the effectiveness of co-operative and collaborative learning. This study established learners' attitudes to various shared working scenarios. In this mixed design, 140 post-graduate teacher trainees were asked to imagine their responses to seven groupwork scenarios presented as a series of short vignettes. The vignettes varied on the degree of co-operation required; the sex of the prospective co-worker(s) including single and mixed-sex groups; type of assessment, including no assessment at all; and on academically acceptable and unacceptable 'shared' working practices. Anticipated attitudinal and behavioural responses of the students were assessed by questionnaire. On the whole, students were cautiously willing to be involved in groupwork. There were caveats, however. Factors such as the characteristics of the group members, the level and type of assessment procedures in operation, and individual differences, including sex and self-reported social deviance, also governed their responses. There was very limited agreement to be involved in socially undesirable collaborative group activities at a personal level or to condone such activities by others. Those students who showed a tendency towards mild anti-social behaviour were more willing to take direct punitive action against non-contributors than their peers. Female students were more willing to invoke the help of the tutor than their male counterparts, but only if the anti-social behaviour impacted on them personally.

Complex Networks IX

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Coronges, Kate; Gonçalves, Bruno; Sinatra, Roberta; Vespignani, Alessandro; Proceedings of the 9th Conference on Complex Networks; CompleNet 2018

2018-01-01

This book aims to bring together researchers and practitioners working across domains and research disciplines to measure, model, and visualize complex networks. It collects the works presented at the 9th International Conference on Complex Networks (CompleNet) 2018 in Boston, MA in March, 2018. With roots in physical, information and social science, the study of complex networks provides a formal set of mathematical methods, computational tools and theories to describe prescribe and predict dynamics and behaviors of complex systems. Despite their diversity, whether the systems are made up of physical, technological, informational, or social networks, they share many common organizing principles and thus can be studied with similar approaches. This book provides a view of the state-of-the-art in this dynamic field and covers topics such as group decision-making, brain and cellular connectivity, network controllability and resiliency, online activism, recommendation systems, and cyber security.

Evidence for the social role theory of stereotype content: observations of groups' roles shape stereotypes.

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Koenig, Anne M; Eagly, Alice H

2014-09-01

In applying social role theory to account for the content of a wide range of stereotypes, this research tests the proposition that observations of groups' roles determine stereotype content (Eagly & Wood, 2012). In a novel test of how stereotypes can develop from observations, preliminary research collected participants' beliefs about the occupational roles (e.g., lawyer, teacher, fast food worker, chief executive officer, store clerk, manager) in which members of social groups (e.g., Black women, Hispanics, White men, the rich, senior citizens, high school dropouts) are overrepresented relative to their numbers in the general population. These beliefs about groups' typical occupational roles proved to be generally accurate when evaluated in relation to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Then, correlational studies predicted participants' stereotypes of social groups from the attributes ascribed to group members' typical occupational roles (Studies 1a, 1b, and 1c), the behaviors associated with those roles (Study 2), and the occupational interest profile of the roles (Study 3). As predicted by social role theory, beliefs about the attributes of groups' typical roles were strongly related to group stereotypes on both communion and agency/competence. In addition, an experimental study (Study 4) demonstrated that when social groups were described with changes to their typical social roles in the future, their projected stereotypes were more influenced by these future roles than by their current group stereotypes, thus supporting social role theory's predictions about stereotype change. Discussion considers the implications of these findings for stereotype change and the relation of social role theory to other theories of stereotype content. 2014 APA, all rights reserved

The effects of age, rank and neophobia on social learning in horses.

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Krueger, Konstanze; Farmer, Kate; Heinze, Jürgen

2014-05-01

Social learning is said to meet the demands of complex environments in which individuals compete over resources and cooperate to share resources. Horses (Equus caballus) were thought to lack social learning skills because they feed on homogenously distributed resources with few reasons for conflict. However, the horse's social environment is complex, which raises the possibility that its capacity for social transfer of feeding behaviour has been underestimated. We conducted a social learning experiment using 30 socially kept horses of different ages. Five horses, one from each group, were chosen as demonstrators, and the remaining 25 horses were designated observers. Observers from each group were allowed to watch their group demonstrator opening a feeding apparatus. We found that young, low-ranking and more exploratory horses learned by observing older members of their own group, and the older the horse, the more slowly it appeared to learn. Social learning may be an adaptive specialisation to the social environment. Older animals may avoid the potential costs of acquiring complex and potentially disadvantageous feeding behaviours from younger group members. We argue that horses show social learning in the context of their social ecology and that research procedures must take such contexts into account. Misconceptions about the horse's sociality may have hampered earlier studies.

Education: A Complex and Empowering Social Work Intervention at the End of Life

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Cagle, John G.; Kovacs, Pamela J.

2009-01-01

Education is a frequently used social work intervention. Yet it seems to be an underappreciated and a deceptively complex intervention that social workers may not be adequately prepared to use. Reliable, accessible information is essential as it helps prevent unnecessary crises, facilitates coping, and promotes self-determination. This article…

Stress axis regulation during social ascension in a group-living cichlid fish.

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Culbert, Brett M; Gilmour, Kathleen M; Balshine, Sigal

2018-06-19

Animals living in groups often form social hierarchies, with characteristic behaviours and physiologies associated with rank. However, when social opportunities arise and a subordinate ascends into a dominant position, quick adjustments are necessary to secure this position. Such periods of social transition are typically associated with elevated glucocorticoid production, but the precise regulation of the stress axis during these occasions is not well understood. Using the group-living cichlid, Neolamprologus pulcher, the effects of social ascension on the stress axis were assessed. Ascenders rapidly filled experimentally created vacancies, adopting a dominant behavioural phenotype within 72 h-elevating aggression, activity, and workload, while receiving high rates of affiliative behaviours from their group members. Despite assuming behavioural dominance within their groups, ascenders displayed higher cortisol levels than dominants three days post-ascension. Additionally, compared to subordinates, ascenders had increased transcript abundance of steroidogenic acute regulatory protein (star) and cytochrome p450 side-chain cleavage enzyme (p450scc) in the head kidney, indicating activation of the stress axis. Cortisol levels were lowest in ascenders that displayed low rates of aggression, potentially reflecting the reestablishment of social stability in these groups. Increased transcript abundance of both glucocorticoid receptors (gr1 and gr2) in the brain's preoptic area (POA) of ascenders compared to dominants suggested an enhanced capacity for cortisol regulation via negative feedback. Our results reveal a regulatory cascade of behavioural and physiological interactions and highlight the importance of investigating the underlying mechanisms regulating the stress axis. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Community stress and social and technological change: a framework for interpreting the behavior of social movements and community action groups

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Perry, R.W.; Schuller, C.R.; Lindell, M.K.; Greene, M.R.; Walsh, J.T.; Earle, T.

1980-06-01

The purpose of this report is to provide a comprehensive examination of existing research on community organizations and community political systems. These findings will be integrated into a framework for understanding the variety of social and political responses which may be manifest in small communities facing the prospect of hosting a major nuclear facility. The principal focus is on the formation and behavior of social groups in communities, particularly politically oriented social movements or community action groups. This analysis is set on the context of a community experiencing social stress. Most of the discussion which follows is based on an extrapolation from the large body of reseach literature on the topics in sociology, political science, and psychology. Chapter I examines the community political systems which are the arena in which local action groups will operate. Chapter II focuses on the internal conditions necessary for the formation and maintenance of community action groups. Chapter III reviews the research literature on the social environment of organizations in communities and the external conditions which are necessary to maintain organizations over time. Chapter IV develops a logic whereby the community consensus model can be adopted to particular social movement organizations and community actions groups. Chapter V examines changes in aspects of the environment which can be a function of the operation of movement organizations, and changes in the structure and tactics of movement organizations which appear to be a response to the environment.

Ravens notice dominance reversals among conspecifics within and outside their social group.

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Massen, Jorg J M; Pašukonis, Andrius; Schmidt, Judith; Bugnyar, Thomas

2014-04-22

A core feature of social intelligence is the understanding of third-party relations, which has been experimentally demonstrated in primates. Whether other social animals also have this capacity, and whether they can use this capacity flexibly to, for example, also assess the relations of neighbouring conspecifics, remains unknown. Here we show that ravens react differently to playbacks of dominance interactions that either confirm or violate the current rank hierarchy of members in their own social group and of ravens in a neighbouring group. Therefore, ravens understand third-party relations and may deduce those not only via physical interactions but also by observation.

Identidad social de un grupo de altos ingresos económicos. Social identity of a group of high income

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Gabriela Dujarric Bermúdez

2015-12-01

Full Text Available La investigación indaga la existencia de una relación entre los ingresos económicos y la identidad, para lo cual se trabajó con un grupo de altos ingresos de la provincia de La Habana. Desde el Enfoque de Identidades Sociales se intenta comprender la configuración subjetiva de este grupo, así como su proyección ante la situación actual del país. Utilizamos un enfoque mixto, procesando la información a partir del Statistical Packetfor Social Sciencies (SPSS y el análisis de contenido. Los resultados obtenidos evidencian que los ingresos modelan una identidad social y constituyen un referente sobre cómo se está moviendo la subjetividad de este grupo social, así como de su proyección ante la situación actual del país. The research investigates the existence of a relationship between economic income and social identity, for which we worked with a group of high incomes in the province of Havana. From the Social Identity Perspective we try to understand the subjectivity of this group and its projection to the current situation. We worked with a mixed methodology and processed the information using the Statistical Packet for Social Sciencies (SPSS and the content analysis. The results show that incomes shape an identity and give some hints about the movement ofthis group social subjectivity, in this period of reforms.

Representation of Social History Factors Across Age Groups: A Topic Analysis of Free-Text Social Documentation.

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Lindemann, Elizabeth A; Chen, Elizabeth S; Wang, Yan; Skube, Steven J; Melton, Genevieve B

2017-01-01

As individuals age, there is potential for dramatic changes in the social and behavioral determinants that affect health status and outcomes. The importance of these determinants has been increasingly recognized in clinical decision-making. We sought to characterize how social and behavioral health determinants vary in different demographic groups using a previously established schema of 28 social history types through both manual analysis and automated topic analysis of social documentation in the electronic health record across the population of an entire integrated healthcare system. Our manual analysis generated 8,335 annotations over 1,400 documents, representing 24 (86%) social history types. In contrast, automated topic analysis generated 22 (79%) social history types. A comparative evaluation demonstrated both similarities and differences in coverage between the manual and topic analyses. Our findings validate the widespread nature of social and behavioral determinants that affect health status over populations of individuals over their lifespan.

