The neuroscience of social decision-making.

Science.gov (United States)

Rilling, James K; Sanfey, Alan G

2011-01-01

Given that we live in highly complex social environments, many of our most important decisions are made in the context of social interactions. Simple but sophisticated tasks from a branch of experimental economics known as game theory have been used to study social decision-making in the laboratory setting, and a variety of neuroscience methods have been used to probe the underlying neural systems. This approach is informing our knowledge of the neural mechanisms that support decisions about trust, reciprocity, altruism, fairness, revenge, social punishment, social norm conformity, social learning, and competition. Neural systems involved in reward and reinforcement, pain and punishment, mentalizing, delaying gratification, and emotion regulation are commonly recruited for social decisions. This review also highlights the role of the prefrontal cortex in prudent social decision-making, at least when social environments are relatively stable. In addition, recent progress has been made in understanding the neural bases of individual variation in social decision-making.

Multicriteria and multiagent decision making with applications to economics and social sciences

CERN Document Server

Maturo, Antonio; Hošková-Mayerová, Šárka; Kacprzyk, Janusz

2013-01-01

The book provides a comprehensive and timely report on the topic of decision making and decision analysis in economics and the social sciences. The various contributions included in the book, selected using a peer review process, present important studies and research conducted in various countries around the globe. The majority of these studies are concerned with the analysis, modeling and formalization of the behavior of groups or committees that are in charge of making decisions of social and economic importance. Decisions in these contexts have to meet precise coherence standards and achieve a significant degree of sharing, consensus and acceptance, even in uncertain and fuzzy environments. This necessitates the confluence of several research fields, such as foundations of social choice and decision making, mathematics, complexity, psychology, sociology and economics. A large spectrum of problems that may be encountered during decision making and decision analysis in the areas of economics and the social ...

Decision-Making Competence, Social Orientation, Time Style, and Perceived Stress

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Martin Geisler

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Peoples’ decision-making competence, defined as tendency to follow normative rational principles in their decision making, is important as it may influence the extent that requirements are met and levels of perceived stress. In addition, perceived stress could be influenced by social orientation and time style; for example, decisions need to comply with given deadlines and the expectations of others. In two studies, with students (n = 118 and professionals (police investigators, n = 90, we examined how the three individual difference features: decision-making competence, social orientation, and time approach relate to perceived stress. Results showed that social orientation and time approach were related to levels of perceived stress, but decision-making competence was not. These results indicate that social orientation and time approach are important to consider in relation to perceived stress, but the role of decision-making competence may be less important for perceived stress. However, the role of decision-making competence for perceived stress needs to be further researched.

Decision-Making Competence, Social Orientation, Time Style, and Perceived Stress.

Science.gov (United States)

Geisler, Martin; Allwood, Carl Martin

2018-01-01

Peoples' decision-making competence, defined as tendency to follow normative rational principles in their decision making, is important as it may influence the extent that requirements are met and levels of perceived stress. In addition, perceived stress could be influenced by social orientation and time style; for example, decisions need to comply with given deadlines and the expectations of others. In two studies, with students ( n = 118) and professionals (police investigators, n = 90), we examined how the three individual difference features: decision-making competence, social orientation, and time approach relate to perceived stress. Results showed that social orientation and time approach were related to levels of perceived stress, but decision-making competence was not. These results indicate that social orientation and time approach are important to consider in relation to perceived stress, but the role of decision-making competence may be less important for perceived stress. However, the role of decision-making competence for perceived stress needs to be further researched.

Decision-Making Competence, Social Orientation, Time Style, and Perceived Stress

Science.gov (United States)

Geisler, Martin; Allwood, Carl Martin

2018-01-01

Peoples’ decision-making competence, defined as tendency to follow normative rational principles in their decision making, is important as it may influence the extent that requirements are met and levels of perceived stress. In addition, perceived stress could be influenced by social orientation and time style; for example, decisions need to comply with given deadlines and the expectations of others. In two studies, with students (n = 118) and professionals (police investigators, n = 90), we examined how the three individual difference features: decision-making competence, social orientation, and time approach relate to perceived stress. Results showed that social orientation and time approach were related to levels of perceived stress, but decision-making competence was not. These results indicate that social orientation and time approach are important to consider in relation to perceived stress, but the role of decision-making competence may be less important for perceived stress. However, the role of decision-making competence for perceived stress needs to be further researched. PMID:29686634

Emotional and Social Factors influence Poker Decision Making Accuracy.

Science.gov (United States)

Laakasuo, Michael; Palomäki, Jussi; Salmela, Mikko

2015-09-01

Poker is a social game, where success depends on both game strategic knowledge and emotion regulation abilities. Thus, poker provides a productive environment for studying the effects of emotional and social factors on micro-economic decision making. Previous research indicates that experiencing negative emotions, such as moral anger, reduces mathematical accuracy in poker decision making. Furthermore, various social aspects of the game—such as losing against "bad players" due to "bad luck"—seem to fuel these emotional states. We designed an Internet-based experiment, where participants' (N = 459) mathematical accuracy in five different poker decision making tasks were assessed. In addition, we manipulated the emotional and social conditions under which the tasks were presented, in a 2 × 2 experimental setup: (1) Anger versus neutral emotional state—participants were primed either with an anger-inducing, or emotionally neutral story, and (2) Social cue versus non-social cue—during the tasks, either an image of a pair of human eyes was "following" the mouse cursor, or an image of a black moving box was presented. The results showed that anger reduced mathematical accuracy of decision making only when participants were "being watched" by a pair of moving eyes. Experienced poker players made mathematically more accurate decisions than inexperienced ones. The results contribute to current understanding on how emotional and social factors influence decision making accuracy in economic games.

Effects of Age-related Differences in Empathy on Social Economic Decision-Making

OpenAIRE

Beadle, Janelle N.; Paradiso, Sergio; Kovach, Christopher; Polgreen, Linnea; Denburg, Natalie; Tranel, Daniel

2012-01-01

Background: The ways in which aging affects social economic decision-making is a central issue in the psychology of aging. To examine age-related differences in social economic decision-making as a function of empathy, 80 healthy volunteers participated in the Repeated Fixed Opponent Ultimatum Game (UG-R). Previous economic decision-making research has shown that in younger adults empathy is associated with prosocial behavior. The effects of empathy on older adult social economic decision-mak...

Social technologies and socialization of research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jos Leijten

2009-09-01

Full Text Available Whether we like it or not, and how many difficulties this may pose, scientific research and technology are becoming the “property” of everybody and increasingly will become subject of public guidance and political decision making. Socialization happens because what people think, want and do has become central to the development of science and technology. Socialization of research is simply happening because it is the development characteristic of a society in which knowledge is becoming the main driving force. And just like in agricultural or industrial societies in the past it leads to (re-invent the institutions and mechanisms which allow the knowledge society to function properly.This note will further explore the developments contributing to the socialization of research and their impact on research and research institutes. It will focus more on technologies than on science per se, because applications and usage will become the main drivers.

A Multidisciplinary Research Agenda for Understanding Vaccine-Related Decisions

Science.gov (United States)

Larson, Heidi; Leask, Julie; Aggett, Sian; Sevdalis, Nick; Thomson, Angus

2013-01-01

There is increasingly broad global recognition of the need to better understand determinants of vaccine acceptance. Fifteen social science, communication, health, and medical professionals (the “Motors of Trust in Vaccination” (MOTIV) think tank) explored factors relating to vaccination decision-making as a step to building a multidisciplinary research agenda. One hundred and forty seven factors impacting decisions made by consumers, professionals, and policy makers on vaccine acceptance, delay, or refusal were identified and grouped into three major categories: cognition and decision-making; groups and social norms; and communication and engagement. These factors should help frame a multidisciplinary research agenda to build an evidence base on the determinants of vaccine acceptance to inform the development of interventions and vaccination policies. PMID:26344114

A Multidisciplinary Research Agenda for Understanding Vaccine-Related Decisions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nick Sevdalis

2013-07-01

Full Text Available There is increasingly broad global recognition of the need to better understand determinants of vaccine acceptance. Fifteen social science, communication, health, and medical professionals (the “Motors of Trust in Vaccination” (MOTIV think tank explored factors relating to vaccination decision-making as a step to building a multidisciplinary research agenda. One hundred and forty seven factors impacting decisions made by consumers, professionals, and policy makers on vaccine acceptance, delay, or refusal were identified and grouped into three major categories: cognition and decision-making; groups and social norms; and communication and engagement. These factors should help frame a multidisciplinary research agenda to build an evidence base on the determinants of vaccine acceptance to inform the development of interventions and vaccination policies.

The Neuroscience of Social Decision-Making

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Rilling, J.K.; Sanfey, A.G.

2011-01-01

Given that we live in highly complex social environments, many of our most important decisions are made in the context of social interactions. Simple but sophisticated tasks from a branch of experimental economics known as game theory have been used to study social decision-making in the laboratory

Human-centric decision-making models for social sciences

CERN Document Server

Pedrycz, Witold

2014-01-01

The volume delivers a wealth of effective methods to deal with various types of uncertainty inherently existing in human-centric decision problems. It elaborates on  comprehensive decision frameworks to handle different decision scenarios, which help use effectively the explicit and tacit knowledge and intuition, model perceptions and preferences in a more human-oriented style. The book presents original approaches and delivers new results on fundamentals and applications related to human-centered decision making approaches to business, economics and social systems. Individual chapters cover multi-criteria (multiattribute) decision making, decision making with prospect theory, decision making with incomplete probabilistic information, granular models of decision making and decision making realized with the use of non-additive measures. New emerging decision theories being presented as along with a wide spectrum of ongoing research make the book valuable to all interested in the field of advanced decision-mak...

On-line social decision making and antisocial behavior: some essential but neglected issues.

Science.gov (United States)

Fontaine, Reid Griffith

2008-01-01

The last quarter century has witnessed considerable progress in the scientific study of social information processing (SIP) and aggressive behavior in children. SIP research has shown that social decision making in youth is particularly predictive of antisocial behavior, especially as children enter and progress through adolescence. In furtherance of this research, more sophisticated, elaborate models of on-line social decision making have been developed, by which various domains of evaluative judgment are hypothesized to account for both responsive decision making and behavior, as well as self-initiated, instrumental functioning. However, discussions of these models have neglected a number of key issues. In particular, the roles of nonconscious cognitive factors, learning and development, impulsivity and behavioral disinhibition, emotion, and other internal and external factors (e.g., pharmacological influences and audience effects) have been largely absent from scholarly writings. In response, this article introduces discussion of these factors and reviews their possible roles in on-line social decision making and antisocial behavior in youth.

Graduate students navigating social-ecological research: insights from the Long-Term Ecological Research Network

Science.gov (United States)

Sydne Record; Paige F. B. Ferguson; Elise Benveniste; Rose A. Graves; Vera W. Pfeiffer; Michele Romolini; Christie E. Yorke; Ben Beardmore

2016-01-01

Interdisciplinary, collaborative research capable of capturing the feedbacks between biophysical and social systems can improve the capacity for sustainable environmental decision making. Networks of researchers provide unique opportunities to foster social-ecological inquiry. Although insights into interdisciplinary research have been discussed elsewhere,...

Social influence protects collective decision making from equality bias.

Science.gov (United States)

Hertz, Uri; Romand-Monnier, Margaux; Kyriakopoulou, Konstantina; Bahrami, Bahador

2016-02-01

A basic tenet of research on wisdom of the crowds-and key assumption of Condercet's (1785) Jury Theorem-is the independence of voters' opinions before votes are aggregated. However, we often look for others' opinions before casting our vote. Such social influence can push groups toward herding, leading to "madness of the crowds." To investigate the role of social influence in joint decision making, in Experiment 1 we had dyads of participants perform a visual oddball search task together. In the Independent (IND) condition participants initially made a private decision. If they disagreed, discussion and collective decision ensued. In the Influence (INF) condition no private decisions were made and collective decision was immediately negotiated. Dyads that did not accrue collective benefit under the IND condition improved with added social influence under the INF condition. In Experiment 2, covertly, we added noise to 1 of the dyad members' visual search display. The resulting increased heterogeneity in dyad members' performances impaired the dyadic performance under the IND condition (Bahrami et al., 2010). Importantly, dyadic performance improved with social influence under the INF condition, replicating results in Experiment 1. Further analyses revealed that under the IND condition, dyads exercised equality bias (Mahmoodi et al., 2015) by granting undue credit to the less-reliable partner. Under the INF condition, however, the more-reliable partner (correctly) dominated the joint decisions. Although social influence may impede collective success under ideal conditions, our results demonstrate how it can help the group members overcome factors such as equality bias, which could potentially lead to catastrophic failure. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Information processing and strategic decision-making in small and medium-sized enterprises : The role of human and social capital in attaining decision effectiveness

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Jansen, R.J.G.; Curseu, P.L.; Vermeulen, P.A.M.; Geurts, J.L.A.; Gibcus, P.

2013-01-01

The decision-making literature emphasizes that in high-stake decisions the characteristics of individual decision-makers, their interpretation of decision situations, and their social ties play an important role in decision outcomes. Despite these results, research on small- and medium-sized

Tourette syndrome: a disorder of the social decision-making network.

Science.gov (United States)

Albin, Roger L

2018-02-01

developmental abnormalities at several levels of the social decision-making network. The social decision-making network dysfunction hypothesis suggests new avenues for research in Tourette syndrome and new potential therapeutic targets. © The Author (2017). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Guarantors of Brain. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Social Context Effects on Decision-Making: A Neurobiological Approach

NARCIS (Netherlands)

M. Stallen (Mirre)

2013-01-01

textabstractThis thesis explores how social context influences the neurobiological processes underlying decision-making. To this end, this research takes an interdisciplinary approach, combining methods and insights from Psychology, Marketing, Economics, and Neuroscience. In particular, behavioural

Decision-making in social contexts in youth with ADHD.

Science.gov (United States)

Ma, Ili; Lambregts-Rommelse, Nanda N J; Buitelaar, Jan K; Cillessen, Antonius H N; Scheres, Anouk P J

2017-03-01

This study examined reward-related decision-making in children and adolescents with ADHD in a social context, using economic games. We furthermore examined the role of individual differences in reward-related decision-making, specifically, the roles of reward sensitivity and prosocial skills. Children and adolescents (9-17 years) with ADHD-combined subtype (n = 29; 20 boys) and healthy controls (n = 38; 20 boys) completed the ultimatum game and dictator game as measures of reward-related decision-making in social contexts. Prosocial skills were measured with the Interpersonal Reactivity Index. The ADHD group had a larger discrepancy between ultimatum game and dictator game offers than controls, indicating strategic rather than fairness driven decisions. This finding was supported by self-reports showing fewer individuals with ADHD than controls who considered fairness as motive for the decisions. Perspective taking or empathic concern did not differ between groups and was not significantly associated with offers. In conclusion, the results suggest that rather than a failure to understand the perspective of others, children and adolescents with ADHD were less motivated by fairness than controls in simple social situations. Results encourage the use of economic games in ADHD research.

Social processes used by African American women in making decisions about mammography screening.

Science.gov (United States)

Fowler, Barbara Ann

2006-01-01

To describe the social processes used by African American (AA) women ages > or = 50 years in making decisions about mammography screening. Grounded theory methodology. Tape-recorded interviews with a researcher-designed, semi-structured interview guide with an initial and theoretical sample of 30 AA women ages 52 to 71 of diverse socioeconomic status. Interviews occurred in various settings such as the church rectory, women's homes, and work settings. Extensive written field notes and tapes were transcribed verbatim immediately after the interviews by an experienced transcriptionist. The women's decisions about mammography screening were associated with five social processes: (a) acknowledging prior experiences with healthcare providers and systems; (b) reporting fears and fatalistic beliefs of breast cancer and related treatment; (c) valuing the opinions of significant others; (d) relying on religious beliefs and supports; and (e) caregiving responsibilities of significant others. The processes were further differentiated by three distinct decision-making styles: taking charge, enduring, and protesting. Each of the social processes was reported equally and emphasized by the diverse sample of AA women in decisions related to mammography screening. Mammography screening decisions were heavily influenced by caregiving responsibilities. Further research is needed to explain and understand this social process on the health and well-being of AA women over time.

Eco-informatics for decision makers advancing a research agenda

Science.gov (United States)

Cushing, J.B.; Wilson, T.; Brandt, L.; Gregg, V.; Spengler, S.; Borning, A.; Delcambre, L.; Bowker, G.; Frame, M.; Fulop, J.; Hert, C.; Hovy, E.; Jones, J.; Landis, E.; Schnase, J.L.; Schweik, C.; Sonntag, W.; ,

2005-01-01

Resource managers often face significant information technology (IT) problems when integrating ecological or environmental information to make decisions. At a workshop sponsored by the NSF and USGS in December 2004, university researchers, natural resource managers, and information managers met to articulate IT problems facing ecology and environmental decision makers. Decision making IT problems were identified in five areas: 1) policy, 2) data presentation, 3) data gaps, 4) tools, and 5) indicators. To alleviate those problems, workshop participants recommended specific informatics research in modeling and simulation, data quality, information integration and ontologies, and social and human aspects. This paper reports the workshop findings, and briefly compares these with research that traditionally falls under the emerging eco-informatics rubric. ?? Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2005.

Researching Practice Wisdom in Social Work

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Johnson Chun-Sing Cheung

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Researching practice wisdom in social work Social workers, as skilled helpers who make professional decisions using intuitive actions rather than by following defined rules, deserve better recognition for their practice wisdom. However, since there is a tendency amongst practitioners who adhere to the evidence-based paradigm to disregard practitioners’ knowledge, empirical research on practice wisdom in social work needs to be encouraged. The author argues that the lack of a sound methodology hinders the development of such an invaluable asset for practitioners. It is suggested that a heuristic paradigm that embraces the concepts of tacit knowing, intuition and indwelling will provide a way forward towards recognizing the importance of social workers’ practice wisdom.

A conceptual review of decision making in social dilemmas: applying a logic of appropriateness.

Science.gov (United States)

Weber, J Mark; Kopelman, Shirli; Messick, David M

2004-01-01

Despite decades of experimental social dilemma research, "theoretical integration has proven elusive" (Smithson & Foddy, 1999, p. 14). To advance a theory of decision making in social dilemmas, this article provides a conceptual review of the literature that applies a "logic of appropriateness" (March, 1994) framework. The appropriateness framework suggests that people making decisions ask themselves (explicitly or implicitly), "What does a person like me do in a situation like this? " This question identifies 3 significant factors: recognition and classification of the kind of situation encountered, the identity of the individual making the decision, and the application of rules or heuristics in guiding behavioral choice. In contrast with dominant rational choice models, the appropriateness framework proposed accommodates the inherently social nature of social dilemmas, and the role of rule and heuristic based processing. Implications for the interpretation of past findings and the direction of future research are discussed.

Adversarial Collaboration Decision-Making: An Overview of Social Quantum Information Processing

Science.gov (United States)

2002-01-01

collaborative decision - making (CDM) to solve problems is an aspect of human behavior least yielding to rational predictions. To reduce the complexity of CDM...increases. Implications for C2 decision - making are discussed. Overview of research Game theory was one of the first rational approaches to the study of...Psychologist, 36, 343-356. Lawless, W.F. (2001), The quantum of social action and the function of emotion in decision - making , Proceedings, Emotional and

Social motives and strategic misrepresentation in social decision making

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Steinel, W.; de Dreu, C.K.W.

2004-01-01

In 4 experiments, the authors studied the influence of social motives on deception and strategic misrepresentation. In a newly developed information provision game, individuals faced a decision maker whose decision would affect both own and others outcomes. By withholding information or by giving

Effects of age-related differences in empathy on social economic decision-making.

Science.gov (United States)

Beadle, Janelle N; Paradiso, Sergio; Kovach, Christopher; Polgreen, Linnea; Denburg, Natalie L; Tranel, Daniel

2012-05-01

The ways in which aging affects social economic decision-making is a central issue in the psychology of aging. To examine age-related differences in social economic decision-making as a function of empathy, 80 healthy volunteers participated in the Repeated Fixed Opponent Ultimatum Game (UG-R). Previous economic decision-making research has shown that in younger adults empathy is associated with prosocial behavior. The effects of empathy on older adult social economic decision-making are not well understood. On each of 20 consecutive trials in the UG-R, one player ("Proposer") splits $10 with another player ("Responder") who chooses either to accept (whereby both receive the proposed division) or reject (whereby neither receives anything). Trait cognitive and emotional empathy were measured using the Interpersonal Reactivity Index. UG-R data were examined as a function of age and cognitive empathy. For "unfair" offers (i.e. offers less than $5), older Responders with high cognitive empathy showed less prosocial behavior and obtained greater payoffs than younger Responders with high cognitive empathy. High levels of cognitive empathy may differentially affect economic decision-making behavior in younger and older adults. For older adults, high cognitive empathy may play a role in obtaining high financial payoffs while for younger adults it may instead be involved in facilitating social relationships.

Social Media's Use in Postgraduate Students' Decision-Making Journey: An Exploratory Study

Science.gov (United States)

Galan, Mianda; Lawley, Meredith; Clements, Michael

2015-01-01

Universities globally are showing increased interest in the potential of social media as a marketing recruitment tool. This paper explores how and why potential postgraduate business students looking to study internationally use social media in their educational decision-making process. Due to a lack of existing research, this study adopted an…

The effect of social cues on marketing decisions

Science.gov (United States)

Hentschel, H. G. E.; Pan, Jiening; Family, Fereydoon; Zhang, Zhenyu; Song, Yiping

2012-02-01

We address the question as to what extent individuals, when given information in marketing polls on the decisions made by the previous Nr individuals questioned, are likely to change their original choices. The processes can be formulated in terms of a Cost function equivalent to a Hamiltonian, which depends on the original likelihood of an individual making a positive decision in the absence of social cues p0; the strength of the social cue J; and memory size Nr. We find both positive and negative herding effects are significant. Specifically, if p0>1/2 social cues enhance positive decisions, while for p0cues reduce the likelihood of a positive decision.

A Common Mechanism Underlying Food Choice and Social Decisions

Science.gov (United States)

Krajbich, Ian; Hare, Todd; Bartling, Björn; Morishima, Yosuke; Fehr, Ernst

2015-01-01

People make numerous decisions every day including perceptual decisions such as walking through a crowd, decisions over primary rewards such as what to eat, and social decisions that require balancing own and others’ benefits. The unifying principles behind choices in various domains are, however, still not well understood. Mathematical models that describe choice behavior in specific contexts have provided important insights into the computations that may underlie decision making in the brain. However, a critical and largely unanswered question is whether these models generalize from one choice context to another. Here we show that a model adapted from the perceptual decision-making domain and estimated on choices over food rewards accurately predicts choices and reaction times in four independent sets of subjects making social decisions. The robustness of the model across domains provides behavioral evidence for a common decision-making process in perceptual, primary reward, and social decision making. PMID:26460812

A Common Mechanism Underlying Food Choice and Social Decisions.

Science.gov (United States)

Krajbich, Ian; Hare, Todd; Bartling, Björn; Morishima, Yosuke; Fehr, Ernst

2015-10-01

People make numerous decisions every day including perceptual decisions such as walking through a crowd, decisions over primary rewards such as what to eat, and social decisions that require balancing own and others' benefits. The unifying principles behind choices in various domains are, however, still not well understood. Mathematical models that describe choice behavior in specific contexts have provided important insights into the computations that may underlie decision making in the brain. However, a critical and largely unanswered question is whether these models generalize from one choice context to another. Here we show that a model adapted from the perceptual decision-making domain and estimated on choices over food rewards accurately predicts choices and reaction times in four independent sets of subjects making social decisions. The robustness of the model across domains provides behavioral evidence for a common decision-making process in perceptual, primary reward, and social decision making.

Ethical Decision-Making: The Role of Self-Monitoring, Future Orientation, and Social Networks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ana Carla Bon

2017-02-01

Full Text Available This study examines the influence of individual factors (self monitoring, temporal orientation on social networking, and their relationship with unethical decision-making. The study used surveys to measure the unethical intentions and social network data of 129 professionals. Data were analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling. The findings provided evidence that individual factors influence the development of social networks and, along with self-monitoring, the likelihood of unethical decision-making. In particular, being in positions of lower network centrality increased individuals’ risk of unethical intention. One explanation stems from the need for high situation control to reduce risk and ensure the success of an event, which only a closed network can provide. However, ethical low self-monitor women were also found to have low centrality, so social networks alone do not explain ethical decision-making. This research represents a step forward in our understanding of ethical decision-making through the adoption of multiple and simultaneous factors, proposing an integrated theory of individual and situational factors influencing unethical options.

Health social workers sources of knowledge for decision making in practice.

Science.gov (United States)

McDermott, Fiona; Henderson, Annabel; Quayle, Carol

2017-10-01

This article presents findings from research examining knowledge social workers in a health network in Victoria, Australia identified as informing their decision-making. Data for 13 patients, and in-depth interviews with six social workers who worked with these patients, were studied. A thematic analysis of interviews revealed that participants identified reliance on past experience and contextual/situational information as underpinning their decisions, demonstrating their commitment to person-in-environment perspectives. However, despite the availability of a repository of empirical evidence, no respondent made use of this. This study provided insight into health practitioners' sources of knowledge, highlighting gaps and areas for further exploration.

Theory of mind deficits partly mediate impaired social decision-making in schizophrenia.

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Liuqing; Li, Peifu; Mao, Haiying; Wang, Huiling; Shu, Chang; Bliksted, Vibeke; Zhou, Yuan

2017-05-05

Using paradigms from game theory, researchers have reported abnormal decision-making in social context in patients with schizophrenia. However, less is known about the underpinnings of the impairment. This study aimed to test whether theory of mind (ToM) deficits and/or neurocognitive dysfunctions mediate impaired social decision-making in patients with schizophrenia. We compared thirty-five patients with schizophrenia to thirty-eight matched healthy controls with regard to social decision-making using the mini Ultimatum Game (mini UG), a paradigm from game theory. Additionally, we assessed ToM using the Theory of Mind Picture Stories Task, a mental state attribution task, and assessed neurocognition using the Brief Assessment of Cognition in Schizophrenia. Mediation analyses were performed on the data. In contrast to the behavioral pattern of healthy controls in the mini UG, the patients with schizophrenia significantly accepted more disadvantageous offers and rejected more advantageous offers, and showed reduced sensitivity to the fairness-related context changes in the mini UG. Impaired ToM and neurocognition were also found in the patients. Mediation analyses indicated that ToM but not neurocognition partially mediated the group differences on the disadvantageous and advantageous offers in the mini UG. Patients with schizophrenia exhibited impaired social decision-making. This impairment can be partly explained by their ToM deficits rather than neurocognitive deficits. However, the exact nature of the ToM deficits that mediate impaired social decision-making needs to be identified in future.

A Common Mechanism Underlying Food Choice and Social Decisions.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ian Krajbich

2015-10-01

Full Text Available People make numerous decisions every day including perceptual decisions such as walking through a crowd, decisions over primary rewards such as what to eat, and social decisions that require balancing own and others' benefits. The unifying principles behind choices in various domains are, however, still not well understood. Mathematical models that describe choice behavior in specific contexts have provided important insights into the computations that may underlie decision making in the brain. However, a critical and largely unanswered question is whether these models generalize from one choice context to another. Here we show that a model adapted from the perceptual decision-making domain and estimated on choices over food rewards accurately predicts choices and reaction times in four independent sets of subjects making social decisions. The robustness of the model across domains provides behavioral evidence for a common decision-making process in perceptual, primary reward, and social decision making.

Effects of Age-related Differences in Empathy on Social Economic Decision-Making

Science.gov (United States)

Beadle, Janelle N.; Paradiso, Sergio; Kovach, Christopher; Polgreen, Linnea; Denburg, Natalie; Tranel, Daniel

2012-01-01

Background The ways in which aging affects social economic decision-making is a central issue in the psychology of aging. To examine age-related differences in social economic decision-making as a function of empathy, 80 healthy volunteers participated in the Repeated Fixed Opponent Ultimatum Game (UG-R). Previous economic decision making research has shown that in younger adults empathy is associated with prosocial behavior. The effects of empathy on older adult social economic decision-making are not well understood. Methods On each of 20 consecutive trials in the UG-R, one player (“Proposer”) splits ten dollars with another player (“Responder”) who chooses either to accept (whereby both receive the proposed division) or reject (whereby neither receives anything). Trait cognitive and emotional empathy were measured using the Interpersonal Reactivity Index. Results UG-R data were examined as a function of age and cognitive empathy. For unfair offers (i.e., offers less than $5), older Responders with high cognitive empathy showed less prosocial behavior and obtained greater payoffs than younger Responders with high cognitive empathy. Conclusions High levels of cognitive empathy may differentially affect economic decision making behavior in younger and older adults. For older adults, high cognitive empathy may be involved in obtaining high financial payoffs while for younger adults it may instead facilitate social relationships. PMID:22237008

Social influence and perceptual decision making: a diffusion model analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Germar, Markus; Schlemmer, Alexander; Krug, Kristine; Voss, Andreas; Mojzisch, Andreas

2014-02-01

Classic studies on social influence used simple perceptual decision-making tasks to examine how the opinions of others change individuals' judgments. Since then, one of the most fundamental questions in social psychology has been whether social influence can alter basic perceptual processes. To address this issue, we used a diffusion model analysis. Diffusion models provide a stochastic approach for separating the cognitive processes underlying speeded binary decisions. Following this approach, our study is the first to disentangle whether social influence on decision making is due to altering the uptake of available sensory information or due to shifting the decision criteria. In two experiments, we found consistent evidence for the idea that social influence alters the uptake of available sensory evidence. By contrast, participants did not adjust their decision criteria.

Minocycline Modulates Human Social Decision-Making: Possible Impact of Microglia on Personality-Oriented Social Behaviors

Science.gov (United States)

Tsuboi, Sho; Ishikawa, Katsuhiko; Hashiya, Kazuhide; Monji, Akira; Utsumi, Hideo; Kanba, Shigenobu

2012-01-01

Background Microglia, one of the glial cells, play important roles in various brain pathologies including psychiatric disorders. In addition, microglia have recently been proved to monitor synaptic reactions via direct-touching even in normal brain. Human microglia may modulate various social/mental functions, while microglial social/mental roles remain unresolved especially in healthy humans. There is no known drug with the specific effect of modulating microglia. Therefore, using minocycline, a tetracycline antibiotic and the most famous microglial inhibitor, is one of the best alternative approaches to clarify microglial functions on human social/mental activities. Methodology/Principal Findings We conducted a double-blind randomized trial of trust game, a monetary decision-making experiment, with ninety-nine human adult males who decided how much to trust an anonymous partner after a four-day administration of minocycline. Our previous pilot trial indicated a positive effect of minocycline, while the underlying mechanisms were not clarified. Therefore, in this trial with larger samples, we additionally measured the effects of anxiety and personality. The monetary score in trust game was significantly lower in the minocycline group. Interestingly, participants’ ways of decision-making were significantly shifted; cooperativeness, one component of personality, proved to be the main modulating factor of decision-making in the placebo group, on the other hand, the minocycline group was mainly modulated by state anxiety and trustworthiness. Conclusions/Significance Our results suggest that minocycline led to more situation-oriented decision-making, possibly by suppressing the effects of personality traits, and furthermore that personality and social behaviors might be modulated by microglia. Early-life events may activate human microglia, establish a certain neuro-synaptic connection, and this formation may determine each human’s personality and personality

Aging and Wisdom: Age-related changes in economic and social decision making

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Kenneth eLim

2015-06-01

Full Text Available World life expectancy is increasing and many populations will begin to age rapidly. The impeding prevalence of a greater number of older people living longer lives will have significant social and economic implications. It is important to understand how older people make economic and social decisions. Aging can be associated with a ‘phenomenon of decline’ and also greater wisdom. This paper seeks to examine the relationship between wisdom and aging. It reviews and connects the behavioral sciences and neuroscience literature on age differences in the following social and economic decision making domains that represent subcomponents of wisdom: 1 prosocial behavior in experimental economic games and competitive situations, 2 resolving social conflicts, 3 emotional homeostasis, 4 self-reflection, 5 dealing effectively with uncertainty in the domains of risk, ambiguity and intertemporal choice. Overall, we find a lack of research into how older people make economic and social decisions. There is, however, some evidence that older adults outperform young adults on certain subcomponents of wisdom, but the exact relationship between old age and each subcomponent remains unclear. A better understanding of these relationships holds the potential to alleviate a wide range of mental health problems, and has broad implications for social policies aimed at the elderly.

Surgical Consultation as Social Process: Implications for Shared Decision Making.

Science.gov (United States)

Clapp, Justin T; Arriaga, Alexander F; Murthy, Sushila; Raper, Steven E; Schwartz, J Sanford; Barg, Frances K; Fleisher, Lee A

2017-12-12

This qualitative study examines surgical consultation as a social process and assesses its alignment with assumptions of the shared decision-making (SDM) model. SDM stresses the importance of patient preferences and rigorous discussion of therapeutic risks/benefits based on these preferences. However, empirical studies have highlighted discrepancies between SDM and realities of surgical decision making. Qualitative research can inform understanding of the decision-making process and allow for granular assessment of the nature and causes of these discrepancies. We observed consultations between 3 general surgeons and 45 patients considering undergoing 1 of 2 preference-sensitive elective operations: (1) hernia repair, or (2) cholecystectomy. These patients and surgeons also participated in semi-structured interviews. By the time of the consultation, patients and surgeons were predisposed toward certain decisions by preceding events occurring elsewhere. During the visit, surgeons had differential ability to arbitrate surgical intervention and construct the severity of patients' conditions. These upstream dynamics frequently displaced the centrality of the risk/benefit-based consent discussion. The influence of events preceding consultation suggests that decision-making models should account for broader spatiotemporal spans. Given surgeons' authority to define patients' conditions and control service provision, SDM may be premised on an overestimation of patients' power to alter the course of decision making once in a specialist's office. Considering the subordinate role of the risk/benefit discussion in many surgical decisions, it will be important to study if and how the social process of decision making is altered by SDM-oriented decision aids that foreground this discussion.

How the mass media report social statistics: a case study concerning research on end-of-life decisions.

Science.gov (United States)

Seale, Clive

2010-09-01

The issue of whether it is right to be concerned about the accuracy with which mass media report social scientific research is explored through a detailed case study of media reporting of two surveys of UK doctors' end-of-life decision-making. Data include press releases, emails and field notes taken during periods of media interest supplemented by a collection of print and broadcast media reports. The case study contributes to existing knowledge about the ways in which mass media establish, exaggerate and otherwise distort the meaning of statistical findings. Journalists ignored findings that did not fit into existing media interest in the 'assisted dying' story and were subject to pressure from interest groups concerned to promote their own interpretations and viewpoints. Rogue statistics mutated as they were set loose from their original research report context and were 'laundered' as they passed from one media report to another. Yet media accounts of the research, fuelling an already heated public debate about ethical issues in end-of-life care, arguably acted as a conduit for introducing new considerations into this debate, such as the role played by sedation at the end of life, the extent to which euthanasia is practiced outside the law, and the extent of medical opposition to the legalisation of assisted dying. The expectation that accuracy and comprehensiveness should be the sole criteria for judging journalists' reports is, finally, considered to be unrealistic and it is argued that social scientists need to understand and adapted to the conditions under which mass media reporting operates if they are to succeed in introducing the findings of social research into public debates. Copyright (c) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Decision making process and factors contributing to research participation among general practitioners: A grounded theory study.

Science.gov (United States)

Tong, Seng Fah; Ng, Chirk Jenn; Lee, Verna Kar Mun; Lee, Ping Yein; Ismail, Irmi Zarina; Khoo, Ee Ming; Tahir, Noor Azizah; Idris, Iliza; Ismail, Mastura; Abdullah, Adina

2018-01-01

The participation of general practitioners (GPs) in primary care research is variable and often poor. We aimed to develop a substantive and empirical theoretical framework to explain GPs' decision-making process to participate in research. We used the grounded theory approach to construct a substantive theory to explain the decision-making process of GPs to participate in research activities. Five in-depth interviews and four focus group discussions were conducted among 21 GPs. Purposeful sampling followed by theoretical sampling were used to attempt saturation of the core category. Data were collected using semi-structured open-ended questions. Interviews were recorded, transcribed verbatim and checked prior to analysis. Open line-by-line coding followed by focus coding were used to arrive at a substantive theory. Memoing was used to help bring concepts to higher abstract levels. The GPs' decision to participate in research was attributed to their inner drive and appreciation for primary care research and their confidence in managing their social and research environments. The drive and appreciation for research motivated the GPs to undergo research training to enhance their research knowledge, skills and confidence. However, the critical step in the GPs' decision to participate in research was their ability to align their research agenda with priorities in their social environment, which included personal life goals, clinical practice and organisational culture. Perceived support for research, such as funding and technical expertise, facilitated the GPs' participation in research. In addition, prior experiences participating in research also influenced the GPs' confidence in taking part in future research. The key to GPs deciding to participate in research is whether the research agenda aligns with the priorities in their social environment. Therefore, research training is important, but should be included in further measures and should comply with GPs' social

Decision-making process to shut down, refurbish/modify, or decommission research reactors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stover, R.L.; Murphie, W.E.

1992-01-01

Most US research reactors were built more than 20 years ago and some more than 40 years ago. Many have undergone refurbishments and modifications to update their safety systems and experimental capabilities. But changing safety bases, social concerns, and budget constraints have required research reactor operators to continually make decisions to shut down or refurbish/modify their facilities. These decisions involve potential replacement of reactor equipment that has reached its lifetime limits. Changes in philosophy and operation of the reactors are also factors to be considered. In this paper, each of the four factors involved in the decision-making process are discussed in detail. Then, several examples from DOE research reactors in the United States are discussed. Finally, some general conclusions are given to aid in the decision-making process

Impaired social decision making in patients with major depressive disorder.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Yun; Zhou, Yuan; Li, Shu; Wang, Peng; Wu, Guo-Wei; Liu, Zhe-Ning

2014-01-23

Abnormal decision-making processes have been observed in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD). However, it is unresolved whether MDD patients show abnormalities in decision making in a social interaction context, in which decisions have actual influences on both the self-interests of the decision makers per se and those of their partners. Using a well-studied ultimatum game (UG), which is frequently used to investigate social interaction behavior, we examined whether MDD can be associated with abnormalities in social decision-making behavior by comparing the acceptance rates of MDD patients (N = 14) with those of normal controls (N = 19). The acceptance rates of the patients were lower than those of the normal controls. Additionally, unfair proposals were accepted at similar rates from computer partners and human partners in the MDD patients, unlike the acceptance rates in the normal controls, who were able to discriminatively treat unfair proposals from computer partners and human partners. Depressed patients show abnormal decision-making behavior in a social interaction context. Several possible explanations, such as increased sensitivity to fairness, negative emotional state and disturbed affective cognition, have been proposed to account for the abnormal social decision-making behavior in patients with MDD. This aberrant social decision-making behavior may provide a new perspective in the search to find biomarkers for the diagnosis and prognosis of MDD.