Analysis of Social Network Dynamics with Models from the Theory of Complex Adaptive Systems

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Lymperopoulos , Ilias; Lekakos , George

2013-01-01

Part 4: Protocols, Regulation and Social Networking; International audience; The understanding and modeling of social dynamics in a complex and unpredictable world, emerges as a research target of particular importance. Success in this direction can yield valuable knowledge as to how social phenomena form and evolve in varying socioeconomic contexts comprising economic crises, societal disasters, cultural differences and security threats among others. The study of social dynamics occurring in...

Using focus groups and social marketing to strengthen promotion of group prenatal care.

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Vonderheid, Susan C; Carrie, S Klima; Norr, Kathleen F; Grady, Mary Alice; Westdahl, Claire M

2013-01-01

Centering Pregnancy, an innovative group model of prenatal care, shows promise to reduce persistent adverse maternal-infant outcomes and contain costs. Because this innovation requires systemwide change, clinics reported needing support enrolling women into groups and obtaining organizational buy-in. This study used the 3-step social marketing communication strategy to help clinic staff identify key customers and customer-specific barriers to adopting or supporting Centering Pregnancy. They developed targeted information to reduce barriers and built skills in communicating with different customers through role-playing. Findings provide practical information for others to use this communication strategy to improve implementation of Centering Pregnancy.

Social Reform Groups and the Legal System: Enforcement Problems. Discussion Paper No. 209-74.

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Handler, Joel F.

During the last two decades, there has been a great increase in the use of litigation by social reform groups. This activity has been stimulated by the hospitality of the courts to the demands of social reform groups and the availability of subsidized young, activist lawyers. The paper examines the uses of the legal system by social reform groups…

Actions speak louder than words in socially foraging human groups.

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Sumner, Seirian; King, Andrew J

2011-11-01

SOCIAL FORAGING IN HUMANS HAS A DEEP EVOLUTIONARY HISTORY: early hominids searched for dispersed food sources in a patchy, uncertain environment. A fundamental assumption is that social foragers benefit by exchanging information about food sources, in order to make collective decisions based on pooled information. We conducted the first experimental test of this assumption, and showed that, as predicted, communication significantly enhanced group performance. A further, unexpected result was that physical communication through gesturing, rather than verbal communication, appeared to play a crucial role in the early stages of group interaction, facilitating consensus decision making by groups.  The importance of gestures in human interactions may therefore be underestimated, and this has important implications for modern human societies, where communications are becoming increasingly dominated by virtual modes of communication that preclude the use of gestures. 

Social group dynamics predict stress variability among children in a New Zealand classroom.

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Spray, Julie; Floyd, Bruce; Littleton, Judith; Trnka, Susanna; Mattison, Siobhan

2018-03-27

Previous research proposes stress as a mechanism for linking social environments and biological bodies. In particular, non-human primate studies investigate relationships between cortisol as a measure of stress response and social hierarchies. Because human social structures often include hierarchies of dominance and social status, humans may exhibit similar patterns. Studies of non-human primates, however, have not reached consistent conclusions with respect to relationships between social position and levels of cortisol. While human studies report associations between cortisol and various aspects of social environments, studies that consider social status as a predictor of stress response also report mixed results. Others have argued that perceptions of social status may have different implications for stress response depending upon social context. We propose here that characteristics of children's social networks may be a better predictor of central tendencies and variability of stress response than their perceptions of social status. This is evaluated among 24 children from 9.4 to 11.3 years of age in one upper middle-class New Zealand primary school classroom, assessed through observation within the classroom, self-reports during semi-structured interviews and 221 serial saliva samples provided daily over 10 consecutive school days. A synthetic assessment of the children's networks and peer-relationships was developed prior to saliva-cortisol analysis. We found that greater stability of peer-relationships within groups significantly predicts lower within-group variation in mid-morning cortisol over the two-week period, but not overall within-group differences in mean cortisol. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

Social learning of fear and safety is determined by the demonstrator's racial group.

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Golkar, Armita; Castro, Vasco; Olsson, Andreas

2015-01-01

Social learning offers an efficient route through which humans and other animals learn about potential dangers in the environment. Such learning inherently relies on the transmission of social information and should imply selectivity in what to learn from whom. Here, we conducted two observational learning experiments to assess how humans learn about danger and safety from members ('demonstrators') of an other social group than their own. We show that both fear and safety learning from a racial in-group demonstrator was more potent than learning from a racial out-group demonstrator. © 2015 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved.

Social Support and Social Anxiety in Use and Perceptions of Online Mental Health Resources: Exploring Social Compensation and Enhancement.

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Ruppel, Erin K; McKinley, Christopher J

2015-08-01

This study used the frameworks of social compensation and social enhancement to examine how social anxiety and social support were related to college students' (N=443) use and perceptions of online mental health resources (Web sites and online support groups). Potential interactions between social support and social anxiety were also examined. Consistent with the social compensation hypothesis, perceived usefulness of Web sites was positively associated with social support. Perceived usefulness of online support groups was positively associated with social support when participants reported average or high, but not low, social anxiety. In contrast, previous use of Web sites was consistent with the social compensation hypothesis. Participants who reported less social support were more likely to have used a Web site for a mental or emotional problem. These findings suggest that college students' use and perceptions of online mental health resources vary as a function of social support and social anxiety, and that patterns suggestive of social compensation and social enhancement depend on whether perceptions or actual use of resources are examined. Combined with the significant interaction between social support and social anxiety on perceived usefulness of online support groups, these findings highlight the potential complexity of social compensation and enhancement phenomena.

EEG reveals an early influence of social conformity on visual processing in group pressure situations.

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Trautmann-Lengsfeld, Sina Alexa; Herrmann, Christoph Siegfried

2013-01-01

Humans are social beings and often have to perceive and perform within groups. In conflict situations, this puts them under pressure to either adhere to the group opinion or to risk controversy with the group. Psychological experiments have demonstrated that study participants adapt to erroneous group opinions in visual perception tasks, which they can easily solve correctly when performing on their own. Until this point, however, it is unclear whether this phenomenon of social conformity influences early stages of perception that might not even reach awareness or later stages of conscious decision-making. Using electroencephalography, this study has revealed that social conformity to the wrong group opinion resulted in a decrease of the posterior-lateral P1 in line with a decrease of the later centro-parietal P3. These results suggest that group pressure situations impact early unconscious visual perceptual processing, which results in a later diminished stimulus discrimination and an adaptation even to the wrong group opinion. These findings might have important implications for understanding social behavior in group settings and are discussed within the framework of social influence on eyewitness testimony.

Neural sensitivity to social deviance predicts attentive processing of peer-group judgment.

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Schnuerch, Robert; Trautmann-Lengsfeld, Sina Alexa; Bertram, Mario; Gibbons, Henning

2014-01-01

The detection of one's deviance from social norms is an essential mechanism of individual adjustment to group behavior and, thus, for the perpetuation of norms within groups. It has been suggested that error signals in mediofrontal cortex provide the neural basis of such deviance detection, which contributes to later adjustment to the norm. In the present study, we used event-related potentials (ERPs) to demonstrate that, across participants, the strength of mediofrontal brain correlates of the detection of deviance from a peer group's norms was negatively related to attentive processing of the same group's judgments in a later task. We propose that an individual's perception of social deviance might bias basic cognitive processing during further interaction with the group. Strongly perceiving disagreement with a group could cause an individual to avoid or inhibit this group's judgments.

Forming identities in residential care for children: Manoeuvring between social work and peer groups

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Stokholm, Anja

2009-01-01

in the pedagogical work. This article challenges the implicit understanding that social work is the primary source of identity transformation and that peer group interaction is mainly an obstacle to overcome. On the contrary, this article argues that learning about the social dynamics of the children's group...... is a precondition for understanding how social work influences individual children. © The Author(s), 2009....

Detecting groups of similar components in complex networks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang Jiao; Lai, C-H

2008-01-01

We study how to detect groups in a complex network each of which consists of component nodes sharing a similar connection pattern. Based on the mixture models and the exploratory analysis set up by Newman and Leicht (2007 Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 104 9564), we develop an algorithm that is applicable to a network with any degree distribution. The partition of a network suggested by this algorithm also applies to its complementary network. In general, groups of similar components are not necessarily identical with the communities in a community network; thus partitioning a network into groups of similar components provides additional information of the network structure. The proposed algorithm can also be used for community detection when the groups and the communities overlap. By introducing a tunable parameter that controls the involved effects of the heterogeneity, we can also investigate conveniently how the group structure can be coupled with the heterogeneity characteristics. In particular, an interesting example shows a group partition can evolve into a community partition in some situations when the involved heterogeneity effects are tuned. The extension of this algorithm to weighted networks is discussed as well.

Supporting Family Carers Through Telephone-Mediated Group Programs: Opportunities For Gerontological Social Workers.

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Shanley, Chris

2008-01-01

Telephone-mediated group programs are an important but under-utilized medium for reaching frail or disabled older persons' family carers who are in need of support. The primary purpose and style of group programs can range across a broad spectrum–encompassing educational, supportive and therapeutic types. Gerontological social workers are the members of the multidisciplinary care team whose training, experience and supervision makes them most suitable for facilitating this broad range of group types. Drawing on the experience of training a number of group facilitators, this article provides suggestions for social workers contemplating the use of telephone-mediated groups and highlights groupwork skills peculiar to conducting group programs via the telephone.

Social Groups, Sport and Political Engagement in New Zealand

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Donovan, T.; Bowler, S.; Hanneman, R.; Karp, J.A.

2004-01-01

Many prominent social theorists contend that memberships in voluntary associations make major contributions to making citizens more engaged with democracy. Although substantial attention has been directed at the potential role of sports groups, previous studies using survey data have not found

Understanding Groups in Outdoor Adventure Education through Social Network Analysis

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Jostad, Jeremy; Sibthorp, Jim; Paisley, Karen

2013-01-01

Relationships are a critical component to the experience of an outdoor adventure education (OAE) program, therefore, more fruitful ways of investigating groups is needed. Social network analysis (SNA) is an effective tool to study the relationship structure of small groups. This paper provides an explanation of SNA and shows how it was used by the…

THE SOCIALIZATION OF ELDERS IN COEXISTENCE GROUPS AS A POSSIBILITY OF A HEALTHY AGING

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Maria Izabel da Silva

2009-01-01

Full Text Available The aim of this article is to identify elements from the participation of oldiers in coexistence groups, based in the professional exercise of the social worker. It comes of a interdisciplinary investigation carried out with senior groups in Florianopolis/SC, that results evinced the point of the coexistence group in their lifes as to the process of socialization and prevention of social isolation, contributing, in such a way, to the democratic process under construction, as well as the amplification and consolidation of the citizenship and human rights.