Computational Social Science and Ethical Decisions (Scienze Sociali Computazionali e Decisioni Etiche

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Vanessa Russo

2017-12-01

Full Text Available The development of the web, in the last 20 years, has opened new areas of analysis and new phenomena sociologically relevant for social research. However, the research work in digital space presents a series of ethical and deontological problems. In this context the members of the Association of Internet Researchers (AOIR have composed and edited a document with a series of ethical guidelines for social research. The work of the AOIR group not include Italian researchers; for this reason, the aim of this paper is propose a commented translation of the contents of Ethical decision-making and Internet research for make the ethical factor one of the main tools for computational sociology.

Affecting others: social appraisal and emotion contagion in everyday decision making.

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Parkinson, Brian; Simons, Gwenda

2009-08-01

In a diary study of interpersonal affect transfer, 41 participants reported on decisions involving other people over 3 weeks. Reported anxiety and excitement were reliably related to the perceived anxiety and excitement of another person who was present during decision making. Risk and importance appraisals partially mediated effects of other's anxiety on own anxiety as predicted by social appraisal theory. However, other's emotion remained a significant independent predictor of own emotion after controlling for appraisals, supporting the additional impact of more direct forms of affect transfer such as emotion contagion. Significant affect-transfer effects remained even after controlling for participants' perceptions of the other's emotion in addition to all measured appraisals, confirming that affect transfer does not require explicit registration of someone else's feelings. This research provides some of the clearest evidence for the operation of both social appraisal and automatic affect transfer in everyday social life.

A decision science approach for integrating social science in climate and energy solutions

Science.gov (United States)

Wong-Parodi, Gabrielle; Krishnamurti, Tamar; Davis, Alex; Schwartz, Daniel; Fischhoff, Baruch

2016-06-01

The social and behavioural sciences are critical for informing climate- and energy-related policies. We describe a decision science approach to applying those sciences. It has three stages: formal analysis of decisions, characterizing how well-informed actors should view them; descriptive research, examining how people actually behave in such circumstances; and interventions, informed by formal analysis and descriptive research, designed to create attractive options and help decision-makers choose among them. Each stage requires collaboration with technical experts (for example, climate scientists, geologists, power systems engineers and regulatory analysts), as well as continuing engagement with decision-makers. We illustrate the approach with examples from our own research in three domains related to mitigating climate change or adapting to its effects: preparing for sea-level rise, adopting smart grid technologies in homes, and investing in energy efficiency for office buildings. The decision science approach can facilitate creating climate- and energy-related policies that are behaviourally informed, realistic and respectful of the people whom they seek to aid.

The roles of social stress and decision-making in non-suicidal self-injury.

Science.gov (United States)

Schatten, Heather T; Andover, Margaret S; Armey, Michael F

2015-10-30

Research suggests that individuals with a history of non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) do not have difficulty generating alternatives to social problems but choose more negative solutions, suggesting a deficit in decision-making. However, studies report no significant differences in risky decision-making on a performance-based task among individuals with and without NSSI histories. A limitation of these studies is that decision-making was only assessed at baseline. As individuals with a history of NSSI typically self-injure when experiencing negative emotions, decision-making ability may become impaired specifically in the presence of these emotions. The aim of the current study was to investigate decision-making ability among individuals with and without NSSI histories both at baseline and following a distressing social exclusion task. We compared individuals with (n=48) and without (n=72) NSSI histories on the Iowa Gambling Task, a behavioral measure of risky decision-making, before and after exclusion or inclusion on the Cyberball task. Results indicated no significant group differences in performance regardless of condition. When participants were grouped by racial/ethnic minority status, results indicated that non-Hispanic White individuals with a history of NSSI exhibited deterioration in risky decision-making ability following social exclusion. Potential explanations for these findings and clinical implications are discussed. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

ADOLESCENT INFLUENCE ON FAMILY PURCHASING DECISIONS: RESEARCH IN TURKEY

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Cansu Tor Kadioglu

2017-06-01

Full Text Available The economic, social, and cultural changes in the modern world have made adolescents between the ages of 12 and 18 important influences on family purchasing decisions. No longer solely users of products and services, adolescents now influence purchasing decisions and have attracted the attention of marketers and researchers. The purpose of this study is to analyze changes in the influence of adolescents aged between 12 and 18 on family purchasing decisions depending on socio-economic and demographic factors. This study aims to determine whether changes occur regarding different product groups by establishing at which stage of the decision process adolescent influence predominates. To achieve this goal, a survey method was used as a data collection tool. Using the convenience sampling method, adolescents within the age range of 12 and 18 were interviewed in Mersin, Turkey. The research results indicate that the influence of adolescents on family purchasing decisions occurs at different stages and depends on the type of product to be purchased. The analysis further shows that adolescents’ age, gender, and number of siblings, and the family's total income, the father's level of education, and the mother's employment status also affect adolescent influence on family purchasing decisions.

Virtual Human Role Players for Studying Social Factors in Organizational Decision Making.

Science.gov (United States)

Khooshabeh, Peter; Lucas, Gale

2018-01-01

The cyber domain of military operations presents many challenges. A unique element is the social dynamic between cyber operators and their leadership because of the novel subject matter expertise involved in conducting technical cyber tasks, so there will be situations where senior leaders might have much less domain knowledge or no experience at all relative to the warfighters who report to them. Nonetheless, it will be important for junior cyber operators to convey convincing information relevant to a mission in order to persuade or influence a leader to make informed decisions. The power dynamic will make it difficult for the junior cyber operator to successfully influence a higher ranking leader. Here we present a perspective with a sketch for research paradigm(s) to study how different factors (normative vs. informational social influence, degree of transparency, and perceived appropriateness of making suggestions) might interact with differential social power dynamics of individuals in cyber decision-making contexts. Finally, we contextualize this theoretical perspective for the research paradigms in viable training technologies.

Virtual Human Role Players for Studying Social Factors in Organizational Decision Making

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Peter Khooshabeh

2018-03-01

Full Text Available The cyber domain of military operations presents many challenges. A unique element is the social dynamic between cyber operators and their leadership because of the novel subject matter expertise involved in conducting technical cyber tasks, so there will be situations where senior leaders might have much less domain knowledge or no experience at all relative to the warfighters who report to them. Nonetheless, it will be important for junior cyber operators to convey convincing information relevant to a mission in order to persuade or influence a leader to make informed decisions. The power dynamic will make it difficult for the junior cyber operator to successfully influence a higher ranking leader. Here we present a perspective with a sketch for research paradigm(s to study how different factors (normative vs. informational social influence, degree of transparency, and perceived appropriateness of making suggestions might interact with differential social power dynamics of individuals in cyber decision-making contexts. Finally, we contextualize this theoretical perspective for the research paradigms in viable training technologies.

Evaluating reproductive decisions as discrete choices under social influence.

Science.gov (United States)

Bentley, R Alexander; Brock, William A; Caiado, Camila C S; O'Brien, Michael J

2016-04-19

Discrete choice, coupled with social influence, plays a significant role in evolutionary studies of human fertility, as investigators explore how and why reproductive decisions are made. We have previously proposed that the relative magnitude of social influence can be compared against the transparency of pay-off, also known as the transparency of a decision, through a heuristic diagram that maps decision-making along two axes. The horizontal axis represents the degree to which an agent makes a decision individually versus one that is socially influenced, and the vertical axis represents the degree to which there is transparency in the pay-offs and risks associated with the decision the agent makes. Having previously parametrized the functions that underlie the diagram, we detail here how our estimation methods can be applied to real-world datasets concerning sexual health and contraception. © 2016 The Author(s).

Relevance of behavioral and social models to the study of consumer energy decision making and behavior

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Burns, B.A.

1980-11-01

This report reviews social and behavioral science models and techniques for their possible use in understanding and predicting consumer energy decision making and behaviors. A number of models and techniques have been developed that address different aspects of the decision process, use different theoretical bases and approaches, and have been aimed at different audiences. Three major areas of discussion were selected: (1) models of adaptation to social change, (2) decision making and choice, and (3) diffusion of innovation. Within these three areas, the contributions of psychologists, sociologists, economists, marketing researchers, and others were reviewed. Five primary components of the models were identified and compared. The components are: (1) situational characteristics, (2) product characteristics, (3) individual characteristics, (4) social influences, and (5) the interaction or decision rules. The explicit use of behavioral and social science models in energy decision-making and behavior studies has been limited. Examples are given of a small number of energy studies which applied and tested existing models in studying the adoption of energy conservation behaviors and technologies, and solar technology.

Shared decision making for psychiatric medication management: beyond the micro-social.

Science.gov (United States)

Morant, Nicola; Kaminskiy, Emma; Ramon, Shulamit

2016-10-01

Mental health care has lagged behind other health-care domains in developing and applying shared decision making (SDM) for treatment decisions. This is despite compatibilities with ideals of modern mental health care such as self-management and recovery-oriented practice, and growing policy-level interest. Psychiatric medication is a mainstay of mental health treatment, but there are known problems with prescribing practices, and service users report feeling uninvolved in medication decisions and concerned about adverse effects. SDM has potential to produce better tailoring of psychiatric medication to individuals' needs. This conceptual review argues that several aspects of mental health care that differ from other health-care contexts (e.g. forms of coercion, questions about service users' insight and disempowerment) may impact on processes and possibilities for SDM. It is therefore problematic to uncritically import models of SDM developed in other health-care contexts. We argue that decision making for psychiatric medication is better understood in a broader way that moves beyond the micro-social focus of a medical consultation. Contextualizing specific medication-related consultations within longer term relationships, and broader service systems enables recognition of the multiple processes, actors and agendas that shape how psychiatric medication is prescribed, managed and used, and which may facilitate or impede SDM. A broad conceptualization of decision making for psychiatric medication that moves beyond the micro-social can account for why SDM in this domain remains a rarity. It has both conceptual and practical utility for evaluating research evidence, identifying future research priorities and highlighting fruitful ways of developing and implementing SDM in mental health care. © 2015 The Authors Health Expectations Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Avoidant decision making in social anxiety: the interaction of angry faces and emotional responses

Science.gov (United States)

Pittig, Andre; Pawlikowski, Mirko; Craske, Michelle G.; Alpers, Georg W.

2014-01-01

Recent research indicates that angry facial expressions are preferentially processed and may facilitate automatic avoidance response, especially in socially anxious individuals. However, few studies have examined whether this bias also expresses itself in more complex cognitive processes and behavior such as decision making. We recently introduced a variation of the Iowa Gambling Task which allowed us to document the influence of task-irrelevant emotional cues on rational decision making. The present study used a modified gambling task to investigate the impact of angry facial expressions on decision making in 38 individuals with a wide range of social anxiety. Participants were to find out which choices were (dis-) advantageous to maximize overall gain. To create a decision conflict between approach of reward and avoidance of fear-relevant angry faces, advantageous choices were associated with angry facial expressions, whereas disadvantageous choices were associated with happy facial expressions. Results indicated that higher social avoidance predicted less advantageous decisions in the beginning of the task, i.e., when contingencies were still uncertain. Interactions with specific skin conductance responses further clarified that this initial avoidance only occurred in combination with elevated responses before choosing an angry facial expressions. In addition, an interaction between high trait anxiety and elevated responses to early losses predicted faster learning of an advantageous strategy. These effects were independent of intelligence, general risky decision-making, self-reported state anxiety, and depression. Thus, socially avoidant individuals who respond emotionally to angry facial expressions are more likely to show avoidance of these faces under uncertainty. This novel laboratory paradigm may be an appropriate analog for central features of social anxiety. PMID:25324792

Avoidant decision making in social anxiety: the interaction of angry faces and emotional responses.

Science.gov (United States)

Pittig, Andre; Pawlikowski, Mirko; Craske, Michelle G; Alpers, Georg W

2014-01-01

Recent research indicates that angry facial expressions are preferentially processed and may facilitate automatic avoidance response, especially in socially anxious individuals. However, few studies have examined whether this bias also expresses itself in more complex cognitive processes and behavior such as decision making. We recently introduced a variation of the Iowa Gambling Task which allowed us to document the influence of task-irrelevant emotional cues on rational decision making. The present study used a modified gambling task to investigate the impact of angry facial expressions on decision making in 38 individuals with a wide range of social anxiety. Participants were to find out which choices were (dis-) advantageous to maximize overall gain. To create a decision conflict between approach of reward and avoidance of fear-relevant angry faces, advantageous choices were associated with angry facial expressions, whereas disadvantageous choices were associated with happy facial expressions. Results indicated that higher social avoidance predicted less advantageous decisions in the beginning of the task, i.e., when contingencies were still uncertain. Interactions with specific skin conductance responses further clarified that this initial avoidance only occurred in combination with elevated responses before choosing an angry facial expressions. In addition, an interaction between high trait anxiety and elevated responses to early losses predicted faster learning of an advantageous strategy. These effects were independent of intelligence, general risky decision-making, self-reported state anxiety, and depression. Thus, socially avoidant individuals who respond emotionally to angry facial expressions are more likely to show avoidance of these faces under uncertainty. This novel laboratory paradigm may be an appropriate analog for central features of social anxiety.

Avoidant decision making in social anxiety: The interaction of angry faces and emotional responses

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andre ePittig

2014-09-01

Full Text Available Recent research indicates that angry facial expressions are preferentially processed and may facilitate automatic avoidance response, especially in socially anxious individuals. However, few studies have examined whether this bias also expresses itself in more complex cognitive processes and behavior such as decision making. We recently introduced a variation of the Iowa Gambling Task which allowed us to document the influence of task-irrelevant emotional cues on rational decision making. The present study used a modified gambling task to investigate the impact of angry facial expressions on decision making in 38 individuals with a wide range of social anxiety. Participants were to find out which choices were (dis- advantageous to maximize overall gain. To create a decision conflict between approach of rewards and avoidance of fear-relevant angry faces, advantageous choices were associated with angry facial expressions, whereas disadvantageous choices were associated with happy facial expressions. Results indicated that higher social avoidance predicted less advantageous decisions in the beginning of the task, i.e., when contingencies were still uncertain. Interactions with specific skin conductance responses further clarified that this initial avoidance only occurred in combination with elevated responses before choosing an angry facial expressions. In addition, an interaction between high trait anxiety and elevated responses to early losses predicted faster learning of an advantageous strategy. These effects were independent of intelligence, general risky decision-making, self-reported state anxiety, and depression. Thus, socially avoidant individuals who respond emotionally to angry facial expressions are more likely to show avoidance of these faces under uncertainty. This novel laboratory paradigm may be an appropriate analog for central features of social anxiety.

Impaired social decision making in patients with major depressive disorder.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Hui-Jun; Sun, Delin; Lee, Tatia M C

2012-07-01

Research on how depression influences social decision making has been scarce. This study investigated how people with depression make decisions in an interpersonal trust-reciprocity game. Fifty female patients diagnosed with major depressive disorders (MDDs) and 49 healthy women participated in this study. The experiment was conducted on a one-to-one basis. Participants were asked to play the role of a trustee responsible for investing money given to them by an anonymous female investor playing on another computer station. In each trial, the investor would send to a participant (the trustee) a request for a certain percentage of the appreciated investment (repayment proportion). Since only the participant knew the exact amount of the appreciated investment, she could decide to pay more (altruistic act), the same, or less (deceptive act) than the requested amount. The participant's money acquired in the trial would be confiscated if her deceptive act was caught. The frequency of deceptive or altruistic decisions and relative monetary gain in each decision choice were examined. People with depression made fewer deceptive and fewer altruistic responses than healthy controls in all conditions. Moreover, the specific behavioral pattern presented by people with depression was modulated by the task factors, including the risk of deception detection and others' intentions (benevolence vs. malevolence). Findings of this study contribute to furthering our understanding of the specific pattern of social behavioral changes associated with depression.

The Sustainable and Healthy Communities Research Program: The Environmental Protection Agency’s Research Approach to Assisting Community Decision-Making

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kevin Summers

2014-01-01

Full Text Available A sustainable world is one in which human needs are met equitably and without sacrificing the ability of future generations to meet their needs on environmental, economic, and social fronts. The United States (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Sustainable and Healthy Communities Research Program aims to assist communities (large and small to make decisions for their long term sustainability with respect to the three pillars of human well-being—environmental, economic and social—and are tempered in a way that ensures social equity, environmental justice and intergenerational equity. The primary tool being developed by the Sustainable and Healthy Communities (SHC research program to enhance sustainable decision making is called TRIO (Total Resources Impacts and Outcomes. The conceptual development of this tool and the SHC program attributes are discussed.

Impact of nutrition on social decision making.

Science.gov (United States)

Strang, Sabrina; Hoeber, Christina; Uhl, Olaf; Koletzko, Berthold; Münte, Thomas F; Lehnert, Hendrik; Dolan, Raymond J; Schmid, Sebastian M; Park, Soyoung Q

2017-06-20

Food intake is essential for maintaining homeostasis, which is necessary for survival in all species. However, food intake also impacts multiple biochemical processes that influence our behavior. Here, we investigate the causal relationship between macronutrient composition, its bodily biochemical impact, and a modulation of human social decision making. Across two studies, we show that breakfasts with different macronutrient compositions modulated human social behavior. Breakfasts with a high-carbohydrate/protein ratio increased social punishment behavior in response to norm violations compared with that in response to a low carbohydrate/protein meal. We show that these macronutrient-induced behavioral changes in social decision making are causally related to a lowering of plasma tyrosine levels. The findings indicate that, in a limited sense, "we are what we eat" and provide a perspective on a nutrition-driven modulation of cognition. The findings have implications for education, economics, and public policy, and emphasize that the importance of a balanced diet may extend beyond the mere physical benefits of adequate nutrition.

Empathy as a neuropsychological heuristic in social decision-making.

Science.gov (United States)

Ramsøy, Thomas Zoëga; Skov, Martin; Macoveanu, Julian; Siebner, Hartwig R; Fosgaard, Toke Reinholt

2015-04-01

Decision-making in social dilemmas is suggested to rely on three factors: the valuation of a choice option, the relative judgment of two or more choice alternatives, and individual factors affecting the ease at which judgments and decisions are made. Here, we test whether empathy-an individual's relative ability to understand others' thoughts, emotions, and intentions-acts as an individual factor that alleviates conflict resolution in social decision-making. We test this by using a framed, iterated prisoners' dilemma (PD) game in two settings. In a behavioral experiment, we find that individual differences in empathic ability (the Empathy Quotient, EQ) were related to lower response times in the PD game, suggesting that empathy is related to faster social choices, independent of whether they choose to cooperate or defect. In a subsequent neuroimaging experiment, using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we find that EQ is positively related to individual differences in the engagement of brain structures implemented in mentalizing, including the precuneus, superior temporal sulcus, and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. These results suggest that empathy is related to the individual difference in the engagement of mentalizing in social dilemmas and that this is related to the efficiency of decision-making in social dilemmas.

Social Networks and Decision Making for Clandestine Unsafe ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

AJRH Managing Editor

networks play in decision making for and facilitation of clandestine abortions. It was a mixed ... Keywords: abortion decisions, social influence, health seeking behavior. Résumé ..... Special attention is given to young women who depend more ...

Evaluating the effects that existing instruction on responsible conduct of research has on ethical decision making.

Science.gov (United States)

Antes, Alison L; Wang, Xiaoqian; Mumford, Michael D; Brown, Ryan P; Connelly, Shane; Devenport, Lynn D

2010-03-01

To examine the effects that existing courses on the responsible conduct of research (RCR) have on ethical decision making by assessing the ethicality of decisions made in response to ethical problems and the underlying processes involved in ethical decision making. These processes included how an individual thinks through ethical problems (i.e., meta-cognitive reasoning strategies) and the emphasis placed on social dimensions of ethical problems (i.e., social-behavioral responses). In 2005-2007, recruitment announcements were made, stating that a nationwide, online study was being conducted to examine the impact of RCR instruction on the ethical decision making of scientists. Recruitment yielded contacts with over 200 RCR faculty at 21 research universities and medical schools; 40 (20%) RCR instructors enrolled their courses in the current study. From those courses, 173 participants completed an ethical decision-making measure. A mixed pattern of effects emerged. The ethicality of decisions did not improve as a result of RCR instruction and even decreased for decisions pertaining to business aspects of research, such as contract bidding. Course participants improved on some meta-cognitive reasoning strategies, such as awareness of the situation and consideration of personal motivations, but declined for seeking help and considering others' perspectives. Participants also increased their endorsement of detrimental social-behavioral responses, such as deception, retaliation, and avoidance of personal responsibility. These findings indicated that RCR instruction may not be as effective as intended and, in fact, may even be harmful. Harmful effects might result if instruction leads students to overstress avoidance of ethical problems, be overconfident in their ability to handle ethical problems, or overemphasize their ethical nature. Future research must examine these and other possible obstacles to effective RCR instruction.

The neural bases underlying social risk perception in purchase decisions.

Science.gov (United States)

Yokoyama, Ryoichi; Nozawa, Takayuki; Sugiura, Motoaki; Yomogida, Yukihito; Takeuchi, Hikaru; Akimoto, Yoritaka; Shibuya, Satoru; Kawashima, Ryuta

2014-05-01

Social considerations significantly influence daily purchase decisions, and the perception of social risk (i.e., the anticipated disapproval of others) is crucial in dissuading consumers from making purchases. However, the neural basis for consumers' perception of social risk remains undiscovered, and this novel study clarifies the relevant neural processes. A total of 26 volunteers were scanned while they evaluated purchase intention of products (purchase intention task) and their anticipation of others' disapproval for possessing a product (social risk task), using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The fMRI data from the purchase intention task was used to identify the brain region associated with perception of social risk during purchase decision making by using subjective social risk ratings for a parametric modulation analysis. Furthermore, we aimed to explore if there was a difference between participants' purchase decisions and their explicit evaluations of social risk, with reference to the neural activity associated with social risk perception. For this, subjective social risk ratings were used for a parametric modulation analysis on fMRI data from the social risk task. Analysis of the purchase intention task revealed a significant positive correlation between ratings of social risk and activity in the anterior insula, an area of the brain that is known as part of the emotion-related network. Analysis of the social risk task revealed a significant positive correlation between ratings of social risk and activity in the temporal parietal junction and the medial prefrontal cortex, which are known as theory-of-mind regions. Our results suggest that the anterior insula processes consumers' social risk implicitly to prompt consumers not to buy socially unacceptable products, whereas ToM-related regions process such risk explicitly in considering the anticipated disapproval of others. These findings may prove helpful in understanding the mental

The Neural Basis of Social Influence in a Dictator Decision

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhenyu Wei

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Humans tend to reduce inequitable distributions. Previous neuroimaging studies have shown that inequitable decisions are related to brain regions that associated with negative emotion and signaling conflict. In the highly complex human social environment, our opinions and behaviors can be affected by social information. In current study, we used a modified dictator game to investigate the effect of social influence on making an equitable decision. We found that the choices of participants in present task was influenced by the choices of peers. However, participants’ decisions were influenced by equitable rather than inequitable group choices. fMRI results showed that brain regions that related to norm violation and social conflict were related to the inequitable social influence. The neural responses in the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, rostral cingulate zone, and insula predicted subsequent conforming behavior in individuals. Additionally, psychophysiological interaction analysis revealed that the interconnectivity between the dorsal striatum and insula was elevated in advantageous inequity influence versus no-social influence conditions. We found decreased functional connectivity between the medial prefrontal cortex and insula, supplementary motor area, posterior cingulate gyrus and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex in the disadvantageous inequity influence versus no-social influence conditions. This suggests that a disadvantageous inequity influence may decrease the functional connectivity among brain regions that are related to reward processes. Thus, the neural mechanisms underlying social influence in an equitable decision may be similar to those implicated in social norms and reward processing.

The Neural Basis of Social Influence in a Dictator Decision.

Science.gov (United States)

Wei, Zhenyu; Zhao, Zhiying; Zheng, Yong

2017-01-01

Humans tend to reduce inequitable distributions. Previous neuroimaging studies have shown that inequitable decisions are related to brain regions that associated with negative emotion and signaling conflict. In the highly complex human social environment, our opinions and behaviors can be affected by social information. In current study, we used a modified dictator game to investigate the effect of social influence on making an equitable decision. We found that the choices of participants in present task was influenced by the choices of peers. However, participants' decisions were influenced by equitable rather than inequitable group choices. fMRI results showed that brain regions that related to norm violation and social conflict were related to the inequitable social influence. The neural responses in the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, rostral cingulate zone, and insula predicted subsequent conforming behavior in individuals. Additionally, psychophysiological interaction analysis revealed that the interconnectivity between the dorsal striatum and insula was elevated in advantageous inequity influence versus no-social influence conditions. We found decreased functional connectivity between the medial prefrontal cortex and insula, supplementary motor area, posterior cingulate gyrus and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex in the disadvantageous inequity influence versus no-social influence conditions. This suggests that a disadvantageous inequity influence may decrease the functional connectivity among brain regions that are related to reward processes. Thus, the neural mechanisms underlying social influence in an equitable decision may be similar to those implicated in social norms and reward processing.

Mapping social-ecological vulnerability to inform local decision making.

Science.gov (United States)

Thiault, Lauric; Marshall, Paul; Gelcich, Stefan; Collin, Antoine; Chlous, Frédérique; Claudet, Joachim

2018-04-01

An overarching challenge of natural resource management and biodiversity conservation is that relationships between people and nature are difficult to integrate into tools that can effectively guide decision making. Social-ecological vulnerability offers a valuable framework for identifying and understanding important social-ecological linkages, and the implications of dependencies and other feedback loops in the system. Unfortunately, its implementation at local scales has hitherto been limited due at least in part to the lack of operational tools for spatial representation of social-ecological vulnerability. We developed a method to map social-ecological vulnerability based on information on human-nature dependencies and ecosystem services at local scales. We applied our method to the small-scale fishery of Moorea, French Polynesia, by combining spatially explicit indicators of exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity of both the resource (i.e., vulnerability of reef fish assemblages to fishing) and resource users (i.e., vulnerability of fishing households to the loss of fishing opportunity). Our results revealed that both social and ecological vulnerabilities varied considerably through space and highlighted areas where sources of vulnerability were high for both social and ecological subsystems (i.e., social-ecological vulnerability hotspots) and thus of high priority for management intervention. Our approach can be used to inform decisions about where biodiversity conservation strategies are likely to be more effective and how social impacts from policy decisions can be minimized. It provides a new perspective on human-nature linkages that can help guide sustainability management at local scales; delivers insights distinct from those provided by emphasis on a single vulnerability component (e.g., exposure); and demonstrates the feasibility and value of operationalizing the social-ecological vulnerability framework for policy, planning, and participatory

Unionism, the Decision-Making Process and Social Security Reform in Brazil

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sidney Jard da Silva

2016-08-01

Full Text Available Despite the vast literature on social security reform there are relatively few studies that analyze the participation of representatives coming from the union movement in the decision-making process. This article aims to fill part of that gap in Brazilian academic production on unionism and public policy. In situations in which unionist representatives support the ruling party, does the union bloc tend to defend the specific interests of their base of social representation or to follow the guidance of the party coalition of which they are part? The study addresses this research problemby analyzing the participation of the union bloc in the decision-making process of a social security reform, Proposal of Amendment to the Constitution, Article 40 (PEC 40, during the first term of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's government. The main findings of the study confirm the thesis of party predominance. In an institutional political scenario in which party discipline prevails, unionist representatives and senators tend to follow the guidance of the party coalition even under contrary pressures from their electoral base. The research sheds light on the relations involved between the Executive and Legislative branches, in the process of changing public policy, in which a government considered to be allied imposes losses for specific sectors of the union base, notably the active and inactive public servants of the federal government, states and municipalities.

The role of social cognition in decision making

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Frith, Christopher; Singer, Tania

2008-01-01

Successful decision making in a social setting depends on our ability to understand the intentions, emotions and beliefs of others. The mirror system allows us to understand other people's motor actions and action intentions. 'Empathy' allows us to understand and share emotions and sensations......, the magnitude of the brain activity in these shared networks is modulated by contextual appraisal of the situation or the other person. An important feature of decision making in a social setting concerns the interaction of reason and emotion. We consider four domains where such interactions occur: our sense...... of fairness, altruistic punishment, trust and framing effects. In these cases, social motivations and emotions compete with each other, while higher-level control processes modulate the interactions of these low-level biases....

How are people with dementia involved in care-planning and decision-making? An Irish social work perspective.

Science.gov (United States)

Donnelly, Sarah; Begley, Emer; O'Brien, Marita

2018-01-01

In recent years, there have been national and international policy advances around capacity and decision-making and an apparent burgeoning rights-based approach to the issue, all of which have the potential to impact on the experience for people with dementia in Ireland. There is little evidence however on whether these policies and principles are being translated into practice and whether traditional paternalistic approaches to decision-making are being challenged. To gain insight into current practice, research was undertaken with social workers working with older people in Ireland; reporting on the involvement of people living with dementia in care-planning processes. Data collection included a mixed method approach; an on-line survey of social workers from across the country who reported on their open caseload during the month of June 2015 (N = 38 social workers reporting on the experiences of 788 older people, of which 39% of older people had a formal diagnosis of dementia). In addition, semi-structured telephone interviews were conducted with social workers working in the nine Community Health Organisation areas (N = 21). Findings show that people with dementia were high users of social work services, accounting for 44.5% of the client group. Social workers reported that there were no standardised approaches to how Health and Social Care Professionals involved people with dementia in care planning and decision-making. Overall, people with dementia were more likely to be excluded from decision-making processes due to (i) assumptions that they lacked capacity, (ii) family members preferences that the person was not involved, (iii) communication difficulties, (iv) time constraints, (v) little or no opportunity given or (vi) the person delegated decision-making to others. Good practices were identified through multidisciplinary team approaches and formal care planning meetings. This research highlights variability in how people with dementia participate

Insights from triangulation of two purchase choice elicitation methods to predict social decision making in healthcare.

Science.gov (United States)

Whitty, Jennifer A; Rundle-Thiele, Sharyn R; Scuffham, Paul A

2012-03-01

Discrete choice experiments (DCEs) and the Juster scale are accepted methods for the prediction of individual purchase probabilities. Nevertheless, these methods have seldom been applied to a social decision-making context. To gain an overview of social decisions for a decision-making population through data triangulation, these two methods were used to understand purchase probability in a social decision-making context. We report an exploratory social decision-making study of pharmaceutical subsidy in Australia. A DCE and selected Juster scale profiles were presented to current and past members of the Australian Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee and its Economic Subcommittee. Across 66 observations derived from 11 respondents for 6 different pharmaceutical profiles, there was a small overall median difference of 0.024 in the predicted probability of public subsidy (p = 0.003), with the Juster scale predicting the higher likelihood. While consistency was observed at the extremes of the probability scale, the funding probability differed over the mid-range of profiles. There was larger variability in the DCE than Juster predictions within each individual respondent, suggesting the DCE is better able to discriminate between profiles. However, large variation was observed between individuals in the Juster scale but not DCE predictions. It is important to use multiple methods to obtain a complete picture of the probability of purchase or public subsidy in a social decision-making context until further research can elaborate on our findings. This exploratory analysis supports the suggestion that the mixed logit model, which was used for the DCE analysis, may fail to adequately account for preference heterogeneity in some contexts.

International Conference on Data Science & Social Research

CERN Document Server

Amaturo, Enrica; Grassia, Maria; Aragona, Biagio; Marino, Marina

2017-01-01

This edited volume lays the groundwork for Social Data Science, addressing epistemological issues, methods, technologies, software and applications of data science in the social sciences. It presents data science techniques for the collection, analysis and use of both online and offline new (big) data in social research and related applications. Among others, the individual contributions cover topics like social media, learning analytics, clustering, statistical literacy, recurrence analysis and network analysis. Data science is a multidisciplinary approach based mainly on the methods of statistics and computer science, and its aim is to develop appropriate methodologies for forecasting and decision-making in response to an increasingly complex reality often characterized by large amounts of data (big data) of various types (numeric, ordinal and nominal variables, symbolic data, texts, images, data streams, multi-way data, social networks etc.) and from diverse sources. This book presents selected papers from...

Social support plays a role in the attitude that people have towards taking an active role in medical decision-making.

OpenAIRE

Brabers, A.E.M.; Jong, J.D. de; Groenewegen, P.P.; Dijk, L. van

2016-01-01

Background: There is a growing emphasis towards including patients in medical decision-making. However, not all patients are actively involved in such decisions. Research has so far focused mainly on the influence of patient characteristics on preferences for active involvement. However, it can be argued that a patient’s social context has to be taken into account as well, because social norms and resources affect behaviour. This study aims to examine the role of social resources, in the form...

Perceptions of disease risk: from social construction of subjective judgments to rational decision making.

Science.gov (United States)

McRoberts, N; Hall, C; Madden, L V; Hughes, G

2011-06-01

Many factors influence how people form risk perceptions. Farmers' perceptions of risk and levels of risk aversion impact on decision-making about such things as technology adoption and disease management practices. Irrespective of the underlying factors that affect risk perceptions, those perceptions can be summarized by variables capturing impact and uncertainty components of risk. We discuss a new framework that has the subjective probability of disease and the cost of decision errors as its central features, which might allow a better integration of social science and epidemiology, to the benefit of plant disease management. By focusing on the probability and cost (or impact) dimensions of risk, the framework integrates research from the social sciences, economics, decision theory, and epidemiology. In particular, we review some useful properties of expected regret and skill value, two measures of expected cost that are particularly useful in the evaluation of decision tools. We highlight decision-theoretic constraints on the usefulness of decision tools that may partly explain cases of failure of adoption. We extend this analysis by considering information-theoretic criteria that link model complexity and relative performance and which might explain why users reject forecasters that impose even moderate increases in the complexity of decision making despite improvements in performance or accept very simple decision tools that have relatively poor performance.

Socially disadvantaged women's views of barriers to feeling safe to engage in decision-making in maternity care.

Science.gov (United States)

Ebert, Lyn; Bellchambers, Helen; Ferguson, Alison; Browne, Jenny

2014-06-01

Although midwifery literature suggests that woman-centred care can improve the birthing experiences of women and birth outcomes for women and babies, recent research has identified challenges in supporting socially disadvantaged women to engage in decision-making regarding care options in order to attain a sense of control within their maternity care encounters. The objective of this paper is to provide an understanding of the issues that affect the socially disadvantaged woman's ability to actively engage in decision-making processes relevant to her care. The qualitative approach known as Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was used to gain an understanding of maternity care encounters as experienced by each of the following cohorts: socially disadvantaged women, registered midwives and student midwives. This paper focuses specifically on data from participating socially disadvantaged women that relate to the elements of woman-centred care-choice and control and their understandings of capacity to engage in their maternity care encounters. Socially disadvantaged women participants did not feel safe to engage in discussions regarding choice or to seek control within their maternity care encounters. Situations such as inadequate contextualised information, perceived risks in not conforming to routine procedures, and the actions and reactions of midwives when these women did seek choice or control resulted in a silent compliance. This response was interpreted as a consequence of women's decisions to accept responsibility for their baby's wellbeing by delegating health care decision-making to the health care professional. This research found that socially disadvantaged women want to engage in their care. However without adequate information and facilitation of choice by midwives, they believe they are outsiders to the maternity care culture and decision-making processes. Consequently, they delegate responsibility for maternity care choices to those who do belong

Social Science Research Related to Wildfire Management: An Overview of Recent Findings and Future Research Needs

Science.gov (United States)

Sarah M. McCaffrey; Eric Toman; Melanie Stidham; Bruce. Shindler

2012-01-01

As with other aspects of natural-resource management, the approach to managing wildland fires has evolved over time as scientific understanding has advanced and the broader context surrounding management decisions has changed. Prior to 2000 the primary focus of most fire research was on the physical and ecological aspects of fire; social science research was limited to...

Beyond expected utility: rethinking behavioral decision research.

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Frisch, D; Clemen, R T

1994-07-01

Much research in psychology has evaluated the quality of people's decisions by comparisons with subjective expected utility (SEU) theory. This article suggests that typical arguments made for the status of utility theory as normative do not justify its use by psychologists as a standard by which to evaluate decision quality. It is argued that to evaluate decision quality, researchers need to identify those decision processes that tend to lead to desirable outcomes. It is contended that a good decision-making process must be concerned with how (and whether) decision makers evaluate potential consequences of decisions, the extent to which they accurately identify all relevant consequences, and the way in which they make final choices. Research that bears on these issues is reviewed.

Inconsistency and social decision making in patients with Borderline Personality Disorder.

Science.gov (United States)

Preuss, Nora; Brändle, Laura S; Hager, Oliver M; Haynes, Melanie; Fischbacher, Urs; Hasler, Gregor

2016-09-30

Inconsistent social behavior is a core psychopathological feature of borderline personality disorder. The goal of the present study was to examine inconsistency in social decision-making using simple economic social experiments. We investigated the decisions of 17 female patients with BPD, 24 patients with major depressive disorder (MDD), and 36 healthy controls in three single shot economic experiments measuring trust, cooperation, and punishment. BPD severity was assessed using the Zanarini Rating Scale for BPD. Investments across identical one-shot trust and punishment games were significantly more inconsistent in BPD patients than in controls. Such inconsistencies were only found in the social risk conditions of the trust and punishment conditions but not in the non-social control conditions. MDD patients did not show such inconsistencies. Furthermore, social support was negatively correlated with inconsistent decision-making in the trust and punishment game, which underscores the clinical relevance of this finding. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Radiant research prospects? A review of nuclear waste issues in social science research

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bergquist, Ann-Kristin

2007-05-01

The present report has been put together on behalf of KASAM and constitutes a review of social science research and literature that been produced on the nuclear waste issue in Sweden, with focus on recent research. The aim with the investigation has been to map the scope of and the direction of the independent research about nuclear waste in Sweden, in relation to the research that has been initiated and financed by the stakeholders that are participating in the decision-making process in the nuclear waste issue. Another aim has been to point out areas that have not been taken into consideration

Conceptualizing ethnicity in alcohol and drug research: Epidemiology meets social theory.

Science.gov (United States)

Hunt, Geoffrey; Kolind, Torsten; Antin, Tamar

2018-01-01

Since the 1990s, social scientists have rejected notions of ethnicity as something static and discrete, instead highlighting the context-dependent and fluid nature of multiple identities. In spite of these developments, researchers within the substance use fields continue to assess ethnic group categories in ways that suggest little critical reflection in terms of the validity of the measurements themselves, nor the social, bureaucratic, and political decisions shaping standard measures of ethnicity. This paper highlights these considerations, while also acknowledging the role of socially-delineated ethnic categorizations in documenting health inequities and social injustices. We call on researchers in alcohol and drugs research to critically appraise their use of ethnic categorizations, querying how to best measure ethnicity within their own studies in ways that are justified beyond simplified explanations of social convention and that "do no harm" in terms of perpetuating racism and obscuring the roots causes of social and health problems related to alcohol and drugs.

Attitudes towards poverty, organizations, ethics and morals: Israeli social workers' shared decision making.