Social Identity Mapping: A procedure for visual representation and assessment of subjective multiple group memberships.

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Cruwys, Tegan; Steffens, Niklas K; Haslam, S Alexander; Haslam, Catherine; Jetten, Jolanda; Dingle, Genevieve A

2016-12-01

In this research, we introduce Social Identity Mapping (SIM) as a method for visually representing and assessing a person's subjective network of group memberships. To provide evidence of its utility, we report validating data from three studies (two longitudinal), involving student, community, and clinical samples, together comprising over 400 participants. Results indicate that SIM is easy to use, internally consistent, with good convergent and discriminant validity. Each study also illustrates the ways that SIM can be used to address a range of novel research questions. Study 1 shows that multiple positive group memberships are a particularly powerful predictor of well-being. Study 2 shows that social support is primarily given and received within social groups and that only in-group support is beneficial for well-being. Study 3 shows that improved mental health following a social group intervention is attributable to an increase in group compatibility. In this way, the studies demonstrate the capacity for SIM to make a contribution both to the development of social-psychological theory and to its practical application. © 2016 The British Psychological Society.

The impact of social media-based support groups on smoking relapse prevention in Saudi Arabia.

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Onezi, Hamidi Al; Khalifa, Mohamed; El-Metwally, Ashraf; Househ, Mowafa

2018-06-01

Tobacco smoking remains a major preventable cause of mortality and morbidity across the globe. People who attempt to quit smoking often experience episodes of relapse before finally quitting. Understanding the part that social networking sites and social media can play in smoking cessation and prevention of relapse is important to aid the development of novel techniques to curb the smoking epidemic. This study investigated the use of extra-treatment provided outside of the formal healthcare setting, bolstered by online social support in order to prevent smoking relapse in Saudi Arabia. This cross-sectional study included 473 smokers taking part in smoking cessation intervention programs run by the Riyadh branch of King Abdul-Aziz Medical City and PURITY, a Saudi anti-smoking association. Only subjects who expressed an interest in quitting smoking, and those attempting to quit, were considered for inclusion. The sample was divided into three groups: subjects who subscribed to support groups on Twitter (n = 150), and WhatsApp (n = 150), and a control group of subjects who had not subscribed to any social media support groups (n = 173). A significant difference was found between the mean average numbers of people who quit smoking among the three groups, with social media support proving to be more effective than other traditional methods. Our findings imply that Twitter and WhatsApp users found it easier to quit smoking than those who did not take part in these social media groups. Social media provides a good platform to discuss smoking cessation treatment, and thus reduce smoking relapses. Our findings support the suggestion that more social media support groups should be developed to help people to effectively cease smoking after abstinence. Individuals who struggle to quit smoking should be encouraged to join support groups on their social media platform of choice to increase their likelihood of quitting. Future studies should assess the effectiveness

Application of simplified Complexity Theory concepts for healthcare social systems to explain the implementation of evidence into practice.

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Chandler, Jacqueline; Rycroft-Malone, Jo; Hawkes, Claire; Noyes, Jane

2016-02-01

To examine the application of core concepts from Complexity Theory to explain the findings from a process evaluation undertaken in a trial evaluating implementation strategies for recommendations about reducing surgical fasting times. The proliferation of evidence-based guidance requires a greater focus on its implementation. Theory is required to explain the complex processes across the multiple healthcare organizational levels. This social healthcare context involves the interaction between professionals, patients and the organizational systems in care delivery. Complexity Theory may provide an explanatory framework to explain the complexities inherent in implementation in social healthcare contexts. A secondary thematic analysis of qualitative process evaluation data informed by Complexity Theory. Seminal texts applying Complexity Theory to the social context were annotated, key concepts extracted and core Complexity Theory concepts identified. These core concepts were applied as a theoretical lens to provide an explanation of themes from a process evaluation of a trial evaluating the implementation of strategies to reduce surgical fasting times. Sampled substantive texts provided a representative spread of theoretical development and application of Complexity Theory from late 1990's-2013 in social science, healthcare, management and philosophy. Five Complexity Theory core concepts extracted were 'self-organization', 'interaction', 'emergence', 'system history' and 'temporality'. Application of these concepts suggests routine surgical fasting practice is habituated in the social healthcare system and therefore it cannot easily be reversed. A reduction to fasting times requires an incentivised new approach to emerge in the surgical system's priority of completing the operating list. The application of Complexity Theory provides a useful explanation for resistance to change fasting practice. Its utility in implementation research warrants further attention and

Social learning and the development of individual and group behaviour in mammal societies.

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Thornton, Alex; Clutton-Brock, Tim

2011-04-12

As in human societies, social learning may play an important role in shaping individual and group characteristics in other mammals. Here, we review research on non-primate mammals, concentrating on work at our long-term meerkat study site, where longitudinal data and field experiments have generated important insights into the role of social learning under natural conditions. Meerkats live under high predation pressure and occupy a difficult foraging niche. Accordingly, pups make extensive use of social information in learning to avoid predation and obtain food. Where individual learning is costly or opportunities are lacking, as in the acquisition of prey-handling skills, adults play an active role in promoting learning through teaching. Social learning can also cause information to spread through groups, but our data suggest that this does not necessarily result in homogeneous, group-wide traditions. Moreover, traditions are commonly eroded by individual learning. We suggest that traditions will only persist where there are high costs of deviating from the group norm or where skill development requires extensive time and effort. Persistent traditions could, theoretically, modify selection pressures and influence genetic evolution. Further empirical studies of social learning in natural populations are now urgently needed to substantiate theoretical claims.

Roosevelt elk density and social segregation: Foraging behavior and females avoiding larger groups of males

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Weckerly, F.; McFarland, K.; Ricca, M.; Meyer, K.

2004-01-01

Intersexual social segregation at small spatial scales is prevalent in ruminants that are sexually dimorphic in body size. Explaining social segregation, however, from hypotheses of how intersexual size differences affects the foraging process of males and females has had mixed results. We studied whether body size influences on forage behavior, intersexual social incompatibility or both might influence social segregation in a population of Roosevelt elk (Cervus elaphus roosevelt) that declined 40% over 5 y. Most males and females in the population occurred in the same forage patches, meadows, but occupied different parts of meadows and most groups were overwhelming comprised of one sex. The extent of segregation varied slightly with changing elk density. Cropping rate, our surrogate of forage ingestion, of males in mixed-sex groups differed from males in male-only groups at high, but not low, elk density. In a prior study of intersexual social interactions it was shown that females avoided groups containing ???6 males. Therefore, we predicted that females should avoid parts of meadows where groups of males ???6 were prevalent. Across the 5 y of study this prediction held because ???5% of all females were found in parts of meadows where median aggregation sizes of males were ???6. Social segregation was coupled to body size influences on forage ingestion at high density and social incompatibility was coupled to social segregation regardless of elk density.

Power and Vision: Group-Process Models Evolving from Social-Change Movements.

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Morrow, Susan L.; Hawxhurst, Donna M.

1988-01-01

Explores evolution of group process in social change movements, including the evolution of the new left, the cooperative movement,and the women's liberation movement. Proposes a group-process model that encourages people to share power and live their visions. (Author/NB)

Vanadium (4) complexing in phase of adsorbent with benzimidazole groups

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shvoeva, O.P.; Kuchava, G.P.; Evtikova, G.A.; Belyaeva, V.K.; Myasoedova, G.V.; Marov, I.N.

1989-01-01

Equilibrium and kinetic characteristics of V 4+ sorption by POLYORGS XI-H adsorbent with benzimidazole groups (BIm) are investigated. Using ESR method it is stated that [VO 2+ ]:[BIm]1:2 complex, where VO 2+ is combined with nitrogen atoms of two imidazole groups, is formed in adsorbent phase. The highest distribution factor of 4.7x10 3 is attained at pH6

Smells familiar: group-joining decisions of predatory mites are mediated by olfactory cues of social familiarity.

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Muleta, Muluken G; Schausberger, Peter

2013-09-01

Group-living animals frequently have to trade off the costs and benefits of leaving an established group and joining another group. Owing to their high fitness relevance, group-joining decisions are commonly nonrandom and may be based on traits of both individual members and the group such as life stage, body size, social status and group density or size, respectively. Many group-living animals are able to recognize and to associate preferentially with familiar individuals, i.e. those encountered before. Hence, after dispersing from established groups, animals commonly have to decide whether to join a new familiar or unfamiliar group. Using binary choice situations we assessed the effects of social familiarity on group-joining behaviour of the plant-inhabiting predatory mite Phytoseiulus persimilis . Group living in P. persimilis is brought about by the patchy distribution of its spider mite prey and mutual conspecific attraction. In the first experiment, gravid predator females given a choice between spider mite patches occupied by unfamiliar and familiar groups of females strongly preferred to join familiar groups and to deposit their eggs in these patches. Preference for socially familiar groups was robust across biases of spider mite prey densities between choice options. The second experiment revealed that the predatory mite females can smell social familiarity from a distance. Females subjected to odour choice situations in artificial cages were more strongly attracted to the odour of familiar than unfamiliar groups. We argue that P. persimilis females preferentially join socially familiar groups because a familiar social environment relaxes competition and optimizes foraging and reproduction.