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Levin, Lia; Schwartz-Tayri, Talia

2017-06-01

Partnerships between service users and social workers are complex in nature and can be driven by both personal and contextual circumstances. This study sought to explore the relationship between social workers' involvement in shared decision making with service users, their attitudes towards service users in poverty, moral standards and health and social care organizations' policies towards shared decision making. Based on the responses of 225 licensed social workers from health and social care agencies in the public, private and third sectors in Israel, path analysis was used to test a hypothesized model. Structural attributions for poverty contributed to attitudes towards people who live in poverty, which led to shared decision making. Also, organizational support in shared decision making, and professional moral identity, contributed to ethical behaviour which led to shared decision making. The results of this analysis revealed that shared decision making may be a scion of branched roots planted in the relationship between ethics, organizations and Stigma. © 2016 The Authors. Health Expectations Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Decision-making in social contexts in youth with ADHD

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ma, I.; Lambregts-Rommelse, N.N.J.; Buitelaar, J.K.; Cillessen, A.H.N.; Scheres, A.P.J.

2017-01-01

This study examined reward-related decision-making in children and adolescents with ADHD in a social context, using economic games. We furthermore examined the role of individual differences in reward-related decision-making, specifically, the roles of reward sensitivity and prosocial skills.

Effect of perceived intimacy on social decision-making in patients with schizophrenia.

Science.gov (United States)

Park, Sunyoung; Shin, Jung Eun; Han, Kiwan; Shin, Yu-Bin; Kim, Jae-Jin

2014-01-01

Social dysfunctions including emotional perception and social decision-making are common in patients with schizophrenia. The aim of this study was to determine the level of intimacy formation and the effect of intimacy on social decision in patients with schizophrenia using virtual reality tasks, which simulate complicated social situations. Twenty-seven patients with schizophrenia and 30 healthy controls performed the 2 virtual social tasks: the intimacy task and the social decision task. The first one was to estimate repeatedly how intimate participants felt with each avatar after listening to what avatars said. The second one was to decide whether or not participants accepted the requests of easy, medium, or hard difficulty by the intimate or distant avatars. During the intimacy task, the intimacy rating scores for intimate avatars were not significantly different between groups, but those for distant avatars were significantly higher in patients than in controls. During the social decision task, the difference in the acceptance rate between intimate and distant avatars was significantly smaller in patients than in controls. In detail, a significant group difference in the acceptance rate was found only for the hard requests, but not for the easy and medium difficulty requests. These results suggest that patients with schizophrenia have a deficit in emotional perception and social decision-making. Various factors such as a peculiarity of emotional deficits, motivational deficits, concreteness, and paranoid tendency may contribute to these abnormalities.

Researchers' attitudes towards the use of social networking sites

OpenAIRE

Greifeneder, E.; Pontis, S.; Blandford, A. E.; Attalla, H.; Neal, D.; Schlebbe, K.

2018-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to better understand why many researchers do not have a profile on social networking sites (SNS), and whether this is the result of conscious decisions. / Design/methodology/approach: Thematic analysis was conducted on a large qualitative data set from researchers across three levels of seniority, four countries and four disciplines to explore their attitudes toward and experiences with SNS. / Findings: The study found much greater scepticism toward adopt...

Moral Development and Social Worker Ethical Decision-Making

Science.gov (United States)

Groessl, Joan

2013-01-01

This study examined both the moral development levels using the Defining Issues Test-2 (DIT--2) and ethical decision-making using the Professional Opinion Scale (POS) of social workers who provide field supervision to students within accredited social work programs in Wisconsin. Using the moral development theory of Kohlberg (1981) which defined…

The Impact of Depression on Social Economic Decision Making

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Harlé, K.M.; Allen, J.J.B.; Sanfey, A.G.

2010-01-01

Although the role of emotion in social economic decision making has been increasingly recognized, the impact of mood disorders, such as depression, on such decisions has been surprisingly neglected. To address this gap, 15 depressed and 23 nondepressed individuals completed a well-known economic

Personality in a group living species : social information, collective movements and social decision-making

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kurvers, R.H.J.M.

2011-01-01

Animals need to make constant decisions throughout their lives and to make optimal decisions individuals rely on information. Information can be obtained in two distinct ways: personal or social information. The current paradigm in the information theory use in animal ecology assumes that the

Social decision-making for high consequence, low probability occurrences. Final report 1975-77

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1978-10-01

Part I reviews the two main classes of criteria proposed for social decisions: (1) market mechanisms and cost-benefit analysis and (2) the approaches of Rawls and Buchanan to arrive at a social consensus. The authors propose an eight element criteria for evaluating a social decision process capable of application in judicial, legislative, academic, and managerial situations. Parts II and III are case studies of different decision procedures. The former inspects the administrative law procedure using the U.S. EPA chlordane/heptachlor suspension hearings for example. The legal procedure is concluded to be a forward-looking decision process in an effort to increase social acceptability of the outcome. The latter examines the disjointed decision procedure concerning the disposal of nuclear waste. In both cases the eight criteria proposed in Part I nevertheless provide a useful tool for evaluating the process

Neural dynamics of social tie formation in economic decision-making.

Science.gov (United States)

Bault, Nadège; Pelloux, Benjamin; Fahrenfort, Johannes J; Ridderinkhof, K Richard; van Winden, Frans

2015-06-01

The disposition for prosocial conduct, which contributes to cooperation as arising during social interaction, requires cortical network dynamics responsive to the development of social ties, or care about the interests of specific interaction partners. Here, we formulate a dynamic computational model that accurately predicted how tie formation, driven by the interaction history, influences decisions to contribute in a public good game. We used model-driven functional MRI to test the hypothesis that brain regions key to social interactions keep track of dynamics in tie strength. Activation in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and posterior cingulate cortex tracked the individual's public good contributions. Activation in the bilateral posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS), and temporo-parietal junction was modulated parametrically by the dynamically developing social tie-as estimated by our model-supporting a role of these regions in social tie formation. Activity in these two regions further reflected inter-individual differences in tie persistence and sensitivity to behavior of the interaction partner. Functional connectivity between pSTS and mPFC activations indicated that the representation of social ties is integrated in the decision process. These data reveal the brain mechanisms underlying the integration of interaction dynamics into a social tie representation which in turn influenced the individual's prosocial decisions. © The Author (2014). Published by Oxford University Press. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Confined to a tokenistic status: Social scientists in leadership roles in a national health research funding agency.

Science.gov (United States)

Albert, Mathieu; Laberge, Suzanne

2017-07-01

The idea of interdisciplinarity has been taken up by academic and governmental organisations around the world and enacted through science policies, funding programs and higher education institutions. In Canada, interdisciplinarity led to a major transformation in health research funding. In 2000, the federal government closed the Medical Research Council (MRC) and created the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). From the outset, CIHR's vision and goals were innovative, as it sought to include the social sciences within its purview alongside more traditional health research sectors. The extent to which it has been successful in this endeavour, however, remains unknown. The aim of our study was to examine how CIHR's intentions to foster inclusiveness and cooperation across disciplines were implemented in the agency's own organisational structure. We focused on social scientists' representation on committees and among decision-makers between 2000 and 2015, one of the key mandates of CIHR being to include the social sciences within its remit and support research in this area. We examined the composition of the Governing Council, the Institute Scientific Directors, the Chairs of the College of Reviewers, and two International Review Panels invited by CIHR. We targeted these committees and decision-makers since they hold the power to influence the field of Canadian health research through the decisions they make. Our findings show that, while CIHR was created with the mandate to support the entire spectrum of health-related research-including the social sciences-this call for inclusiveness has not yet been materialized in the agency's organisational structure. Social scientists, as well as researchers from neighbouring disciplines such as social epidemiology, health promotion and the humanities, are still confined to low levels of representation within CIHR's highest echelons. This imbalance limits social scientists' input into health research in Canada and

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.

Mitigating Circumstances in Death Penalty Decisions: Using Evidence-Based Research to Inform Social Work Practice in Capital Trials

Science.gov (United States)

Schroeder, Julie; Guin, Cecile C.; Pogue, Rene; Bordelon, Danna

2006-01-01

Providing an effective defense for individuals charged with capital crimes requires a diligent, thorough investigation by a mitigation specialist. However, research suggests that mitigation often plays a small role in the decision for life. Jurors often make sentencing decisions prematurely, basing those decisions on their personal reactions to…

No Change in Social Decision-Making Following Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation of the Right Temporoparietal Junction

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Laura F. Blair-West

2018-04-01

Full Text Available The right temporoparietal junction (rTPJ is thought to play an important role in social cognition and pro-social decision-making. One way to explore this link is through the use of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS, a non-invasive brain stimulation method that is able to modulate cortical activity. The aim of this research was therefore to determine whether anodal tDCS to the rTPJ altered response to a social decision-making task. In this study, 34 healthy volunteers participated in a single-center, double-blinded, sham-controlled crossover design. Subjects received 20 min of active/sham anodal tDCS to the rTPJ before undertaking the Ultimatum Game (UG, a neuroeconomics paradigm in which participants are forced to choose between monetary reward and punishing an opponent's unfairness. Contrary to expectations, we found no significant difference between anodal and sham stimulation with regard to either the total number or reaction time of unfair offer rejections in the UG. This study draws attention to methodological issues in tDCS studies of the rTPJ, and highlights the complexity of social decision-making in the UG.

No Change in Social Decision-Making Following Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation of the Right Temporoparietal Junction.

Science.gov (United States)

Blair-West, Laura F; Hoy, Kate E; Hall, Phillip J; Fitzgerald, Paul B; Fitzgibbon, Bernadette M

2018-01-01

The right temporoparietal junction (rTPJ) is thought to play an important role in social cognition and pro-social decision-making. One way to explore this link is through the use of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), a non-invasive brain stimulation method that is able to modulate cortical activity. The aim of this research was therefore to determine whether anodal tDCS to the rTPJ altered response to a social decision-making task. In this study, 34 healthy volunteers participated in a single-center, double-blinded, sham-controlled crossover design. Subjects received 20 min of active/sham anodal tDCS to the rTPJ before undertaking the Ultimatum Game (UG), a neuroeconomics paradigm in which participants are forced to choose between monetary reward and punishing an opponent's unfairness. Contrary to expectations, we found no significant difference between anodal and sham stimulation with regard to either the total number or reaction time of unfair offer rejections in the UG. This study draws attention to methodological issues in tDCS studies of the rTPJ, and highlights the complexity of social decision-making in the UG.

Empathy as a neuropsychological heuristic in social decision-making

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ramsøy, Thomas Z.; Skov, Martin; Macoveanu, Julian

2015-01-01

Decision-making in social dilemmas is suggested to rely on three factors: the valuation of a choice option, the relative judgment of two or more choice alternatives, and individual factors affecting the ease at which judgments and decisions are made. Here, we test whether empathy—an individual’s ...

Lenses for Framing Decisions: Undergraduates' Decision Making about Stem Cell Research

Science.gov (United States)

Halverson, Kristy Lynn; Siegel, Marcelle A.; Freyermuth, Sharyn K.

2009-01-01

Decision making is influenced by multiple factors, especially when approaching controversial socio-scientific issues, such as stem cell research. In the present study, we used qualitative data from 132 college student papers in a biotechnology course to investigate how students made decisions about stem cell research issues. Students indicated…

Private and public decisions in social dilemmas

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Houser, Daniel; Montinari, Natalia; Piovesan, Marco

2012-01-01

impulse for several minutes in order to benefit others. In Public Condition children make decisions in public view of the group of other participants, while in Private Condition they have the possibility to decide privately. We find that children aged 9 and higher are better able to resist selfish......Are selfish impulses less likely to be pursued when decisions are publicly observable? Is the presence of peers a potential solution to social dilemmas? In this paper we report data on the self-control decisions of children aged 6 to 11 who participated in games that require one to resist a selfish...... impulses in public environments. Younger children, however, display no such effect. Further, we find self-control substantially impacted by group size. When decisions are public, self-control is better in larger groups, while in private condition the opposite holds....

Using social-network research to improve outcomes in natural resource management.

Science.gov (United States)

Groce, Julie E; Farrelly, Megan A; Jorgensen, Bradley S; Cook, Carly N

2018-05-08

The conservation and management of natural resources operates within social-ecological systems, in which resource users are embedded in social and environmental contexts that influence their management decisions. Characterizing social networks of resource users has received growing interest as an approach for understanding social influences on decision-making, and social network analysis (SNA) has emerged as a useful technique to explore these relationships. In this review, we synthesize how SNA has been used in studies of natural resource management. To present our findings, we developed a theory of change which outlines the influence between social networks and social processes (e.g., interactions between individuals), which in turn influence social outcomes (e.g., decisions or actions) that impact environmental outcomes (e.g., improved condition). Our review of 85 studies demonstrate frequent use of descriptive methods to characterize social processes, yet few studies considered social outcomes or examined network structure relative to environmental outcomes. Only 4 studies assessed network interventions intended to impact relevant processes or outcomes. The heterogeneity in case studies, methods, and analyses preclude general lessons. Thus, we offer a typology of appropriate measures for each stage of our theory of change, to structure and progress our learning about the role of social networks in achieving environmental outcomes. In addition, we suggest shifts in research foci towards intervention studies, to aid in understanding causality and inform the design of conservation initiatives. We also identify the need for developing clearer justification and guidance around the proliferation of network measures. The use of SNA in natural resource management is expanding rapidly, thus now is the ideal time for the conservation community to build a more rigorous evidence base to demonstrate the extent to which social networks can play a role in achieving desired

Understanding the role of social capital in adoption decisions

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hunecke, Claudia; Engler, Alejandra; Jara-Rojas, Roberto; Poortvliet, Marijn

2017-01-01

Recently, social capital has gained importance in explaining technology adoption decisions by farmers. In this paper, we examine the impact of social capital on the adoption of irrigation technology and irrigation scheduling among wine producers in Central Chile. We propose three hypotheses: that

Despite Best Intentions: A Critical Analysis of Social Justice Leadership and Decision Making

Science.gov (United States)

DeMatthews, David E.; Mungal, Angus Shiva; Carrola, Paul A.

2015-01-01

The purpose of this article is to explore the relationship between social justice leadership and organizational decision making in order to make recommendations for how principals can make more socially just decisions in difficult school contexts. This article begins with a discussion of social justice leadership, facets and theories associated…

Why we stay with our social partners: Neural mechanisms of stay/leave decision-making.

Science.gov (United States)

Heijne, Amber; Rossi, Filippo; Sanfey, Alan G

2017-09-03

How do we decide to keep interacting (e.g., stay) with a social partner or to switch (e.g., leave) to another? This paper investigated the neural mechanisms of stay/leave decision-making. We hypothesized that these decisions fit within a framework of value-based decision-making, and explored four potential mechanisms underlying a hypothesized bias to stay. Twenty-six participants underwent functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) while completing social and nonsocial versions of a stay/leave decision-making task. On each trial, participants chose between four alternative options, after which they received a monetary reward. Crucially, in the social condition, reward magnitude was ostensibly determined by the generosity of social partners, whereas in the nonsocial condition, reward amounts were ostensibly determined in a pre-programmed manner. Results demonstrated that participants were more likely to stay with options of relatively high expected value, with these values updated through Reinforcement Learning mechanisms and represented neurally within ventromedial prefrontal cortex. Moreover, we demonstrated that greater brain activity in ventromedial prefrontal cortex, caudate nucleus, and septo-hypothalamic regions for social versus nonsocial decisions to stay may underlie a bias towards staying with social partners in particular. These findings complement existing social psychological theories by investigating the neural mechanisms of actual stay/leave decisions.

Catastrophic risk : Social influences on insurance decisions

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Krawczyk, Michal; Trautmann, Stefan; van de Kuilen, Gijs

We study behavioral patterns of insurance demand for low-probability large-loss events (catastrophic losses). Individual patterns of belief formation and risk attitude that were suggested in the behavioral decisions literature emerge robustly in the current set of insurance choices. However, social

A Social Constructivism Model of Ethical Decision Making in Counseling.

Science.gov (United States)

Cottone, R. Rocco

2001-01-01

Examines social constructivism as an intellectual movement in the mental health field that directs a social consensual interpretation of reality. Presents a social constructivism approach to counseling which redefines the ethical decision-making process as an interactive rather than individual or intrapsychic process. Explores how the process…

The participation of parents of disabled children and young people in health and social care decisions.

Science.gov (United States)

McNeilly, P; Macdonald, G; Kelly, B

2017-11-01

There is widespread acceptance that parents should be fully involved in decisions about their son or daughter's health and social care. This is reflected in partnership models of practice as well as local and national policy across the United Kingdom. Previous research indicates that parents' experiences of decision making with professionals are mixed. The research reported here aimed to explore parents' experiences of participating in decisions made with professionals about their disabled son or daughter's care. This research used mixed methods including survey methodology and qualitative in depth interviews. The research was conducted in one Trust in Northern Ireland. Participants were 77 parents of children and young people with a range of impairments aged between 3 and 28 years. Three themes emerged from the data: taking the lead, not knowing, and getting the balance right. Parents wanted to be involved in all aspects of decision making. Although parents reported many examples of good practice, there were also times when they did not feel listened to or did not have enough information to inform decisions. Parents in this research recounted positive as well as negative experiences. Parents took on a protective role when decisions were made about their son or daughter and at times, reported the need to "fight" for their child. The provision of information remains problematic for these families, and at times, this created a barrier to parents' participation in decision making. Partnership approaches to care that recognize parents' expertise are particularly important to parents when decisions are made with professionals. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Decision model incorporating utility theory and measurement of social values applied to nuclear waste management

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Litchfield, J.W.; Hansen, J.V.; Beck, L.C.

1975-07-01

A generalized computer-based decision analysis model was developed and tested. Several alternative concepts for ultimate disposal have already been developed; however, significant research is still required before any of these can be implemented. To make a choice based on technical estimates of the costs, short-term safety, long-term safety, and accident detection and recovery requires estimating the relative importance of each of these factors or attributes. These relative importance estimates primarily involve social values and therefore vary from one individual to the next. The approach used was to sample various public groups to determine the relative importance of each of the factors to the public. These estimates of importance weights were combined in a decision analysis model with estimates, furnished by technical experts, of the degree to which each alternative concept achieves each of the criteria. This model then integrates the two separate and unique sources of information and provides the decision maker with information as to the preferences and concerns of the public as well as the technical areas within each concept which need further research. The model can rank the alternatives using sampled public opinion and techno-economic data. This model provides a decision maker with a structured approach to subdividing complex alternatives into a set of more easily considered attributes, measuring the technical performance of each alternative relative to each attribute, estimating relevant social values, and assimilating quantitative information in a rational manner to estimate total value for each alternative. Because of the explicit nature of this decision analysis, the decision maker can select a specific alternative supported by clear documentation and justification for his assumptions and estimates. (U.S.)

A Decision-Making Model of Social Shopping in Franchising: Assessing Collaboration Strategies

OpenAIRE

In Lee; Choong-Kwon Lee; Sangjin Yoo; Moo-Jin Choi

2015-01-01

Our paper develops a decision-making model of social shopping in franchising to understand impacts of various collaboration strategies on profits of a social intermediary, a franchisor, and a franchisee. Three decision variables are considered to make a daily deal promotion in a manner that results in optimal profits: the social intermediary's advertising expense, the franchisee's service quality expense, and the franchisor's financial assistance to the franchisee. The analysis shows that whi...

The Potential of Digital Technologies for Transforming Informed Consent Practices with Children and Young People in Social Research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sarah Parsons

2015-12-01

Full Text Available How children and young people understand and exercise their autonomy, engagement and decision-making is fundamental to learning how to become active and engaged citizens, and to be socially included. Digital technologies are increasingly an integral part of children’s everyday lives and, therefore, valuable tools for supporting social inclusion. This paper discusses how digital technologies might positively support autonomy, engagement and decision-making through the lens of informed consent practices within social research. Current research practices are dominated by paper-based methods for obtaining informed consent which could be exclusionary for children and young people generally, and children with additional learning and support needs in particular. Digital technologies (laptops, PCs, tablet devices, smartphones offer the potential to support accessibility and understanding of ideas and activities, as well as engagement with and autonomy in decision-making and participation. This paper explores this potential as well as the challenges that researchers may face in this context.

Social provocation modulates decision making and feedback processing: Examining the trajectory of development in adolescent participants

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hannah L. Pincham

2015-10-01

Full Text Available Increasingly, research is turning to the ways in which social context impacts decision making and feedback processing in adolescents. The current study recorded electroencephalography to examine the trajectory of development across adolescence, with a focus on how social context impacts cognition and behaviour. To that end, younger (10–12 years and older (14–16 years adolescents played a modified Taylor Aggression Paradigm against two virtual opponents: a low-provoker and a high-provoker. During the task's decision phase (where participants select punishment for their opponent, we examined two event-related potentials: the N2 and the late positive potential (LPP. During the outcome phase (where participants experience win or loss feedback, we measured the feedback related negativity (FRN. Although N2 amplitudes did not vary with provocation, LPP amplitudes were enhanced under high provocation for the younger group, suggesting that emotional reactivity during the decision phase was heightened for early adolescents. During the outcome phase, the FRN was reduced following win outcomes under high provocation for both groups, suggesting that a highly provocative social opponent may influence the reward response. Collectively, the data argue that social context is an important factor modulating neural responses in adolescent behavioural and brain development.

Agent-based Modelling of Social Emotional Decision Making in Emergency Situations

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bosse, T.; Hoogendoorn, M.; Klein, M.C.A.; Sharpanskykh, A.; Treur, J.; van der Wal, C.N.; van Wissen, A.

2013-01-01

Social decision making under stressful circumstances may involve strong emotions and contagion from others. Recent developments in Social Neuroscience have revealed neural mechanisms by which social contagion of cognitive and emotional states can be realised. In this paper, based on these

Decision Strategy Research and Policy Support

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hardeman, F.

2002-01-01

The objective of SCK-CEN's R and D programme on decision strategies and policy support is: (1) to investigate the decision making process, with all its relevant dimensions, in the context of radiation protection or other nuclear issues (with particular emphasis on emergency preparedness); (2) to disseminate knowledge on decision making and nuclear emergencies, including the organisation of training courses, the contribution to manuals or guidelines, the participation in working groups or discussion forums; (3) to assist the authorities and the industry on any topic related to radiation protection and to make expertise and infrastructure available; (4) to participate in and contribute to initiatives related to social sciences and their implementation into SCK-CEN; (5) to co-ordinate efforts of SCK-CEN related to medical applications of ionising radiation. Principal achievements in 2001 are described

Integration of Social Aspects in Decision Support, Based on Life Cycle Thinking

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pere Fullana-i-Palmer

2011-03-01

Full Text Available Recently increasing attention has been paid to complementing environmental Life Cycle Assessment (LCA with social aspects. The paper discusses the selection of social impacts and indicators from existing frameworks like Social Life Cycle Assessment (SLCA and Social Impact Assessment (SIA. Two ongoing case studies, addressing sustainability assessment within decision support, were considered: (1 Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM in Indonesia; and (2 Integrated Packaging Waste Management in Spain and Portugal (FENIX. The focus was put on social impacts occurring due to decisions within these systems, such as choice of technologies, practices or suppliers. Thus, decision makers—here understood as intended users of the studies’ results—are not consumers that buy (or do not buy a product, such as in recent SLCA case-studies, but mainly institutions that decide about the design of the water or packaging waste management system. Therefore, in the FENIX project, a list of social impacts identified from literature was sent to the intended users to be ranked according to their priorities. Finally, the paper discusses to what extent the entire life cycle is reflected in SLCA impact categories and indicators, and explains how both life-cycle and on-site-related social impacts were chosen to be assessed. However, not all indicators in the two projects will assess all stages of the life cycle, because of their varying relevance in the different stages, data availability and practical interest of decision makers.

The Influence of Emotion Regulation on Social Interactive Decision-Making

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Wout, M. van 't; Chang, L.J.; Sanfey, A.G.

2010-01-01

Although adequate emotion regulation is considered to be essential in every day life, it is especially important in social interactions. However, the question as to what extent two different regulation strategies are effective in changing decision-making in a consequential socially interactive

Influence of social networks on the purchase decisions of university students

OpenAIRE

Gutiérrez Flórez, Lorena Estefania; Correa Escobar, Maria Isabel; Henao Restrepo, Andrés; Arango Botero, Diana; Valencia Arias, Alejandro

2017-01-01

[EN] The emergence of social networks has not just had a great impact in the way companies promote their products and services, but also in the decision-making process of consumers regarding their purchases. Using the application and extension of the models proposed by Okazaki et al. (2012), the present study tries to understand the factors that motivate the use of social networks in the purchase decisions of young university students, for this a self-administered questionnaires were applied ...

Neuroeconomic measures of social decision-making across the lifespan.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhu, Lusha; Walsh, Daniel; Hsu, Ming

2012-01-01

Social and decision-making deficits are often the first symptoms of a striking number of neurodegenerative disorders associated with aging. These includes not only disorders that directly impact dopamine and basal ganglia, such as Parkinson's disorder, but also degeneration in which multiple neural pathways are affected over the course of normal aging. The impact of such deficits can be dramatic, as in cases of financial fraud, which disproportionately affect the elderly. Unlike memory and motor impairments, however, which are readily recognized as symptoms of more serious underlying neurological conditions, social and decision-making deficits often do not elicit comparable concern in the elderly. Furthermore, few behavioral measures exist to quantify these deficits, due in part to our limited knowledge of the core cognitive components or their neurobiological substrates. Here we probe age-related differences in decision-making using a game theory paradigm previously shown to dissociate contributions of basal ganglia and prefrontal regions to behavior. Combined with computational modeling, we provide evidence that age-related changes in elderly participants are driven primarily by an over-reliance in trial-and-error reinforcement learning that does not take into account the strategic context, which may underlie cognitive deficits that contribute to social vulnerability in elderly individuals.

Who influences white working-class boys’ higher education decision-making process? the role of social networks

OpenAIRE

McLellan, Ruth

2013-01-01

The study illuminates the influence of social networks on the HE decision-making process of white working-class boys. The impact of gender, race and social class social characteristics on white working-class boys HE decision-making is assessed. In addition, how white working-class boys define and discuss the membership of their social network, together with the phenomenon of social network influence on white working-class boys’ decision-making about HE at Key Stage 4.The expansive literature ...

[Advances in research on cognitive function related to temporal lobe epilepsy: focus on social cognitive function].

Science.gov (United States)

Yamano, Mitsuhiko; Akamatsu, Naoki; Tsuji, Sadatoshi

2012-09-01

Research on cognitive function related to temporal lobe epilepsy has thus far focused on memory, language, and general intelligence. Recently, however, the concept of social cognitive function has been proposed in the field of neuropsychology. Social cognitive function refers collectively to the higher cognitive functions that are essential in our social lives, and its representative aspects are facial expression recognition and decision-making. Emotional processing centered around the amygdala is thought to play a key role in the neural mechanism of this function. We conducted a study on the social cognitive function (decision-making) of patients with temporal lobe epilepsy, and found that this function is reduced in these patients, and that the right amygdalo-hippocampal complexes play an important role. In order to ensure the best possible treatment for epilepsy patients, it is necessary not only to make an accurate diagnosis and provide appropriate treatment, but also to provide support for enabling a smoother social life from the perspective of social cognitive function. Future research developments in this field are expected to contribute to total management in medical care for epilepsy patients.

Decision Strategy Research and Policy Support

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hardeman, F

2002-04-01

The objective of SCK-CEN's R and D programme on decision strategies and policy support is: (1) to investigate the decision making process, with all its relevant dimensions, in the context of radiation protection or other nuclear issues (with particular emphasis on emergency preparedness); (2) to disseminate knowledge on decision making and nuclear emergencies, including the organisation of training courses, the contribution to manuals or guidelines, the participation in working groups or discussion forums; (3) to assist the authorities and the industry on any topic related to radiation protection and to make expertise and infrastructure available; (4) to participate in and contribute to initiatives related to social sciences and their implementation into SCK-CEN; (5) to co-ordinate efforts of SCK-CEN related to medical applications of ionising radiation. Principal achievements in 2001 are described.

Socially weighted linear composites in environmental decision making

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hebert, J.A.; Lindell, M.K.; Maynard, W.S.; Nealey, S.M.; Burnham, J.B.

1975-11-01

A method for combining social values and technical information, for environmental decision making for the selection of a site for a nuclear power plant is described. Eight factors are identified by which six different thermal power plant site and design options could be evaluated. A method is described by which the factors could be weighted by social values and the weighted factor scores could be summed for each option. These weighted sums can then be compared with each other in order to determine the best choice from both a social and a technical point of view

New Developments in Developmental Research on Social Information Processing and Antisocial Behavior

Science.gov (United States)

Fontaine, Reid Griffith

2010-01-01

The Special Section on developmental research on social information processing (SIP) and antisocial behavior is here introduced. Following a brief history of SIP theory, comments on several themes--measurement and assessment, attributional and interpretational style, response evaluation and decision, and the relation between emotion and SIP--that…

An agent-based model for integrated emotion regulation and contagion in socially affected decision making

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Manzoor, A.; Treur, J.

2015-01-01

This paper addresses an agent-based computational social agent model for the integration of emotion regulation, emotion contagion and decision making in a social context. The model integrates emotion-related valuing, in order to analyse the role of emotions in socially affected decision making. The

An agent-based model for integrated emotion regulation and contagion in socially affected decision making

OpenAIRE

Manzoor, A.; Treur, J.

2015-01-01

This paper addresses an agent-based computational social agent model for the integration of emotion regulation, emotion contagion and decision making in a social context. The model integrates emotion-related valuing, in order to analyse the role of emotions in socially affected decision making. The agent-based model is illustrated for the interaction between two persons. Simulation experiments for different kinds of scenarios help to understand how decisions can be affected by regulating the ...

Comparing social factors affecting recommender decisions in online and educational social network

Science.gov (United States)

MartÍn, Estefanía; Hernán-Losada, Isidoro; Haya, Pablo A.

2016-01-01

In the educational context, there is an increasing interest in learning networks. Recommender systems (RSs) can play an important role in achieving educational objectives. Although we can find many papers focused on recommendation techniques and algorithms, in general, less attention has been dedicated to social factors that influence the recommendation process. This process could be improved if we had a deeper understanding of the social factors that influence the quality or validity of a suggestion made by the RS. This work elucidates and analyses the social factors that influence the design and decision-making process of RSs. We conducted a survey in which 126 undergraduate students were asked to extract which are the main factors for improving suggestions when they are interacting with an Online Social Network (OSN) or in an Educational Social Network (ESN). The results show that different factors have to be considered depending on the type of network.

Social Networks as Information Source for the Purchase Decision Process

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Camila Leoni Nascimento

2014-12-01

Full Text Available The social networks have caused changes in the consumption habits and in the ways of relationship among companies and consumers, emerging a more demanding and informed consumer. In this paper it is aimed to assess the social networks as a source of information for the purchase of goods or services. In the study it was applied a research of exploratory nature through the survey method, conducted through personal interviews using a questionnaire with closed-ended questions. The sample of non-probabilistic type was comprised of 200 individuals from a higher education institution of São Paulo State hinterland. The survey data were analyzed descriptively. Overall, the results showed the use of social networks as a source of information search, in which the main motive is the practicality. The results corroborate the studies of Kotler and Keller (2006 when they state that the consumer seeks information on social networks to help him in the purchase, as Edelman and Hirshberg (2006 when approaching the user confidence in their friends’ opinion. For future works it is recommended to check what strategies and in what ways the companies could work in order to provide more detailed data to Internet users, aiming to support them in the decision

Decision Strategy Research

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hardeman, F.

2001-01-01

The objective of SCK-CEN's R and D programme on decision strategies is: (1) to study the decision-making process in a nuclear context with particular emphasis on emergency preparedness; (2) to disseminate knowledge on nuclear emergency preparedness including courses in the field of off-site emergency response to nuclear accidents; (3) to co-ordinate efforts within SCK-CEN in the field of medical applications of radiation; (4) to support projects and reflexion groups related to interdisciplinary research on the no-technical aspects of radiation protection or nuclear apllications; (5) to give advice and support to authorities and the industry on any topic related to radiation protection and to make expertise and infrastructure available. Main focus of the programme is on the surveillance of the territory and emergency preparedness. Principal achievements in 2000 are described

Social anxiety, acute social stress, and reward parameters interact to predict risky decision-making among adolescents.

Science.gov (United States)

Richards, Jessica M; Patel, Nilam; Daniele-Zegarelli, Teresa; MacPherson, Laura; Lejuez, C W; Ernst, Monique

2015-01-01

Risk-taking behavior increases during adolescence, leading to potentially disastrous consequences. Social anxiety emerges in adolescence and may compound risk-taking propensity, particularly during stress and when reward potential is high. However, the manner in which social anxiety, stress, and reward parameters interact to impact adolescent risk-taking is unclear. To clarify this question, a community sample of 35 adolescents (15-18yo), characterized as having high or low social anxiety, participated in a study over two separate days, during each of which they were exposed to either a social stress or a control condition, while performing a risky decision-making task. The task manipulated, orthogonally, reward magnitude and probability across trials. Three findings emerged. First, reward magnitude had a greater impact on the rate of risky decisions in high social anxiety (HSA) than low social anxiety (LSA) adolescents. Second, reaction times (RTs) were similar during the social stress and the control conditions for the HSA group, whereas the LSA group's RTs differed between conditions. Third, HSA adolescents showed the longest RTs on the most negative trials. These findings suggest that risk-taking in adolescents is modulated by context and reward parameters differentially as a function of social anxiety. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Social Anxiety, Acute Social Stress, and Reward Parameters Interact to Predict Risky Decision-Making among Adolescents

Science.gov (United States)

Richards, Jessica M.; Patel, Nilam; Daniele, Teresa; MacPherson, Laura; Lejuez, C.W.; Ernst, Monique

2014-01-01

Risk-taking behavior increases during adolescence, leading to potentially disastrous consequences. Social anxiety emerges in adolescence and may compound risk-taking propensity, particularly during stress and when reward potential is high. However, the manner in which social anxiety, stress, and reward parameters interact to impact adolescent risk-taking is unclear. To clarify this question, a community sample of 35 adolescents (15 to 18 yo), characterized as having high or low social anxiety, participated in a 2-day study, during each of which they were exposed to either a social stress or a control condition, while performing a risky decision-making task. The task manipulated, orthogonally, reward magnitude and probability across trials. Three findings emerged. First, reward magnitude had a greater impact on the rate of risky decisions in high social anxiety (HSA) than low social anxiety (LSA) adolescents. Second, reaction times (RTs) were similar during the social stress and the control conditions for the HSA group, whereas the LSA group’s RTs differed between conditions. Third, HSA adolescents showed the longest RTs on the most negative trials. These findings suggest that risk-taking in adolescents is modulated by context and reward parameters differentially as a function of social anxiety. PMID:25465884

[The decision of an obese woman to have bariatric surgery: the social phenomenology].

Science.gov (United States)

Oliveira, Deíse Moura de; Merighi, Miriam Aparecida Barbosa; Jesus, Maria Cristina Pinto de

2014-12-01

To understand the process by which an obese woman decides to have bariatric surgery. A qualitative survey with a social phenomenology approach, carried out in 2012, with 12 women, using the phenomenological interview. A woman bases the decision to have the surgery on: the inappropriateness of her eating habits; a physical appearance that is incompatible with an appearance that is standardized by society; the social prejudice that she has to live with; the limitations imposed by obesity; and her lack of success with previous attempts to lose weight. Outcomes that she hopes for from the decision to have the surgery include: restoring her health; achieving social inclusion; and entering the labor market. This study allows one to reflect that prescriptive actions do not give a satisfactory response to a complexity of the subjective questions involved in the decision to have surgery for obesity. For this, what is called for is a program of work based on an interdisciplinary approach, and training that gives value to the bio-psycho-social aspects involved in a decision in favor of surgical treatment.

The neural substrates of social influence on decision making.

Science.gov (United States)

Tomlin, Damon; Nedic, Andrea; Prentice, Deborah A; Holmes, Philip; Cohen, Jonathan D

2013-01-01

The mechanisms that govern human learning and decision making under uncertainty have been the focus of intense behavioral and, more recently, neuroscientific investigation. Substantial progress has been made in building models of the processes involved, and identifying underlying neural mechanisms using simple, two-alternative forced choice decision tasks. However, less attention has been given to how social information influences these processes, and the neural systems that mediate this influence. Here we sought to address these questions by using tasks similar to ones that have been used to study individual decision making behavior, and adding conditions in which participants were given trial-by-trial information about the performance of other individuals (their choices and/or their rewards) simultaneously playing the same tasks. We asked two questions: How does such information about the behavior of others influence performance in otherwise simple decision tasks, and what neural systems mediate this influence? We found that bilateral insula exhibited a parametric relationship to the degree of misalignment of the individual's performance with those of others in the group. Furthermore, activity in the bilateral insula significantly predicted participants' subsequent choices to align their behavior with others in the group when they were misaligned either in their choices (independent of success) or their degree of success (independent of specific choices). These findings add to the growing body of empirical data suggesting that the insula participates in an important way in social information processing and decision making.

The effect of partner-directed emotion in social exchange decision-making.

Science.gov (United States)

Eimontaite, Iveta; Nicolle, Antoinette; Schindler, Igor; Goel, Vinod

2013-01-01

Despite the prevalence of studies examining economic decision-making as a purely rational phenomenon, common sense suggests that emotions affect our decision-making particularly in a social context. To explore the influence of emotions on economic decision-making, we manipulated opponent-directed emotions prior to engaging participants in two social exchange decision-making games (the Trust Game and the Prisoner's Dilemma). Participants played both games with three different (fictional) partners and their tendency to defect was measured. Prior to playing each game, participants exchanged handwritten "essays" with their partners, and subsequently exchanged evaluations of each essay. The essays and evaluations, read by the participant, were designed to induce either anger, sympathy, or a neutral emotional response toward the confederate with whom they would then play the social exchange games. Galvanic skin conductance level (SCL) showed enhanced physiological arousal during anger induction compared to both the neutral and sympathy conditions. In both social exchange games, participants were most likely to defect against their partner after anger induction and least likely to defect after sympathy induction, with the neutral condition eliciting intermediate defection rates. This pattern was found to be strongest in participants exhibiting low cognitive control (as measured by a Go/no-Go task). The findings indicate that emotions felt toward another individual alter how one chooses to interact with them, and that this influence depends both on the specific emotion induced and the cognitive control of the individual.

The effect of partner-directed emotion in social exchange decision-making

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Iveta eEimontaite

2013-07-01

Full Text Available Despite the prevalence of studies examining economic decision-making as a purely rational phenomenon, common sense suggests that emotions affect our decision-making particularly in a social context. To address the influence of emotions on economic decision-making, we manipulated opponent-directed emotions prior to engaging participants in two social exchange decision-making games (the Trust Game and the Prisoner’s Dilemma. Participants played both games with three different (fictional partners and their tendency to defect was measured. Prior to playing each game, participants exchanged handwritten essays with their partners, and subsequently exchanged evaluations of each essay. The essays and evaluations, read by the participant, were designed to induce either anger, sympathy or a neutral emotional response towards the confederate with whom they would then play the social exchange games. Galvanic skin conductance level showed enhanced physiological arousal during anger induction compared to both neutral and sympathy conditions. In both social exchange games, participants were most likely to defect against their partner after anger induction and least likely to defect after sympathy induction, with the neutral condition eliciting intermediate defection rates. This pattern was found to be strongest in participants exhibiting low cognitive control (as measured by a Go/no-Go task. The findings indicate that emotions felt towards another individual alter how one chooses to interact with them, and that this influence depends both on the specific emotion induced and the cognitive control of the individual.