Smells familiar: group-joining decisions of predatory mites are mediated by olfactory cues of social familiarity☆

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Muleta, Muluken G.; Schausberger, Peter

2013-01-01

Group-living animals frequently have to trade off the costs and benefits of leaving an established group and joining another group. Owing to their high fitness relevance, group-joining decisions are commonly nonrandom and may be based on traits of both individual members and the group such as life stage, body size, social status and group density or size, respectively. Many group-living animals are able to recognize and to associate preferentially with familiar individuals, i.e. those encountered before. Hence, after dispersing from established groups, animals commonly have to decide whether to join a new familiar or unfamiliar group. Using binary choice situations we assessed the effects of social familiarity on group-joining behaviour of the plant-inhabiting predatory mite Phytoseiulus persimilis. Group living in P. persimilis is brought about by the patchy distribution of its spider mite prey and mutual conspecific attraction. In the first experiment, gravid predator females given a choice between spider mite patches occupied by unfamiliar and familiar groups of females strongly preferred to join familiar groups and to deposit their eggs in these patches. Preference for socially familiar groups was robust across biases of spider mite prey densities between choice options. The second experiment revealed that the predatory mite females can smell social familiarity from a distance. Females subjected to odour choice situations in artificial cages were more strongly attracted to the odour of familiar than unfamiliar groups. We argue that P. persimilis females preferentially join socially familiar groups because a familiar social environment relaxes competition and optimizes foraging and reproduction. PMID:24027341

Effects of X-ray radiation on complex visual discrimination learning and social recognition memory in rats.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Catherine M Davis

Full Text Available The present report describes an animal model for examining the effects of radiation on a range of neurocognitive functions in rodents that are similar to a number of basic human cognitive functions. Fourteen male Long-Evans rats were trained to perform an automated intra-dimensional set shifting task that consisted of their learning a basic discrimination between two stimulus shapes followed by more complex discrimination stages (e.g., a discrimination reversal, a compound discrimination, a compound reversal, a new shape discrimination, and an intra-dimensional stimulus discrimination reversal. One group of rats was exposed to head-only X-ray radiation (2.3 Gy at a dose rate of 1.9 Gy/min, while a second group received a sham-radiation exposure using the same anesthesia protocol. The irradiated group responded less, had elevated numbers of omitted trials, increased errors, and greater response latencies compared to the sham-irradiated control group. Additionally, social odor recognition memory was tested after radiation exposure by assessing the degree to which rats explored wooden beads impregnated with either their own odors or with the odors of novel, unfamiliar rats; however, no significant effects of radiation on social odor recognition memory were observed. These data suggest that rodent tasks assessing higher-level human cognitive domains are useful in examining the effects of radiation on the CNS, and may be applicable in approximating CNS risks from radiation exposure in clinical populations receiving whole brain irradiation.

Effects of X-ray radiation on complex visual discrimination learning and social recognition memory in rats.

Science.gov (United States)

Davis, Catherine M; Roma, Peter G; Armour, Elwood; Gooden, Virginia L; Brady, Joseph V; Weed, Michael R; Hienz, Robert D

2014-01-01

The present report describes an animal model for examining the effects of radiation on a range of neurocognitive functions in rodents that are similar to a number of basic human cognitive functions. Fourteen male Long-Evans rats were trained to perform an automated intra-dimensional set shifting task that consisted of their learning a basic discrimination between two stimulus shapes followed by more complex discrimination stages (e.g., a discrimination reversal, a compound discrimination, a compound reversal, a new shape discrimination, and an intra-dimensional stimulus discrimination reversal). One group of rats was exposed to head-only X-ray radiation (2.3 Gy at a dose rate of 1.9 Gy/min), while a second group received a sham-radiation exposure using the same anesthesia protocol. The irradiated group responded less, had elevated numbers of omitted trials, increased errors, and greater response latencies compared to the sham-irradiated control group. Additionally, social odor recognition memory was tested after radiation exposure by assessing the degree to which rats explored wooden beads impregnated with either their own odors or with the odors of novel, unfamiliar rats; however, no significant effects of radiation on social odor recognition memory were observed. These data suggest that rodent tasks assessing higher-level human cognitive domains are useful in examining the effects of radiation on the CNS, and may be applicable in approximating CNS risks from radiation exposure in clinical populations receiving whole brain irradiation.

Effects of X-Ray Radiation on Complex Visual Discrimination Learning and Social Recognition Memory in Rats

Science.gov (United States)

Davis, Catherine M.; Roma, Peter G.; Armour, Elwood; Gooden, Virginia L.; Brady, Joseph V.; Weed, Michael R.; Hienz, Robert D.

2014-01-01

The present report describes an animal model for examining the effects of radiation on a range of neurocognitive functions in rodents that are similar to a number of basic human cognitive functions. Fourteen male Long-Evans rats were trained to perform an automated intra-dimensional set shifting task that consisted of their learning a basic discrimination between two stimulus shapes followed by more complex discrimination stages (e.g., a discrimination reversal, a compound discrimination, a compound reversal, a new shape discrimination, and an intra-dimensional stimulus discrimination reversal). One group of rats was exposed to head-only X-ray radiation (2.3 Gy at a dose rate of 1.9 Gy/min), while a second group received a sham-radiation exposure using the same anesthesia protocol. The irradiated group responded less, had elevated numbers of omitted trials, increased errors, and greater response latencies compared to the sham-irradiated control group. Additionally, social odor recognition memory was tested after radiation exposure by assessing the degree to which rats explored wooden beads impregnated with either their own odors or with the odors of novel, unfamiliar rats; however, no significant effects of radiation on social odor recognition memory were observed. These data suggest that rodent tasks assessing higher-level human cognitive domains are useful in examining the effects of radiation on the CNS, and may be applicable in approximating CNS risks from radiation exposure in clinical populations receiving whole brain irradiation. PMID:25099152

Survival after pathogen exposure in group-living insects: don't forget the stress of social isolation!

Science.gov (United States)

Kohlmeier, P; Holländer, K; Meunier, J

2016-09-01

A major cost of group-living is its inherent risk of pathogen infection. To limit this risk, many group-living animals have developed the capability to prophylactically boost their immune system in the presence of group members and/or to mount collective defences against pathogens. These two phenomena, called density-dependent prophylaxis and social immunity, respectively, are often used to explain why, in group-living species, individuals survive better in groups than in isolation. However, this survival difference may also reflect an alternative and often overlooked process: a cost of social isolation on individuals' capability to fight against infections. Here, we disentangled the effects of density-dependent prophylaxis, social immunity and stress of social isolation on the survival after pathogen exposure in group-living adults of the European earwig Forficula auricularia. By manipulating the presence of group members both before and after pathogen exposure, we demonstrated that the cost of being isolated after infection, but not the benefits of social immunity or density-dependent prophylaxis, explained the survival of females. Specifically, females kept constantly in groups or constantly isolated had higher survival rates than females that were first in groups and then isolated after infection. Our results also showed that this cost of social isolation was absent in males and that social isolation did not reduce the survival of noninfected individuals. Overall, this study gives a new perspective on the role of pathogens in social evolution, as it suggests that an apparently nonadaptive, personal immune process may promote the maintenance of group-living under pathogenic environments. © 2016 European Society For Evolutionary Biology. Journal of Evolutionary Biology © 2016 European Society For Evolutionary Biology.

The 2-group of symmetries of a split chain complex

OpenAIRE

Elgueta, Josep

2010-01-01

We explicitly compute the 2-group of self-equivalences and (homotopy classes of) chain homotopies between them for any {\\it split} chain complex $A_{\\bullet}$ in an arbitrary $\\kb$-linear abelian category ($\\kb$ any commutative ring with unit). In particular, it is shown that it is a {\\it split} 2-group whose equivalence class depends only on the homology of $A_{\\bullet}$, and that it is equivalent to the trivial 2-group when $A_\\bullet$ is a split exact sequence. This provides a description ...

Student leadership in small group science inquiry

Science.gov (United States)

Oliveira, Alandeom W.; Boz, Umit; Broadwell, George A.; Sadler, Troy D.

2014-09-01

Background: Science educators have sought to structure collaborative inquiry learning through the assignment of static group roles. This structural approach to student grouping oversimplifies the complexities of peer collaboration and overlooks the highly dynamic nature of group activity. Purpose: This study addresses this issue of oversimplification of group dynamics by examining the social leadership structures that emerge in small student groups during science inquiry. Sample: Two small student groups investigating the burning of a candle under a jar participated in this study. Design and method: We used a mixed-method research approach that combined computational discourse analysis (computational quantification of social aspects of small group discussions) with microethnography (qualitative, in-depth examination of group discussions). Results: While in one group social leadership was decentralized (i.e., students shared control over topics and tasks), the second group was dominated by a male student (centralized social leadership). Further, decentralized social leadership was found to be paralleled by higher levels of student cognitive engagement. Conclusions: It is argued that computational discourse analysis can provide science educators with a powerful means of developing pedagogical models of collaborative science learning that take into account the emergent nature of group structures and highly fluid nature of student collaboration.

Animal welfare: a social networks perspective.

Science.gov (United States)

Kleinhappel, Tanja K; John, Elizabeth A; Pike, Thomas W; Wilkinson, Anna; Burman, Oliver H P

2016-01-01

Social network theory provides a useful tool to study complex social relationships in animals. The possibility to look beyond dyadic interactions by considering whole networks of social relationships allows researchers the opportunity to study social groups in more natural ways. As such, network-based analyses provide an informative way to investigate the factors influencing the social environment of group-living animals, and so has direct application to animal welfare. For example, animal groups in captivity are frequently disrupted by separations, reintroductions and/or mixing with unfamiliar individuals and this can lead to social stress and associated aggression. Social network analysis ofanimal groups can help identify the underlying causes of these socially-derived animal welfare concerns. In this review we discuss how this approach can be applied, and how it could be used to identify potential interventions and solutions in the area of animal welfare.

Adaptive Radiation in Socially Advanced Stem-Group Ants from the Cretaceous.

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Barden, Phillip; Grimaldi, David A

2016-02-22

Across terrestrial ecosystems, modern ants are ubiquitous. As many as 94 out of every 100 individual arthropods in rainforests are ants, and they constitute up to 15% of animal biomass in the Amazon. Moreover, ants are pervasive agents of natural selection as over 10,000 arthropod species are specialized inquilines or myrmecomorphs living among ants or defending themselves through mimicry. Such impact is traditionally explained by sociality: ants are the first major group of ground-dwelling predatory insects to become eusocial, increasing efficiency of tasks and establishing competitive superiority over solitary species. A wealth of specimens from rich deposits of 99 million-year-old Burmese amber resolves ambiguity regarding sociality and diversity in the earliest ants. The stem-group genus Gerontoformica maintained distinct reproductive castes including morphotypes unknown in solitary aculeate (stinging) wasps, providing insight into early behavior. We present rare aggregations of workers, indicating group recruitment as well as an instance of interspecific combat; such aggression is a social feature of modern ants. Two species and an unusual new genus are described, further expanding the remarkable diversity of early ants. Stem-group ants are recovered as a paraphyletic assemblage at the base of modern lineages varying greatly in size, form, and mouthpart structure, interpreted here as an adaptive radiation. Though Cretaceous stem-group ants were eusocial and adaptively diverse, we hypothesize that their extinction resulted from the rise of competitively superior crown-group taxa that today form massive colonies, consistent with Wilson and Hölldobler's concept of "dynastic succession." Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Psicoterapia psicodinâmica em grupo para fobia social generalizada Psychodynamic group treatment for generalized social phobia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Daniela Zippin Knijnik

2004-06-01

Full Text Available OBJETIVOS: O objetivo deste estudo é verificar a efetividade do tratamento psicodinâmico em grupo de pacientes com fobia social generalizada. MÉTODOS: 30 pacientes foram incluídos em um estudo randomizado, simples-cego, comparando Terapia Psicodinâmica de Grupo (TPG com um Grupo de Controle Placebo com Credibilidade (CPC. A TPG foi conduzida em 12 sessões de terapia de orientação psicodinâmica em grupo. Os pacientes do grupo controle receberam um pacote de aulas-discussões e tratamento de apoio por 12 semanas, que foi comparado à TPG. Todos os participantes preencheram a Escala de Liebowitz para Ansiedade Social (LSAS, a Escala Hamilton de Ansiedade (HAM-A e a Escala de Impressão Clínica Global (CGI, na entrevista inicial e na 12ª semana de tratamento. Os dados foram analisados com uma ANOVA de medidas repetidas. Pacientes em vigência de tratamento farmacológico ou psicoterápico foram excluídos. RESULTADOS: Ambos os grupos apresentaram melhora na maioria das medidas. Na LSAS, os pacientes da TPG obtiveram melhora superior aos do grupo controle, ao cabo de 12 semanas (F1,28=4.84, p=0.036. Nas medidas basais dos sujeitos que completaram o estudo, não houve diferença entre os grupos em variáveis demográficas e de desfecho. CONCLUSÃO: Neste estudo, a TPG foi superior ao tratamento placebo com credibilidade no tratamento da fobia social generalizada, em um ensaio clínico randomizado, simples-cego, de 12 semanas.OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study is to assess the effectiveness of psychodynamic group therapy in patients with generalized social phobia. METHODS: Thirty patients were included in a randomized single-blind clinical trial comparing psychodynamic group treatment (PGT with a credible placebo control group (CPC. PGT was carried out within a 12-session psychodynamically-oriented group psychotherapy. Control patients received a treatment package of lecture-discussion and support group for 12 weeks which was compared to PGT

[The economic-industrial health care complex and the social and economic dimension of development].

Science.gov (United States)

Gadelha, Carlos Augusto Grabois; Costa, Laís Silveira; Maldonado, José

2012-12-01

The strategic role of health care in the national development agenda has been increasingly recognized and institutionalized. In addition to its importance as a structuring element of the Social Welfare State, health care plays a leading role in the generation of innovation - an essential element for competitiveness in knowledge society. However, health care's productive basis is still fragile, and this negatively affects both the universal provision of health care services and Brazil's competitive inclusion in the globalized environment. This situation suggests the need of a more systematic analysis of the complex relationships among productive, technological and social interests in the scope of health care. Consequently, it is necessary to produce further knowledge about the Economic-Industrial Health Care Complex due to its potential for contributing to a socially inclusive development model. This means reversing the hierarchy between economic and social interests in the sanitary field, thus minimizing the vulnerability of the Brazilian health care policy.

Vanadium (4) complexing in phase of adsorbent with benzimidazole groups

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Shvoeva, O P; Kuchava, G P; Evtikova, G A; Belyaeva, V K; Myasoedova, G V; Marov, I N [AN SSSR, Moscow (USSR). Inst. Geokhimii i Analiticheskoj Khimii

1989-04-01

Equilibrium and kinetic characteristics of V{sup 4+} sorption by POLYORGS XI-H adsorbent with benzimidazole groups (BIm) are investigated. Using ESR method it is stated that (VO{sup 2+}):(BIm)1:2 complex, where VO{sup 2+} is combined with nitrogen atoms of two imidazole groups, is formed in adsorbent phase. The highest distribution factor of 4.7x10{sup 3} is attained at pH6.

The structure of social exchange in self-help support groups: development of a measure.

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Brown, Louis D; Tang, Xiaohui; Hollman, Ruth L

2014-03-01

Self-help support groups are indigenous community resources designed to help people manage a variety of personal challenges, from alcohol abuse to xeroderma pigmentosum. The social exchanges that occur during group meetings are central to understanding how people benefit from participation. This paper examines the different types of social exchange behaviors that occur during meetings, using two studies to develop empirically distinct scales that reliably measure theoretically important types of exchange. Resource theory informed the initial measurement development efforts. Exploratory factor analyses from the first study led to revisions in the factor structure of the social exchange scales. The revised measure captured the exchange of emotional support, experiential information, humor, unwanted behaviors, and exchanges outside meetings. Confirmatory factor analyses from a follow-up study with a different sample of self-help support groups provided good model fit, suggesting the revised structure accurately represented the data. Further, the scales demonstrated good convergent and discriminant validity with related constructs. Future research can use the scales to identify aspects of social exchange that are most important in improving health outcomes among self-help support group participants. Groups can use the scales in practice to celebrate strengths and address weaknesses in their social exchange dynamics.

The ties that bind: genetic relatedness predicts the fission and fusion of social groups in wild African elephants.

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Archie, Elizabeth A; Moss, Cynthia J; Alberts, Susan C

2006-03-07

Many social animals live in stable groups. In contrast, African savannah elephants (Loxodonta africana) live in unusually fluid, fission-fusion societies. That is, 'core' social groups are composed of predictable sets of individuals; however, over the course of hours or days, these groups may temporarily divide and reunite, or they may fuse with other social groups to form much larger social units. Here, we test the hypothesis that genetic relatedness predicts patterns of group fission and fusion among wild, female African elephants. Our study of a single Kenyan population spans 236 individuals in 45 core social groups, genotyped at 11 microsatellite and one mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) locus. We found that genetic relatedness predicted group fission; adult females remained with their first order maternal relatives when core groups fissioned temporarily. Relatedness also predicted temporary fusion between social groups; core groups were more likely to fuse with each other when the oldest females in each group were genetic relatives. Groups that shared mtDNA haplotypes were also significantly more likely to fuse than groups that did not share mtDNA. Our results suggest that associations between core social groups persist for decades after the original maternal kin have died. We discuss these results in the context of kin selection and its possible role in the evolution of elephant sociality.

From the mouths of social media users: A focus group study exploring the social casino gaming–online gambling link

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Hyoun S.; Wohl, Michael J. A.; Gupta, Rina; Derevensky, Jeffrey

2016-01-01

Background and aims The potential link between social casino gaming and online gambling has raised considerable concerns among clinicians, researchers and policy makers. Unfortunately, however, there is a paucity of research examining this potential link, especially among young adults. This represents a significant gap given young adults are frequently exposed to and are players of social casino games. Methods To better understand the potential link between social casino games and online gambling, we conducted three focus groups (N = 30) at two large Canadian Universities with college students who were avid social media users (who are regularly exposed to social casino games). Results Many participants spontaneously mentioned that social casino games were a great opportunity to build gambling skills before playing for real money. Importantly, some participants expressed a belief that there is a direct progression from social casino gaming to online gambling. Conversely, others believed the transition to online gambling depended on a person’s personality, rather than mere exposure to social casino games. While many young adults in our focus groups felt immune to the effects of social casino games, there was a general consensus that social casino games may facilitate the transition to online gambling among younger teenagers (i.e., 12–14 yr olds), due to the ease of accessibility and early exposure. Discussion The results of the present research point to the need for more study on the effects of social casino gambling as well as a discussion concerning regulation of social casino games in order to minimize their potential risks. PMID:28092197

From the mouths of social media users: A focus group study exploring the social casino gaming-online gambling link.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Hyoun S; Wohl, Michael J A; Gupta, Rina; Derevensky, Jeffrey

2016-03-01

Background and aims The potential link between social casino gaming and online gambling has raised considerable concerns among clinicians, researchers and policy makers. Unfortunately, however, there is a paucity of research examining this potential link, especially among young adults. This represents a significant gap given young adults are frequently exposed to and are players of social casino games. Methods To better understand the potential link between social casino games and online gambling, we conducted three focus groups (N = 30) at two large Canadian Universities with college students who were avid social media users (who are regularly exposed to social casino games). Results Many participants spontaneously mentioned that social casino games were a great opportunity to build gambling skills before playing for real money. Importantly, some participants expressed a belief that there is a direct progression from social casino gaming to online gambling. Conversely, others believed the transition to online gambling depended on a person's personality, rather than mere exposure to social casino games. While many young adults in our focus groups felt immune to the effects of social casino games, there was a general consensus that social casino games may facilitate the transition to online gambling among younger teenagers (i.e., 12-14 yr olds), due to the ease of accessibility and early exposure. Discussion The results of the present research point to the need for more study on the effects of social casino gambling as well as a discussion concerning regulation of social casino games in order to minimize their potential risks.

Sport psychology group consultation using social networking web sites.

Science.gov (United States)

Dietrich, Frederick; Shipherd, Amber M; Gershgoren, Lael; Filho, Edson Medeiros; Basevitch, Itay

2012-08-01

A social networking Web site, Facebook, was used to deliver long-term sport psychology consultation services to student-athletes (i.e., soccer players) in 30- to 60-min weekly sessions. Additional short-term team building, group cohesion, communication, anger management, injury rehabilitation, mental toughness, commitment, and leadership workshops were provided. Cohesion and overall relationships between both the student-athletes and the sport psychology consultants benefited from this process. Social networking Web sites offer a practical way of providing sport psychology consulting services that does not require use of major resources. (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved.

Constructing Social Networks from Unstructured Group Dialog in Virtual Worlds

Science.gov (United States)

Shah, Fahad; Sukthankar, Gita

Virtual worlds and massively multi-player online games are rich sources of information about large-scale teams and groups, offering the tantalizing possibility of harvesting data about group formation, social networks, and network evolution. However these environments lack many of the cues that facilitate natural language processing in other conversational settings and different types of social media. Public chat data often features players who speak simultaneously, use jargon and emoticons, and only erratically adhere to conversational norms. In this paper, we present techniques for inferring the existence of social links from unstructured conversational data collected from groups of participants in the Second Life virtual world. We present an algorithm for addressing this problem, Shallow Semantic Temporal Overlap (SSTO), that combines temporal and language information to create directional links between participants, and a second approach that relies on temporal overlap alone to create undirected links between participants. Relying on temporal overlap is noisy, resulting in a low precision and networks with many extraneous links. In this paper, we demonstrate that we can ameliorate this problem by using network modularity optimization to perform community detection in the noisy networks and severing cross-community links. Although using the content of the communications still results in the best performance, community detection is effective as a noise reduction technique for eliminating the extra links created by temporal overlap alone.