The effect of partner-directed emotion in social exchange decision-making

Science.gov (United States)

Eimontaite, Iveta; Nicolle, Antoinette; Schindler, Igor; Goel, Vinod

2013-01-01

Despite the prevalence of studies examining economic decision-making as a purely rational phenomenon, common sense suggests that emotions affect our decision-making particularly in a social context. To explore the influence of emotions on economic decision-making, we manipulated opponent-directed emotions prior to engaging participants in two social exchange decision-making games (the Trust Game and the Prisoner's Dilemma). Participants played both games with three different (fictional) partners and their tendency to defect was measured. Prior to playing each game, participants exchanged handwritten “essays” with their partners, and subsequently exchanged evaluations of each essay. The essays and evaluations, read by the participant, were designed to induce either anger, sympathy, or a neutral emotional response toward the confederate with whom they would then play the social exchange games. Galvanic skin conductance level (SCL) showed enhanced physiological arousal during anger induction compared to both the neutral and sympathy conditions. In both social exchange games, participants were most likely to defect against their partner after anger induction and least likely to defect after sympathy induction, with the neutral condition eliciting intermediate defection rates. This pattern was found to be strongest in participants exhibiting low cognitive control (as measured by a Go/no-Go task). The findings indicate that emotions felt toward another individual alter how one chooses to interact with them, and that this influence depends both on the specific emotion induced and the cognitive control of the individual. PMID:23898313

A Computational Approach to Characterizing the Impact of Social Influence on Individuals’ Vaccination Decision Making

Science.gov (United States)

Xia, Shang; Liu, Jiming

2013-01-01

In modeling individuals vaccination decision making, existing studies have typically used the payoff-based (e.g., game-theoretical) approaches that evaluate the risks and benefits of vaccination. In reality, whether an individual takes vaccine or not is also influenced by the decisions of others, i.e., due to the impact of social influence. In this regard, we present a dual-perspective view on individuals decision making that incorporates both the cost analysis of vaccination and the impact of social influence. In doing so, we consider a group of individuals making their vaccination decisions by both minimizing the associated costs and evaluating the decisions of others. We apply social impact theory (SIT) to characterize the impact of social influence with respect to individuals interaction relationships. By doing so, we propose a novel modeling framework that integrates an extended SIT-based characterization of social influence with a game-theoretical analysis of cost minimization. We consider the scenario of voluntary vaccination against an influenza-like disease through a series of simulations. We investigate the steady state of individuals’ decision making, and thus, assess the impact of social influence by evaluating the coverage of vaccination for infectious diseases control. Our simulation results suggest that individuals high conformity to social influence will increase the vaccination coverage if the cost of vaccination is low, and conversely, will decrease it if the cost is high. Interestingly, if individuals are social followers, the resulting vaccination coverage would converge to a certain level, depending on individuals’ initial level of vaccination willingness rather than the associated costs. We conclude that social influence will have an impact on the control of an infectious disease as they can affect the vaccination coverage. In this respect, our work can provide a means for modeling the impact of social influence as well as for estimating

A computational approach to characterizing the impact of social influence on individuals' vaccination decision making.

Science.gov (United States)

Xia, Shang; Liu, Jiming

2013-01-01

In modeling individuals vaccination decision making, existing studies have typically used the payoff-based (e.g., game-theoretical) approaches that evaluate the risks and benefits of vaccination. In reality, whether an individual takes vaccine or not is also influenced by the decisions of others, i.e., due to the impact of social influence. In this regard, we present a dual-perspective view on individuals decision making that incorporates both the cost analysis of vaccination and the impact of social influence. In doing so, we consider a group of individuals making their vaccination decisions by both minimizing the associated costs and evaluating the decisions of others. We apply social impact theory (SIT) to characterize the impact of social influence with respect to individuals interaction relationships. By doing so, we propose a novel modeling framework that integrates an extended SIT-based characterization of social influence with a game-theoretical analysis of cost minimization. We consider the scenario of voluntary vaccination against an influenza-like disease through a series of simulations. We investigate the steady state of individuals' decision making, and thus, assess the impact of social influence by evaluating the coverage of vaccination for infectious diseases control. Our simulation results suggest that individuals high conformity to social influence will increase the vaccination coverage if the cost of vaccination is low, and conversely, will decrease it if the cost is high. Interestingly, if individuals are social followers, the resulting vaccination coverage would converge to a certain level, depending on individuals' initial level of vaccination willingness rather than the associated costs. We conclude that social influence will have an impact on the control of an infectious disease as they can affect the vaccination coverage. In this respect, our work can provide a means for modeling the impact of social influence as well as for estimating the

Social support plays a role in the attitude that people have towards taking an active role in medical decision-making.

Science.gov (United States)

Brabers, Anne E M; de Jong, Judith D; Groenewegen, Peter P; van Dijk, Liset

2016-09-21

There is a growing emphasis towards including patients in medical decision-making. However, not all patients are actively involved in such decisions. Research has so far focused mainly on the influence of patient characteristics on preferences for active involvement. However, it can be argued that a patient's social context has to be taken into account as well, because social norms and resources affect behaviour. This study aims to examine the role of social resources, in the form of the availability of informational and emotional support, on the attitude towards taking an active role in medical decision-making. A questionnaire was sent to members of the Dutch Health Care Consumer Panel (response 70 %; n = 1300) in June 2013. A regression model was then used to estimate the relation between medical and lay informational support and emotional support and the attitude towards taking an active role in medical decision-making. Availability of emotional support is positively related to the attitude towards taking an active role in medical decision-making only in people with a low level of education, not in persons with a middle and high level of education. The latter have a more positive attitude towards taking an active role in medical decision-making, irrespective of the level of emotional support available. People with better access to medical informational support have a more positive attitude towards taking an active role in medical decision-making; but no significant association was found for lay informational support. This study shows that social resources are associated with the attitude towards taking an active role in medical decision-making. Strategies aimed at increasing patient involvement have to address this.

Social-economical decision making in current and remitted major depression.

Science.gov (United States)

Pulcu, E; Thomas, E J; Trotter, P D; McFarquhar, M; Juhasz, G; Sahakian, B J; Deakin, J F W; Anderson, I M; Zahn, R; Elliott, R

2015-04-01

Prosocial emotions related to self-blame are important in guiding human altruistic decisions. These emotions are elevated in major depressive disorder (MDD), such that MDD has been associated with guilt-driven pathological hyper-altruism. However, the impact of such emotional impairments in MDD on different types of social decision-making is unknown. In order to address this issue, we investigated different kinds of altruistic behaviour (interpersonal cooperation and fund allocation, altruistic punishment and charitable donation) in 33 healthy subjects, 35 patients in full remission (unmedicated) and 24 currently depressed patients (11 on medication) using behavioural-economical paradigms. We show a significant main effect of clinical status on altruistic decisions (p = 0.04) and a significant interaction between clinical status and type of altruistic decisions (p = 0.03). More specifically, symptomatic patients defected significantly more in the Prisoner's Dilemma game (p guilt elicited by receiving unfair financial offers in the Ultimatum Game (p guilt-driven pathological hyper-altruism hypothesis in depression. There were also differences in both current and remitted patients in the relationship between altruistic behaviour and pathological self-blaming, suggesting an important role for these emotions in moral and social decision-making abnormalities in depression.

Behavioural social choice: a status report.

Science.gov (United States)

Regenwetter, Michel; Grofman, Bernard; Popova, Anna; Messner, William; Davis-Stober, Clintin P; Cavagnaro, Daniel R

2009-03-27

Behavioural social choice has been proposed as a social choice parallel to seminal developments in other decision sciences, such as behavioural decision theory, behavioural economics, behavioural finance and behavioural game theory. Behavioural paradigms compare how rational actors should make certain types of decisions with how real decision makers behave empirically. We highlight that important theoretical predictions in social choice theory change dramatically under even minute violations of standard assumptions. Empirical data violate those critical assumptions. We argue that the nature of preference distributions in electorates is ultimately an empirical question, which social choice theory has often neglected. We also emphasize important insights for research on decision making by individuals. When researchers aggregate individual choice behaviour in laboratory experiments to report summary statistics, they are implicitly applying social choice rules. Thus, they should be aware of the potential for aggregation paradoxes. We hypothesize that such problems may substantially mar the conclusions of a number of (sometimes seminal) papers in behavioural decision research.

Decision Strategy Research

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hardeman, F

2001-04-01

The objective of SCK-CEN's R and D programme on decision strategies is: (1) to study the decision-making process in a nuclear context with particular emphasis on emergency preparedness; (2) to disseminate knowledge on nuclear emergency preparedness including courses in the field of off-site emergency response to nuclear accidents; (3) to co-ordinate efforts within SCK-CEN in the field of medical applications of radiation; (4) to support projects and reflexion groups related to interdisciplinary research on the no-technical aspects of radiation protection or nuclear apllications; (5) to give advice and support to authorities and the industry on any topic related to radiation protection and to make expertise and infrastructure available. Main focus of the programme is on the surveillance of the territory and emergency preparedness. Principal achievements in 2000 are described.

Social Norms and Stigma Regarding Unintended Pregnancy and Pregnancy Decisions: A Qualitative Study of Young Women in Alabama.

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, Whitney; Turan, Janet M; White, Kari; Stringer, Kristi L; Helova, Anna; Simpson, Tina; Cockrill, Kate

2016-06-01

Social norms and stigma may play important roles in reproductive health behavior and decision making among young women in the U.S. South, who disproportionately experience unintended pregnancies. No research has described the presence and manifestations of social norms and stigmas associated with unintended pregnancy and related decision making from the perspective of this population. Six focus groups and 12 cognitive interviews were conducted between December 2013 and July 2014 with 46 low-income women aged 19-24 living in Birmingham, Alabama; respondents were recruited from two public health department centers and a community college. Semistructured interview guides were used to facilitate discussion about social perceptions of unintended pregnancy and related pregnancy decisions. Sessions were audio-recorded, and transcripts were analyzed using a theme-based approach. Participants described community expectations that pregnancy occur in the context of monogamous relationships, in which both partners are mature, educated and financially stable. However, respondents reported that unintended pregnancy outside of these circumstances was common, and that the community expected young women faced with unintended pregnancies to bear and raise their children. Women who chose to do so were viewed more positively than were women who chose abortion or adoption. The community generally considered these alternatives to parenting unacceptable, and participants discussed them in terms of negative labels, social judgment and nondisclosure. Findings suggest a need to reduce stigma and create a social environment in which young women are empowered to make the best reproductive decisions for themselves. Copyright © 2016 by the Guttmacher Institute.

Patients' decision making in total knee arthroplasty: a systematic review of qualitative research.

Science.gov (United States)

Barlow, T; Griffin, D; Barlow, D; Realpe, A

2015-10-01

A patient-centred approach, usually achieved through shared decision making, has the potential to help improve decision making around knee arthroplasty surgery. However, such an approach requires an understanding of the factors involved in patient decision making. This review's objective is to systematically examine the qualitative literature surrounding patients' decision making in knee arthroplasty. A systematic literature review using Medline and Embase was conducted to identify qualitative studies that examined patients' decision making around knee arthroplasty. An aggregated account of what is known about patients' decision making in knee arthroplasties is provided. Seven studies with 234 participants in interviews or focus groups are included. Ten themes are replicated across studies, namely: expectations of surgery; coping mechanisms; relationship with clinician; fear; pain; function; psychological implications; social network; previous experience of surgery; and conflict in opinions. This review is helpful in not only directing future research to areas that are not understood, or require confirmation, but also in highlighting areas that future interventions could address. These include those aimed at delivering information, which are likely to affect the satisfaction rate, demand, and use of knee arthroplasties. Cite this article: Bone Joint Res 2015;4;163-169. ©2015 Griffin.

Research on Teachers Pedagogical Thoughts, Judgments, Decisions and Behavior.

Science.gov (United States)

Shavelson, Richard J.; Stern, Paula

1981-01-01

Based on research done in the past decade, the authors formulated a "schema" of teachers' judgments, planning and interactive decisions. Recommendations for future research included development of a taxonomy of critical teaching decisions, intervention, and alteration of teachers' plans and decisions to improve teaching, and implementation of…

Great expectations: neural computations underlying the use of social norms in decision-making

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Chang, L.J.; Sanfey, A.G.

2011-01-01

Social expectations play a critical role in everyday decision-making. However, their precise neuro-computational role in the decision process remains unknown. Here we adopt a decision neuroscience framework by combining methods and theories from psychology, economics and neuroscience to outline a

Great expectations: neural computations underlying the use of social norms in decision-making

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Chang, L.J.; Sanfey, A.G.

2013-01-01

Social expectations play a critical role in everyday decision-making. However, their precise neuro-computational role in the decision process remains unknown. Here we adopt a decision neuroscience framework by combining methods and theories from psychology, economics and neuroscience to outline a

The decision of an obese woman to have bariatric surgery: the social phenomenology

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Deíse Moura de Oliveira

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Objective To understand the process by which an obese woman decides to have bariatric surgery. Method A qualitative survey with a social phenomenology approach, carried out in 2012, with 12 women, using the phenomenological interview. Results A woman bases the decision to have the surgery on: the inappropriateness of her eating habits; a physical appearance that is incompatible with an appearance that is standardized by society; the social prejudice that she has to live with; the limitations imposed by obesity; and her lack of success with previous attempts to lose weight. Outcomes that she hopes for from the decision to have the surgery include: restoring her health; achieving social inclusion; and entering the labor market. Conclusion This study allows one to reflect that prescriptive actions do not give a satisfactory response to a complexity of the subjective questions involved in the decision to have surgery for obesity. For this, what is called for is a program of work based on an interdisciplinary approach, and training that gives value to the bio-psycho-social aspects involved in a decision in favor of surgical treatment.

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.

Dysfunctional involvement of emotion and reward brain regions on social decision making in excess weight adolescents.

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Verdejo-García, Antonio; Verdejo-Román, Juan; Rio-Valle, Jacqueline S; Lacomba, Juan A; Lagos, Francisco M; Soriano-Mas, Carles

2015-01-01

Obese adolescents suffer negative social experiences, but no studies have examined whether obesity is associated with dysfunction of the social brain or whether social brain abnormalities relate to disadvantageous traits and social decisions. We aimed at mapping functional activation differences in the brain circuitry of social decision making in adolescents with excess versus normal weight, and at examining whether these separate patterns correlate with reward/punishment sensitivity, disordered eating features, and behavioral decisions. In this fMRI study, 80 adolescents aged 12 to 18 years old were classified in two groups based on age adjusted body mass index (BMI) percentiles: normal weight (n = 44, BMI percentiles 5th-84th) and excess weight (n = 36, BMI percentile ≥ 85th). Participants were scanned while performing a social decision-making task (ultimatum game) in which they chose to "accept" or "reject" offers to split monetary stakes made by another peer. Offers varied in fairness (Fair vs. Unfair) but in all cases "accepting" meant both players win the money, whereas "rejecting" meant both lose it. We showed that adolescents with excess weight compared to controls display significantly decreased activation of anterior insula, anterior cingulate, and midbrain during decisions about Unfair versus Fair offers. Moreover, excess weight subjects show lower sensitivity to reward and more maturity fears, which correlate with insula activation. Indeed, blunted insula activation accounted for the relationship between maturity fears and acceptance of unfair offers. Excess weight adolescents have diminished activation of brain regions essential for affective tracking of social decision making, which accounts for the association between maturity fears and social decisions. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The Social Dynamics of Social Science Research: Between Poetry and the Conveyer Belt

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Emily Abbey

2010-02-01

Full Text Available This paper considers the semiotic organization of the research process in the social sciences. It offers a detailed analysis of the semiotic organization of a much used technique in the social sciences: the one-on-one non-directive interview. We consider how different signs might constrain the researcher’s thoughts and actions within the ongoing processes of interview dialogue. We are especially interested in different semiotic representations that may constrain the researcher’s understanding of his or her direct perception of phenomena: the researcher as a “poet” or as a “machine.” It is suggested that these notions may differentially constrain the researcher’s monitoring of the interaction with a participant, and that decisions in this monitoring process can have important implications for the ability of the interviewee to more fully express what it is he or she tries to communicate, and for the process of generating new knowledge. In conclusion, we suggest “poetic” and “mechanistic” approaches to the direct perception of phenomena, though distinct, may nonetheless be understood to complement one another.

Adversity magnifies the importance of social information in decision-making.

Science.gov (United States)

Pérez-Escudero, Alfonso; de Polavieja, Gonzalo G

2017-11-01

Decision-making theories explain animal behaviour, including human behaviour, as a response to estimations about the environment. In the case of collective behaviour, they have given quantitative predictions of how animals follow the majority option. However, they have so far failed to explain that in some species and contexts social cohesion increases when conditions become more adverse (i.e. individuals choose the majority option with higher probability when the estimated quality of all available options decreases). We have found that this failure is due to modelling simplifications that aided analysis, like low levels of stochasticity or the assumption that only one choice is the correct one. We provide a more general but simple geometric framework to describe optimal or suboptimal decisions in collectives that gives insight into three different mechanisms behind this effect. The three mechanisms have in common that the private information acts as a gain factor to social information: a decrease in the privately estimated quality of all available options increases the impact of social information, even when social information itself remains unchanged. This increase in the importance of social information makes it more likely that agents will follow the majority option. We show that these results quantitatively explain collective behaviour in fish and experiments of social influence in humans. © 2017 The Authors.

The influence of emotion regulation on social interactive decision-making.

Science.gov (United States)

van't Wout, Mascha; Chang, Luke J; Sanfey, Alan G

2010-12-01

Although adequate emotion regulation is considered to be essential in every day life, it is especially important in social interactions. However, the question as to what extent two different regulation strategies are effective in changing decision-making in a consequential socially interactive context remains unanswered. We investigated the effect of expressive suppression and emotional reappraisal on strategic decision-making in a social interactive task, that is, the Ultimatum Game. As hypothesized, participants in the emotional reappraisal condition accepted unfair offers more often than participants in the suppression and no-regulation condition. Additionally, the effect of emotional reappraisal influenced the amount of money participants proposed during a second interaction with partners that had treated them unfairly in a previous interaction. These results support and extend previous findings that emotional reappraisal as compared to expressive suppression, is a powerful regulation strategy that influences and changes how we interact with others even in the face of inequity.

The influence of emotion regulation on social interactive decision-making

Science.gov (United States)

van ’t Wout, Mascha; Chang, Luke J.; Sanfey, Alan G.

2010-01-01

Although adequate emotion regulation is considered to be essential in every day life, it is especially important in social interactions. However, the question as to what extent two different regulation strategies are effective in changing decision-making in a consequential socially interactive context remains unanswered. We investigated the effect of expressive suppression and emotional reappraisal on strategic decision-making in a social interactive task, i.e. the Ultimatum Game. As hypothesized, participants in the emotional reappraisal condition accepted unfair offers more often than participants in the suppression and no-regulation condition. Additionally, the effect of emotional reappraisal influenced the amount of money participants proposed during a second interaction with partners that had treated them unfairly in a previous interaction. These results support and extend previous findings that emotional reappraisal as compared to expressive suppression, is a powerful regulation strategy that influences and changes how we interact with others even in the face of inequity. PMID:21171756

Intelligent Decision Technologies : Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Intelligent Decision Technologies

CERN Document Server

Watanabe, Toyohide; Phillips-Wren, Gloria; Howlett, Robert; Jain, Lakhmi

2012-01-01

The Intelligent Decision Technologies (IDT) International Conference encourages an interchange of research on intelligent systems and intelligent technologies that enhance or improve decision making. The focus of IDT is interdisciplinary and includes research on all aspects of intelligent decision technologies, from fundamental development to real applications. IDT has the potential to expand their support of decision making in such areas as finance, accounting, marketing, healthcare, medical and diagnostic systems, military decisions, production and operation, networks, traffic management, crisis response, human-machine interfaces, financial and stock market monitoring and prediction, and robotics. Intelligent decision systems implement advances in intelligent agents, fuzzy logic, multi-agent systems, artificial neural networks, and genetic algorithms, among others.  Emerging areas of active research include virtual decision environments, social networking, 3D human-machine interfaces, cognitive interfaces,...

From Social Network (Centralized vs. Decentralized) to Collective Decision-Making (Unshared vs. Shared Consensus)

OpenAIRE

Sueur, Cédric; Deneubourg, Jean-Louis; Petit, Odile

2012-01-01

Relationships we have with our friends, family, or colleagues influence our personal decisions, as well as decisions we make together with others. As in human beings, despotism and egalitarian societies seem to also exist in animals. While studies have shown that social networks constrain many phenomena from amoebae to primates, we still do not know how consensus emerges from the properties of social networks in many biological systems. We created artificial social networks that represent the...

Social Management, Expansion and Emancipation Theology: one study about research experiences with popular communities

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fernando Guilherme Tenório

2014-08-01

Full Text Available Social management to be understood as a dialogic process management, in which decision-making authority is shared among the participants of the action makes sense as a practice to be developed by the university extension. It is based on this theme that the article aims to analyze an extension project dedicated to conducting courses in social management with the different communities of the Metropolitan Region of Rio de Janeiro. The methodology includes the emancipatory pedagogy of Paulo Freire’s philosophy and work in communities Boff (1986, in addition to the action research Thiollent (1998 method. Among the results achieved stands out: the development of community projects on various issues; mobilization and the inclusion of representatives of communities in participatory decision-making instances and the dissemination of courses in social management within a network of universities.

The effects of stress and affiliation on social decision-making: Investigating the tend-and-befriend pattern.

Science.gov (United States)

Steinbeis, Nikolaus; Engert, Veronika; Linz, Roman; Singer, Tania

2015-12-01

The prevalence of psychosocial stress in Western societies is constantly on the rise. Its influence on social decision-making, however, remains poorly understood. Whereas, it is known that stress triggers psychological and physiological defense mechanisms, indications of such patterns in social decisions are ambivalent. We sought to elucidate the underlying mechanisms of stress-induced social decisions. We recruited 145 men, who were individually exposed to either a psychosocial stressor or a control condition, while primed with affiliation by interacting either with members of an in- or an out-group. We found that stressed participants were less trusting and engaged in less costly punishment compared to the non-stressed control group. Interacting with out-group members led to less reciprocity and more spiteful punishment. There was no interaction between stress and the affiliation conditions in any of the used social-decision-making paradigms. Lastly, while stress-reactive cortisol levels had no effect on trust behavior, higher baseline cortisol was correlated with greater trust. Our findings suggest that previous ambiguities in data reported on the influence of stress on social decisions, namely tend-and-befriend behavior may have arisen through critical social confounds in the induction of stress. When controlling for potential social confounds, stress may trigger fight-or-flight behavior as indicated by increased social anxiety. These findings highlight the considerable context-dependence of psychosocial stress and its effects on social behavior. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Contributions of the life course perspective to research on food decision making.

Science.gov (United States)

Wethington, Elaine; Johnson-Askew, Wendy L

2009-12-01

The life course perspective (LCP) has emerged as a powerful organizing framework for the study of health, illness, and mortality. LCP represents a "whole life" analysis perspective which originated in the field of sociology. Its concepts are increasingly applied to understanding the development of chronic disease over long periods of time in the human life span. A missing link, however, in the adaptation of the LCP to health research, is the insight the LCP may offer into understanding the societal, social network, and family contexts that frame stability and change in dietary behavior. This paper reviews key concepts that comprise the LCP but primarily focuses on applications that have relevance to food decision making in social context. A case study of chronic work-family stress and perceived time scarcity as barriers to dietary improvement is included. Illustrative findings are presented on dietary behavior in a diverse sample of lower-income working parents. This paper also offers ideas on increasing the contributions of the LCP to nutritional research.

About Problems of Decision Making in Social and Economic Systems

OpenAIRE

Voloshyn, Oleksiy

2006-01-01

The reasons of a restricted applicability of the models of decision making in social and economic systems. 3 basic principles of growth of their adequacy are proposed: "localization" of solutions, direct account of influencing of the individual on process of decision making ("subjectivity of objectivity") and reduction of influencing of the individual psychosomatic characteristics of the subject (" objectivity of subjectivity ") are offered. The principles are illustrated on mathe...

Conformists or Rebels? Relative Risk Aversion, Educational Decisions, and Social Class Reproduction

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Holm, Anders; Jæger, Mads Meier

2012-01-01

This paper tests the theory of Relative Risk Aversion (RRA), which argues that educational decisions are intended to minimize the risk of downward social class mobility. We propose a structural model which distinguishes the instantaneous utility of educational decisions from the future utility...

Barriers and opportunities for integrating social science into natural resource management: lessons from National Estuarine Research Reserves.

Science.gov (United States)

Robinson, Patrick; Genskow, Ken; Shaw, Bret; Shepard, Robin

2012-12-01

The need for cross-disciplinary scientific inquiries that facilitate improved natural resource management outcomes through increased understanding of both the biophysical and human dimensions of management issues has been widely recognized. Despite this broad recognition, a number of obstacles and barriers still sometimes challenge the successful implementation of cross-disciplinary approaches. Improving understanding of these challenges and barriers will help address them and thereby foster appropriate and effective utilization of cross-disciplinary approaches to solve natural resource management challenges. This research uses a case study analysis of the United States National Estuarine Research Reserve System to improve understanding of the critical factors that influence practitioners' decisions related to incorporating social science into their natural resource management work. The case study research is analyzed and evaluated within a Theory of Planned Behavior framework to (1) determine and describe the factors that predict practitioners' intent to incorporate social science into their natural resource related activities and (2) recommend potential strategies for encouraging and enabling cross-disciplinary approaches to natural resource management. The results indicate that National Estuarine Research Reserve practitioners' decisions related to incorporating social science are primarily influenced by (1) confidence in their own capability to incorporate social science into their work and (2) beliefs about whether the outcomes of incorporating social science into their work would be valuable or beneficial.

The Development of Social Perspective Taking and Leadership Decision-Making in City Government Managers

Science.gov (United States)

Van Rossum, Zachary Johannes

2013-01-01

I examined the role of social perspective taking in leadership decision-making by investigating how a group of 70 leaders made sense of a hypothetical workplace dilemma in order to understand how they used their capacity for social perspective taking as part of their decision-making process. The majority of these leaders work in North America, are…

From social network (centralized vs. decentralized) to collective decision-making (unshared vs. shared consensus).

Science.gov (United States)

Sueur, Cédric; Deneubourg, Jean-Louis; Petit, Odile

2012-01-01

Relationships we have with our friends, family, or colleagues influence our personal decisions, as well as decisions we make together with others. As in human beings, despotism and egalitarian societies seem to also exist in animals. While studies have shown that social networks constrain many phenomena from amoebae to primates, we still do not know how consensus emerges from the properties of social networks in many biological systems. We created artificial social networks that represent the continuum from centralized to decentralized organization and used an agent-based model to make predictions about the patterns of consensus and collective movements we observed according to the social network. These theoretical results showed that different social networks and especially contrasted ones--star network vs. equal network--led to totally different patterns. Our model showed that, by moving from a centralized network to a decentralized one, the central individual seemed to lose its leadership in the collective movement's decisions. We, therefore, showed a link between the type of social network and the resulting consensus. By comparing our theoretical data with data on five groups of primates, we confirmed that this relationship between social network and consensus also appears to exist in animal societies.

The Social Acceptance of Carbon Dioxide Utilisation: A Review and Research Agenda

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jones, Christopher R.; Olfe-Kräutlein, Barbara; Naims, Henriette; Armstrong, Katy

2017-01-01

CO 2 utilisation technologies—also called carbon dioxide utilisation (CDU) and carbon capture and utilisation (CCU)—convert CO 2 via physical, chemical, or biological processes into carbon-based products. CO 2 utilisation technologies are viewed as a means of helping to address climate change and broadening the raw material base for commodities that can be sold to generate economic revenue. However, while technical research and development into the feasibility of CO 2 utilisation options are accelerating rapidly; at present, there has been limited research into the social acceptance of the technology and CO 2 -derived products. This review article outlines and explores three key dimensions of social acceptance (i.e., socio-political, market, and community acceptance) pertaining to innovation within CO 2 utilisation. The article highlights the importance of considering issues of social acceptance as an aspect of the research, development, demonstration, and deployment process for CO 2 utilisation and explores how key stakeholders operating on each dimension might affect the innovation pathways, investment, and siting decisions relating to CO 2 utilisation facilities and CO 2 -derived products. Beyond providing a state-of-the-art review of current research into the social acceptance of CO 2 utilisation, this article also outlines an agenda for future research in the field.

Logistical modelling of managerial decisions in social and marketing business systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Oleksandr Velychko

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Logistical modelling of business systems within the context of mathematical logistics, logistical management, operational research as well as rationalistic provision of logistics at an enterprise have been considered in the article. The research was carried out on the methodological basis which included the authors’ developments and implied conveying familiar knowledge on new objects within the field of linear programming. Scientific novelty concerns the development of categorical toolkit as well as the existing methodical approaches of rationalistic logistics to managerial decisions. Rational areas of using terms “logistical model” and “model of logistics” in business environment have been determined. The authors’ methodology of constructing logistical models in management of separate social and marketing systems of enterprises according to minimization and maximization criteria is presented. Ways of using modelling at not conventional objects of logistical support for managerial decisions have been suggested in the context of studying the moral psychological climate of staff and complex estimation of socioeconomic measures of staff management improvement. The procedure of logistical optimization in the system of distributing and advertising activity of the enterprise has been developed. Approbation of the developed models has been carried out and possibilities for further model’s complication by output data, variables, and limitations under specific practical conditions have been grounded.

Implementation of the Social Decision-Making Skills Curriculum on Primary Students (Grades 1-3) in Lebanon

Science.gov (United States)

El Hassan, Karma; Mouganie, Zeina

2014-01-01

This study investigated the effect of the Social Decision-Making Skills Curriculum (SDSC) on the emotional intelligence and the prosocial behaviors of primary students in Grades 1-3, in a private school in Lebanon. Students were trained in social problem-solving and social decision-making skills through the implementation of the SDSC. Participants…

Integration of Social Sciences in Nuclear Research

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bovy, M.; Eggermont, G

2002-04-01

In 1998, SCK-CEN initiated a programme to integrate social sciences into its scientific and technological projects. Activities were started on the following issues: (1) sustainable development; (2) ethics and decision making in nuclear waste management (transgenerational ethics/retrievability; socio-psychological aspect and local involvement); (3) law and liability (medical applications and the basic safety standards implementation); (4) decision making (emergency management); safety culture; ALARA and ethical choices in protection). Two working groups were created to discuss two broad items: (1) ethical choices in radiation protection; and (2) the role and culture of the expert. Progress and major achievements in SCK-CEN's social science programme in 2001 are summarised.

Integration of Social Sciences in Nuclear Research

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bovy, M.; Eggermont, G.

2002-01-01

In 1998, SCK-CEN initiated a programme to integrate social sciences into its scientific and technological projects. Activities were started on the following issues: (1) sustainable development; (2) ethics and decision making in nuclear waste management (transgenerational ethics/retrievability; socio-psychological aspect and local involvement); (3) law and liability (medical applications and the basic safety standards implementation); (4) decision making (emergency management); safety culture; ALARA and ethical choices in protection). Two working groups were created to discuss two broad items: (1) ethical choices in radiation protection; and (2) the role and culture of the expert. Progress and major achievements in SCK-CEN's social science programme in 2001 are summarised

Heuristic decision-making about research participation in children with cystic fibrosis.

Science.gov (United States)

Christofides, Emily; Dobson, Jennifer A; Solomon, Melinda; Waters, Valerie; O'Doherty, Kieran C

2016-08-01

Traditional perspectives on informed consent assume that when faced with decisions about whether to participate in research, individuals behave according to principles of classical rationality, taking into account all available information to weigh risks and benefits to come to a decision that is optimal for them. However, theoretical and empirical research in psychology suggests that people may not make decisions in this way. Less is known about decision-making processes as they pertain to participating in biomedical research, particularly when the participants are children. We sought to better understand research decision processes especially in children who tend to participate extensively in research due to chronic illness. To learn more about children's decision-making in this context, we interviewed 19 young patients with cystic fibrosis (male n = 7; female n = 12) aged 8-18 years (M = 13 years) at a children's hospital in Canada between April and August 2013. We found that participants generally had a default approach to participation decisions, which they attributed to their parents' attitudes to research, experiences of having grown up participating in research, trusting the researchers, and wanting to help. Most of our participants made the decision to participate in research based on a heuristic with a baseline to say "yes", subject to change based on aspects of the research or particular preferences. In particular, concerns with the procedure, unwillingness to talk about cystic fibrosis, logistical challenges, and perceptions of risk all influenced the decision, as did the perceived importance or personal relevance of the research. Our study illustrates that rather than conducting risk/benefit analyses, participants tended to adopt a heuristic-like approach, consistent with decision theories that view heuristic decision-making as ecologically rational. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Developmental changes of neuronal networks associated with strategic social decision-making.

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Steinmann, Elisabeth; Schmalor, Antonia; Prehn-Kristensen, Alexander; Wolff, Stephan; Galka, Andreas; Möhring, Jan; Gerber, Wolf-Dieter; Petermann, Franz; Stephani, Ulrich; Siniatchkin, Michael

2014-04-01

One of the important prerequisites for successful social interaction is the willingness of each individual to cooperate socially. Using the ultimatum game, several studies have demonstrated that the process of decision-making to cooperate or to defeat in interaction with a partner is associated with activation of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), anterior insula (AI), and inferior frontal cortex (IFC). This study investigates developmental changes in this neuronal network. 15 healthy children (8-12 years), 15 adolescents (13-18 years) and 15 young adults (19-28 years) were investigated using the ultimatum game. Neuronal networks representing decision-making based on strategic thinking were characterized using functional MRI. In all age groups, the process of decision-making in reaction to unfair offers was associated with hemodynamic changes in similar regions. Compared with children, however, healthy adults and adolescents revealed greater activation in the IFC and the fusiform gyrus, as well as the nucleus accumbens. In contrast, healthy children displayed more activation in the AI, the dorsal part of the ACC, and the DLPFC. There were no differences in brain activations between adults and adolescents. The neuronal mechanisms underlying strategic social decision making are already developed by the age of eight. Decision-making based on strategic thinking is associated with age-dependent involvement of different brain regions. Neuronal networks underlying theory of mind and reward anticipation are more activated in adults and adolescents with regard to the increasing perspective taking with age. In relation to emotional reactivity and respective compensatory coping in younger ages, children have higher activations in a neuronal network associated with emotional processing and executive control. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Gender and venture capital decision-making: the effects of technical background and social capital on entrepreneurial evaluations.

Science.gov (United States)

Tinkler, Justine E; Bunker Whittington, Kjersten; Ku, Manwai C; Davies, Andrea Rees

2015-05-01

Research on gender and workplace decision-making tends to address either supply-side disparities between men's and women's human and social capital, or demand-side differences in the status expectations of women and men workers. In addition, this work often relies on causal inferences drawn from empirical data collected on worker characteristics and their workplace outcomes. In this study, we demonstrate how tangible education and work history credentials - typically associated with supply-side characteristics - work in tandem with cultural beliefs about gender to influence the evaluative process that underlies venture capital decisions made in high-growth, high-tech entrepreneurship. Using an experimental design, we simulate funding decisions by venture capitalists (VCs) for men and women entrepreneurs that differ in technical background and the presence of important social ties. We demonstrate the presence of two distinct aspects of VCs' evaluation: that of the venture and that of the entrepreneur, and find that the gender of the entrepreneur influences evaluations most when the person, rather than the venture, is the target of evaluation. Technical background qualifications moderate the influence of gendered expectations, and women receive more of a payoff than men from having a close contact to the evaluating VC. We discuss the implications for future research on gender and work. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Adolescent Sexual Decision-Making: An Integrative Review.

Science.gov (United States)

Hulton, Linda J.

2001-10-03

PURPOSE: The purpose of this integrative review was to summarize the present literature to identify factors associated with adolescent sexual decision-making. Thirty-eight salient research studies were selected as a basis of this review from the databases of Medline, CINAHL, and Psychinfo using the Cooper methodology. CONCLUSIONS: Two categories of decision-making were identified: 1) The research on factors related to the decisions that adolescents make to become sexually active or to abstain from sexual activity; 2) The research on factors related to contraceptive decision-making. The most consistent findings were that the factors of gender differences, cognitive development, perception of benefits, parental influences, social influences, and sexual knowledge were important variables in the decision-making processes of adolescents. IMPLICATIONS: Practice implications for nursing suggest that clinicians should assess adolescent sexual decision-making in greater detail and address the social and psychological context in which sexual experiences occur. Nurses must be aware of the differences between adolescent and adult decision-making processes and incorporate knowledge of growth and development into intervention strategies. Moreover, to the degree that adolescent sexual decision-making proves to be less than rational, interventions designed to improve competent sexual decision-making are needed.

Neuroeconomic Measures of Social Decision-Making Across the Lifespan

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Lusha eZhu

2012-09-01

Full Text Available Social and decision-making deficits are often the first symptoms of a striking number of neurodegenerative disorders associated with aging. These includes not only disorders that directly impact dopamine and basal ganglia, such as Parkinson’s disorder, but also degeneration in which multiple neural pathways are affected over the course of normal aging. The impact of such deficits can be dramatic, as in cases of financial fraud, which disproportionately affect the elderly. Unlike memory and motor impairments, however, which are readily recognized as symptoms of more serious underlying neurological conditions, social and decision-making deficits often do not elicit comparable concern in the elderly. Furthermore, few behavioral measures exist to quantify these deficits, due in part to our limited knowledge of the core cognitive components or their neurobiological substrates. Here we probe age-related differences in decision-making using a game theory paradigm previously shown to dissociate contributions of basal ganglia and prefrontal regions to behavior. Combined with computational modeling, we provide evidence that behavioral deficits in elderly participants is driven primarily by an over-reliance in trial-and-error reinforcement learning that does not take into account the strategic context, which may underlie elderly’s susceptibility to fraud.

A social-technological epistemology of clinical decision-making as mediated by imaging.