Bidirectional selection between two classes in complex social networks.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhou, Bin; He, Zhe; Jiang, Luo-Luo; Wang, Nian-Xin; Wang, Bing-Hong

2014-12-19

The bidirectional selection between two classes widely emerges in various social lives, such as commercial trading and mate choosing. Until now, the discussions on bidirectional selection in structured human society are quite limited. We demonstrated theoretically that the rate of successfully matching is affected greatly by individuals' neighborhoods in social networks, regardless of the type of networks. Furthermore, it is found that the high average degree of networks contributes to increasing rates of successful matches. The matching performance in different types of networks has been quantitatively investigated, revealing that the small-world networks reinforces the matching rate more than scale-free networks at given average degree. In addition, our analysis is consistent with the modeling result, which provides the theoretical understanding of underlying mechanisms of matching in complex networks.

Group 4 Metal Complexes of Chelating Cyclopentadienyl-ketimide Ligands

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Večeřa, M.; Varga, Vojtěch; Císařová, I.; Pinkas, Jiří; Kucharczyk, P.; Sedlařík, V.; Lamač, Martin

2016-01-01

Roč. 35, č. 5 (2016), s. 785-798 ISSN 0276-7333 R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GA14-08531S; GA MŠk(CZ) LO1504 Institutional support: RVO:61388955 Keywords : group 4 metal complexes * cyclopentadienyl-ketimide ligands * metallocenes Subject RIV: CF - Physical ; Theoretical Chemistry Impact factor: 3.862, year: 2016

Good practice in social care: the views of people with severe and complex needs and those who support them.

Science.gov (United States)

Gridley, Kate; Brooks, Jenni; Glendinning, Caroline

2014-11-01

This paper reports findings drawn from a study of good practice in English social care for adults with disability and older people with severe and complex needs. People with severe and complex needs are a relatively small proportion of adult social care service users, but they are growing in numbers and have resource-intensive needs. The study involved qualitative research with adults with disability and older people with severe and complex needs, family carers and members of specialist organisations (n = 67), focusing on the features of social care services they considered to be good practice. Data were collected between August 2010 and June 2011. The approach to data collection was flexible, to accommodate participants' communication needs and preferences, including face-to-face and telephone interviews, Talking Mats(©) sessions and a focus group. Data were managed using Framework and analysed thematically. Features of good practice were considered at three levels: (i) everyday support; (ii) service organisation; and (iii) commissioning. Findings relating to the first two of these are presented here. Participants emphasised the importance of person-centred ways of working at all levels. Personalisation, as currently implemented in English social care, aims to shift power from professionals to service users through the allocation of personal budgets. This approach focuses very much on the role of the individual in directing his/her own support arrangements. However, participants in this study also stressed the importance of ongoing professional support, for example, from a specialist key worker or case manager to co-ordinate diverse services and ensure good practice at an organisational level. The paper argues that, despite the recent move to shift power from professionals to service users, people with the most complex needs still value support from professionals and appropriate organisational support. Without these, they risk being excluded from the benefits

The DISC (Diabetes in Social Context) Study-evaluation of a culturally sensitive social network intervention for diabetic patients in lower socioeconomic groups: a study protocol.

Science.gov (United States)

Vissenberg, Charlotte; Nierkens, Vera; Uitewaal, Paul J M; Geraci, Diana; Middelkoop, Barend J C; Nijpels, Giel; Stronks, Karien

2012-03-19

Compared to those in higher socioeconomic groups, diabetic patients in lower socioeconomic groups have less favourable metabolic control and experience more diabetes-related complications. They encounter specific barriers that hinder optimal diabetes self-management, including a lack of social support and other psychosocial mechanisms in their immediate social environments. Powerful Together with Diabetes is a culturally sensitive social network intervention specifically targeted to ethnic Dutch, Moroccan, Turkish, and Surinamese diabetic patients in lower socioeconomic groups. For ten months, patients will participate in peer support groups in which they will share experiences, support each other in maintaining healthy lifestyles, and learn skills to resist social pressure. At the same time, their significant others will also receive an intervention, aimed at maximizing support for and minimizing the negative social influences on diabetes self-management. This study aims to test the effectiveness of Powerful Together with Diabetes. We will use a quasi-experimental design with an intervention group (Group 1) and two comparison groups (Groups 2 and 3), N = 128 in each group. Group 1 will receive Powerful Together with Diabetes. Group 2 will receive Know your Sugar, a six-week group intervention that does not focus on the participants' social environments. Group 3 receives standard care only. Participants in Groups 1 and 2 will be interviewed and physically examined at baseline, 3, 10, and 16 months. We will compare their haemoglobin A1C levels with the haemoglobin A1C levels of Group 3. Main outcome measures are haemoglobin A1C, diabetes-related quality of life, diabetes self-management, health-related, and intermediate outcome measures. We will conduct a process evaluation and a qualitative study to gain more insights into the intervention fidelity, feasibility, and changes in the psychosocial mechanism in the participants' immediate social environments. With this

Social ecosystem health: confronting the complexity and emergence of infectious diseases

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cristina de Albuquerque Possas

2001-02-01

Full Text Available The emergence and re-emergence of infectious diseases and their rapid dissemination worldwide are challenging national health systems, particularly in developing countries affected by extreme poverty and environmental degradation. The expectations that new vaccines and drugs and global surveillance would help reverse these trends have been frustrated thus far by the complexity of the epidemiological transition, despite promising prospects for the near future in biomolecular research and genetic engineering. This impasse raises crucial issues concerning conceptual frameworks supporting priority-setting, risk anticipation, and the transfer of science and technology's results to society. This article discusses these issues and the limitations of social and economic sciences on the one hand and ecology on the other as the main theoretical references of the health sciences in confronting the complexity of these issues on their own. The tension between these historically dissociated paradigms is discussed and a transdisciplinary approach is proposed, that of social ecosystem health, incorporating these distinct perspectives into a comprehensive framework.

[Social skills training groups for children and adolescents with Asperger syndrome: A review].

Science.gov (United States)

Andanson, J; Pourre, F; Maffre, T; Raynaud, J-P

2011-05-01

First described in 1944 by Hans Asperger, Asperger syndrome (AS) is now considered in international diagnostic classifications as one of the pervasive developmental disorders (PDD) or autism spectrum disorders (ASD). The main symptoms of AS are severe impairment in social interaction and communication, and restricted interests, without significant delay in cognitive and language development. Its prevalence is not clearly established but might be around 0.26 per 1000. Symptoms of high-functioning autism (HFA), which is not an official diagnostic category, are quite similar. Children and adolescents with AS or HFA mostly have a social skills deficit, in connection with a lack of understanding concerning the rules governing social interactions. This deficit often leads to social isolation and peer rejection, which can alter their quality of life. Their lack of social skills can also have effects on success at school or work, integration among peers and mental health. According to recent guidelines of the French national authority for health (Haute autorité de santé, HAS) about the special needs of persons with PDD, professionals have to develop evidence-based interventions, emphasizing social interactions and participation, as described by the international classification of functioning, disability and health (ICF): social and professional participation as well as participation in leisure activities, clubs and societies, etc. To explore the studies that give evidence of the value of these social skills training groups, to review the methods and programs worked out in these groups, and to highlight the best general operating principles to be adopted and combined. Systematic searches of electronic databases, journals, and reference lists identified 12 studies published since 1984, involving social competence group interventions, led by psychotherapists who were trained in cognitive behavioral therapies (CBT), for children and adolescents from 6 to 18years old with a

Exclusion as a Criterion for Selecting Socially Vulnerable Population Groups

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Aleksandra Anatol’evna Shabunova

2016-05-01

Full Text Available The article considers theoretical aspects of a scientific research “The Mechanisms for Overcoming Mental Barriers of Inclusion of Socially Vulnerable Categories of the Population for the Purpose of Intensifying Modernization in the Regional Community” (RSF grant No. 16-18-00078. The authors analyze the essence of the category of “socially vulnerable groups” from the legal, economic and sociological perspectives. The paper shows that the economic approach that uses the criterion “the level of income and accumulated assets” when defining vulnerable population groups prevails in public administration practice. The legal field of the category based on the economic approach is defined by the concept of “the poor and socially unprotected categories of citizens”. With the help of the analysis of theoretical and methodological aspects of this issue, the authors show that these criteria are a necessary but not sufficient condition for classifying the population as being socially vulnerable. Foreign literature associates the phenomenon of vulnerability with the concept of risks, with the possibility of households responding to them and with the likelihood of losing the well-being (poverty theory; research areas related to the means of subsistence, etc.. The asset-based approaches relate vulnerability to the poverty that arises due to lack of access to tangible and intangible assets. Sociological theories presented by the concept of social exclusion pay much attention to the breakdown of social ties as a source of vulnerability. The essence of social exclusion consists in the inability of people to participate in important aspects of social life (in politics, labor markets, education and healthcare, cultural life, etc. though they have all the rights to do so. The difference between the concepts of exclusion and poverty is manifested in the displacement of emphasis from income inequality to limited access to rights. Social exclusion is

Interpersonal and social rhythm group therapy for patients with bipolar disorder

NARCIS (Netherlands)

C.G. Bouwkamp (Christian); M.E. de Kruiff (Marije); T.M. van Troost (Thea); M.L. Snippe (Martine); M.B.J. Blom (Marc); R.F.P. de Winter (Remco F.); P.M.J. Haffmans (P.M. Judith)

2013-01-01

textabstractThis article describes Interpersonal and Social Rhythm Therapy (IPSRT) adapted for use in a group setting for patients with bipolar disorder. In a preliminary efficacy study, we studied the pre-post group treatment effect on affective symptoms. One-year pre-post findings in the IPSRT

Influence of the substitution of β-cyclodextrins by cationic groups on the complexation of organic anions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hbaieb, S.; Kalfat, R.; Chevalier, Y.; Amdouni, N.; Parrot-Lopez, H.

2008-01-01

The inclusion complexation of the organic anion, dansyl-acid, by cationic derivatives of β-cyclodextrin has been investigated. A series of cationic β-cyclodextrins with various positive charge has been synthesized by selective functionalization of the primary face of β-cyclodextrin with amino groups. The complexes were of the 1:1 stoichiometry; the stability constants (K 11 ) have been evaluated from UV-Vis measurements by application of the Benesi-Hildebrand equation. The presence of amino groups increased the complexation ability. β-cyclodextrin fully substituted at the primary face with amino groups showed the strongest inclusion binding ability towards the dansyl-acid guest. The enhanced complexation for anions was ascribed to the cationic amino groups. A simple thermodynamic model of the electrostatic contribution to the complexation is presented

The Efficacy of Group Play Therapy on the Social Skills of Pre-School Hearing-Impaired Children

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Gita Movallali

2015-04-01

Full Text Available Objective: The purpose of the present study was to investigate of the efficacy of group play therapy on the social skills of pre-school hearing-impaired children. Materials & Methods: The present research was a semi-experimental study with pre-test, post-test design and control group. The participants were 30 male hearing-impaired children from pre-schools centers in Varamin and Gharchak provinces using an available method. Subjects were randomly divided into experimental and control groups, each group consisting of 15 children. The experimental group received 12 sessions of group play therapy and the control group did not. The instruments were done using the Raven coloure progressive matrices test and social skills rating scale. The data were recorded and statistically analyzed using MANCOVA. Results: The results of MANCOVA showed that group play therapy had a significant effect on the social skills of hearing-impaired children (P<0.001. The results also revealed that group play therapy had a positive and significant effect on all subscales of social skills in these children: cooperation, self-assertiveness and self-control (P<0.001. Conclusion: Group play therapy can improve the social skills of hearing-impaired children. It is recommended that planning play therapy for hearing-impaired children receives serious attention .

Community Engagement in a complex intervention to improve access to primary mental health care for hard-to-reach groups.

Science.gov (United States)

Lamb, Jonathan; Dowrick, Christopher; Burroughs, Heather; Beatty, Susan; Edwards, Suzanne; Bristow, Kate; Clarke, Pam; Hammond, Jonathan; Waheed, Waquas; Gabbay, Mark; Gask, Linda

2015-12-01

Despite the availability of effective evidence-based treatments for depression and anxiety, many 'harder-to-reach' social and patient groups experience difficulties accessing treatment. We developed a complex intervention, the AMP (Improving Access to Mental Health in Primary Care) programme, which combined community engagement (CE), tailored (individual and group) psychosocial interventions and primary care involvement. To develop and evaluate a model for community engagement component of the complex intervention. This paper focuses on the development of relationships between stakeholders, their engagement with the issue of access to mental health and with the programme through the CE model. Our evaluation draws on process data, qualitative interviews and focus groups, brought together through framework analysis to evaluate the issues and challenges encountered. A case study of the South Asian community project carried out in Longsight in Greater Manchester, United Kingdom. Complex problems require multiple local stakeholders to work in concert. Assets based approaches implicitly make demands on scarce time and resources. Community development approaches have many benefits, but perceptions of open-ended investment are a barrier. The time-limited nature of a CE intervention provides an impetus to 'do it now', allowing stakeholders to negotiate their investment over time and accommodating their wider commitments. Both tangible outcomes and recognition of process benefits were vital in maintaining involvement. CE interventions can play a key role in improving accessibility and acceptability by engaging patients, the public and practitioners in research and in the local service ecology. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Has Group Work Education Lost Its Social Group Work Essence? A Content Analysis of MSW Course Syllabi in Search of Mutual Aid and Group Conflict Content

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Sweifach, Jay Stephen

2015-01-01

This article presents the results of a content analysis of MSW group work course syllabi in an effort to better understand the extent to which mutual aid and group conflict, two important dimensions of social group work, are included and featured as prominent elements in MSW-level group work instruction.

Identifying Complex Dynamics in Social Systems: A New Methodological Approach Applied to Study School Segregation

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Spaiser, Viktoria; Hedström, Peter; Ranganathan, Shyam; Jansson, Kim; Nordvik, Monica K.; Sumpter, David J. T.

2018-01-01

It is widely recognized that segregation processes are often the result of complex nonlinear dynamics. Empirical analyses of complex dynamics are however rare, because there is a lack of appropriate empirical modeling techniques that are capable of capturing complex patterns and nonlinearities. At the same time, we know that many social phenomena…

Metaphors and the Pejorative Framing of Marginalized Groups: Implications for Social Work Education

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O'Brien, Gerald V.

2009-01-01

Although the importance of metaphors is described in the social work literature, few articles or books in the profession have considered the role of metaphors in social policy, especially in providing a negative frame within which marginalized groups can be considered. This negative framing naturally supports aversive social policies designed to…

Social structure in a family group of Guanaco (Lama guanicoe, Ungulate): is female hierarchy based on 'prior attributes' or 'social dynamics'?

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Correa, Loreto A; Zapata, Beatriz; Samaniego, Horacio; Soto-Gamboa, Mauricio

2013-09-01

Social life involves costs and benefits mostly associated with how individuals interact with each other. The formation of hierarchies inside social groups has evolved as a common strategy to avoid high costs stemming from social interactions. Hierarchical relationships seem to be associated with different features such as body size, body condition and/or age, which determine dominance ability ('prior attributes' hypothesis). In contrast, the 'social dynamic' hypothesis suggests that an initial social context is a determinant in the formation of the hierarchy, more so than specific individual attributes. Hierarchical rank places individuals in higher positions, which presumably increases resource accessibility to their benefit, including opportunities for reproduction. We evaluate the maintenance of hierarchy in a family group of guanacos (Lama guanicoe) and evaluate the possible mechanisms involved in the stability of these interactions and their consequences. We estimate the linearity of social hierarchy and their dynamics. We find evidence of the formation of a highly linear hierarchy among females with males positioned at the bottom of the hierarchy. This hierarchy is not affected by physical characteristics or age, suggesting that it is established only through intra-group interactions. Rank is not related with calves' weight gain either; however, subordinated females, with lower rank, exhibit higher rates of allosuckling. We found no evidence of hierarchical structure in calves suggesting that hierarchical relationship in guanacos could be established during the formation of the family group. Hence, our results suggest that hierarchical dynamics could be related more to social dynamics than to prior attributes. We finally discuss the importance of hierarchies established by dominance and their role in minimizing social costs of interactions. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

From Inclusive Identities to Inclusive Societies: Exploring Complex Social Identity in the Macedonian Context

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Dr.Sc. Ali Pajaziti

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Republic of Macedonia is an entity described as cultural mosaic, with strong multiethnic and multi-confessional basis, it is a point where East and West meet, it is well-known for the system of Macedonian salad. But, this society even after 25 year of social transition and 2001 Ohrid Agreement did not achieve to find the way of conclusive peace, stability and social eudemonia. The diversity is issue that from time to time produces turbulences, especially at the line of two main identity groups Macedonians-Christian Orthodox and Albanians-Muslim community. Quantitative data in this study were obtained on a sample of 219 young adults from Skopje (95 of Macedonian and 17 of Albanian ethnicity and Tetovo (76 of Albanian and 31 of Macedonian ethnicity, aged from 18 to 35 years (M = 24.85, SD = 3.2. Main research question is that if there exist differences between young Macedonians and Albanians in their ethnic, religious and national identity? The objective of this paper is to give a scientific picture how categories as gender, marriage, family, ethnicity, religion, living place, Balkan, Europe are perceived by the youth, all this in favour of using them in producing affirmative actions, more productive societal policies and constructive society-building. Multiple social identities: their complexity and inclusiveness, the correlation of identity variables with SII and SIC are among issues analyzed in this paper. National dominance was more frequent among Macedonians. Our findings demonstrate that Albanian participants expressed strong social identity, as Albanians and as being Muslims. Only social identity inclusiveness is significantly related to societal and political attitudes, but ethnicity should be taken into consideration when this relationship is explored.

Social media as social capital of LGB individuals in Hong Kong: its relations with group membership, stigma, and mental well-being.

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Chong, Eddie S K; Zhang, Yin; Mak, Winnie W S; Pang, Ingrid H Y

2015-03-01

Social media are found to facilitate social information exchange among lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) individuals who are subjected to social stigma. This study tested the protective role of LGB-tailored social media uses and gratifications in promoting LGB group membership, which we hypothesized to reduce LGB stigma and enhance mental health among LGB individuals in Hong Kong. Based on a sample of 233 Chinese LGB individuals in Hong Kong, structural equation modeling showed evidence for our hypotheses, χ(df=62)(2)= 88.20, GFI = 0.95, CFI = 0.98, NNFI = 0.98, SRMR = 0.07, RMSEA = 0.04. Community surveillance, identity expression, and emotional support on social media may promote mental health by instilling a sense of group membership and reducing stigma. Social media may build camaraderie and bolster resilience among LGB individuals that may otherwise be difficult in conservative regions.

Effects of group size and expectancy of reward on social loafing ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

... years (mean age = 14.53). Results indicated that performance was significantly poorer in the group condition than in the alone condition (p. <05); and reward significantly attenuated social loafing effect in the group condition (p. <05). These observations were discussed in relation to the prevailing challenge in team work.

Tratamento cognitivo-comportamental de grupo na fobia social: resultados de 12 semanas Cognitive-behavioral group treatment in social phobia: 12-week outcome

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Gustavo J. Fonseca D'El Rey

2008-01-01

Full Text Available CONTEXTO: A fobia social é um dos transtornos mentais mais prevalentes na população geral. A terapia cognitivo-comportamental é o modelo não-farmacológico mais estudado nesse transtorno de ansiedade. OBJETIVOS: Este estudo teve como objetivo verificar a efetividade da terapia cognitivo-comportamental de grupo em pacientes com fobia social generalizada. MÉTODOS: Trinta e um pacientes com diagnóstico de fobia social generalizada foram randomicamente distribuídos em dois grupos: um de terapia cognitivo-comportamental de grupo - TCCG (n = 15 e um grupo-controle na Lista de Espera - LE (n = 16. Os pacientes preencheram quatro escalas de avaliação (Inventário de Fobia Social, Escala de Medo de Avaliação Negativa, Inventário de Ansiedade Beck e Escala de Impressão Clínica Global na semana 1 de tratamento e na semana 12. RESULTADOS: Em todas as medidas de avaliações, ao final de 12 semanas, os pacientes que receberam TCCG apresentaram melhoras superiores aos da LE. CONCLUSÕES: Neste ensaio clínico randomizado, simples-cego, a terapia cognitivo-comportamental de grupo foi superior à Lista de Espera no tratamento da fobia social generalizada.BACKGROUND: Social phobia is a widespread mental disorder in the general population. Cognitive-behavioral therapy is the most thoroughly studied nonpharmacologic approach in this anxiety disorder. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study is to assess the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral group therapy in patients with generalized social phobia. METHODS: Thirty one patients with diagnosis of generalized social phobia were randomly allocated in two groups. One group of cognitive-behavioral group therapy - CBGT (n = 15 and one Waiting List control group - WL (n = 16. The patients completed four rating scales (Social Phobia Inventory, Fear of Negative Evaluation Scale, Beck Anxiety Inventory and Clinical Global Impression Scale in the weeks 1 and 12. RESULTS: In all rating scales in the week 12 of

Social cohesion through football: a quasi-experimental mixed methods design to evaluate a complex health promotion program.