Science.gov (United States)

van Baalen, Sophie; Carusi, Annamaria; Sabroe, Ian; Kiely, David G

2017-10-01

In recent years there has been growing attention to the epistemology of clinical decision-making, but most studies have taken the individual physicians as the central object of analysis. In this paper we argue that knowing in current medical practice has an inherently social character and that imaging plays a mediating role in these practices. We have analyzed clinical decision-making within a medical expert team involved in diagnosis and treatment of patients with pulmonary hypertension (PH), a rare disease requiring multidisciplinary team involvement in diagnosis and management. Within our field study, we conducted observations, interviews, video tasks, and a panel discussion. Decision-making in the PH clinic involves combining evidence from heterogeneous sources into a cohesive framing of a patient, in which interpretations of the different sources can be made consistent with each other. Because pieces of evidence are generated by people with different expertise and interpretation and adjustments take place in interaction between different experts, we argue that this process is socially distributed. Multidisciplinary team meetings are an important place where information is shared, discussed, interpreted, and adjusted, allowing for a collective way of seeing and a shared language to be developed. We demonstrate this with an example of image processing in the PH service, an instance in which knowledge is distributed over multiple people who play a crucial role in generating an evaluation of right heart function. Finally, we argue that images fulfill a mediating role in distributed knowing in 3 ways: first, as enablers or tools in acquiring information; second, as communication facilitators; and third, as pervasively framing the epistemic domain. With this study of clinical decision-making in diagnosis and treatment of PH, we have shown that clinical decision-making is highly social and mediated by technologies. The epistemology of clinical decision-making needs

Social acceptability: Towards a definition and shared understanding of its significance and contribution to decision-making

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cote, Gilles; Perusse, Martin

2010-09-15

Social acceptability is increasingly described in the discourse of social players as a sine qua non condition for projects to be carried out. It is referred to as an approach (participation in the decision-making process) and as an outcome (citizens' concurrence with the decision). The application of this new concept generated considerable expectations. In our opinion, social acceptability must pass through three complementary stages: i) discussing material (downstream) and structural (upstream) issues; ii) establishing a transparent and equitable consultation process; and iii) ensuring that a legitimate decision-making process occurs.

Launching a virtual decision lab: development and field-testing of a web-based patient decision support research platform.

Science.gov (United States)

Hoffman, Aubri S; Llewellyn-Thomas, Hilary A; Tosteson, Anna N A; O'Connor, Annette M; Volk, Robert J; Tomek, Ivan M; Andrews, Steven B; Bartels, Stephen J

2014-12-12

Over 100 trials show that patient decision aids effectively improve patients' information comprehension and values-based decision making. However, gaps remain in our understanding of several fundamental and applied questions, particularly related to the design of interactive, personalized decision aids. This paper describes an interdisciplinary development process for, and early field testing of, a web-based patient decision support research platform, or virtual decision lab, to address these questions. An interdisciplinary stakeholder panel designed the web-based research platform with three components: a) an introduction to shared decision making, b) a web-based patient decision aid, and c) interactive data collection items. Iterative focus groups provided feedback on paper drafts and online prototypes. A field test assessed a) feasibility for using the research platform, in terms of recruitment, usage, and acceptability; and b) feasibility of using the web-based decision aid component, compared to performance of a videobooklet decision aid in clinical care. This interdisciplinary, theory-based, patient-centered design approach produced a prototype for field-testing in six months. Participants (n = 126) reported that: the decision aid component was easy to use (98%), information was clear (90%), the length was appropriate (100%), it was appropriately detailed (90%), and it held their interest (97%). They spent a mean of 36 minutes using the decision aid and 100% preferred using their home/library computer. Participants scored a mean of 75% correct on the Decision Quality, Knowledge Subscale, and 74 out of 100 on the Preparation for Decision Making Scale. Completing the web-based decision aid reduced mean Decisional Conflict scores from 31.1 to 19.5 (p development of a web-based patient decision support research platform that was feasible for use in research studies in terms of recruitment, acceptability, and usage. Within this platform, the web

The Influence of Social Norms in Consumer Decision Making: A Meta-Analysis

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Melnyk, V.; Herpen, van E.; Trijp, van J.C.M.

2010-01-01

Although social norms can substantially impact consumer decision making, understanding of how the specification of the norm determines its impact is limited. This meta-analysis (200 independent studies, 659 effect sizes) examines how aspects of social norm specification determine the effect of norms

From social network (centralized vs. decentralized to collective decision-making (unshared vs. shared consensus.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cédric Sueur

Full Text Available Relationships we have with our friends, family, or colleagues influence our personal decisions, as well as decisions we make together with others. As in human beings, despotism and egalitarian societies seem to also exist in animals. While studies have shown that social networks constrain many phenomena from amoebae to primates, we still do not know how consensus emerges from the properties of social networks in many biological systems. We created artificial social networks that represent the continuum from centralized to decentralized organization and used an agent-based model to make predictions about the patterns of consensus and collective movements we observed according to the social network. These theoretical results showed that different social networks and especially contrasted ones--star network vs. equal network--led to totally different patterns. Our model showed that, by moving from a centralized network to a decentralized one, the central individual seemed to lose its leadership in the collective movement's decisions. We, therefore, showed a link between the type of social network and the resulting consensus. By comparing our theoretical data with data on five groups of primates, we confirmed that this relationship between social network and consensus also appears to exist in animal societies.

Twitter Chats as a Research Tool: A Study of Young Adult Financial Decisions

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Barbara O’Neill

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Many researchers collect online survey data because it is cost-effective and less time-consuming than traditional research methods. This paper describes Twitter chats as a research tool vis-à-vis two other online research methods: providing links to electronic surveys to respondents and use of commercially available survey panels through vendors with readily available respondents. Similar to a face-to-face focus group, Twitter chats provide a synchronous environment for participants to answer a structured series of questions and to respond to both the chat facilitator and each other. This paper also reports representative responses from a Twitter chat that explored financial decisions of young adults. The chat was sponsored by a multi-state group of land-grant university researchers, in cooperation with WiseBread, a personal finance website targeted to millennials, to recruit respondents for a more extensive month-long online survey about the financial decisions of young adults. The Twitter chat responses suggest that student loans were the top concern of participants, and debt and housing rounded out the top three concerns. The internet, both websites and social media, was the most frequently cited source of financial information. The article concludes with a discussion of lessons learned from the Twitter chat experience and suggestions for professional practice.

Neuroeconomics: cross-currents in research on decision-making.

Science.gov (United States)

Sanfey, Alan G; Loewenstein, George; McClure, Samuel M; Cohen, Jonathan D

2006-03-01

Despite substantial advances, the question of how we make decisions and judgments continues to pose important challenges for scientific research. Historically, different disciplines have approached this problem using different techniques and assumptions, with few unifying efforts made. However, the field of neuroeconomics has recently emerged as an inter-disciplinary effort to bridge this gap. Research in neuroscience and psychology has begun to investigate neural bases of decision predictability and value, central parameters in the economic theory of expected utility. Economics, in turn, is being increasingly influenced by a multiple-systems approach to decision-making, a perspective strongly rooted in psychology and neuroscience. The integration of these disparate theoretical approaches and methodologies offers exciting potential for the construction of more accurate models of decision-making.

Entering the Field: Decisions of an Early Career Researcher

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Sajeel Ahmed

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Classic grounded theory methodology is a much-debated topic in research, especially when novice researchers are selecting classic grounded theory for their research or theses. There is a constant need to justify and defend certain processes of grounded theory, which often challenge other research methods. As a novice researcher, I have often found myself juggling between the need to follow specific procedures and regulations of the university while opting to support the views of Glaser and the application of classic grounded theory for my research. To tackle such difficulties, specific decisions were used to support and justify key choices that favoured classic grounded theory and the requirements of the research institute and my research process. This article provides a reflection on the decisions taken at different stages of the research process to help readers make informed decisions before entering the field.

Characterizing Government Social Media Research

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Medaglia, Rony; Zheng, Lei

2016-01-01

As research on government social media continues to grow in quantity and scope, this area calls for mapping and systematization, in order to stimulate better-informed studies in the future. This paper draws on a comprehensive review of government social media literature in the e...... a four-point research agenda for future government social media research....

Basic statistics for social research

CERN Document Server

Hanneman, Robert A; Riddle, Mark D

2012-01-01

A core statistics text that emphasizes logical inquiry, notmath Basic Statistics for Social Research teaches core generalstatistical concepts and methods that all social science majorsmust master to understand (and do) social research. Its use ofmathematics and theory are deliberately limited, as the authorsfocus on the use of concepts and tools of statistics in theanalysis of social science data, rather than on the mathematicaland computational aspects. Research questions and applications aretaken from a wide variety of subfields in sociology, and eachchapter is organized arou

Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG and Investment Decision in Bangladesh

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sayema Sultana

2018-06-01

Full Text Available As a key facet of sustainable development, environmental, social and governance (ESG discretion on stock market investment decision is gaining prevalence following the global financial crisis. ESG considers the sustainable return, risk reduction, and accountability aspects of investments. This study is an exploration of the individual stock market investors’ preferences for ESG issues and the influence that purpose of investment has on investment decision-making, by testing the investment horizon as a moderator. The theoretical background was taken from the theory of planned behavior (TPB, goal setting theory (GST, and the behavioral asset pricing model (BAPM. The study uses the sequential mix method of research, starting with an interview followed by a survey, which was conducted among individual stock market investors in Bangladesh, using simple random sampling. Structural equation modeling (SEM analysis was carried out using Warp PLS version 6.0. The key findings of this study delineate the effect of ESG issues and the purpose of investment on investment decision-making. The contribution of the study signifies the moderating role of the investment horizon, which confirms the importance of the long-term horizon as a time and risk diversification factor. The sparse utilization of the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC (2004 and Thomson Reuters Corporate Responsibility Index (TRCRI (2013 as measurement scales in this study is mentioned. This study has made practical contributions for managers, investors, and regulators.

Phronesis: Beyond the Research Ethics Committee-A Crucial Decision-Making Skill for Health Researchers During Community Research.

Science.gov (United States)

Greeff, Minrie; Rennie, Stuart

2016-04-01

Health researchers conducting research in the community are often faced with unanticipated ethical issues that arise in the course of their research and that go beyond the scope of ethical approval by the research ethics committee. Eight expert researchers were selected through extreme intensity purposive sampling, because they are representative of unusual manifestations of the phenomenon related to their research in the community. They were selected to take part in a semi-structured focus group discussion on whether practical wisdom (phronesis) is used as a decision-making skill to solve unanticipated ethical issues during research in the community. Although the researchers were not familiar with the concept phronesis, it became obvious that it formed an integral part of their everyday existence and decision making during intervention research. They could balance research ethics with practical considerations. The capacity of practical wisdom as a crucial decision-making skill should be assimilated into a researcher's everyday reality, and also into the process of mentoring young researchers to become phronimos. Researchers should be taught this skill to handle unanticipated ethical issues. © The Author(s) 2016.

The Social Acceptance of Carbon Dioxide Utilisation: A Review and Research Agenda

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jones, Christopher R., E-mail: c.r.jones@sheffield.ac.uk [UK Centre for Carbon Dioxide Utilisation (CDUUK), University of Sheffield, Sheffield (United Kingdom); Environment and Behaviour Research Group (EBRG), Department of Psychology, University of Sheffield, Sheffield (United Kingdom); Olfe-Kräutlein, Barbara; Naims, Henriette [Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS), Potsdam (Germany); Armstrong, Katy [UK Centre for Carbon Dioxide Utilisation (CDUUK), University of Sheffield, Sheffield (United Kingdom)

2017-06-09

CO{sub 2} utilisation technologies—also called carbon dioxide utilisation (CDU) and carbon capture and utilisation (CCU)—convert CO{sub 2}via physical, chemical, or biological processes into carbon-based products. CO{sub 2} utilisation technologies are viewed as a means of helping to address climate change and broadening the raw material base for commodities that can be sold to generate economic revenue. However, while technical research and development into the feasibility of CO{sub 2} utilisation options are accelerating rapidly; at present, there has been limited research into the social acceptance of the technology and CO{sub 2}-derived products. This review article outlines and explores three key dimensions of social acceptance (i.e., socio-political, market, and community acceptance) pertaining to innovation within CO{sub 2} utilisation. The article highlights the importance of considering issues of social acceptance as an aspect of the research, development, demonstration, and deployment process for CO{sub 2} utilisation and explores how key stakeholders operating on each dimension might affect the innovation pathways, investment, and siting decisions relating to CO{sub 2} utilisation facilities and CO{sub 2}-derived products. Beyond providing a state-of-the-art review of current research into the social acceptance of CO{sub 2} utilisation, this article also outlines an agenda for future research in the field.

Individual differences in cognitive processing of interdependency information. The influence of social values on the cognitive processing of information in interdependency situations and the reflection on the temporal aspects of decision-making.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Dehue, Francine Marie Jean

1993-01-01

The present thesis describes research on the influence of social values on the cognitive processing of information underlying decisions in interdependency situations. The research is based on the assumption that the cognitive processes are reflected in decision times. ... Zie: Summary

Activation of social norms in social dilemmas

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Biel, Anders; Thøgersen, John

Taking rational choice theory for granted, cooperation in social dilemmas may be seen as mysterious. In one-shot dilemmas where subjects unknown to one another interact and make their decisions anonymously, cooperation could even be regarded as lunacy. Several authors have challenged this view......, though. Research has also identified various factors that imply why people cooperate or defect in social dilemmas and what motivations that might guide the decision in one way or the other. Here, a closer look will be taken at social norms as a reason for departure from rational choice, a factor...

Investigating heterogeneity in social influence by social distance in car-sharing decisions under uncertainty: A regret-minimizing hybrid choice model framework based on sequential stated adaptation experiments

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kim, J.; Rasouli, S.; Timmermans, H.J.P.

2017-01-01

The present study is designed to investigate social influence in car-sharing decisions under uncertainty. Social influence indicates that individuals’ decisions are influenced by the choices made by members of their social networks. An individual may experience different degrees of influence

What if I get busted? Deception, choice and decision-making in social interaction

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sip, Kamila Ewa; Skewes, Joshua; Agustus, Jennifer L Marchant

2012-01-01

Deception is an essentially social act, yet little is known about how social consequences affect the decision to deceive. In this study, participants played a computerized game of deception without constraints on whether or when to attempt to deceive their opponent. Participants were questioned...... by an opponent outside the scanner about their knowledge of the content of a display. Importantly, questions were posed so that, in some conditions, it was possible to be deceptive, while in other conditions it was not. To simulate a realistic interaction, participants could be confronted about their claims...... findings suggest the decision to deceive is affected by the potential risk of social confrontation rather than the claim itself....

Contributions of the Life Course Perspective to Research on Food Decision Making

Science.gov (United States)

Johnson-Askew, Wendy L.

2012-01-01

Background The life course perspective (LCP) has emerged as a powerful organizing framework for the study of health, illness, and mortality. LCP represents a “whole life” analysis perspective which originated in the field of sociology. Methods Its concepts are increasingly applied to understanding the development of chronic disease over long periods of time in the human life span. A missing link, however, in the adaptation of the LCP to health research, is the insight the LCP may offer into understanding the societal, social network, and family contexts that frame stability and change in dietary behavior. Results This paper reviews key concepts that comprise the LCP but primarily focuses on applications that have relevance to food decision making in social context. A case study of chronic work–family stress and perceived time scarcity as barriers to dietary improvement is included. Conclusion Illustrative findings are presented on dietary behavior in a diverse sample of lower-income working parents. This paper also offers ideas on increasing the contributions of the LCP to nutritional research. PMID:19890684

Risk perception and decision processes underlying informed consent to research participation.

Science.gov (United States)

Reynolds, William W; Nelson, Robert M

2007-11-01

According to the rational choice model, informed consent should consist of a systematic, step-by-step evaluation of all information pertinent to the treatment or research participation decision. Research shows that people frequently deviate from this normative model, however, employing decision-making shortcuts, or heuristics. In this paper we report findings from a qualitative study of 32 adolescents and (their) 31 parents who were recruited from two Northeastern US hospitals and asked to consider the risks of and make hypothetical decisions about research participation. The purpose of this study was to increase our understanding of how diabetic and at-risk adolescents (i.e., those who are obese and/or have a family history of diabetes) and their parents perceive risks and make decisions about research participation. Using data collected from adolescents and parents, we identify heuristic decision processes in which participant perceptions of risk magnitude, which are formed quickly and intuitively and appear to be based on affective responses to information, are far more prominent and central to the participation decision than are perceptions of probability. We discuss participants' use of decision-making heuristics in the context of recent research on affect and decision processes, and we consider the implications of these findings for researchers.

Nursing informatics, ethics and decisions: implications for translational research

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kaltoft, Mette Kjer; Nielsen, Jesper Bo; Dowie, Jack

Nursing informatics, ethics and decisions: implications for translational research Objective: To introduce, in the multi-disciplinary contexts of clinical decision making and policy formation, a theory-based decision-analytic framework for the transparent forward translation of research......-calculation with evidence-based ratings for option performance on those criteria to produce a preference-sensitive assessment or opinion. Results: The first example shows the framework connecting nursing informatics and nursing ethics in the clinical context of a nurse’s decision to disclose or not disclose information......, satisfaction, Quality of Life), organization-related (staff and work environment, internal and external communication and relationships) and economics-related (start-up costs, financial implications and externalities)). Conclusion: Web-based decision support can provide nursing with a template, technique...

The contribution of distinct subregions of the ventromedial frontal cortex to emotion, social behavior, and decision making.

Science.gov (United States)

Rudebeck, P H; Bannerman, D M; Rushworth, M F S

2008-12-01

Damage to the ventromedial frontal cortex (VMFC) in humans is associated with deficits in decision making. Decision making, however, often happens while people are interacting with others, where it is important to take the social consequences of a course of action into account. It is well known that VMFC lesions also lead to marked alterations in patients' emotions and ability to interact socially; however, it has not been clear which parts of the VMFC are critical for these changes. Recently, there has been considerable interest in the role of the VMFC in choice behavior during interpersonal exchanges. Here, we highlight recent research that suggests that two areas within or adjacent to the VMFC, the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), may play distinct but complementary roles in mediating normal patterns of emotion and social behavior. Converging lines of evidence from human, macaque, and rat studies now suggest that the OFC may be more specialized for simple emotional responses, such as fear and aggression, through its role in representing primary reinforcement or punishment. By contrast, the ACC may play a distinct role in more complex aspects of emotion, such as social interaction, by virtue of its connections with the discrete parts of the temporal lobe and subcortical structures that control autonomic responses.

Social proof in social media shopping: An experimental design research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Abdul Talib Yurita Yakimin

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The practices of social proof techniques to attract consumers to shop on social media have proliferated over time and been used extensively. The reviewed literature uncovers that social community recommendation, customers’ ratings and reviews, celebrity’s endorser and numbers of likes, affect consumers’ purchasing decisions. However, the effect of different types of social proof techniques on purchasing intention is unknown. This study empirically compares the effect of number of followers, celebrity endorser and social community recommendation on consumers’ purchasing intention. An experiment has been conducted and the results reveal that the consumers’ purchasing intention differs between groups. Further analysis discovers that the impact on consumers’ purchasing intention is different between high number of followers and low number of followers, and between having social community recommendation and not having social community recommendation. Though, the impact of these two techniques is equal wherein no technique is superior to other. In order to gain purchasing engagement and boost online sales, online businesses on social media are encouraged to use the power of social proof technique, either by increasing the number of followers or providing more social community recommendations.

Investigating heterogeneity in social influence by social distance in car-sharing decisions under uncertainty : a regret-minimizing hybrid choice model framework based on sequential stated adaptation experiments

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kim, J.; Rasouli, S.; Timmermans, H.J.P.

2016-01-01

The present study is designed to investigate social influence in the car-sharing decision under uncertainty. Social influence indicates the phenomenon that individuals’ decisions are influenced by the choices made by members of their social networks. An individual may receive different amounts of

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

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

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.

Evaluating the best available social science for natural resource management decision-making

Science.gov (United States)

Susan Charnley; Courtney Carothers; Terre Satterfield; Arielle Levine; Melissa R. Poe; Karma Norman; Jamie Donatuto; Sara Jo Breslow; Michael B. Mascia; Phillip S. Levin; Xavier Basurto; Christina C. Hicks; Carlos García-Quijano; Kevin St. Martin

2017-01-01

Increasing recognition of the human dimensions of natural resource management issues, and of social and ecological sustainability and resilience as being inter-related, highlights the importance of applying social science to natural resource management decision-making. Moreover, a number of laws and regulations require natural resource management agencies to consider...

The Design Social: Framing social research methods for design postgraduates.

OpenAIRE

Evans, Martyn

2010-01-01

This paper discusses approaches for framing social research methods within postgraduate design curricula, details the responses of postgraduate design students to the possibilities presented by social research methods, and concludes with a case study of the adoption experiences of PhD students in design when engaging with social research methods. Analysis of semi-structured interviews is employed to draw out perceptions and experiences of design postgraduates when engaging with social researc...

Contributions of the Medial Prefrontal Cortex to Social Influence in Economic Decision-Making.

Science.gov (United States)

Apps, M A J; Ramnani, N

2017-09-01

Economic decisions are guided by highly subjective reward valuations (SVs). Often these SVs are over-ridden when individuals conform to social norms. Yet, the neural mechanisms that underpin the distinct processing of such normative reward valuations (NVs) are poorly understood. The dorsomedial and ventromedial portions of the prefrontal cortex (dmPFC/vmPFC) are putatively key regions for processing social and economic information respectively. However, the contribution of these regions to economic decisions guided by social norms is unclear. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging and computational modeling we examine the neural mechanisms underlying the processing of SVs and NVs. Subjects (n = 15) indicated either their own economic preferences or made similar choices based on a social norm-learnt during a training session. We found that that the vmPFC and dmPFC make dissociable contributions to the processing of SV and NV. Regions of the dmPFC processed "only" the value of rewards when making normative choices. In contrast, we identify a novel mechanism in the vmPFC for the coding of value. This region signaled both subjective and normative valuations, but activity was scaled positively for SV and negatively for NV. These results highlight some of the key mechanisms that underpin conformity and social influence in economic decision-making. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press.

The social value of clinical research.

Science.gov (United States)

Habets, Michelle G J L; van Delden, Johannes J M; Bredenoord, Annelien L

2014-09-05

International documents on ethical conduct in clinical research have in common the principle that potential harms to research participants must be proportional to anticipated benefits. The anticipated benefits that can justify human research consist of direct benefits to the research participant, and societal benefits, also called social value. In first-in-human research, no direct benefits are expected and the benefit component of the risks-benefit assessment thus merely exists in social value. The concept social value is ambiguous by nature and is used in numerous ways in the research ethics literature. Because social value justifies involving human participants, especially in early human trials, this is problematic. Our analysis and interpretation of the concept social value has led to three proposals. First, as no direct benefits are expected for the research participants in first-in-human trials, we believe it is better to discuss a risk- value assessment instead of a risk - benefit assessment. This will also make explicit the necessity to have a clear and common use for the concept social value. Second, to avoid confusion we propose to limit the concept social value to the intervention tested. It is the expected improvement the intervention can bring to the wellbeing of (future) patients or society that is referred to when we speak about social value. For the sole purpose of gaining knowledge, we should not expose humans to potential harm; the ultimate justification of involving humans in research lies in the anticipated social value of the intervention. Third, at the moment only the validity of the clinical research proposal is a prerequisite for research to take place. We recommend making the anticipated social value a prerequisite as well. In this paper we analyze the use of the concept social value in research ethics. Despite its unavoidable ambiguity, we aim to find a best use of the concept, subject to its role in justifying involving humans in first

Understanding and applying principles of social cognition and decision making in adaptive environmental governance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Daniel A. DeCaro

2017-03-01

Full Text Available Environmental governance systems are under greater pressure to adapt and to cope with increased social and ecological uncertainty from stressors like climate change. We review principles of social cognition and decision making that shape and constrain how environmental governance systems adapt. We focus primarily on the interplay between key decision makers in society and legal systems. We argue that adaptive governance must overcome three cooperative dilemmas to facilitate adaptation: (1 encouraging collaborative problem solving, (2 garnering social acceptance and commitment, and (3 cultivating a culture of trust and tolerance for change and uncertainty. However, to do so governance systems must cope with biases in people's decision making that cloud their judgment and create conflict. These systems must also satisfy people's fundamental needs for self-determination, fairness, and security, ensuring that changes to environmental governance are perceived as legitimate, trustworthy, and acceptable. We discuss the implications of these principles for common governance solutions (e.g., public participation, enforcement and conclude with methodological recommendations. We outline how scholars can investigate the social cognitive principles involved in cases of adaptive governance.

Neural antecedents of social decision-making in a partner choice task.

Science.gov (United States)

Cartmell, Samuel C D; Chun, Marvin M; Vickery, Timothy J

2014-11-01

Experiments in financial decision-making point to two complementary processes that encode prospective gain and loss preceding the choice to purchase consumer goods. These processes involve the nucleus accumbens (NAcc) and the right anterior insula, respectively. The current experiment used functional MRI to investigate whether these regions served a similar function during an analogous social decision-making task without the influence of monetary outcomes. In this task, subjects chose partners based on face stimuli of varying attractiveness (operationalizing value) and ratings of compatibility with the participant (operationalizing likelihood of rejection). The NAcc responded to anticipated gain; the right anterior insula responded to compatibility, but not in a manner that suggests an analogy to anticipated cost. Logistic regression modeling demonstrated that both regions predicted subsequent choice above and beyond the influence of group attractiveness ratings or compatibility alone. Although the function of the insula may differ between tasks, these results suggest that financial and social decision-making recruit a similar network of brain regions. © The Author (2013). Published by Oxford University Press. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

The Americans with Disabilities Act: A Decision Tree for Social Services Administrators

Science.gov (United States)

O'Brien, Gerald V.; Ellegood, Christina

2005-01-01

The 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act has had a profound influence on social workers and social services administrators in virtually all work settings. Because of the multiple elements of the act, however, assessing the validity of claims can be a somewhat arduous and complicated task. This article provides a "decision tree" for…

Incorporating BDI Agents into Human-Agent Decision Making Research

Science.gov (United States)

Kamphorst, Bart; van Wissen, Arlette; Dignum, Virginia

Artificial agents, people, institutes and societies all have the ability to make decisions. Decision making as a research area therefore involves a broad spectrum of sciences, ranging from Artificial Intelligence to economics to psychology. The Colored Trails (CT) framework is designed to aid researchers in all fields in examining decision making processes. It is developed both to study interaction between multiple actors (humans or software agents) in a dynamic environment, and to study and model the decision making of these actors. However, agents in the current implementation of CT lack the explanatory power to help understand the reasoning processes involved in decision making. The BDI paradigm that has been proposed in the agent research area to describe rational agents, enables the specification of agents that reason in abstract concepts such as beliefs, goals, plans and events. In this paper, we present CTAPL: an extension to CT that allows BDI software agents that are written in the practical agent programming language 2APL to reason about and interact with a CT environment.

Researching Undergraduate Social Science Research

Science.gov (United States)

Rand, Jane

2016-01-01

The experience(s) of undergraduate research students in the social sciences is under-represented in the literature in comparison to the natural sciences or science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM). The strength of STEM undergraduate research learning environments is understood to be related to an apprenticeship-mode of learning supported…

Efficient group decision making in workshop settings

Science.gov (United States)

Daniel L. Schmoldt; David L. Peterson

2001-01-01

Public land managers must treat multiple values coincidentally in time and space, which requires the participation of multiple resource specialists and consideration of diverse clientele interests in the decision process. This implies decision making that includes multiple participants, both internally and externally. Decades of social science research on decision...

Social security and retirement decision: A positive and normative approach

OpenAIRE

Cremer, Helmuth; Lozachmeur, Jean-Marie; Pestieau, Pierre

2006-01-01

Social insurance for the elderly is judged responsible for the widely observed trend towards early retirement. In a world of laissez-faire or in a first-best setting, there would be no such trend. However, when first-best instruments are not available, because health and productivity are not observable, the optimal social insurance policy may imply a distortion on the retirement decision. The main point we make is that while there is no doubt that retirement systems induce an excessive bias t...

Recommendations for the role of social science research in One Health.

Science.gov (United States)

Lapinski, Maria Knight; Funk, Julie A; Moccia, Lauren T

2015-03-01

The social environment has changed rapidly as technology has facilitated communication among individuals and groups in ways not imagined 20 years ago. Communication technology increasingly plays a role in decision-making about health and environmental behaviors and is being leveraged to influence that process. But at its root is the fundamental need to understand human cognition, communication, and behavior. The concept of 'One Health' has emerged as a framework for interdisciplinary work that cuts across human, animal, and ecosystem health in recognition of their interdependence and the value of an integrated perspective. Yet, the science of communication, information studies, social psychology, and other social sciences have remained marginalized in this emergence. Based on an interdisciplinary collaboration, this paper reports on a nascent conceptual framework for the role of social science in 'One Health' issues and identifies a series of recommendations for research directions that bear additional scrutiny and development. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Androgen receptor distribution in the social decision-making network of eusocial naked mole-rats.

Science.gov (United States)

Holmes, Melissa M; Van Mil, Spencer; Bulkowski, Camila; Goldman, Sharry L; Goldman, Bruce D; Forger, Nancy G

2013-11-01

Naked mole-rats are highly social rodents that live in large groups and exhibit a strict reproductive and social hierarchy. Only a few animals in each colony breed; the remainder are non-reproductive and are socially subordinate to breeders. We have examined androgen receptor immunoreactive (AR+) cells in brain regions comprising the recently described social decision-making network in subordinate and breeder naked mole-rats of both sexes. We find that subordinates have a significantly higher percentage of AR+ cells in all brain regions expressing this protein. By contrast, there were no significant effects of sex and no sex-by-status interactions on the percentage of AR+ cells. Taken together with previous findings, the present data complete a systematic assessment of the distribution of AR protein in the social decision-making network of the eusocial mammalian brain and demonstrate a significant role for social status in the regulation of this protein throughout many nodes of this network. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Emotion, decision-making and the brain.

Science.gov (United States)

Chang, Luke J; Sanfey, Alan G

2008-01-01

Initial explorations in the burgeoning field of neuroeconomics have highlighted evidence supporting a potential dissociation between a fast automatic system and a slow deliberative controlled system. Growing research in the role of emotion in decision-making has attempted to draw parallels to the automatic system. This chapter will discuss a theoretical framework for understanding the role of emotion in decision-making and evidence supporting the underlying neural substrates. This chapter applies a conceptual framework to understanding the role of emotion in decision-making, and emphasizes a distinction between expected and immediate emotions. Expected emotions refer to anticipated emotional states associated with a given decision that are never actually experienced. Immediate emotions, however, are experienced at the time of decision, and either can occur in response to a particular decision or merely as a result of a transitory fluctuation. This chapter will review research from the neuroeconomics literature that supports a neural dissociation between these two classes of emotion and also discuss a few interpretive caveats. Several lines of research including regret, uncertainty, social decision-making, and moral decision-making have yielded evidence consistent with our formulization--expected and immediate emotions may invoke dissociable neural systems. This chapter provides a more specific conceptualization of the mediating role of emotions in the decision-making process, which has important implications for understanding the interacting neural systems underlying the interface between emotion and cognition--a topic of immediate value to anyone investigating topics within the context of social-cognitive-affective-neuroscience.

Social Network, Surgeon, and Media Influence on the Decision to Undergo Contralateral Prophylactic Mastectomy.

Science.gov (United States)

Venetis, Maria K; MacGeorge, Erina L; Baptiste, Dadrie F; Mouton, Ashton; Friley, Lorin B; Pastor, Rebekah; Hatten, Kristen; Lagoo, Janaka; Bowling, Monet W; Clare, Susan E

2018-06-01

The rate of contralateral prophylactic mastectomy (CPM) has risen sharply in the past decade. The current study was designed to examine social network, surgeon, and media influence on patients' CPM decision-making, examining not only who influenced the decision, and to what extent, but also the type of influence exerted. Patients (N=113) who underwent CPM at 4 Indiana University-affiliated hospitals between 2008 and 2012 completed structured telephone interviews in 2013. Questions addressed the involvement and influence of the social network (family, friends, and nonsurgeon health professionals), surgeon, and media on the CPM decision. Spouses, children, family, friends, and health professionals were reported as exerting a meaningful degree of influence on patients' decisions, largely in ways that were positive or neutral toward CPM. Most surgeons were regarded as providing options rather than encouraging or discouraging CPM. Media influence was present, but limited. Patients who choose CPM do so with influence and support from members of their social networks. Reversing the increasing choice of CPM will require educating these influential others, which can be accomplished by encouraging patients to include them in clinical consultations, and by providing patients with educational materials that can be shared with their social networks. Surgeons need to be perceived as having an opinion, specifically that CPM should be reserved for those patients for whom it is medically indicated.

Decision Making in Action: Applying Research to Practice

Science.gov (United States)

Orasanu, Judith; Statler, Irving C. (Technical Monitor)

1994-01-01

The importance of decision-making to safety in complex, dynamic environments like mission control centers and offshore installations has been well established. NASA-ARC has a program of research dedicated to fostering safe and effective decision-making in the manned spaceflight environment. Because access to spaceflight is limited, environments with similar characteristics, including aviation and nuclear power plants, serve as analogs from which space-relevant data can be gathered and theories developed. Analyses of aviation accidents cite crew judgement and decision making as causes or contributing factors in over half of all accidents. A similar observation has been made in nuclear power plants. Yet laboratory research on decision making has not proven especially helpful in improving the quality of decisions in these kinds of environments. One reason is that the traditional, analytic decision models are inappropriate to multidimensional, high-risk environments, and do not accurately describe what expert human decision makers do when they make decisions that have consequences. A new model of dynamic, naturalistic decision making is offered that may prove useful for improving decision making in complex, isolated, confined and high-risk environments. Based on analyses of crew performance in full-mission simulators and accident reports, features that define effective decision strategies in abnormal or emergency situations have been identified. These include accurate situation assessment (including time and risk assessment), appreciation of the complexity of the problem, sensitivity to constraints on the decision, timeliness of the response, and use of adequate information. More effective crews also manage their workload to provide themselves with time and resources to make good decisions. In brief, good decisions are appropriate to the demands of the situation. Effective crew decision making and overall performance are mediated by crew communication. Communication

The practise and practice of Bourdieu: the application of social theory to youth alcohol research.

Science.gov (United States)

Lunnay, Belinda; Ward, Paul; Borlagdan, Joseph

2011-11-01

Some years ago Australian anthropologist David Moore criticised the predominant form of understanding youth alcohol consumption for residing with biomedical approaches that individualise and ultimately stigmatise drinking behaviour and 'ignore' the social context of consumption. Of interest here is the ongoing insufficient integration of alternative approaches to understanding young people's drinking. This paper presents theoretically informed qualitative research that investigates why young Australian females (aged 14-17) drink and how social and cultural context form the basis, rather than the periphery, of their drinking experience. We demonstrate the utility of Pierre Bourdieu's sociological framework for delving beyond the dichotomy of young people's drinking decisions as either a determination of their cultural environment or the singular result of a rational individual's independent decision-making. The paper is presented in two parts. First, we provide the interpretation, or 'practise', of Bourdieu's concepts through an outline and application of his complex theoretical constructs. Specifically, the concept of symbolic capital (or social power) is applied. Second, our explication of Bourdieu's 'practice', or epistemological contributions, offers a methodologically grounded example to other researchers seeking to attain more complete understandings of the social processes underpinning youth alcohol consumption. A sociological approach to exploring the complex relationship between drinking and contextual social factors amongst young Australian females is an unchartered area of enquiry. We contribute new theoretically supported insights to create a more complete picture of young females' drinking behaviours. Crown Copyright © 2011. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Calm and smart? A selective review of meditation effects on decision making.

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, Sai; Yao, Ziqing; Wei, Jaixin; Yu, Rongjun

2015-01-01

Over the past two decades, there has been a growing interest in the use of meditation to improve cognitive performance, emotional balance, and well-being. As a consequence, research into the psychological effects and neural mechanisms of meditation has been accumulating. Whether and how meditation affects decision making is not yet clear. Here, we review evidence from behavioral and neuroimaging studies and summarize the effects of meditation on social and non-social economic decision making. Research suggests that meditation modulates brain activities associated with cognitive control, emotion regulation and empathy, and leads to improved non-social and social decision making. Accordingly, we propose an integrative model in which cognitive control, emotional regulation, and empathic concern mediate the effects of meditation on decision making. This model provides insights into the mechanisms by which meditation affects the decision making process. More evidence is needed to test our explanatory model and to explore the function of specific brain areas and their interactive effects on decision making during meditation training.

Research-based-decision-making in Canadian health organizations: a behavioural approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Jbilou, Jalila; Amara, Nabil; Landry, Réjean

2007-06-01

Decision making in Health sector is affected by a several elements such as economic constraints, political agendas, epidemiologic events, managers' values and environment... These competing elements create a complex environment for decision making. Research-Based-Decision-Making (RBDM) offers an opportunity to reduce the generated uncertainty and to ensure efficacy and efficiency in health administrations. We assume that RBDM is dependant on decision makers' behaviour and the identification of the determinants of this behaviour can help to enhance research results utilization in health sector decision making. This paper explores the determinants of RBDM as a personal behaviour among managers and professionals in health administrations in Canada. From the behavioural theories and the existing literature, we build a model measuring "RBDM" as an index based on five items. These items refer to the steps accomplished by a decision maker while developing a decision which is based on evidence. The determinants of RBDM behaviour are identified using data collected from 942 health care decision makers in Canadian health organizations. Linear regression is used to model the behaviour RBDM. Determinants of this behaviour are derived from Triandis Theory and Bandura's construct "self-efficacy." The results suggest that to improve research use among managers in Canadian governmental health organizations, strategies should focus on enhancing exposition to evidence through facilitating communication networks, partnerships and links between researchers and decision makers, with the key long-term objective of developing a culture that supports and values the contribution that research can make to decision making in governmental health organizations. Nevertheless, depending on the organizational level, determinants of RBDM are different. This difference has to be taken into account if RBDM adoption is desired. Decision makers in Canadian health organizations (CHO) can help to build

Domestic decision-making power, social support, and postpartum depression symptoms among immigrant and native women in Taiwan.

Science.gov (United States)

Chien, Li-Yin; Tai, Chen-Jei; Yeh, Mei-Chiang

2012-01-01

Domestic decision-making power is an integral part of women's empowerment. No study has linked domestic decision-making power and social support concurrently to postpartum depression and compared these between immigrant and native populations. The aim of this study was to examine domestic decision-making power and social support and their relationship to postpartum depressive symptoms among immigrant and native women in Taiwan. This cross-sectional survey included 190 immigrant and 190 native women who had delivered healthy babies during the past year in Taipei City. Depression was measured using the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale, with a cutoff score of 10. Logistic regression was used to determine the factors associated with postpartum depression symptoms. Immigrant mothers had significantly higher prevalence of postpartum depression symptoms (41.1% vs. 8.4%) and had significantly lower levels of domestic decision-making power and social support than native mothers did. Logistic regression showed that insufficient family income was associated with an increased risk of postpartum depression symptoms, whereas social support and domestic decision-making power levels were associated negatively with postpartum depression symptoms. After accounting for these factors, immigrant women remained at higher risk of postpartum depression symptoms than native women did, odds ratio = 2.59, 95% CI [1.27, 5.28]. Domestic decision-making power and social support are independent protective factors for postpartum depression symptoms among immigrant and native women in Taiwan. Social support and empowerment interventions should be tested to discover whether they are able to prevent or alleviate postpartum depression symptoms, with special emphasis on immigrant mothers.

Activation of social norms in social dilemmas

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Biel, Anders; Thøgersen, John

2007-01-01

Taking rational choice theory for granted, cooperation in social dilemmas may be seen as mysterious. In one-shot dilemmas where subjects unknown to one another interact and make their decisions anonymously, cooperation could even be regarded as lunacy. Several authors have challenged this view......, though. Research has also identiWed various factors that imply why people cooperate or defect in social dilemmas and what motivations that might guide the decision in one way or the other. Here, a closer look will be taken at social norms as a reason for departure from rational choice, a factor...

Social Justice, Research, and Adolescence.

Science.gov (United States)

Russell, Stephen T

2016-03-01

In what ways might research on adolescence contribute to social justice? My 2014 Presidential Address identified strategies for social justice in our field. First, we need research that is conscious of biases, power, and privilege in science, as well as in our roles as scholars. Second, we need research that attends to inequities in lives of adolescents, and as scholars we need to question the ways that our research may unwittingly reinforce those inequalities. Third, we need research that attends to urgencies, that is, issues or conditions that influence adolescents' well-being which demand attention and action. I draw from a range of concepts and theoretical perspectives to make the case for a framework of social justice in research on adolescence.

Judgment and decision making.

Science.gov (United States)

Mellers, B A; Schwartz, A; Cooke, A D

1998-01-01

For many decades, research in judgment and decision making has examined behavioral violations of rational choice theory. In that framework, rationality is expressed as a single correct decision shared by experimenters and subjects that satisfies internal coherence within a set of preferences and beliefs. Outside of psychology, social scientists are now debating the need to modify rational choice theory with behavioral assumptions. Within psychology, researchers are debating assumptions about errors for many different definitions of rationality. Alternative frameworks are being proposed. These frameworks view decisions as more reasonable and adaptive that previously thought. For example, "rule following." Rule following, which occurs when a rule or norm is applied to a situation, often minimizes effort and provides satisfying solutions that are "good enough," though not necessarily the best. When rules are ambiguous, people look for reasons to guide their decisions. They may also let their emotions take charge. This chapter presents recent research on judgment and decision making from traditional and alternative frameworks.

Fundamental research of decision support systems. Progress report, March 1983-September 1984

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1984-01-01

The objective of the research effort is to investigate and formulate methods and tools to improve the decision-making processes of managers in uncertain environments by researching decision support systems (DSS). DSS was coined by researchers in the field to describe a system which integrates extensive decision analysis with a comprehensive management information system (MIS). The results of this research are expected to enhance management decision-making in uncertain environments where traditional management techniques have failed

A proposal of group decision making procedure for supporting social consensus making

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shimizu, Yoshiaki

1996-01-01

Being interested in supporting social consensus making, in this paper, we have proposed a group decision making procedure through conflict resolution in the following situation: each group has a different privilege with decision making; the final goal should be evaluated by a few qualitative sub-goals besides quantitative ones. For this purpose, we have developed a step-wise procedure that has been popularly adapted when encountered with complicated and large-scale problem-solving. As well as at the value system design phase, we applied the analytic hierarchy process, AHP to decide weights standing for the privilege at the decision making phase. Then, after rearranging the hierarchy of the sub-goals depending on the nature, we have provided an iterative procedure to derive a final solution from a discrete optimization problem. To reduce the difficulties of multi-objective decision making thereat, we took a scoring method for total evaluation and applied the genetic algorithm as a solution method. Through numerical experiments applied to a planning problem of the radioactive waste management system, we have shown numerically the proposed approach is very promising for social consensus making. (author)

The role of testosterone and estrogen in consumer behavior and social & economic decision making: A review.

Science.gov (United States)

Stanton, Steven J

2017-06-01

A contribution to a special issue on Hormones and Human Competition.This manuscript reviews the current literature on the actions of the steroid hormones testosterone and estradiol in shaping humans' behavior within two applied contexts, specifically consumer behavior and decision making (both social and economic). The theoretical argument put forth is that steroids shape these everyday behaviors and choices in service to being more competitive in achieving long-term goals related to resource acquisition, mating success, and social dominance. In addition, a discussion of the increased research focus on the role of steroids in other applied business domains will highlight the relevant applications of basic science discoveries in behavioral endocrinology. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Unconscious race and social class bias among acute care surgical clinicians and clinical treatment decisions.

Science.gov (United States)

Haider, Adil H; Schneider, Eric B; Sriram, N; Dossick, Deborah S; Scott, Valerie K; Swoboda, Sandra M; Losonczy, Lia; Haut, Elliott R; Efron, David T; Pronovost, Peter J; Lipsett, Pamela A; Cornwell, Edward E; MacKenzie, Ellen J; Cooper, Lisa A; Freischlag, Julie A

2015-05-01

Significant health inequities persist among minority and socially disadvantaged patients. Better understanding of how unconscious biases affect clinical decision making may help to illuminate clinicians' roles in propagating disparities. To determine whether clinicians' unconscious race and/or social class biases correlate with patient management decisions. We conducted a web-based survey among 230 physicians from surgery and related specialties at an academic, level I trauma center from December 1, 2011, through January 31, 2012. We administered clinical vignettes, each with 3 management questions. Eight vignettes assessed the relationship between unconscious bias and clinical decision making. We performed ordered logistic regression analysis on the Implicit Association Test (IAT) scores and used multivariable analysis to determine whether implicit bias was associated with the vignette responses. Differential response times (D scores) on the IAT as a surrogate for unconscious bias. Patient management vignettes varied by patient race or social class. Resulting D scores were calculated for each management decision. In total, 215 clinicians were included and consisted of 74 attending surgeons, 32 fellows, 86 residents, 19 interns, and 4 physicians with an undetermined level of education. Specialties included surgery (32.1%), anesthesia (18.1%), emergency medicine (18.1%), orthopedics (7.9%), otolaryngology (7.0%), neurosurgery (7.0%), critical care (6.0%), and urology (2.8%); 1.9% did not report a departmental affiliation. Implicit race and social class biases were present in most respondents. Among all clinicians, mean IAT D scores for race and social class were 0.42 (95% CI, 0.37-0.48) and 0.71 (95% CI, 0.65-0.78), respectively. Race and class scores were similar across departments (general surgery, orthopedics, urology, etc), race, or age. Women demonstrated less bias concerning race (mean IAT D score, 0.39 [95% CI, 0.29-0.49]) and social class (mean IAT D score

Making better decisions in uncertain times (Invited)

Science.gov (United States)

St John, C.

2013-12-01

Scientific information about climate change and other human impacts on the environment are increasingly available and sought after (often in the form of probabilistic forecasts or technical information related to engineering solutions). However, it is increasingly apparent that there are barriers to the use of this information by decision makers - either from its lack of application altogether, its usability for people without scientific backgrounds, or its ability to inform sound decisions and widespread behavior change. While the argument has been made that an information deficit is to blame, we argue that there is also a motivation deficit contributing to a lack of understanding of information about climate change impacts and solutions. Utilizing insight from over thirty years of research in social and cognitive psychology, in addition to other social sciences, the Center for Research on Environmental Decisions (CRED) seeks to understand how people make environmental decisions under conditions of uncertainty, and how these decisions can be improved. This presentation will focus specifically on recent research that has come forth since the 2009 publication of CRED's popular guide 'The Psychology of Climate Change Communication: A Guide for Scientists, Journalists, Educators, Political Aides, and the Interested Public.' Utilizing case studies from real world examples, this talk will explore how decision making can be improved through a better understanding of how people perceive and process uncertainty and risk. It will explore techniques such as choice architecture and 'nudging' behavior change, how social goals and group participation affect decision making, and how framing of environmental information influences mitigative behavior.

Family and physician influence on asthma research participation decisions for adolescents: the effects of adolescent gender and research risk.

Science.gov (United States)

Brody, Janet L; Scherer, David G; Annett, Robert D; Turner, Charles; Dalen, Jeanne

2006-08-01

There is considerable ethical and legal ambiguity surrounding the role of adolescents in the decision-making process for research participation. Depending on the nature of the study and the regulations involved, adolescents may have independent responsibility for providing informed consent, they may be asked to provide their assent, or they may be completely excluded from the decision-making process. This study examined parent and adolescent perceptions of decision-making authority and sources of influence on adolescent research participation decisions, and examined whether perceptions of influence differed based on adolescent gender and level of research risk. Adolescents (n = 36) with asthma and their parents reviewed 9 pediatric research protocols, decided whether they would choose to participate, rated the extent they would be responsible for the actual decision, and indicated the ability of family and physician to influence their decisions. Multivariate analyses of variance were used to evaluate differences in perceptions of decision-making authority and sources of influence on the decisions. Adolescents were less willing to cede decision making authority to parents than parents anticipated. Parents and adolescents acknowledged a greater openness to influence from physicians than from family for above minimal risk studies. Parents were more willing to consider opinions from male adolescents. Adolescents desire responsibility for research participation decisions, though parents may not share these views. Physicians' views on research participation are important to families, especially for above minimal risk studies. Parents may grant more decision-making autonomy to adolescent males than to females. Researchers, physicians, and institutions play a key role in facilitating the ethical enrollment of adolescents into biomedical research. Educational, policy, and oversight processes that support both adolescent autonomy and parental responsibility for research

Moderating Effects of Social Value Orientation on the Effect of Social Influence in Prosocial Decisions.

Science.gov (United States)

Wei, Zhenyu; Zhao, Zhiying; Zheng, Yong

2016-01-01

Prosocial behaviors are susceptible to individuals' preferences regarding payoffs and social context. In the present study, we combined individual differences with social influence and attempted to discover the effect of social value orientation (SVO) and social influence on prosocial behavior in a trust game and a dictator game. Prosocial behavior in the trust game could be motivated by strategic considerations whereas individuals' decisions in the dictator game could be associated with their social preference. In the trust game, prosocials were less likely than proselfs to conform to the behavior of other group members when the majority of group members distrusted the trustee. In the dictator game, the results of the three-way ANOVA indicated that, irrespective of the type of offer, in contrast to proselfs, prosocials were influenced more by others' generous choices than their selfish choices, even if the selfish choices were beneficial to themselves. The overall results demonstrated that the effect of social influence appears to depend on individuals' SVO: that is, prosocials tend to conform to prosocial rather than proself behaviors.

Cognitive processes, models and metaphors in decision research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ben Newell

2008-03-01

Full Text Available Decision research in psychology has traditionally been influenced by the extit{homo oeconomicus} metaphor with its emphasis on normative models and deviations from the predictions of those models. In contrast, the principal metaphor of cognitive psychology conceptualizes humans as `information processors', employing processes of perception, memory, categorization, problem solving and so on. Many of the processes described in cognitive theories are similar to those involved in decision making, and thus increasing cross-fertilization between the two areas is an important endeavour. A wide range of models and metaphors has been proposed to explain and describe `information processing' and many models have been applied to decision making in ingenious ways. This special issue encourages cross-fertilization between cognitive psychology and decision research by providing an overview of current perspectives in one area that continues to highlight the benefits of the synergistic approach: cognitive modeling of multi-attribute decision making. In this introduction we discuss aspects of the cognitive system that need to be considered when modeling multi-attribute decision making (e.g., automatic versus controlled processing, learning and memory constraints, metacognition and illustrate how such aspects are incorporated into the approaches proposed by contributors to the special issue. We end by discussing the challenges posed by the contrasting and sometimes incompatible assumptions of the models and metaphors.

Understanding and applying principles of social cognition and decision making in adaptive environmental governance

Science.gov (United States)

Environmental governance systems are under greater pressure to adapt and to cope with increased social and ecological uncertainty from stressors like climate change. We review principles of social cognition and decision making that shape and constrain how environmental governance...

Decision-making in multinational enterprises: concepts and research approaches.

OpenAIRE

Ghertman M

1984-01-01

ILO pub. Working paper on decision making processes in multinational enterprises - gives definition, type and classification of decision making in large enterprises; outlines the centralization decentralization theory and the iterative process; notes research needs. Bibliography.

Integrating research tools to support the management of social-ecological systems under climate change

Science.gov (United States)

Miller, Brian W.; Morisette, Jeffrey T.

2014-01-01

Developing resource management strategies in the face of climate change is complicated by the considerable uncertainty associated with projections of climate and its impacts and by the complex interactions between social and ecological variables. The broad, interconnected nature of this challenge has resulted in calls for analytical frameworks that integrate research tools and can support natural resource management decision making in the face of uncertainty and complex interactions. We respond to this call by first reviewing three methods that have proven useful for climate change research, but whose application and development have been largely isolated: species distribution modeling, scenario planning, and simulation modeling. Species distribution models provide data-driven estimates of the future distributions of species of interest, but they face several limitations and their output alone is not sufficient to guide complex decisions for how best to manage resources given social and economic considerations along with dynamic and uncertain future conditions. Researchers and managers are increasingly exploring potential futures of social-ecological systems through scenario planning, but this process often lacks quantitative response modeling and validation procedures. Simulation models are well placed to provide added rigor to scenario planning because of their ability to reproduce complex system dynamics, but the scenarios and management options explored in simulations are often not developed by stakeholders, and there is not a clear consensus on how to include climate model outputs. We see these strengths and weaknesses as complementarities and offer an analytical framework for integrating these three tools. We then describe the ways in which this framework can help shift climate change research from useful to usable.

Peadiatric social admission

OpenAIRE

Carter Anand, Janet

2009-01-01

The phenomenon of paediatric social admission describes the hospitalisation of children for medicallynon- urgent and/or social reasons. Much of the research in this field has been in relation to avoidable admissions which have been identified, studied and condoned based on strict medical criteria. Such research has tended to mask the significance of social factors and the commonplace practice of Paediatric Social Admission. This paper examines decision making from the perspective of the healt...

Organization of intrinsic functional brain connectivity predicts decisions to reciprocate social behavior.

Science.gov (United States)

Cáceda, Ricardo; James, G Andrew; Gutman, David A; Kilts, Clinton D

2015-10-01

Reciprocation of trust exchanges is central to the development of interpersonal relationships and societal well-being. Understanding how humans make pro-social and self-centered decisions in dyadic interactions and how to predict these choices has been an area of great interest in social neuroscience. A functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) based technology with potential clinical application is the study of resting state brain connectivity. We tested if resting state connectivity may predict choice behavior in a social context. Twenty-nine healthy adults underwent resting state fMRI before performing the Trust Game, a two person monetary exchange game. We assessed the ability of patterns of resting-state functional brain organization, demographic characteristics and a measure of moral development, the Defining Issues Test (DIT-2), to predict individuals' decisions to reciprocate money during the Trust Game. Subjects reciprocated in 74.9% of the trials. Independent component analysis identified canonical resting-state networks. Increased functional connectivity between the salience (bilateral insula/anterior cingulate) and central executive (dorsolateral prefrontal cortex/ posterior parietal cortex) networks significantly predicted the choice to reciprocate pro-social behavior (R(2) = 0.20, p = 0.015). Stepwise linear regression analysis showed that functional connectivity between these two networks (p = 0.002), age (p = 0.007) and DIT-2 personal interest schema score (p = 0.032) significantly predicted reciprocity behavior (R(2) = 0.498, p = 0.001). Intrinsic functional connectivity between neural networks in conjunction with other individual characteristics may be a valuable tool for predicting performance during social interactions. Future replication and temporal extension of these findings may bolster the understanding of decision making in clinical, financial and marketing settings. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Decision making and cancer.

Science.gov (United States)

Reyna, Valerie F; Nelson, Wendy L; Han, Paul K; Pignone, Michael P

2015-01-01

We review decision making along the cancer continuum in the contemporary context of informed and shared decision making in which patients are encouraged to take a more active role in their health care. We discuss challenges to achieving informed and shared decision making, including cognitive limitations and emotional factors, but argue that understanding the mechanisms of decision making offers hope for improving decision support. Theoretical approaches to decision making that explain cognition, emotion, and their interaction are described, including classical psychophysical approaches, dual-process approaches that focus on conflicts between emotion versus cognition (or reason), and modern integrative approaches such as fuzzy-trace theory. In contrast to the earlier emphasis on rote use of numerical detail, modern approaches emphasize understanding the bottom-line gist of options (which encompasses emotion and other influences on meaning) and retrieving relevant social and moral values to apply to those gist representations. Finally, research on interventions to support better decision making in clinical settings is reviewed, drawing out implications for future research on decision making and cancer. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved.

Eyetracking and consumer decision research in marketing

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Oppewal, Harmen; Mueller Loose, Simone

friendliness of eyetracking equipment. Eyetracking, or the monitoring of eye movements, is of interest because eye movements indicate where consumers focus their attention when searching for information and making their purchase decisions. There are several marketing academics in Australia/ NZ who have started......This session will concentrate on the use of eyetracking for studying consumer decision making research in marketing. Eyetracking has been applied in marketing since the early 90s but only more recently the use of this technology has started to increase, due to lower cost and greater user....... The present session will discuss issues and recent progress in eyetracking studies in relation to studies of consumer decision making, especially in relation to decision making as studied in discrete choice experiments. The session will facilitate the sharing of experiences and thereby help develop the level...

Radiant research prospects? A review of nuclear waste issues in social science research; Straalande forskningsutsikter? En oeversikt om kaernavfallsfraagor inom samhaellsvetenskaplig forskning

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bergquist, Ann-Kristin [Umeaa universitet, Umeaa (Sweden)

2007-05-15

The present report has been put together on behalf of KASAM and constitutes a review of social science research and literature that been produced on the nuclear waste issue in Sweden, with focus on recent research. The aim with the investigation has been to map the scope of and the direction of the independent research about nuclear waste in Sweden, in relation to the research that has been initiated and financed by the stakeholders that are participating in the decision-making process in the nuclear waste issue. Another aim has been to point out areas that have not been taken into consideration.

Laboratory rhesus macaque social housing and social changes: Implications for research.

Science.gov (United States)

Hannibal, Darcy L; Bliss-Moreau, Eliza; Vandeleest, Jessica; McCowan, Brenda; Capitanio, John

2017-01-01

Macaque species, specifically rhesus (Macaca mulatta), are the most common nonhuman primates (NHPs) used in biomedical research due to their suitability as a model of high priority diseases (e.g., HIV, obesity, cognitive aging), cost effective breeding and housing compared to most other NHPs, and close evolutionary relationship to humans. With this close evolutionary relationship, however, is a shared adaptation for a socially stimulating environment, without which both their welfare and suitability as a research model are compromised. While outdoor social group housing provides the best approximation of a social environment that matches the macaque behavioral biology in the wild, this is not always possible at all facilities, where animals may be housed indoors in small groups, in pairs, or alone. Further, animals may experience many housing changes in their lifetime depending on project needs, changes in social status, management needs, or health concerns. Here, we review the evidence for the physiological and health effects of social housing changes and the potential impacts on research outcomes for studies using macaques, particularly rhesus. We situate our review in the context of increasing regulatory pressure for research facilities to both house NHPs socially and mitigate trauma from social aggression. To meet these regulatory requirements and further refine the macaque model for research, significant advances must be made in our understanding and management of rhesus macaque social housing, particularly pair-housing since it is the most common social housing configuration for macaques while on research projects. Because most NHPs are adapted for sociality, a social context is likely important for improving repeatability, reproducibility, and external validity of primate biomedical research. Am. J. Primatol. 79:e22528, 2017. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Social science to improve fuels management: a synthesis of research on the impacts of wildland fires on communities

Science.gov (United States)

Stephen F. McCool; James Burchfield; Daniel R. Williams; Matt Carroll; Patricia Cohn; Yoshitaka Kumagai; Tam Ubben

2007-01-01

A series of syntheses were commissioned by the U.S. Forest Service to aid in fuels mitigation project planning. Focusing on research on the social impacts of wildland fire, this synthesis explores decisions and actions taken by communities before, during, and after a wildland fire to minimize its impacts. It then synthesizes the research studying (1) the consequences...

Research on self-esteem in decision-making and decision-making styles in orienteering athletes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eroğlu Başak

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The aim of this study is to examine the self-esteem in decision making and decision-making styles of orienteering athletes in terms of different variables. 157 male and 43 female orienteering athletes, making a total of 200 athletes that joined the 3rd Level of Turkey Championship in 2015 have participated in this study which is in a survey model. The data collection tools were the Melbourne Decision-making. Quastionnaire I-II and the Personal Information Form which were adapted into Turkish by Deniz (2004. In the data analysis, descriptive statics, anova, t test and Tukey test have been utilized. There is a significant difference between athletes’ marital status, age groups, experiences in orienteering sports and self-esteem in decision making, decision making styles (p<0.05. According to the research results, it has been determined that married orienteering athletes prefer both self-esteem in decision making and vigilance decision-making style more often than the single athletes that mostly prefer procrastination decision-making style. Also, it has been found out that as the athletes’ age and experiences in sports increase, selfesteem and decision-making styles are affected more positively as well.

The Impact of Depression on Social Economic Decision Making [correction

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Harlé, K.M.; Allen, J.J.B.; Sanfey, A.G.

2010-01-01

Reports an error in "The impact of depression on social economic decision making" by Katia M. Harlé, John J. B. Allen and Alan G. Sanfey (Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 2010[May], Vol 119[2], 440-446). In the article, the last revision received date printed on the final page of the article was

Perceived social risk in medical decision-making for physical child abuse: a mixed-methods study.

Science.gov (United States)

Keenan, Heather T; Campbell, Kristine A; Page, Kent; Cook, Lawrence J; Bardsley, Tyler; Olson, Lenora M

2017-12-22

The medical literature reports differential decision-making for children with suspected physical abuse based on race and socioeconomic status. Differential evaluation may be related to differences of risk indicators in these populations or differences in physicians' perceptions of abuse risk. Our objective was to understand the contribution of the child's social ecology to child abuse pediatricians' perception of abuse risk and to test whether risk perception influences diagnostic decision-making. Thirty-two child abuse pediatrician participants prospectively contributed 746 consultations from for children referred for physical abuse evaluation (2009-2013). Participants entered consultations to a web-based interface. Participants noted their perception of child race, family SES, abuse diagnosis. Participants rated their perception of social risk for abuse and diagnostic certainty on a 1-100 scale. Consultations (n = 730) meeting inclusion criteria were qualitatively analyzed for social risk indicators, social and non-social cues. Using a linear mixed-effects model, we examined the associations of social risk indicators with participant social risk perception. We reversed social risk indicators in 102 cases whilst leaving all injury mechanism and medical information unchanged. Participants reviewed these reversed cases and recorded their social risk perception, diagnosis and diagnostic certainty. After adjustment for physician characteristics and social risk indicators, social risk perception was highest in the poorest non-minority families (24.9 points, 95%CI: 19.2, 30.6) and minority families (17.9 points, 95%CI, 12.8, 23.0). Diagnostic certainty and perceived social risk were associated: certainty increased as social risk perception increased (Spearman correlation 0.21, p < 0.001) in probable abuse cases; certainty decreased as risk perception increased (Spearman correlation (-)0.19, p = 0.003) in probable not abuse cases. Diagnostic decisions changed

Ethnographic Decision Tree Modeling: A Research Method for Counseling Psychology.

Science.gov (United States)

Beck, Kirk A.

2005-01-01

This article describes ethnographic decision tree modeling (EDTM; C. H. Gladwin, 1989) as a mixed method design appropriate for counseling psychology research. EDTM is introduced and located within a postpositivist research paradigm. Decision theory that informs EDTM is reviewed, and the 2 phases of EDTM are highlighted. The 1st phase, model…

Navigating Monogamy: Nonapeptide Sensitivity in a Memory Neural Circuit May Shape Social Behavior and Mating Decisions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alexander G. Ophir

2017-07-01

Full Text Available The role of memory in mating systems is often neglected despite the fact that most mating systems are defined in part by how animals use space. Monogamy, for example, is usually characterized by affiliative (e.g., pairbonding and defensive (e.g., mate guarding behaviors, but a high degree of spatial overlap in home range use is the easiest defining feature of monogamous animals in the wild. The nonapeptides vasopressin and oxytocin have been the focus of much attention for their importance in modulating social behavior, however this work has largely overshadowed their roles in learning and memory. To date, the understanding of memory systems and mechanisms governing social behavior have progressed relatively independently. Bridging these two areas will provide a deeper appreciation for understanding behavior, and in particular the mechanisms that mediate reproductive decision-making. Here, I argue that the ability to mate effectively as monogamous individuals is linked to the ability to track conspecifics in space. I discuss the connectivity across some well-known social and spatial memory nuclei, and propose that the nonapeptide receptors within these structures form a putative “socio-spatial memory neural circuit.” This purported circuit may function to integrate social and spatial information to shape mating decisions in a context-dependent fashion. The lateral septum and/or the nucleus accumbens, and neuromodulation therein, may act as an intermediary to relate socio-spatial information with social behavior. Identifying mechanisms responsible for relating information about the social world with mechanisms mediating mating tactics is crucial to fully appreciate the suite of factors driving reproductive decisions and social decision-making.

Navigating Monogamy: Nonapeptide Sensitivity in a Memory Neural Circuit May Shape Social Behavior and Mating Decisions

Science.gov (United States)

Ophir, Alexander G.

2017-01-01

The role of memory in mating systems is often neglected despite the fact that most mating systems are defined in part by how animals use space. Monogamy, for example, is usually characterized by affiliative (e.g., pairbonding) and defensive (e.g., mate guarding) behaviors, but a high degree of spatial overlap in home range use is the easiest defining feature of monogamous animals in the wild. The nonapeptides vasopressin and oxytocin have been the focus of much attention for their importance in modulating social behavior, however this work has largely overshadowed their roles in learning and memory. To date, the understanding of memory systems and mechanisms governing social behavior have progressed relatively independently. Bridging these two areas will provide a deeper appreciation for understanding behavior, and in particular the mechanisms that mediate reproductive decision-making. Here, I argue that the ability to mate effectively as monogamous individuals is linked to the ability to track conspecifics in space. I discuss the connectivity across some well-known social and spatial memory nuclei, and propose that the nonapeptide receptors within these structures form a putative “socio-spatial memory neural circuit.” This purported circuit may function to integrate social and spatial information to shape mating decisions in a context-dependent fashion. The lateral septum and/or the nucleus accumbens, and neuromodulation therein, may act as an intermediary to relate socio-spatial information with social behavior. Identifying mechanisms responsible for relating information about the social world with mechanisms mediating mating tactics is crucial to fully appreciate the suite of factors driving reproductive decisions and social decision-making. PMID:28744194

Social Media Participation in Urban Planning: a New way to Interact and Take Decisions

Science.gov (United States)

López-Ornelas, E.; Abascal-Mena, R.; Zepeda-Hernández, S.

2017-09-01

Social Media Participation can be very important when you have to make an important decision about a topic related to urban planning. Textual analysis to identify the sentiment about a topic or, community detection and user analysis to identify the actors involved on a discussion can be very important for the persons or institutions that have to take an important decision. In this paper we propose a methodological design to analyse participation in social media. We study the installation of a new airport in Mexico City as a case of study to highlight the importance of conducting a study of this nature.

Climate Variability, Social and Environmental Factors, and Ross River Virus Transmission: Research Development and Future Research Needs

Science.gov (United States)

Tong, Shilu; Dale, Pat; Nicholls, Neville; Mackenzie, John S.; Wolff, Rodney; McMichael, Anthony J.

2008-01-01

Background Arbovirus diseases have emerged as a global public health concern. However, the impact of climatic, social, and environmental variability on the transmission of arbovirus diseases remains to be determined. Objective Our goal for this study was to provide an overview of research development and future research directions about the interrelationship between climate variability, social and environmental factors, and the transmission of Ross River virus (RRV), the most common and widespread arbovirus disease in Australia. Methods We conducted a systematic literature search on climatic, social, and environmental factors and RRV disease. Potentially relevant studies were identified from a series of electronic searches. Results The body of evidence revealed that the transmission cycles of RRV disease appear to be sensitive to climate and tidal variability. Rainfall, temperature, and high tides were among major determinants of the transmission of RRV disease at the macro level. However, the nature and magnitude of the interrelationship between climate variability, mosquito density, and the transmission of RRV disease varied with geographic area and socioenvironmental condition. Projected anthropogenic global climatic change may result in an increase in RRV infections, and the key determinants of RRV transmission we have identified here may be useful in the development of an early warning system. Conclusions The analysis indicates that there is a complex relationship between climate variability, social and environmental factors, and RRV transmission. Different strategies may be needed for the control and prevention of RRV disease at different levels. These research findings could be used as an additional tool to support decision making in disease control/surveillance and risk management. PMID:19079707

Children's Decision-Making Involvement About Research Participation: Associations With Perceived Fairness and Self-Efficacy.

Science.gov (United States)

Miller, Victoria A; Feudtner, Chris; Jawad, Abbas F

2017-04-01

The primary objective of this study was to examine the associations of children's involvement in decisions about research participation with their perceptions of the decision-making process and self-efficacy. Participants were children (ages 8-17) who enrolled in research studies in the prior 2 months. Children completed a questionnaire that yielded three decision-making involvement subscales: Researcher Engages Child, Researcher Supports Autonomy, and Child Participates. Children reported on fairness of the decision-making process and health-related decision self-efficacy. After adjusting for age, higher scores on Researcher Engages Child were associated with greater self-efficacy, and higher scores on Researcher Supports Autonomy were associated with greater perceived fairness. These data underscore the potential importance of researcher-child interactions about research participation when assent is sought, including proactively involving children in the decision by asking for their opinions and communicating their central role in the decision, which are likely to be more meaningful to children than receiving information or signing a form.

Improving social impact assessment of protected areas: A review of the literature and directions for future research

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jones, Nikoleta, E-mail: nikoleta.jones@anglia.ac.uk [Global Sustainability Institute, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge (United Kingdom); McGinlay, James, E-mail: jimmcginlay@hotmail.com [School of Water, Energy & Environment, Cranfield University, Cranfield (United Kingdom); Dimitrakopoulos, Panayiotis G., E-mail: pdimi@env.aegean.gr [Biodiversity Conservation Laboratory, Department of Environment, University of the Aegean, 81100 Mytilene, Lesbos Island (Greece)

2017-05-15

Protected areas are the most widely applied policy tool for biodiversity conservation. However, effective management of protected areas is often obstructed by conflicts mainly associated with the social impacts imposed on local communities and other users by their establishment. Despite the importance of these social impacts they remain significantly under-researched. There is now an increasing need to incorporate social impacts in decision making processes by providing accurate estimations and develop ways to forecast their change in the future. Considering the increase of studies identifying this need, the present paper aims to indicate three main directions that will assist in designing effective tools for measuring and most importantly understanding social impacts: a) perceptions on social impacts of individuals who are directly affected by protected areas need to be incorporated in management evaluation techniques in a meaningful and accurate way and be combined with objective measurements of impact; b) understanding the factors determining the actual and perceived levels of social impacts is a key step for the design of effective management frameworks of protected areas and c) social impacts should not be seen as static concepts but should be seen as a dynamic and long-term factor which needs to be incorporated in decision-making processes.

Improving social impact assessment of protected areas: A review of the literature and directions for future research

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jones, Nikoleta; McGinlay, James; Dimitrakopoulos, Panayiotis G.

2017-01-01

Protected areas are the most widely applied policy tool for biodiversity conservation. However, effective management of protected areas is often obstructed by conflicts mainly associated with the social impacts imposed on local communities and other users by their establishment. Despite the importance of these social impacts they remain significantly under-researched. There is now an increasing need to incorporate social impacts in decision making processes by providing accurate estimations and develop ways to forecast their change in the future. Considering the increase of studies identifying this need, the present paper aims to indicate three main directions that will assist in designing effective tools for measuring and most importantly understanding social impacts: a) perceptions on social impacts of individuals who are directly affected by protected areas need to be incorporated in management evaluation techniques in a meaningful and accurate way and be combined with objective measurements of impact; b) understanding the factors determining the actual and perceived levels of social impacts is a key step for the design of effective management frameworks of protected areas and c) social impacts should not be seen as static concepts but should be seen as a dynamic and long-term factor which needs to be incorporated in decision-making processes.

'If you are good, I get better': the role of social hierarchy in perceptual decision-making.

Science.gov (United States)

Santamaría-García, Hernando; Pannunzi, Mario; Ayneto, Alba; Deco, Gustavo; Sebastián-Gallés, Nuria

2014-10-01

So far, it was unclear if social hierarchy could influence sensory or perceptual cognitive processes. We evaluated the effects of social hierarchy on these processes using a basic visual perceptual decision task. We constructed a social hierarchy where participants performed the perceptual task separately with two covertly simulated players (superior, inferior). Participants were faster (better) when performing the discrimination task with the superior player. We studied the time course when social hierarchy was processed using event-related potentials and observed hierarchical effects even in early stages of sensory-perceptual processing, suggesting early top-down modulation by social hierarchy. Moreover, in a parallel analysis, we fitted a drift-diffusion model (DDM) to the results to evaluate the decision making process of this perceptual task in the context of a social hierarchy. Consistently, the DDM pointed to nondecision time (probably perceptual encoding) as the principal period influenced by social hierarchy. © The Author (2013). Published by Oxford University Press. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Interpersonal Influence in Virtual Social Networks and Consumer Decisions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eduardo Botti Abbade

2014-04-01

Full Text Available This study aimed to analyze the attitude of college students regarding to interpersonal influence in virtual social networks related to consume decisions. It was conducted a survey with 200 college students from an Institution of Higher Education located in Santa Maria/RS. The sample was obtained through voluntary adhesion and the data collection instrument was applied in a virtual environment. Scales were adapted to measure and evaluate the propensity of students to influence and be influenced by their virtual contacts. The results suggest that the scales adapted are satisfactory to measure what they intend to do. The study also found that men are more able to influence the opinions of their virtual social contacts. On the other hand, the time dedicated to access the Internet positively and significantly influences the propensity of users to be influenced by their virtual social contacts. The correlation between the ability to influence the propensity to be influenced is significant and positive.

Respecting Stakeholders and Their Engagement to Decision Making - The Way of Successful Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy

Science.gov (United States)

Drieniková, Katarína; Sakál, Peter

2012-12-01

Current world situation characterized by constant dynamic development and changes in all spheres enforced us to view the business not only as a profit creator but as creator of added value to the society. The paper deals with the stakeholders as the integral part of corporate social responsibility (CSR) concept. It mentions the topic of stakeholder theory and stakeholder management in consideration of sustainable development and sustainable competitiveness of business. Within the paper are mentioned outputs of pilot research carried on among Slovak companies focusing on stakeholders and decision making within responsible business.

Build your own social network laboratory with Social Lab: a tool for research in social media.

Science.gov (United States)

Garaizar, Pablo; Reips, Ulf-Dietrich

2014-06-01

Social networking has surpassed e-mail and instant messaging as the dominant form of online communication (Meeker, Devitt, & Wu, 2010). Currently, all large social networks are proprietary, making it difficult to impossible for researchers to make changes to such networks for the purpose of study design and access to user-generated data from the networks. To address this issue, the authors have developed and present Social Lab, an Internet-based free and open-source social network software system available from http://www.sociallab.es . Having full availability of navigation and communication data in Social Lab allows researchers to investigate behavior in social media on an individual and group level. Automated artificial users ("bots") are available to the researcher to simulate and stimulate social networking situations. These bots respond dynamically to situations as they unfold. The bots can easily be configured with scripts and can be used to experimentally manipulate social networking situations in Social Lab. Examples for setting up, configuring, and using Social Lab as a tool for research in social media are provided.

Social media and consumer choice

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bronner, F.; de Hoog, R.

2014-01-01

Social media are becoming increasingly important for consumer decisions. This holds true in particular for vacation decision-making, as an example of a high-involvement decision. The research focuses upon the relation between the information people search regarding aspects or properties of choice

Evidence and research designs in applied sociology and social work research

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Høgsbro, Kjeld

2015-01-01

it had to be repeated all over again. This article tries to answer this question by reviewing the considerations in the history of applied sociology and its relevance for recent social work research. The ambition of delivering a research that has an impact on social work practice is not unique, neither...... of applied sociology and discusses its contributions to understanding questions of validity, evidence, methodology, practical relevance of research and scientific legitimacy in the areas of research which aim at contributing to the practical development of social services for marginalized people. By doing...... this, hopefully the history of applied sociology may prevent deeper mistakes, illusions and misleading in the development of social work research today....

Whole mind and shared mind in clinical decision-making.

Science.gov (United States)

Epstein, Ronald Mark

2013-02-01

To review the theory, research evidence and ethical implications regarding "whole mind" and "shared mind" in clinical practice in the context of chronic and serious illnesses. Selective critical review of the intersection of classical and naturalistic decision-making theories, cognitive neuroscience, communication research and ethics as they apply to decision-making and autonomy. Decision-making involves analytic thinking as well as affect and intuition ("whole mind") and sharing cognitive and affective schemas of two or more individuals ("shared mind"). Social relationships can help processing of complex information that otherwise would overwhelm individuals' cognitive capacities. Medical decision-making research, teaching and practice should consider both analytic and non-analytic cognitive processes. Further, research should consider that decisions emerge not only from the individual perspectives of patients, their families and clinicians, but also the perspectives that emerge from the interactions among them. Social interactions have the potential to enhance individual autonomy, as well as to promote relational autonomy based on shared frames of reference. Shared mind has the potential to result in wiser decisions, greater autonomy and self-determination; yet, clinicians and patients should be vigilant for the potential of hierarchical relationships to foster coercion or silencing of the patient's voice. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Androgen modulation of social decision making mechanisms in the brain: an integrative and embodied perspective

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rui F Oliveira

2014-07-01

Full Text Available Apart from their role in reproduction androgens also respond to social challenges and this response has been seen as a way to regulate the expression of behaviour according to the perceived social environment (Challenge hypothesis, Wingfield et al. 1990. This hypothesis implies that social decision-making mechanisms localized in the central nervous system (CNS are open to the influence of peripheral hormones that ultimately are under the control of the CNS through the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis. Therefore, two puzzling questions emerge at two different levels of biological analysis: (1 Why does the brain, which perceives the social environment and regulates androgen production in the gonad, need feedback information from the gonad to adjust its social decision-making processes? (2 How does the brain regulate gonadal androgen responses to social challenges and how do these feedback into the brain? In this paper, we will address these two questions using the integrative approach proposed by Niko Tinbergen, who proposed that a full understanding of behaviour requires its analysis at both proximate (physiology, ontogeny and ultimate (ecology, evolution levels.

Applying Bayesian decision theory to assess reprocessing economic and social cost-benefits

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Heising, C.D.

1978-01-01

Bayesian decision theory, combined with conventional systems analysis techniques into the discipline called decision analysis, has been applied in this work to assess economic and social cost-benefits associated with reprocessing nuclear fuel. Particular attention in this paper is given to the models which have been developed to place numerical estimates in dollar terms on the three categories of social risks that have been identified with reprocessing. These categories include: (1) health, environment, and safety, (2) diversion of fissile material, including sabotage, terrorist acts, and subnational diversion, and (3) nuclear proliferation, defined to be a diversion at the national level to obtain weapons capability. The emphasis is placed on the third category, as proliferation risk has not been treated elsewhere in a quantitative fashion; most arguments have in the main been qualitative conjectures put forth by political scientists

Using social network analysis to examine the decision-making process on new vaccine introduction in Nigeria.