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Nathan, Sally; Bunde-Birouste, Anne; Evers, Clifton; Kemp, Lynn; MacKenzie, Julie; Henley, Robert

2010-10-05

Social isolation and disengagement fragments local communities. Evidence indicates that refugee families are highly vulnerable to social isolation in their countries of resettlement. Research to identify approaches to best address this is needed. Football United is a program that aims to foster social inclusion and cohesion in areas with high refugee settlement in New South Wales, Australia, through skills and leadership development, mentoring, and the creation of links with local community and corporate leaders and organisations. The Social Cohesion through Football study's broad goal is to examine the implementation of a complex health promotion program, and to analyse the processes involved in program implementation. The study will consider program impact on individual health and wellbeing, social inclusion and cohesion, as well as analyse how the program by necessity interacts and adapts to context during implementation, a concept we refer to as plasticity. The proposed study will be the first prospective cohort impact study to our knowledge to assess the impact of a comprehensive integrated program using football as a vehicle for fostering social inclusion and cohesion in communities with high refugee settlement. A quasi-experimental cohort study design with treatment partitioning involving four study sites. The study employs a 'dose response' model, comparing those with no involvement in the Football United program with those with lower or higher levels of participation. A range of qualitative and quantitative measures will be used in the study. Study participants' emotional well being, resilience, ethnic identity and other group orientation, feelings of social inclusion and belonging will be measured using a survey instrument complemented by relevant data drawn from in-depth interviews, self reporting measures and participant observation. The views of key informants from the program and the wider community will also be solicited. The complexity of the

Social cohesion through football: a quasi-experimental mixed methods design to evaluate a complex health promotion program

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kemp Lynn

2010-10-01

Full Text Available Abstract Social isolation and disengagement fragments local communities. Evidence indicates that refugee families are highly vulnerable to social isolation in their countries of resettlement. Research to identify approaches to best address this is needed. Football United is a program that aims to foster social inclusion and cohesion in areas with high refugee settlement in New South Wales, Australia, through skills and leadership development, mentoring, and the creation of links with local community and corporate leaders and organisations. The Social Cohesion through Football study's broad goal is to examine the implementation of a complex health promotion program, and to analyse the processes involved in program implementation. The study will consider program impact on individual health and wellbeing, social inclusion and cohesion, as well as analyse how the program by necessity interacts and adapts to context during implementation, a concept we refer to as plasticity. The proposed study will be the first prospective cohort impact study to our knowledge to assess the impact of a comprehensive integrated program using football as a vehicle for fostering social inclusion and cohesion in communities with high refugee settlement. Methods/design A quasi-experimental cohort study design with treatment partitioning involving four study sites. The study employs a 'dose response' model, comparing those with no involvement in the Football United program with those with lower or higher levels of participation. A range of qualitative and quantitative measures will be used in the study. Study participants' emotional well being, resilience, ethnic identity and other group orientation, feelings of social inclusion and belonging will be measured using a survey instrument complemented by relevant data drawn from in-depth interviews, self reporting measures and participant observation. The views of key informants from the program and the wider community will

Merging Micro and Macro Intervention: Social Work Practice with Groups in the Community

Science.gov (United States)

Knight, Carolyn; Gitterman, Alex

2018-01-01

Clinical or micro intervention predominates in social work education and practice. The prevailing assumption in social work practice and education is that one engages in either micro or macro intervention. In this article, we describe how these interventions may be merged into an integrated whole through social work practice with groups. The…

Influence of the substitution of {beta}-cyclodextrins by cationic groups on the complexation of organic anions

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hbaieb, S. [U.R. Physico-Chimie des Materiaux Solides, Faculte des Sciences de Tunis, Manar II, 2092 Tunis (Tunisia)], E-mail: Souhairabouchaira@yahoo.fr; Kalfat, R. [U.R. Physico-Chimie des Materiaux Solides, Faculte des Sciences de Tunis, Manar II, 2092 Tunis (Tunisia); Chevalier, Y. [Laboratoire d' Automatique et de Genie des Procedes (LAGEP), UMR 5007 CNRS-Universite Claude Bernard Lyon 1, 69622 Villeurbanne (France)], E-mail: chevalier@lagep.univ-lyon1.fr; Amdouni, N. [U.R. Physico-Chimie des Materiaux Solides, Faculte des Sciences de Tunis, Manar II, 2092 Tunis (Tunisia); Parrot-Lopez, H. [Institut de Chimie et Biochimie Moleculaires et Supramoleculaires (ICBMS), UMR 5246 CNRS-Universite Claude Bernard Lyon 1, 69622 Villeurbanne (France)], E-mail: helene.parrot@univ-lyon1.fr

2008-07-01

The inclusion complexation of the organic anion, dansyl-acid, by cationic derivatives of {beta}-cyclodextrin has been investigated. A series of cationic {beta}-cyclodextrins with various positive charge has been synthesized by selective functionalization of the primary face of {beta}-cyclodextrin with amino groups. The complexes were of the 1:1 stoichiometry; the stability constants (K{sub 11}) have been evaluated from UV-Vis measurements by application of the Benesi-Hildebrand equation. The presence of amino groups increased the complexation ability. {beta}-cyclodextrin fully substituted at the primary face with amino groups showed the strongest inclusion binding ability towards the dansyl-acid guest. The enhanced complexation for anions was ascribed to the cationic amino groups. A simple thermodynamic model of the electrostatic contribution to the complexation is presented.

Interventions to improve social determinants of health among elderly ethnic minority groups: a review

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Pool, Michelle S.; Agyemang, Charles O.; Smalbrugge, Martin

2017-01-01

Like the European general population, ethnic minorities are aging. In this group, important social determinants of health (social participation, social isolation and loneliness) that lead to negative health outcomes frequently occur. Interventions targeting these determinants may decrease negative

The DISC (Diabetes in Social Context Study-evaluation of a culturally sensitive social network intervention for diabetic patients in lower socioeconomic groups: a study protocol

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Vissenberg Charlotte

2012-03-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Compared to those in higher socioeconomic groups, diabetic patients in lower socioeconomic groups have less favourable metabolic control and experience more diabetes-related complications. They encounter specific barriers that hinder optimal diabetes self-management, including a lack of social support and other psychosocial mechanisms in their immediate social environments. Powerful Together with Diabetes is a culturally sensitive social network intervention specifically targeted to ethnic Dutch, Moroccan, Turkish, and Surinamese diabetic patients in lower socioeconomic groups. For ten months, patients will participate in peer support groups in which they will share experiences, support each other in maintaining healthy lifestyles, and learn skills to resist social pressure. At the same time, their significant others will also receive an intervention, aimed at maximizing support for and minimizing the negative social influences on diabetes self-management. This study aims to test the effectiveness of Powerful Together with Diabetes. Methods/Design We will use a quasi-experimental design with an intervention group (Group 1 and two comparison groups (Groups 2 and 3, N = 128 in each group. Group 1 will receive Powerful Together with Diabetes. Group 2 will receive Know your Sugar, a six-week group intervention that does not focus on the participants' social environments. Group 3 receives standard care only. Participants in Groups 1 and 2 will be interviewed and physically examined at baseline, 3, 10, and 16 months. We will compare their haemoglobin A1C levels with the haemoglobin A1C levels of Group 3. Main outcome measures are haemoglobin A1C, diabetes-related quality of life, diabetes self-management, health-related, and intermediate outcome measures. We will conduct a process evaluation and a qualitative study to gain more insights into the intervention fidelity, feasibility, and changes in the psychosocial mechanism in the

Evolution of facial color pattern complexity in lemurs.

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Rakotonirina, Hanitriniaina; Kappeler, Peter M; Fichtel, Claudia

2017-11-09

Interspecific variation in facial color patterns across New and Old World primates has been linked to species recognition and group size. Because group size has opposite effects on interspecific variation in facial color patterns in these two radiations, a study of the third large primate radiation may shed light on convergences and divergences in this context. We therefore compiled published social and ecological data and analyzed facial photographs of 65 lemur species to categorize variation in hair length, hair and skin coloration as well as color brightness. Phylogenetically controlled analyses revealed that group size and the number of sympatric species did not influence the evolution of facial color complexity in lemurs. Climatic factors, however, influenced facial color complexity, pigmentation and hair length in a few facial regions. Hair length in two facial regions was also correlated with group size and may facilitate individual recognition. Since phylogenetic signals were moderate to high for most models, genetic drift may have also played a role in the evolution of facial color patterns of lemurs. In conclusion, social factors seem to have played only a subordinate role in the evolution of facial color complexity in lemurs, and, more generally, group size appears to have no systematic functional effect on facial color complexity across all primates.

Social representations about criminals and crimes in various professional groups of young people

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Yakushenko A.V.

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Describes a study whose purpose was to study the peculiarities of social representations of crime and criminals in different groups of students. The sample included 88 people aged 18 to 27 years, divided into four groups, depending on the subject of professionalization - psychologists, lawyers, journalists, representatives of technical professions. The study is based on the ideas of the theory of social representations proposed S.Moskovisi. The main method of study was a survey in a variant form, including an associative technique, the technique of "incomplete sentences", as well as open and closed questions. Associations were analyzed using analysis of prototypical proposed P.Verzhesom. The results obtained by Method "offers Incomplete" were to machine-using content analysis. Testable hypothesis regarding the specifics of professional social representations in various student groups received polnouyu or partial empirical support.

Evaluation of Public E-Services and Information Technology Accessibility in Different Social Groups

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Ramutė Naujikienė