Science.gov (United States)

Wonodi, C B; Privor-Dumm, L; Aina, M; Pate, A M; Reis, R; Gadhoke, P; Levine, O S

2012-05-01

The decision-making process to introduce new vaccines into national immunization programmes is often complex, involving many stakeholders who provide technical information, mobilize finance, implement programmes and garner political support. Stakeholders may have different levels of interest, knowledge and motivations to introduce new vaccines. Lack of consensus on the priority, public health value or feasibility of adding a new vaccine can delay policy decisions. Efforts to support country-level decision-making have largely focused on establishing global policies and equipping policy makers with the information to support decision-making on new vaccine introduction (NVI). Less attention has been given to understanding the interactions of policy actors and how the distribution of influence affects the policy process and decision-making. Social network analysis (SNA) is a social science technique concerned with explaining social phenomena using the structural and relational features of the network of actors involved. This approach can be used to identify how information is exchanged and who is included or excluded from the process. For this SNA of vaccine decision-making in Nigeria, we interviewed federal and state-level government officials, officers of bilateral and multilateral partner organizations, and other stakeholders such as health providers and the media. Using data culled from those interviews, we performed an SNA in order to map formal and informal relationships and the distribution of influence among vaccine decision-makers, as well as to explore linkages and pathways to stakeholders who can influence critical decisions in the policy process. Our findings indicate a relatively robust engagement of key stakeholders in Nigeria. We hypothesized that economic stakeholders and implementers would be important to ensure sustainable financing and strengthen programme implementation, but some economic and implementation stakeholders did not appear centrally on

Decision Support Systems for Research and Management in Advanced Life Support

Science.gov (United States)

Rodriquez, Luis F.

2004-01-01

Decision support systems have been implemented in many applications including strategic planning for battlefield scenarios, corporate decision making for business planning, production planning and control systems, and recommendation generators like those on Amazon.com(Registered TradeMark). Such tools are reviewed for developing a similar tool for NASA's ALS Program. DSS are considered concurrently with the development of the OPIS system, a database designed for chronicling of research and development in ALS. By utilizing the OPIS database, it is anticipated that decision support can be provided to increase the quality of decisions by ALS managers and researchers.

Genetic contributions of the serotonin transporter to social learning of fear and economic decision making.

Science.gov (United States)

Crişan, Liviu G; Pana, Simona; Vulturar, Romana; Heilman, Renata M; Szekely, Raluca; Druğa, Bogdan; Dragoş, Nicolae; Miu, Andrei C

2009-12-01

Serotonin (5-HT) modulates emotional and cognitive functions such as fear conditioning (FC) and decision making. This study investigated the effects of a functional polymorphism in the regulatory region (5-HTTLPR) of the human 5-HT transporter (5-HTT) gene on observational FC, risk taking and susceptibility to framing in decision making under uncertainty, as well as multidimensional anxiety and autonomic control of the heart in healthy volunteers. The present results indicate that in comparison to the homozygotes for the long (l) version of 5-HTTLPR, the carriers of the short (s) version display enhanced observational FC, reduced financial risk taking and increased susceptibility to framing in economic decision making. We also found that s-carriers have increased trait anxiety due to threat in social evaluation, and ambiguous threat perception. In addition, s-carriers also show reduced autonomic control over the heart, and a pattern of reduced vagal tone and increased sympathetic activity in comparison to l-homozygotes. This is the first genetic study that identifies the association of a functional polymorphism in a key neurotransmitter-related gene with complex social-emotional and cognitive processes. The present set of results suggests an endophenotype of anxiety disorders, characterized by enhanced social learning of fear, impaired decision making and dysfunctional autonomic activity.

SOCIAL MEDIA PARTICIPATION IN URBAN PLANNING: A NEW WAY TO INTERACT AND TAKE DECISIONS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

E. López-Ornelas

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Social Media Participation can be very important when you have to make an important decision about a topic related to urban planning. Textual analysis to identify the sentiment about a topic or, community detection and user analysis to identify the actors involved on a discussion can be very important for the persons or institutions that have to take an important decision. In this paper we propose a methodological design to analyse participation in social media. We study the installation of a new airport in Mexico City as a case of study to highlight the importance of conducting a study of this nature.

Neurocircuits underlying cognition-emotion interaction in a social decision making context.

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Ho, S Shaun; Gonzalez, Richard D; Abelson, James L; Liberzon, Israel

2012-11-01

Decision making (DM) in the context of others often entails complex cognition-emotion interaction. While the literature suggests that the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), striatum, and amygdala are involved in valuation-based DM and hippocampus in context processing, how these neural mechanisms subserve the integration of cognitive and emotional values in a social context remains unclear. In this study we addressed this gap by systematically manipulating cognition-emotion interaction in a social DM context, when the participants played a card game with a hypothetical opponent in a behavioral study (n=73) and a functional magnetic-resonance-imaging study (n=16). We observed that payoff-based behavioral choices were influenced by emotional values carried by face pictures and identified neurocircuits involved in cognitive valuation, emotional valuation, and concurrent cognition-emotion value integration. Specifically, while the vmPFC, amygdala, and ventral striatum were all involved in both cognitive and emotional domains of valuation, these regions played dissociable roles in social DM. The payoff-dependent responses in vmPFC and amygdala, but not ventral striatum, were moderated by the social context. Furthermore, the vmPFC, but not amygdala, not only encoded the opponent's gains as if self's losses, but also represented a "final common currency" during valuation-based decisions. The extent to which emotional input influenced choices was associated with the functional connectivity between the value-signaling amygdala and value integrating vmPFC, and also with the functional connectivity between the context-setting hippocampus and value-signaling amygdala and ventral striatum. These results identify brain pathways through which emotion shapes subjective values in a social DM context. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Social-Cultural Factors Affecting Maasai Women Participation In Decision Making In Tanzania. A Case Study Of Longido District

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Carolyn Kandusi

2015-06-01

Full Text Available Abstract Throughout history participation in decision making through processes like voting vying for leadership position and participation in decision making meetings has been blinded by discrimination to certain groups of community members including women. This study assessed the social cultural factors affecting Maasai womens participation in decision making a case of Longido district. Purposive sampling was used to select the districts under the study. Decision to select Longido was based on the inhabitance of pastoral community. A total of 115 respondents were obtained through simple random selection. Data were collected through a questionnaire and analyzed using SPSS. Simple descriptive statistics and cross tabulation were used in the analysis. The results show that majority would you vote for a woman to be an MP Councilor Village Chairman in your community. A considerable proportion of men refused to be led by a woman. Furthermore women were found not to effectively participate in politics through vying for leadership positions as many respondents voted for male contestant main reasons being no female contestant. Situations in which women are involved in decision making were found mainly to be on issues pertaining women development and family matters. Findings show that women are allowed to vote in the community but often the decision for a woman to vote was found to be determined by men. The study further found that women are not regarded elders and females ideas were not taken into account as male ideas in village meetings. The main barriers for women participation in leadership were found that men do not want women to compete in leadership and women ideas not accepted by most men. The study concluded that Maasai women participation in decision making is limited by social cultural factors like social identity social acceptance social roles and limiting cultural practices. It is recommended that civic education strategy and appropriate

Market research on factors influencing women's preferences in investment decision making

OpenAIRE

Sharma, Abhishek.; Douglas, Tony.; Jaworski, Piotr.

2017-01-01

This study aims to gain knowledge on the factors that influence the investment decision making of women in Singapore. The research explores the fact that investment decision is being affected by the demographic, psychographic factors of the individuals. The individuals may be equal in all aspects but their investment decision varies with their own perception towards various investment plans. The research was conducted among 200 respondents through a survey so as to get an empirical findings o...

Effects of Social Psychological Phenomena on School Psychologists' Ethical Decision-Making: A Preliminary Empirical Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Klose, Laurie McGarry; Lasser, Jon; Reardon, Robert F.

2012-01-01

This preliminary, exploratory study examines the impact of select social psychological phenomena on school-based ethical decision-making of school psychologists. Responses to vignettes and hypothetical statements reflecting several social psychological phenomena were collected from 106 practicing school psychologists. Participants were asked to…

‘If you are good, I get better’: the role of social hierarchy in perceptual decision-making

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Pannunzi, Mario; Ayneto, Alba; Deco, Gustavo; Sebastián-Gallés, Nuria

2014-01-01

So far, it was unclear if social hierarchy could influence sensory or perceptual cognitive processes. We evaluated the effects of social hierarchy on these processes using a basic visual perceptual decision task. We constructed a social hierarchy where participants performed the perceptual task separately with two covertly simulated players (superior, inferior). Participants were faster (better) when performing the discrimination task with the superior player. We studied the time course when social hierarchy was processed using event-related potentials and observed hierarchical effects even in early stages of sensory-perceptual processing, suggesting early top–down modulation by social hierarchy. Moreover, in a parallel analysis, we fitted a drift-diffusion model (DDM) to the results to evaluate the decision making process of this perceptual task in the context of a social hierarchy. Consistently, the DDM pointed to nondecision time (probably perceptual encoding) as the principal period influenced by social hierarchy. PMID:23946003

How Researchers Use Social Media to Promote their Research and Network with Industry

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Päivi Jaring

2017-08-01

Full Text Available Social media is now an essential information and interaction channel. Companies advertise and sell their products and services through social media, but this channel has not been so commonly applied to the task of selling knowledge and research work. This article studies the use of social media by researchers to promote their research and network with product developers in industry, and it presents a model of the use of social media by researchers. The data for this research was obtained by interviewing individual researchers of a research organization and surveying product developers from industry. The findings show that social media is seen as a good source of new information and contacts, and it is suitable for promoting awareness of research services and results. The results show that the speed and intensity of social media present challenges for researchers, but by being active in posting content and participating in discussions, researchers can derive benefits and enhance their personal reputations.

Evolution of Decision Support Systems Research Field in Numbers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ana-Maria SUDUC

2010-01-01

Full Text Available The scientific production in a certain field shows, in great extent, the research interests in that field. Decision Support Systems are a particular class of information systems which are gaining more popularity in various domains. In order to identify the evolution in time of the publications number, authors, subjects, publications in the Decision Support Systems (DSS field, and therefore the scientific world interest for this field, in November 2010 there have been organized a series of queries on three major international scientific databases: ScienceDirect, IEEE Xplore Digital Library and ACM Digital Library. The results presented in this paper shows that, even the decision support systems research field started in 1960s, the interests for this type of systems grew exponentially with each year in the last decades.

Applying social impact assessment to nursing research.

Science.gov (United States)

Bradbury-Jones, Caroline; Taylor, Julie

2014-08-05

Many nurses need to construct a research proposal at some stage of their career and there are multiple texts that provide guidance on doing so. However, most texts do not provide explicit guidance on the issue of social impact--the effect of research on the social health and wellbeing of individuals, families and communities and on the improved performance of relevant services. This article proposes that social impact should be considered from the beginning of a research project. It outlines a framework for assessing social impact to help strengthen the quality of research proposals and assist nurses constructing the proposal and also those evaluating it, including academic assessors or funding body reviewers. Nursing research should be useful and should have a positive effect on practice. Focusing on social impact can increase the chances of this desirable outcome.

How just and just how? A systematic review of social equity in conservation research

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Friedman, Rachel S.; Law, Elizabeth A.; Bennett, Nathan J.; Ives, Christopher D.; Thorn, Jessica P. R.; Wilson, Kerrie A.

2018-05-01

Background: Conservation decisions not only impact wildlife, habitat, and environmental health, but also human wellbeing and social justice. The inclusion of safeguards and equity considerations in the conservation field has increasingly garnered attention in international policy processes and amongst conservation practitioners. Yet, what constitutes an ‘equitable’ solution can take many forms, and how the concept is treated within conservation research is not standardized. This review explores how social equity is conceptualized and assessed in conservation research. Methods/Design: Using a structured search and screening process, we identified 138 peer-reviewed studies that addressed equity in relation to conservation actions. The authors developed a coding framework to guide the review process, focusing on the current state of, definitions used for, and means of assessing social equity in empirical conservation research. Review Results: Results show that empirical research on social equity in conservation is rapidly growing, with the majority of studies on the topic published only since 2009. Equity within conservation research is skewed toward distributional concerns and to a lesser extent procedural issues, with recognition and contextual equity receiving little attention. Studies are primarily situated in forested biomes of the Global South. Conservation interventions mostly resulted in mixed or negative impacts on equity. Synthesis and Discussion: Our results demonstrate the current limitations of research on equity in conservation, and raise challenging questions about the social impacts of conservation and how to ameliorate equity concerns. Framing of equity within conservation research would benefit from greater transparency of study motivation, more explicit definition of how equity is used within the study context, and consideration for how best to assess it. We recommend that the empirical conservation literature more deeply engage with different

Social Media Resources for Participative Design Research

OpenAIRE

Qaed, Fatema; Briggs, Jo; Cockton, Gilbert

2016-01-01

We present our experiences of novel value from online social media for Participative Design (PD) research. We describe how particular social media (e.g. Facebook, Pinterest, WhatsApp and Twitter) were used during a five-year project on learning space design by the researcher and interested teachers across all research phases (contextual review, user studies, PD action research). Social media were used to source and share comments, photographs and video documentation, supporting participation ...

[Social neuroscience and psychiatry].

Science.gov (United States)

Takahashi, Hidehiko

2013-01-01

The topics of emotion, decision-making, and consciousness have been traditionally dealt with in the humanities and social sciences. With the dissemination of noninvasive human neuroimaging techniques such as fMRI and the advancement of cognitive science, neuroimaging studies focusing on emotions, social cognition, and decision-making have become established. I overviewed the history of social neurosciences. The emerging field of social brain research or social neuroscience will greatly contribute to clinical psychiatry. In the first part. I introduced our early fMRI studies on social emotions such as guilt, embarrassment, pride, and envy. Dysfunction of social emotions can be observed in various forms of psychiatric disorder, and the findings should contribute to a better understanding of the pathophysiology of psychiatric conditions. In the second part, I introduced our recent interdisciplinary neuroscience approach combining molecular neuroimaging techniques(positron emission tomography: PET), cognitive sciences, and economics to understand the neural as well as molecular basis of altered decision-making in neuropsychiatric disorders. An interdisciplinary approach combing molecular imaging techniques and cognitive neuroscience and clinical psychiatry will provide new perspectives for understanding the neurobiology of impaired decision-making in neuropsychiatric disorders and drug development.

The role of the right temporo-parietal junction in social decision-making.

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Bitsch, Florian; Berger, Philipp; Nagels, Arne; Falkenberg, Irina; Straube, Benjamin

2018-03-26

Identifying someone else's noncooperative intentions can prevent exploitation in social interactions. Hence, the inference of another person's mental state might be most pronounced in order to improve social decision-making. Here, we tested the hypothesis that brain regions associated with Theory of Mind (ToM), particularly the right temporo-parietal junction (rTPJ), show higher neural responses when interacting with a selfish person and that the rTPJ-activity as well as cooperative tendencies will change over time. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and a modified prisoner's dilemma game in which 20 participants interacted with three fictive playing partners who behaved according to stable strategies either competitively, cooperatively or randomly during seven interaction blocks. The rTPJ and the posterior-medial prefrontal cortex showed higher activity during the interaction with a competitive compared with a cooperative playing partner. Only the rTPJ showed a high response during an early interaction phase, which preceded participants increase in defective decisions. Enhanced functional connectivity between the rTPJ and the left hippocampus suggests that social cognition and learning processes co-occur when behavioral adaptation seems beneficial. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Decision-making and motivation to participate in biomedical research in southwest Nigeria.

Science.gov (United States)

Osamor, Pauline E; Kass, Nancy

2012-08-01

Motivations and decision-making styles that influence participation in biomedical research vary across study types, cultures, and countries. While there is a small amount of literature on informed consent in non-western cultures, few studies have examined how participants make the decision to join research. This study was designed to identify the factors motivating people to participate in biomedical research in a traditional Nigerian community, assess the degree to which participants involve others in the decision-making process, and examine issues of autonomy in decision-making for research. A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted with 100 adults (50 men, 50 women) in an urban Nigerian community who had participated in a biomedical research study. Subjects were interviewed using a survey instrument. Two-thirds of the respondents reported participating in the biomedical study to learn more about their illness, while 30% hoped to get some medical care. Over three-quarters (78%) of participants discussed the enrollment decision with someone else and 39% reported obtaining permission from a spouse or family member to participate in the study. Women were more than twice as likely as men to report obtaining permission from someone else before participating. More specifically, half of the female participants reported seeking permission from a spouse before enrolling. The findings suggest that informed consent in this community is understood and practised as a relational activity that involves others in the decision making process. Further studies are needed in non-Western countries concerning autonomy, decision-making, and motivation to participate in research studies. © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Research and production of knowledge in Social Work

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Aldaíza Sposati

2007-05-01

Full Text Available This article concerns research paths in the field of Social Work. It begins with the polemic concerning the potential and ability of Social Work as a social practice to produce knowledge. It revives the debate concerning the "war of the sciences" between physicists and mathematicians with social analysts, in which the later do not recognize the scientific dimension of research in the social realm. It analyzes the growth of scientific production in Social Work through dissertations and theses in the Graduate Social Work Program. To do so it comments on the analyses of Iamamoto, Silva and Silva and Carvalho and indicates the need to establish a research policy, orient the epistemic community in Social Work and organize a network of researchers centers.

The Research in Top Management Team Strategic Decision-Making: evolution and intelectual basis

OpenAIRE

Bernardo Paraiso de Campos Serra; Fernando Ribeiro Serra; Patricia Tomei

2014-01-01

This article aims to understand the intellectual structure that connects theories and authors that research strategic decision-making on upper echelons and propose a research agenda for future research on strategic decision-making. We used a bibliometric research of articles published in international journals. A bibliometric analysis of citation and cocitation was conducted on the content studied in the articles of decision making, identifying the most referenced works and the conceptual rel...

Methodological decisions and the evaluation of possible effects of different family structures on children: The new family structures survey (NFSS).

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Schumm, Walter R

2012-11-01

Every social science researcher must make a number of methodological decisions when planning and implementing research projects. Each such decision carries with it both advantages and limitations. The decisions faced and made by Regnerus (2012) are discussed here in the wider context of social science literature regarding same-sex parenting. Even though the apparent outcomes of Regnerus's study were unpopular, the methodological decisions he made in the design and implementation of the New Family Structures Survey were not uncommon among social scientists, including many progressive, gay and lesbian scholars. These decisions and the research they produced deserve considerable and continued discussion, but criticisms of the underlying ethics and professionalism are misplaced because nearly every methodological decision that was made has ample precedents in research published by many other credible and distinguished scholars. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Development and Pilot Testing of a Decision Aid for Genomic Research Participants Notified of Clinically Actionable Research Findings for Cancer Risk.

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Willis, Amanda M; Smith, Sian K; Meiser, Bettina; Ballinger, Mandy L; Thomas, David M; Tattersall, Martin; Young, Mary-Anne

2018-02-17

Germline genomic testing is increasingly used in research to identify genetic causes of disease, including cancer. However, there is evidence that individuals who are notified of clinically actionable research findings have difficulty making informed decisions regarding uptake of genetic counseling for these findings. This study aimed to produce and pilot test a decision aid to assist participants in genomic research studies who are notified of clinically actionable research findings to make informed choices regarding uptake of genetic counseling. Development was guided by published literature, the International Patient Decision Aid Standards, and the expertise of a steering committee of clinicians, researchers, and consumers. Decision aid acceptability was assessed by self-report questionnaire. All 19 participants stated that the decision aid was easy to read, clearly presented, increased their understanding of the implications of taking up research findings, and would be helpful in decision-making. While low to moderate levels of distress/worry were reported after reading the booklet, a majority of participants also reported feeling reassured. All participants would recommend the booklet to others considering uptake of clinically actionable research findings. Results indicate the decision aid is acceptable to the target audience, with potential as a useful decision support tool for genomic research participants.

A safety decision analysis for Saudi Arabian nuclear research facility

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Abulfaraj, W.H.; Abdul-Fattah, A.F.

1985-01-01

Establishment of a nuclear research facility should be the first step in planning for introducing the nuclear energy to Saudi Arabia. The fuzzy set decision theory is selected among different decision theories to be applied for this analysis. Four research reactors from USA are selected for the present study. The IFDA computer code, based on the fuzzy set theory is applied. Results reveal that the FNR reactor is the best alternative for the case of Saudi Arabian nuclear research facility, and MITR is the second best. 17 refs

The Psychology of Climate Change Communication - Insights from the Center for Research on Environmental Decisions (CRED) (Invited)

Science.gov (United States)

Marx, S.

2010-12-01

Natural scientists have made great strides in recent years to improve their understanding of the complex issue of global climate change. Despite the progress made, there continues to be a persistent gap between the knowledge and concern among members of the climate science community and translation of such scientific expertise into effective climate change policies and the general public’s behavioral choices. Communication is breaking down at the intersection of climate science, policy, and behavior change. Part of the reason is that, to date, social science research has not been sufficiently exploited to help individuals and groups incorporate information about climate change and environmental risk into decision making. The presentation will highlight research conducted at the Center for Research on Environmental Decisions (CRED). This presentation will discuss barriers to behavioral change and provide suggestions for improving communication about climate change: Typical science communication requires analytic processing, some level of expertise, at a minimum interest. For most people abstract information does not translate into powerful vivid images that would trigger action. Furthermore, we have found that people’s interpretation of scientific uncertainty can get in the way of using forecasts and projections. Other barriers include public risk perceptions and attitudes, cultural values, and myopia, as well as the importance that people place on self-interest/economic goals vs. collective interest/social goals. Many of these obstacles can be overcome and communication of climate change information can be improved by presenting a combination of affective information (vicarious experience, scenarios, narratives, and analogies) and scientific data; yet there are also downsides to the overuse of emotional appeals (such as the finite pool of worry and the single action bias); tapping into social affiliations and group identities can motivate the activation of

Supporting Informed Decision Making - Center for Research Strategy

Science.gov (United States)

CRS conducts portfolio analyses and collects data on scientific topics, funding mechanisms, and investigator characteristics to help NCI leadership make data-driven decisions about the scientific research enterprise.

Personality and Social Framing in Privacy Decision-Making: A Study on Cookie Acceptance.

Science.gov (United States)

Coventry, Lynne M; Jeske, Debora; Blythe, John M; Turland, James; Briggs, Pam

2016-01-01

Despite their best intentions, people struggle with the realities of privacy protection and will often sacrifice privacy for convenience in their online activities. Individuals show systematic, personality dependent differences in their privacy decision making, which makes it interesting for those who seek to design 'nudges' designed to manipulate privacy behaviors. We explore such effects in a cookie decision task. Two hundred and ninety participants were given an incidental website review task that masked the true aim of the study. At the task outset, they were asked whether they wanted to accept a cookie in a message that either contained a social framing 'nudge' (they were told that either a majority or a minority of users like themselves had accepted the cookie) or contained no information about social norms (control). At the end of the task, participants were asked to complete a range of personality assessments (impulsivity, risk-taking, willingness to self-disclose and sociability). We found social framing to be an effective behavioral nudge, reducing cookie acceptance in the minority social norm condition. Further, we found personality effects in that those scoring highly on risk-taking and impulsivity were significantly more likely to accept the cookie. Finally, we found that the application of a social nudge could attenuate the personality effects of impulsivity and risk-taking. We explore the implications for those working in the privacy-by-design space.

Bridging the gap between research-supported interventions and everyday social work practice: a new approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Rubin, Allen

2014-07-01

This article describes a rationale for a focus on case studies that would provide a database of single-group pre-post mean effect sizes that could be analyzed to identify which service provision characteristics are associated with more desirable outcomes when interventions supported by randomized clinical trials are adapted in everyday practice settings. In addition, meta-analyses are proposed that would provide benchmarks that agency practitioners could compare with their mean effect size to inform their decisions about whether to continue, modify, or replace existing efforts to adopt or adapt a specific research-supported treatment. Social workers should be at the forefront of the recommended studies in light of the profession's emphasis on applied research in real-world settings and the prominence of social work practitioners in such settings.

From Data to Improved Decisions: Operations Research in Healthcare Delivery.

Science.gov (United States)

Capan, Muge; Khojandi, Anahita; Denton, Brian T; Williams, Kimberly D; Ayer, Turgay; Chhatwal, Jagpreet; Kurt, Murat; Lobo, Jennifer Mason; Roberts, Mark S; Zaric, Greg; Zhang, Shengfan; Schwartz, J Sanford

2017-11-01

The Operations Research Interest Group (ORIG) within the Society of Medical Decision Making (SMDM) is a multidisciplinary interest group of professionals that specializes in taking an analytical approach to medical decision making and healthcare delivery. ORIG is interested in leveraging mathematical methods associated with the field of Operations Research (OR) to obtain data-driven solutions to complex healthcare problems and encourage collaborations across disciplines. This paper introduces OR for the non-expert and draws attention to opportunities where OR can be utilized to facilitate solutions to healthcare problems. Decision making is the process of choosing between possible solutions to a problem with respect to certain metrics. OR concepts can help systematically improve decision making through efficient modeling techniques while accounting for relevant constraints. Depending on the problem, methods that are part of OR (e.g., linear programming, Markov Decision Processes) or methods that are derived from related fields (e.g., regression from statistics) can be incorporated into the solution approach. This paper highlights the characteristics of different OR methods that have been applied to healthcare decision making and provides examples of emerging research opportunities. We illustrate OR applications in healthcare using previous studies, including diagnosis and treatment of diseases, organ transplants, and patient flow decisions. Further, we provide a selection of emerging areas for utilizing OR. There is a timely need to inform practitioners and policy makers of the benefits of using OR techniques in solving healthcare problems. OR methods can support the development of sustainable long-term solutions across disease management, service delivery, and health policies by optimizing the performance of system elements and analyzing their interaction while considering relevant constraints.

Unanimity rule and organizational decision-making : a simulation model

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Romme, A.G.L.

2004-01-01

Unanimity rule is an important benchmark for evaluating outcomes of decisions in the social sciences. However, organizational researchers tend to ignore unanimous decision making, for example, because unanimity may be difficult to realize in large groups and may suffer from individual participants

Analytical group decision making in natural resources: methodology and application

Science.gov (United States)

Daniel L. Schmoldt; David L. Peterson

2000-01-01

Group decision making is becoming increasingly important in natural resource management and associated scientific applications, because multiple values are treated coincidentally in time and space, multiple resource specialists are needed, and multiple stakeholders must be included in the decision process. Decades of social science research on decision making in groups...

Enrolling adolescents in asthma research: adolescent, parent, and physician influence in the decision-making process.

Science.gov (United States)

Brody, Janet L; Annett, Robert D; Scherer, David G; Turner, Charles; Dalen, Jeanne

2009-06-01

The factors influencing family decisions to participate in adolescent asthma research are not well understood. Legal and ethical imperatives require adolescent research participation to be voluntary. While parents and adolescents often agree about research decisions, disagreements may also occur with relative frequency. Physician recommendations are also known to influence research participation decisions. Little attention has been given to how these dynamics may affect adolescents' involvement in decisions to participate in research. To examine the influence of family and physician-investigator relationships and recommendations on adolescent asthma clinical research participation decisions. A statewide community sample of 111 adolescents 11 to 17 years of age, with a diagnosis of asthma, and their parents participated in this study. Adolescents received a medical evaluation from an asthma specialist and then the family was offered participation in a hypothetical asthma clinical trial. By random assignment, the research study was presented by either the same or an unknown asthma specialist, and half the families in each group also received affirmative recommendations from the asthma specialist to participate in the hypothetical asthma clinical trial. Parents and adolescents made initial private decisions about participating in the trial. Then, following a family discussion of the clinical trial, a final research participation decision was made. Thirty-three percent of parents and adolescents initially disagreed about the research participation decision. When disagreements occurred, final decisions followed the parents' initial views except when the physician-investigator was known and a recommendation was made. Families with initial disagreement about participating were less likely to enroll when the investigator was unknown or when no recommendation was made. Adolescents who initially disagreed with parents' views were less likely to concur with the final research

Secondary students' use of social and natural world information in a land use decision context

Science.gov (United States)

Kumler, Laura M.

Many societal problems, including land use issues, are complex integrated human-ecological challenges that require an understanding of social and natural world connections. This dissertation investigates how secondary students perceive the social and natural world dimensions of land use, how they might act to support sustainable land use, and how Kaplan and Kaplan's (2008) Reasonable Person Model can inform teaching approaches to prepare students for such complex decisions and action-taking. The dissertation argues that subject compartmentalization in high schools adversely impacts students' abilities to use and to integrate information from various subjects to make a land use decision. Nine secondary science and social studies teachers and their students (n=500) participated in a quasi-experiment using pre- and posttests with treatment and comparison groups to gauge students' requests for social versus natural world information to make land use decisions. Students' self-reported actions and knowledge of actions to support sustainable land use were also measured. Additional data included classroom observations, teacher logs and interviews, and 52 student interviews. Results indicated that students requested social world over natural world information and preferred to consult with social scientists and stakeholders over natural scientists. Results also suggested that experiencing an integrated curriculum increased students' requests for natural world information relevant to the land use decision. Interestingly, this effect occurred even among social studies students whose teachers reported putting scant emphasis on the natural world curriculum content. Moreover, the type of course in which students experienced the curriculum predicted student information use. Finally, students were found to have a limited repertoire of land use actions and knowledge of actions and generally reported undertaking and thinking of individual actions such as recycling or trash pick

Expectations and decisions in the Volunteer’s Dilemma: Effects of social distance and social projection

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Joachim Israel Krueger

2016-12-01

Full Text Available In a Volunteer’s Dilemma (VoD one individual needs to bear a cost so that a public good can be provided. Expectations regarding what others will do play a critical role because they would ideally be negatively correlated with own decisions; yet, a social-projection heuristic generates positive correlations. In a series of 2-person-dilemma studies with over 1,000 participants, we find that expectations are indeed correlated with own choice, and that people tend to volunteer more than game-theoretic benchmarks and their own expectations would allow. We also find strong evidence for a social-distance heuristic, according to which a person’s own probability to volunteer and the expectation that others will volunteer decrease as others become socially more remote. Experimentally induced expectations make opposite behavior more likely, but respondents underweight these expectations. As a result, there is a small but systematic effect of overvolunteering among psychologically close individuals.

Expectations and Decisions in the Volunteer’s Dilemma: Effects of Social Distance and Social Projection

Science.gov (United States)

Krueger, Joachim I.; Ullrich, Johannes; Chen, Leonard J.

2016-01-01

In a Volunteer’s Dilemma (VoD) one individual needs to bear a cost so that a public good can be provided. Expectations regarding what others will do play a critical role because they would ideally be negatively correlated with own decisions; yet, a social-projection heuristic generates positive correlations. In a series of 2-person-dilemma studies with over 1,000 participants, we find that expectations are indeed correlated with own choice, and that people tend to volunteer more than game-theoretic benchmarks and their own expectations would allow. We also find strong evidence for a social-distance heuristic, according to which a person’s own probability to volunteer and the expectation that others will volunteer decrease as others become socially more remote. Experimentally induced expectations make opposite behavior more likely, but respondents underweight these expectations. As a result, there is a small but systematic effect of over-volunteering among psychologically close individuals. PMID:28018257

Eastern Africa Social Science Research Review

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The Eastern Africa Social Science Research Review (EASSRR) is a bi-annual journal published by the Organization for Social Science Research in Eastern Africa (OSSREA). Since the publication of its maiden ... Emerging regions in Ethiopia: are they catching up with the rest of Ethiopia? EMAIL FULL TEXT EMAIL FULL ...

What are judgment skills in health literacy? A psycho-cognitive perspective of judgment and decision-making research.

Science.gov (United States)

Riva, Silvia; Antonietti, Alessandro; Iannello, Paola; Pravettoni, Gabriella

2015-01-01

The aim of this review is to summarize current research relating to psychological processes involved in judgment and decision-making (JDM) and identify which processes can be incorporated and used in the construct of health literacy (HL) in order to enrich its conceptualization and to provide more information about people's preferences. The literature review was aimed at identifying comprehensive research in the field; therefore appropriate databases were searched for English language articles dated from 1998 to 2015. Several psychological processes have been found to be constituents of JDM and potentially incorporated in the definition of HL: cognition, self-regulation, emotion, reasoning-thinking, and social perception. HL research can benefit from this JDM literature overview, first, by elaborating on the idea that judgment is multidimensional and constituted by several specific processes, and second, by using the results to implement the definition of "judgment skills". Moreover, this review can favor the development of new instruments that can measure HL. Future researchers in HL should work together with researchers in psychological sciences not only to investigate the processes behind JDM in-depth but also to create effective opportunities to improve HL in all patients, to promote good decisions, and orient patients' preferences in all health contexts.

Translating research for health policy: researchers' perceptions and use of social media.

Science.gov (United States)

Grande, David; Gollust, Sarah E; Pany, Maximilian; Seymour, Jane; Goss, Adeline; Kilaru, Austin; Meisel, Zachary

2014-07-01

As the United States moves forward with health reform, the communication gap between researchers and policy makers will need to be narrowed to promote policies informed by evidence. Social media represent an expanding channel for communication. Academic journals, public health agencies, and health care organizations are increasingly using social media to communicate health information. For example, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now regularly tweets to 290,000 followers. We conducted a survey of health policy researchers about using social media and two traditional channels (traditional media and direct outreach) to disseminate research findings to policy makers. Researchers rated the efficacy of the three dissemination methods similarly but rated social media lower than the other two in three domains: researchers' confidence in their ability to use the method, peers' respect for its use, and how it is perceived in academic promotion. Just 14 percent of our participants reported tweeting, and 21 percent reported blogging about their research or related health policy in the past year. Researchers described social media as being incompatible with research, of high risk professionally, of uncertain efficacy, and an unfamiliar technology that they did not know how to use. Researchers will need evidence-based strategies, training, and institutional resources to use social media to communicate evidence. Project HOPE—The People-to-People Health Foundation, Inc.

Social Sciences in Nuclear Research

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Eggermont, G.

2001-01-01

In 1998, an initiative was taken by SCK-CEN to include social sciences and humanities into its research programme. As a result, two working groups were created to discuss two broad items: (1) ethical choices in radiation protection; and (2) the role and culture of nuclear experts. The general objectives of SCK-CEN's social sciences programme are: (1) to improve the nuclear research approach by integrating social sciences - where needed- to solve complex problems in interaction with society; (2) to stimulate university collaboration with social disciplines in learning process towards transdisciplinary and improved social responsibility; (3) to improve the training of nuclear experts of SCK-CEN by gaining insight in their expert culture and implicit ethical choices; (4) to develop projects and an original transdisciplinary programme and project management by involving young and senior scientists, a variety of university opinions and relevant actors from industry and society. Along these lines, projects were developed on sustainability and nuclear development, transgenerational ethics related to disposal of long-lived radioactive waste and cognitive dissonance effects, legal aspects and liability, non-radiological aspects of nuclear emergencies and safety. Progress and major achievements in SCK-CEN's social science programme in 2000 are summarised

The status of research ethics in social work.

Science.gov (United States)

Ferguson, Aidan; Clark, James J

2018-01-01

Research ethics provide important and necessary standards related to the conduct and dissemination of research. To better understand the current state of research ethics discourse in social work, a systematic literature search was undertaken and numbers of publications per year were compared between STEM, social science, and social work disciplines. While many professions have embraced the need for discipline-specific research ethics subfield development, social work has remained absent. Low publication numbers, compared to other disciplines, were noted for the years (2006-2016) included in the study. Social work published 16 (1%) of the 1409 articles included in the study, contributing 3 (>1%) for each of the disciplines highest producing years (2011 and 2013). Comparatively, psychology produced 75 (5%) articles, psychiatry produced 64 (5%) articles, and nursing added 50 (4%) articles. The STEM disciplines contributed 956 (68%) articles between 2006 and 2016, while social science produced 453 (32%) articles. Examination of the results is provided in an extended discussion of several misconceptions about research ethics that may be found in the social work profession. Implications and future directions are provided, focusing on the need for increased engagement, education, research, and support for a new subfield of social work research ethics.

Sharing clinical decisions for multimorbidity case management using social network and open-source tools.

Science.gov (United States)

Martínez-García, Alicia; Moreno-Conde, Alberto; Jódar-Sánchez, Francisco; Leal, Sandra; Parra, Carlos

2013-12-01

Social networks applied through Web 2.0 tools have gained importance in health domain, because they produce improvements on the communication and coordination capabilities among health professionals. This is highly relevant for multimorbidity patients care because there is a large number of health professionals in charge of patient care, and this requires to obtain clinical consensus in their decisions. Our objective is to develop a tool for collaborative work among health professionals for multimorbidity patient care. We describe the architecture to incorporate decision support functionalities in a social network tool to enable the adoption of shared decisions among health professionals from different care levels. As part of the first stage of the project, this paper describes the results obtained in a pilot study about acceptance and use of the social network component in our healthcare setting. At Virgen del Rocío University Hospital we have designed and developed the Shared Care Platform (SCP) to provide support in the continuity of care for multimorbidity patients. The SCP has two consecutively developed components: social network component, called Clinical Wall, and Clinical Decision Support (CDS) system. The Clinical Wall contains a record where health professionals are able to debate and define shared decisions. We conducted a pilot study to assess the use and acceptance of the SCP by healthcare professionals through questionnaire based on the theory of the Technology Acceptance Model. In March 2012 we released and deployed the SCP, but only with the social network component. The pilot project lasted 6 months in the hospital and 2 primary care centers. From March to September 2012 we created 16 records in the Clinical Wall, all with a high priority. A total of 10 professionals took part in the exchange of messages: 3 internists and 7 general practitioners generated 33 messages. 12 of the 16 record (75%) were answered by the destination health professionals

Relative Contributions of Planned Behaviour and Social Capital on Educational Continuation Decisions of Disadvantaged Students

Science.gov (United States)

Edannur, Sreekala

2018-01-01

The present study is conducted to understand the relative contributions of planned behavior and social capital on educational continuation decisions of VIII standard students belonging to backward class in India. Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), and Other Backward Classes (OBC) are the three social groups dealt as backward classes in…

The impact of social relations among men and women in fertility treatment on the decision to terminate treatment

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Vassard, Ditte; Lund, Rikke; Pinborg, Anja

2012-01-01

STUDY QUESTION: Do social support and social strain from social relations have an impact on the decision to terminate fertility treatment among men and women after 1 year of unsuccessful treatment? SUMMARY ANSWER: Several functional aspects of social relations show an impact on the probability to...

How decisions happen: focal points and blind spots in interdependent decision making.

Science.gov (United States)

Halevy, Nir; Chou, Eileen Y

2014-03-01

Decision makers often simplify decision problems by ignoring readily available information. The current multimethod research investigated which types of information about interdependence situations are psychologically prominent to decision makers and which tend to go unnoticed. Study 1 used eye-tracking measures to investigate how decision makers allocate their attention in interdependence situations and revealed that individuals fixated on mutual cooperation earlier and longer as compared with alternative combinations of strategies and outcomes. In addition, participants' behavioral cooperation was consistent with their attention allocation. Study 2 introduced a novel information-search paradigm: Participants exchanged yes/no questions and answers to discover which of 25 different games their counterpart chose. Analyzing the contents of participants' questions showed that, consistent with Study 1, participants focused primarily on desirable outcomes and symmetric behavioral choices. Study 3 revealed that outcome desirability is a robust basis of psychological prominence across different types of social relations; in contrast, the psychological prominence of symmetry was moderated by the nature of social relations. Study 4 revealed that whether different bases of psychological prominence directed individuals' attention to the same aspects of the decision-making task moderated the effect of information availability on decision latency and cooperation rates. Taken together, these findings contribute to the mapping of bounded rationality, demonstrate how people think about their interdependence, and enhance our understanding of how decisions happen. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved).

Web-conferencing as a viable method for group decision research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michel J. J. Handgraaf

2012-09-01

Full Text Available Studying group decision-making is challenging for multiple reasons. An important logistic difficulty is studying a sufficiently large number of groups, each with multiple participants. Assembling groups online could make this process easier and also provide access to group members more representative of real-world work groups than the sample of college students that typically comprise lab Face-to-Face (FtF groups. The main goal of this paper is to compare the decisions of online groups to those of FtF groups. We did so in a study that manipulated gain/loss framing of a risky decision between groups and examined the decisions of both individual group members and groups. All of these dependent measures are compared for an online and an FtF sample. Our results suggest that web-conferencing can be a substitute for FtF interaction in group decision-making research, as we found no moderation effects of communication medium on individual or group decision outcome variables. The effects of medium that were found suggest that the use of online groups may be the preferred method for group research. To wit, discussions among the online groups were shorter, but generated a greater number of thought units, i.e., they made more efficient use of time.

Eastern Africa Social Science Research Review: Contact

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Eastern Africa Social Science Research Review: Contact. Journal Home > About the Journal > Eastern Africa Social Science Research Review: Contact. Log in or Register to get access to full text downloads.

Competence and Quality in Real-Life Decision Making.

Science.gov (United States)

Geisler, Martin; Allwood, Carl Martin

2015-01-01

What distinguishes a competent decision maker and how should the issue of decision quality be approached in a real-life context? These questions were explored in three studies. In Study 1, using a web-based questionnaire and targeting a community sample, we investigated the relationships between objective and subjective indicators of real-life decision-making success. In Study 2 and 3, targeting two different samples of professionals, we explored if the prevalent cognitively oriented definition of decision-making competence could be beneficially expanded by adding aspects of competence in terms of social skills and time-approach. The predictive power for each of these three aspects of decision-making competence was explored for different indicators of real-life decision-making success. Overall, our results suggest that research on decision-making competence would benefit by expanding the definition of competence, by including decision-related abilities in terms of social skills and time-approach. Finally, the results also indicate that individual differences in real-life decision-making success profitably can be approached and measured by different criteria.

Competence and Quality in Real-Life Decision Making

Science.gov (United States)

2015-01-01

What distinguishes a competent decision maker and how should the issue of decision quality be approached in a real-life context? These questions were explored in three studies. In Study 1, using a web-based questionnaire and targeting a community sample, we investigated the relationships between objective and subjective indicators of real-life decision-making success. In Study 2 and 3, targeting two different samples of professionals, we explored if the prevalent cognitively oriented definition of decision-making competence could be beneficially expanded by adding aspects of competence in terms of social skills and time-approach. The predictive power for each of these three aspects of decision-making competence was explored for different indicators of real-life decision-making success. Overall, our results suggest that research on decision-making competence would benefit by expanding the definition of competence, by including decision-related abilities in terms of social skills and time-approach. Finally, the results also indicate that individual differences in real-life decision-making success profitably can be approached and measured by different criteria. PMID:26545239

Why we should talk about option generation in decision-making research.

Science.gov (United States)

Kalis, Annemarie; Kaiser, Stefan; Mojzisch, Andreas

2013-01-01

Most empirical studies on decision-making start from a set of given options for action. However, in everyday life there is usually no one asking you to choose between A, B, and C. Recently, the question how people come up with options has been receiving growing attention. However, so far there has been neither a systematic attempt to define the construct of "option" nor an attempt to show why decision-making research really needs this construct. This paper aims to fill that void by developing definitions of "option" and "option generation" that can be used as a basis for decision-making research in a wide variety of decision-making settings, while clarifying how these notions relate to familiar psychological constructs. We conclude our analysis by arguing that there are indeed reasons to believe that option generation is an important and distinct aspect of human decision-making.

What is social about social perception research?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Christoph eTeufel

2013-01-01

Full Text Available A growing consensus in social cognitive neuroscience holds that large portions of the primate visual brain are dedicated to the processing of social information, i.e., to those aspects of stimuli that are usually encountered in social interactions such as others’ facial expressions, actions and symbols. Yet, studies of social perception have mostly employed simple pictorial representations of conspecifics. These stimuli are social only in the restricted sense that they physically resemble objects with which the observer would typically interact. In an equally important sense, however, these stimuli might be regarded as ‘non-social’: the observer knows that they are viewing pictures and might therefore not attribute current mental states to the stimuli or might do so in a qualitatively different way than in a real social interaction. Recent studies have demonstrated the importance of such higher-order conceptualisation of the stimulus for social perceptual processing. Here, we assess the similarity between the various types of stimuli used in the laboratory and object classes encountered in real social interactions. We distinguish two different levels at which experimental stimuli can match social stimuli as encountered in everyday social settings: (i the extent to which a stimulus’ physical properties resemble those typically encountered in social interactions and (ii the higher-level conceptualisation of the stimulus as indicating another person’s mental states. We illustrate the significance of this distinction for social perception research and report new empirical evidence further highlighting the importance of mental state attribution for perceptual processing. Finally, we discuss the potential of this approach to inform studies of clinical conditions such as autism.

Personality and Social Framing in Privacy Decision-Making: A Study on Cookie Acceptance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lynne Margaret Coventry

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Despite their best intentions, people struggle with the realities of privacy protection and will often sacrifice privacy for convenience in their online activities. Individuals show systematic, personality dependent differences in their privacy decision making, which makes it interesting for those who seek to design ‘nudges’ designed to manipulate privacy behaviors. We explore such effects in a cookie decision task. Two hundred and ninety participants were given an incidental website review task that masked the true aim of the study. At the task outset, they were asked whether they wanted to accept a cookie in a message that either contained a social framing ’nudge’ (they were told that either a majority or a minority of users like themselves had accepted the cookie or contained no information about social norms (control. At the end of the task, participants were asked to complete a range of personality assessments (impulsivity, risk-taking, willingness to self-disclose and sociability. We found social framing to be an effective behavioral nudge, reducing cookie acceptance in the minority social norm condition. Further, we found personality effects such that those scoring highly on risk-taking and impulsivity were significantly more likely to accept the cookie. Finally, we found that the application of a social nudge could attenuate the personality effects of impulsivity and risk-taking. We explore the implications for those working in the privacy-by-design space.

Personality and Social Framing in Privacy Decision-Making: A Study on Cookie Acceptance

Science.gov (United States)

Coventry, Lynne M.; Jeske, Debora; Blythe, John M.; Turland, James; Briggs, Pam

2016-01-01

Despite their best intentions, people struggle with the realities of privacy protection and will often sacrifice privacy for convenience in their online activities. Individuals show systematic, personality dependent differences in their privacy decision making, which makes it interesting for those who seek to design ‘nudges’ designed to manipulate privacy behaviors. We explore such effects in a cookie decision task. Two hundred and ninety participants were given an incidental website review task that masked the true aim of the study. At the task outset, they were asked whether they wanted to accept a cookie in a message that either contained a social framing ‘nudge’ (they were told that either a majority or a minority of users like themselves had accepted the cookie) or contained no information about social norms (control). At the end of the task, participants were asked to complete a range of personality assessments (impulsivity, risk-taking, willingness to self-disclose and sociability). We found social framing to be an effective behavioral nudge, reducing cookie acceptance in the minority social norm condition. Further, we found personality effects in that those scoring highly on risk-taking and impulsivity were significantly more likely to accept the cookie. Finally, we found that the application of a social nudge could attenuate the personality effects of impulsivity and risk-taking. We explore the implications for those working in the privacy-by-design space. PMID:27656157

Social Impact Open Repository (SIOR). Transforming the peripheral space of social impact of research

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Joanpere, M.; Samano, E.; Gomez, A.

2016-07-01

The EC FP7 project “IMPACT-EV, Evaluating the impact and outcomes of EU SSH research” (2014-2017) aims at developing a permanent system of selection, monitoring and evaluation of the various impacts of Social Sciences and the Humanities research, with a very special attention to the social impact of research. The Work Package entitled “Identifying social impact of SSH research projects” has the main aim of analysing the social impact of SSH research and the factors that have contributed to obtain or not this impact, in order to create indicators to identify and evaluate the social impact of the SSH research ex-ante and ex-post. (Author)

Using Social Network Research in HRM

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kaše, Robert; King, Zella; Minbaeva, Dana

2013-01-01

; the impact of social networking sites on perceptions of relationships; and ethical issues in organizational network analysis, we propose specific suggestions to bring social network perspectives closer to HRM researchers and practitioners and rebalance our attention to people and to their relationships.......The article features a conversation between Rob Cross and Martin Kilduff about organizational network analysis in research and practice. It demonstrates the value of using social network perspectives in HRM. Drawing on the discussion about managing personal networks; managing the networks of others...

Factors in the Decision to Leave: Retaining Social Workers with MSWs in Public Child Welfare.

Science.gov (United States)

Samantrai, Krishna

1992-01-01

Surveyed 7 social workers with master's in social work (MSW) degrees who had left public child welfare and 20 who decided to stay. Found two factors that distinguished groups: inflexibility in job assignment and poor relationship with immediate supervisor. Academic preparation for this type of practice was not decisive factor. (Author/NB)

Social costing research: status and prospects

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fri, R.W.

1994-01-01

Internalizing the costs of environmental and other externalities in electricity prices will, in principle, allocate resources to power generation more efficiently than command-and-control regulation. Recent research has made progress toward developing methods for calculating these full social costs. This research has already proved useful, especially in guiding state-level experiments in the use of social costing. Although difficult methodological issues remain, future research also promises to help policy makers use a variety of policy instruments more precisely and effectively. For this to happen, however, there must be a close link between policy and research communities in defining the research agenda. (author)

Research on Social Networking Sites and Social Support from 2004 to 2015: A Narrative Review and Directions for Future Research.

Science.gov (United States)

Meng, Jingbo; Martinez, Lourdes; Holmstrom, Amanda; Chung, Minwoong; Cox, Jeff

2017-01-01

The article presents a narrative review of scholarship on social support through social networking sites (SNSs) published from 2004 to 2015. By searching keywords related to social support and SNSs in major databases for social sciences, we identified and content analyzed directly relevant articles (N = 88). The article summarizes the prevalence of theory usage; the function of theory usage (e.g., testing a theory, developing a theory); major theories referenced; and methodologies, including research designs, measurement, and the roles of social support and SNS examined in this literature. It also reports four themes identified across the studies, indicating the trends in the current research. Based on the review, the article presents a discussion about study sites, conceptualization of social support, theoretical coherence, the role of social networks, and the dynamic relationships between SNS use and social support, which points out potential avenues for shaping a future research agenda.

Research with Pregnant Women: New Insights on Legal Decision-Making.

Science.gov (United States)

Mastroianni, Anna C; Henry, Leslie Meltzer; Robinson, David; Bailey, Theodore; Faden, Ruth R; Little, Margaret O; Lyerly, Anne Drapkin

2017-05-01

U.S. researchers and scholars often point to two legal factors as significant obstacles to the inclusion of pregnant women in clinical research: the Department of Health and Human Services' regulatory limitations specific to pregnant women's research participation and the fear of liability for potential harm to children born following a pregnant woman's research participation. This article offers a more nuanced view of the potential legal complexities that can impede research with pregnant women than has previously been reflected in the literature. It reveals new insights into the role of legal professionals throughout the research pathway, from product conception to market, and it highlights a variety of legal factors influencing decision-making that may slow or halt research involving pregnant women. Our conclusion is that closing the evidence gap created by the underrepresentation and exclusion of pregnant women in research will require targeted attention to the role of legal professionals and the legal factors that influence their decisions. © 2017 The Hastings Center.

Social Sciences in Nuclear Research

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Eggermont, G

2001-04-01

In 1998, an initiative was taken by SCK-CEN to include social sciences and humanities into its research programme. As a result, two working groups were created to discuss two broad items: (1) ethical choices in radiation protection; and (2) the role and culture of nuclear experts. The general objectives of SCK-CEN's social sciences programme are: (1) to improve the nuclear research approach by integrating social sciences - where needed- to solve complex problems in interaction with society; (2) to stimulate university collaboration with social disciplines in learning process towards transdisciplinary and improved social responsibility; (3) to improve the training of nuclear experts of SCK-CEN by gaining insight in their expert culture and implicit ethical choices; (4) to develop projects and an original transdisciplinary programme and project management by involving young and senior scientists, a variety of university opinions and relevant actors from industry and society. Along these lines, projects were developed on sustainability and nuclear development, transgenerational ethics related to disposal of long-lived radioactive waste and cognitive dissonance effects, legal aspects and liability, non-radiological aspects of nuclear emergencies and safety. Progress and major achievements in SCK-CEN's social science programme in 2000 are summarised.

In the patient's best interest: appraising social network site information for surrogate decision making.

Science.gov (United States)

Siddiqui, Shahla; Chuan, Voo Teck

2018-06-28

This paper will discuss why and how social network sites ought to be used in surrogate decision making (SDM), with focus on a context like Singapore in which substituted judgment is incorporated as part of best interest assessment for SDM, as guided by the Code of Practice for making decisions for those lacking mental capacity under the Mental Capacity Act (2008). Specifically, the paper will argue that the Code of Practice already supports an ethical obligation, as part of a patient-centred care approach, to look for and appraise social network site (SNS) as a source of information for best interest decision making. As an important preliminary, the paper will draw on Berg's arguments to support the use of SNS information as a resource for SDM. It will also supplement her account for how SNS information ought to be weighed against or considered alongside other evidence of patient preference or wishes, such as advance directives and anecdotal accounts by relatives. © Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2018. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.

Keeping conceptual boundaries distinct between decision making and learning is necessary to understand social influence.

Science.gov (United States)

Le Mens, Gaël

2014-02-01

Bentley et al. make the deliberate choice to blur the distinction between learning and decision making. This obscures the social influence mechanisms that operate in the various empirical settings that their map aims to categorize. Useful policy prescriptions, however, require an accurate understanding of the social influence mechanisms that underlie the dynamics of popularity.

Environmental justice research shows the importance of social feedbacks in ecosystem service trade-offs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Neil M. Dawson

2017-09-01

Full Text Available In this article, we shine a spotlight on approaches to research ecosystem service trade-offs and critically assess their representation of relevant social dynamics. Although studies linking ecosystem services and human well-being have provided theoretical insights into social and ecological trade-offs, we argue that ecosystem services research has paid insufficient attention to "social feedbacks," people's cognitive and behavioral responses to change. We demonstrate that augmenting ecosystem services research with environmental justice approaches (exploring perceptions of the distribution of costs and benefits, decision making procedures, and recognition of different values and identities can more effectively capture important responses to ecosystem governance. Spatial analysis of land use change, mixed-method assessment of multidimensional well-being, and qualitative environmental justice research were applied in three villages adjacent to Nam Et-Phou Louey National Protected Area in northern Laos. Spatial analysis showed that, from 2006 to 2015, forest clearance for cultivation remained stable within the protected area. Well-being assessment revealed the local population benefited from rapidly increasing incomes, asset ownership, and reduced poverty during that time. In combination, spatial and well-being analyses paint a picture of limited trade-offs, despite growing incentives to exploit protected land and resources through cash crops and high-value forest products. In contrast, results from environmental justice research revealed profound trade-offs between conservation and local practices, and highlight governance deficiencies relating to procedure and recognition. Consequently, formal protected area rules were perceived to be illegitimate by many and actively undermined, for example through negotiated access with alternative authorities. We conclude that although well-being research provides an essential foundation to understand diverse

Social Discounting under Risk.

Science.gov (United States)

Jin, Jia; Pei, Guanxiong; Ma, Qingguo

2017-01-01

As a measure of how prosocial behavior depends on social distance, social discounting is defined as the decrease in generosity between the decision maker and the recipient as the social distance increases. While risk is a ubiquitous part of modern life, there is limited research on the relationship between risk and prosocial behavior. In the present experiment, we empirically test whether risk has an influence on social discounting. We use the choice titration procedure to examine this effect. Our data show that independent of risk, participants are less eager to forego money and exhibit more selfishness toward a specific person when the social distance increases; these findings are reflected in the hyperbolic model. Interestingly, risk influences the shape of the social discounting function, which is reflected in the notable different discount rates. Individuals who make decisions under risk yield a smaller discount rate than those who make decisions without risk, i.e., under risk subjects reduce less their generosity as a function of the social distance. Furthermore, this distinct type of generosity occurs typically among individuals with 10-distance recipients but not with the closest- and furthest-social-distance recipients.

Implications of Decision Making Research for Decision Support and Displays

OpenAIRE

Morrison, Jeffrey G.; Kelly, Richard T.; Moore, Ronald A.; Hutchins, Susan G.

1998-01-01

To appear in J. A. Cannon-Bowers & E. Salas (Eds.), Decision Making Under Stress: Implications for Training and Simulation. A prototype decision support system (DSS) was developed to enhance Navy tactical decision making based on naturalistic decision processes. Displays were developed to support critical decision making tasks through recognition-primed and explanation-based reasoning processes, and cognitive analysis was conducted of the decision making problems faced by Navy ...

Enhancing Perception in Ethical Decision Making: A Method to Address Ill-Defined Training Domains

Science.gov (United States)

2010-08-01

Development Ethical Decision Making Qualitative Methods Applications of Gestalt Theory Decision Making Experiences Mixed-Method...U.S. Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences Research Report 1932 Enhancing Perception in Ethical...TYPE Final 3. DATES COVERED (from. . . to) April 2009 to May 2010 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE Enhancing Perception in Ethical Decision Making: A

Beyond decision making: class, community organizations, and the healthwork of people living with HIV/AIDS. Contributions from institutional ethnographic research.

Science.gov (United States)

Mykhalovskiy, Eric

2008-01-01

The consolidation of antiretroviral therapy as the primary biomedical response to HIV infection in the global North has occasioned a growing interest in the health decision making of people living with HIV (PHAs). This interest is burdened by the weight of a behaviorist theoretical orientation that limits decision making to individual acts of rational choice. This article offers an alternative way to understand how PHAs come to take (or not take) biomedical treatments. Drawing on institutional ethnographic research conducted in Toronto, Canada, it explores how the "healthwork" of coming to take (or not take) treatments is organized by extended relations of biomedical knowledge. The article focuses on two aspects of the knowledge relations of coming to take pharmaceutical medications that transcend the conceptual and relational terrain of rational decision-making perspectives. First, it explores disjunctures between the everyday healthwork of poor, socially marginalized PHAs and the terms of biomedical decision making. Second, it investigates the knowledge-mediating activities of community-based organizations that help mitigate those disjunctures.

The SAGE Model of Social Psychological Research

Science.gov (United States)

Power, Séamus A.; Velez, Gabriel; Qadafi, Ahmad; Tennant, Joseph

2018-01-01

We propose a SAGE model for social psychological research. Encapsulated in our acronym is a proposal to have a synthetic approach to social psychological research, in which qualitative methods are augmentative to quantitative ones, qualitative methods can be generative of new experimental hypotheses, and qualitative methods can capture experiences that evade experimental reductionism. We remind social psychological researchers that psychology was founded in multiple methods of investigation at multiple levels of analysis. We discuss historical examples and our own research as contemporary examples of how a SAGE model can operate in part or as an integrated whole. The implications of our model are discussed. PMID:29361241

The SAGE Model of Social Psychological Research.

Science.gov (United States)

Power, Séamus A; Velez, Gabriel; Qadafi, Ahmad; Tennant, Joseph

2018-05-01

We propose a SAGE model for social psychological research. Encapsulated in our acronym is a proposal to have a synthetic approach to social psychological research, in which qualitative methods are augmentative to quantitative ones, qualitative methods can be generative of new experimental hypotheses, and qualitative methods can capture experiences that evade experimental reductionism. We remind social psychological researchers that psychology was founded in multiple methods of investigation at multiple levels of analysis. We discuss historical examples and our own research as contemporary examples of how a SAGE model can operate in part or as an integrated whole. The implications of our model are discussed.

The European Social Survey and European research policy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kropp, Kristoffer

2017-01-01

This article analyses the history of the European Social Survey (ESS) and its relationship to changes in European research policy, using Bourdieu’s field-analytical approach. It argues that the success of the ESS relied on three interwoven processes that we can understand theoretically in terms...... of the establishment of homological structures and the formation of conjunctural alliances between the field of European social-scientific research and the field of European policy. The three interwoven processes that I depict are: first, the production of a European field of social research, connected to both...... European and national scientific institutions; second, the establishment of European Union (EU) institutions and organisations that were able to identify and link up with social researchers; and third, the formation of conjunctural alliances between the two fields (social science and EU research policy...

Transformative Theory in Social Research

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ravn, Ib

Social-scientific theory usually represents an attempt to describe or explain social phenomena and, sometimes, to criticize them. However, a theory can be transformative in the sense that in using and testing it, researchers may help practitioners transform and improve their social conditions......, institutions or organisations. This idea is illustrated by a research-and-development effort to help conference organisers develop meeting formats that create more learning among delegates than is accomplished by the conventional, lecture-based format. This effort was based on a (transformative) theory...... of conferences as forums for learning and "human co-flourishing." Seventeen learning techniques were derived from the theory and were tested as hypotheses: When implemented in 30 live experiments, did they contribute to learning, as specified by the theory? Properties of transformative theory that distinguish...

Using social network analysis to evaluate health-related adaptation decision-making in Cambodia.

Science.gov (United States)

Bowen, Kathryn J; Alexander, Damon; Miller, Fiona; Dany, Va

2014-01-30

Climate change adaptation in the health sector requires decisions across sectors, levels of government, and organisations. The networks that link these different institutions, and the relationships among people within these networks, are therefore critical influences on the nature of adaptive responses to climate change in the health sector. This study uses social network research to identify key organisational players engaged in developing health-related adaptation activities in Cambodia. It finds that strong partnerships are reported as developing across sectors and different types of organisations in relation to the health risks from climate change. Government ministries are influential organisations, whereas donors, development banks and non-government organisations do not appear to be as influential in the development of adaptation policy in the health sector. Finally, the study highlights the importance of informal partnerships (or 'shadow networks') in the context of climate change adaptation policy and activities. The health governance 'map' in relation to health and climate change adaptation that is developed in this paper is a novel way of identifying organisations that are perceived as key agents in the decision-making process, and it holds substantial benefits for both understanding and intervening in a broad range of climate change-related policy problems where collaboration is paramount for successful outcomes.

Using Social Network Analysis to Evaluate Health-Related Adaptation Decision-Making in Cambodia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kathryn J. Bowen

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Climate change adaptation in the health sector requires decisions across sectors, levels of government, and organisations. The networks that link these different institutions, and the relationships among people within these networks, are therefore critical influences on the nature of adaptive responses to climate change in the health sector. This study uses social network research to identify key organisational players engaged in developing health-related adaptation activities in Cambodia. It finds that strong partnerships are reported as developing across sectors and different types of organisations in relation to the health risks from climate change. Government ministries are influential organisations, whereas donors, development banks and non-government organisations do not appear to be as influential in the development of adaptation policy in the health sector. Finally, the study highlights the importance of informal partnerships (or ‘shadow networks’ in the context of climate change adaptation policy and activities. The health governance ‘map’ in relation to health and climate change adaptation that is developed in this paper is a novel way of identifying organisations that are perceived as key agents in the decision-making process, and it holds substantial benefits for both understanding and intervening in a broad range of climate change-related policy problems where collaboration is paramount for successful outcomes.

Theorizing practice research in social work

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Uggerhøj, Lars

2011-01-01

. To elaborate and define practice research in social work, it is necessary to consider connected approaches and theories. The article will show that practice research is both connected to and can use the theoretical frames of Actual science and Mode 2 knowledge production. To understand and develop research......The article focuses on theories, definitions, interests, possibilities and barriers in practice research in social work. It points out that both practice and research will be influenced by participating in and developing practice research. – and that both parts must and will learn from the process...... closely connected to practice it is necessary to define it in three different ways: practice research, practitioner research and user-controlled research. Examples from different Nordic approaches connected to these definitions will be presented. Although practice and research both need to develop...

Neuroeconomics: cross-currents in research on decision-making

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Sanfey, A.G.; Loewenstein, G.; McClure, S.M.; Cohen, J.D.

2006-01-01

Despite substantial advances, the question of how we make decisions and judgments continues to pose important challenges for scientific research. Historically, different disciplines have approached this problem using different techniques and assumptions, with few unifying efforts made. However, the

Inclusion of social indicators in decision support tools for the selection of sustainable site remediation options.

Science.gov (United States)

Cappuyns, Valérie

2016-12-15

Sustainable remediation requires a balanced decision-making process in which environmental, economic and social aspects of different remediation options are all considered together and the optimum remediation solution is selected. More attention has been paid to the evaluation of environmental and economic aspects, in particular to reduce the human and environmental risks and the remediation costs, to the exclusion of social aspects of remediation. This paper investigates how social aspects are currently considered in sustainability assessments of remediation projects. A selection of decision support tools (DSTs), used for the sustainability assessment of a remediation project, is analyzed to define how social aspects are considered in those tools. The social indicator categories of the Sustainable Remediation Forum - United Kingdom (SuRF-UK), are used as a basis for this evaluation. The consideration of social aspects in the investigated decision support tools is limited, but a clear increase is noticed in more recently developed tools. Among the five social indicator categories defined by SuRF-UK to facilitate a holistic consideration of social aspects of a remediation project only "Human health and safety" is systematically taken into account. "Neighbourhood and locality" is also often addressed, mostly emphasizing the potential disturbance caused by the remediation activities. However, the evaluation of 'Ethics and Equality', Communities and community involvement', and 'Uncertainty and evidence' is often neglected. Nevertheless, concrete examples can be found in some of the investigated tools. Specific legislation, standard procedures, and guidelines that have to be followed in a region or country are mainly been set up in the context of protecting human and ecosystem health, safety and prevention of nuisance. However, they sometimes already include some of the aspects addressed by the social indicators. In this perspective the use of DST to evaluate the

Teaching Empathy and Ethical Decision Making in Business Schools

Science.gov (United States)

Baker, Diane F.

2017-01-01

Researchers in behavioral ethics seek to understand how individuals respond to the ethical dilemmas in their lives. In any given situation, multiple social and psychological variables interact to influence ethical decision making. The purpose of this article is to explore how one such variable, empathy, affects the ethical decision-making process…

Brain substrates of social decision-making in dual diagnosis: cocaine dependence and personality disorders.

Science.gov (United States)

Verdejo-Garcia, Antonio; Verdejo-Román, Juan; Albein-Urios, Natalia; Martínez-González, José M; Soriano-Mas, Carles

2017-03-01

Cocaine dependence frequently co-occurs with personality disorders, leading to increased interpersonal problems and greater burden of disease. Personality disorders are characterised by patterns of thinking and feeling that divert from social expectations. However, the comorbidity between cocaine dependence and personality disorders has not been substantiated by measures of brain activation during social decision-making. We applied functional magnetic resonance imaging to compare brain activations evoked by a social decision-making task-the Ultimatum Game-in 24 cocaine dependents with personality disorders (CDPD), 19 cocaine dependents without comorbidities and 19 healthy controls. In the Ultimatum Game participants had to accept or reject bids made by another player to split monetary stakes. Offers varied in fairness (in fair offers the proposer shares ~50 percent of the money; in unfair offers the proposer shares <30 percent of the money), and participants were told that if they accept both players get the money, and if they reject both players lose it. We contrasted brain activations during unfair versus fair offers and accept versus reject choices. During evaluation of unfair offers CDPD displayed lower activation in the insula and the anterior cingulate cortex and higher activation in the lateral orbitofrontal cortex and superior frontal and temporal gyri. Frontal activations negatively correlated with emotion recognition. During rejection of offers CDPD displayed lower activation in the anterior cingulate cortex, striatum and midbrain. Dual diagnosis is linked to hypo-activation of the insula and anterior cingulate cortex and hyper-activation of frontal-temporal regions during social decision-making, which associates with poorer emotion recognition. © 2015 Society for the Study of Addiction.

Sustainable Decision-Making: Non-Monetary Incentives for Pro-Social Behavior in the Energy Sector

OpenAIRE

S. Rosenkranz; K.S. Muehlfeld; G. van der Laan; G.U. Weitzel; J. van der Donk; H. Ivanova; E.J. van Kesteren; M. Ottink; H. van der Spek

2013-01-01

Taking into account insights into the reality of human decision-making, is an important challenge for today’s policymakers. Are there `cheaper´, more efficient and possibly as well more effective, non-financial ways of influencing the behaviour of private and corporate citizens, nudging them towards socially desired choices, for example, in the domain of energy consumption? Can such mechanisms complement or substitute for monetary incentives in fostering sustainable decision-making in poli...

Information transfer: what do decision makers want and need from researchers?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Law Mary

2007-07-01

Full Text Available Abstract Purpose The purpose of this study was to undertake a systematic assessment of the need for research-based information by decision-makers working in community-based organizations. It is part of a more comprehensive knowledge transfer and exchange strategy that seeks to understand both the content required and the format/methods by which such information should be presented. Methods This was a cross-sectional telephone survey. Questions covered current practices, research use, and demographic information, as well as preferences for receiving research information. Three types of organizations participated: Children's Treatment Centres of Ontario (CTCs; Ontario Community Care Access Centres (CCACs; and District Health Councils (DHCs. The analysis used descriptive statistics and analyses of variance (ANOVA to describe and explore variations across organizations. Results The participation rate was 70%. The highest perception of barriers to the use of research information was reported by the CCAC respondents, followed by CTCs and DHCs. The CTCs and DHCs reported greater use of research evidence in planning decisions as compared to the CCACs. Four sources of information transfer were consistently identified. These were websites, health-related research journals, electronic mail, and conferences and workshops. Preferred formats for receiving information were executive summaries, abstracts, and original articles. Conclusion There were a number of similarities across organization type with respect to perceived barriers to research transfer, as well as the types of activities the organizations engaged in to promote research use in decision-making. These findings support the importance of developing interactive, collaborative knowledge transfer strategies, as well as the need to foster relationships with health care decision-makers, practitioners and policymakers.

Social interactions elicit rapid shifts in functional connectivity in the social decision-making network of zebrafish.

Science.gov (United States)

Teles, Magda C; Almeida, Olinda; Lopes, João S; Oliveira, Rui F

2015-10-07

According to the social decision-making (SDM) network hypothesis, SDM is encoded in a network of forebrain and midbrain structures in a distributed and dynamic fashion, such that the expression of a given social behaviour is better reflected by the overall profile of activation across the different loci rather than by the activity of a single node. This proposal has the implicit assumption that SDM relies on integration across brain regions, rather than on regional specialization. Here we tested the occurrence of functional localization and of functional connectivity in the SDM network. For this purpose we used zebrafish to map different social behaviour states into patterns of neuronal activity, as indicated by the expression of the immediate early genes c-fos and egr-1, across the SDM network. The results did not support functional localization, as some loci had similar patterns of activity associated with different social behaviour states, and showed socially driven changes in functional connectivity. Thus, this study provides functional support to the SDM network hypothesis and suggests that the neural context in which a given node of the network is operating (i.e. the state of its interconnected areas) is central to its functional relevance. © 2015 The Author(s).

Review of research on identification of factors influencing social response to technological risks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Otway, H.J.

1977-01-01

Many countries are experiencing a period in which traditional values are being questioned. The social response to plans for further technological development has often taken the form of demands for a closer examination of the associated benefits and risks, and consideration of social values in public planning and decision processes. A theoretical framework for interdisciplinary risk assessment studies is presented to allow the balancing of complex technical data with measures of the corresponding social values. The cognitive limitations which affect rationality in intuitive decision-making are summarized as background for the introduction of formal decision methodologies. Methods for obtaining value measures are reviewed and an attitude-based method is developed in detail; this model allows identification of the relative importance of the technical, psychological and social factors which underlie attitudes and indicates which factors differentiate between social groups. A pilot application to nuclear power indicated that, for the subjects tested, attitudes pro and con were primarily determined by strongly differing beliefs about the benefits of nuclear power. Symbolic aspects of the nuclear controversy are reviewed, including psychological associations with nuclear weapons. It is suggested that nuclear energy is providing a forum to evaluate a wide range of social issues, perhaps playing a symbolic role in a dialogue about the shape and direction of a technologically-determined future. (author)

Human capital, social capital and scientific research in Europe: an application of linear hierarchical models

OpenAIRE

Mathieu Goudard; Michel Lubrano

2011-01-01

The theory of human capital is one way to explain individual decisions to produce scientific research. However, this theory, even if it reckons the importance of time in science, is too short for explaining the existing diversity of scientific output. The present paper introduces the social capital of Bourdieu (1980), Coleman (1988) and Putnam (1995) as a necessary complement to explain the creation of scientific human capital. This paper connects these two concepts by means of a hierarchical...

Social media influencers - why we cannot ignore them : An exploratory study about how consumers perceive the influence of social media influencers during the different stages of the purchase decision process

OpenAIRE

Gashi, Linda

2017-01-01

Social media is connecting individuals all over the world, where the power of interaction and information sharing has shifted from companies to consumers. Since companies now have a harder time reaching out to consumers, social media influencers have been used as a solution to influence the purchase decisions of consumers and thereby drive purchases. However, while social media influencers are said to have an impact on the purchase decisions of consumers, less is actually known about the infl...

What are judgment skills in health literacy? A psycho-cognitive perspective of judgment and decision-making research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Riva S

2015-11-01

Full Text Available Silvia Riva,1 Alessandro Antonietti,2 Paola Iannello,2 Gabriella Pravettoni1–3 1Department of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Milan, Milan, Italy; 2Department of Psychology, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Milan, Italy; 3Applied Research Division for Cognitive and Psychological Science, European Institute of Oncology, Milan, Italy Objective: The aim of this review is to summarize current research relating to psychological processes involved in judgment and decision-making (JDM and identify which processes can be incorporated and used in the construct of health literacy (HL in order to enrich its conceptualization and to provide more information about people’s preferences.Methods: The literature review was aimed at identifying comprehensive research in the field; therefore appropriate databases were searched for English language articles dated from 1998 to 2015. Results: Several psychological processes have been found to be constituents of JDM and potentially incorporated in the definition of HL: cognition, self-regulation, emotion, reasoning-thinking, and social perception. Conclusion: HL research can benefit from this JDM literature overview, first, by elaborating on the idea that judgment is multidimensional and constituted by several specific processes, and second, by using the results to implement the definition of “judgment skills”. Moreover, this review can favor the development of new instruments that can measure HL. Practical implications: Future researchers in HL should work together with researchers in psychological sciences not only to investigate the processes behind JDM in-depth but also to create effective opportunities to improve HL in all patients, to promote good decisions, and orient patients’ preferences in all health contexts. Keywords: health literacy, judgment, decision-making, psychological processes, skills, cognitive factors

Ancillary care in public health intervention research in low-resource settings: researchers' practices and decision-making.

Science.gov (United States)

Taylor, Holly A; Merritt, Maria W; Mullany, Luke C

2011-09-01

Little is known about researchers' practices regarding the provision of ancillary care (AC) in public health intervention studies they have conducted and the factors that influence their decisions about whether to provide ancillary care in low-resource settings. We conducted 52 in-person in-depth interviews with public health researchers. Data analysis was iterative and led to the identification of themes and patterns among themes. We found that researchers who conduct their research in the community setting are more likely to identify and plan for the AC needs of potential research subjects before a study begins, whereas those affiliated with a permanent facility are more likely to deliver AC to research subjects on an ad hoc basis. Our findings suggest that on the whole, at least for public health intervention research in low-resource settings, researchers conducting research in the community setting confront more complex ethical and operational challenges in their decision-making about AC than do researchers conducting facility-based studies.

Exploring the moderating effect of social intelligence on the relationship between entrepreneurial decision-making strategy and SME sustainable performance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Muhd Yusuf Dayang Hasliza

2018-01-01

Full Text Available The study reveals that causation, rather than effectuation, decision-making strategy is a more significant predictor of sustainable performance of SMEs. However, social intelligence was not found to be a significant moderator of entrepreneurial decision-making-sustainable performance relationship. The study uses data from a survey among 91 technology-based SMEs (TBS in Malaysia and employs structural equation modelling techniques for data analysis. A new instrument to measure all three variables of entrepreneurial decision-making strategy, social intelligence, and venture performance is proposed based on adoption and adaptation of existing validated scales available in literature.

A Descriptive Analysis of Decision Support Systems Research Between 1990 and 2003

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

David Arnott

2005-05-01

Full Text Available This paper is the first major report of a project that is investigating the theoretic foundations of decision support systems (DSS. The project was principally motivated by a concern for the direction and relevance of DSS research. The main areas of research focus are the decision and judgement theoretic base of the discipline, the research strategies used in published articles, and the professional relevance of DSS research. The project has analysed 926 DSS articles published in 14 major journals from 1990 to 2003. The findings indicate that DSS research is more dominated by positivist research than general information systems (in particular experiments, surveys, and descriptions of specific applications and systems, is heavily influenced by the work of Herbert Simon, is poorly grounded in contemporary judgement and decision-making research, and falls down in the identification of the nature of clients and users. Of great concern is the finding that DSS research has relatively low professional relevance. An overview of the direction of further analysis is presented.

[Research in the Master's Degree program in Social Medicine].

Science.gov (United States)

Laurell, C; Mercer, H

1981-01-01

The authors report on research as part of the master's degree in social medicine at the Metropolitan Autonomous University, Xochimilco campus, Mexico. They discuss research within the curriculum design, instructional research, teaching staff and research, and research as a source of knowledge. They explain that in order to establish guidelines for research it is necessary to consider the health-disease process and medical practice within the economic and social framework and therefore subject to analysis by the social sciences. Finally, they summarize ongoing research in the fields of social epidemiology, medical practice and planning, and human resources.

Symbolic Interaction and Applied Social Research

Science.gov (United States)

Kotarba, Joseph A.

2014-01-01

In symbolic interaction, a traditional yet unfortunate and unnecessary distinction has been made between basic and applied research. The argument has been made that basic research is intended to generate new knowledge, whereas applied research is intended to apply knowledge to the solution of practical (social and organizational) problems. I will argue that the distinction between basic and applied research in symbolic interaction is outdated and dysfunctional. The masters of symbolic interactionist thought have left us a proud legacy of shaping their scholarly thinking and inquiry in response to and in light of practical issues of the day (e.g., Znaniecki, and Blumer). Current interactionist work continues this tradition in topical areas such as social justice studies. Applied research, especially in term of evaluation and needs assessment studies, can be designed to serve both basic and applied goals. Symbolic interaction provides three great resources to do this. The first is its orientation to dynamic sensitizing concepts that direct research and ask questions instead of supplying a priori and often impractical answers. The second is its orientation to qualitative methods, and appreciation for the logic of grounded theory. The third is interactionism’s overall holistic approach to interfacing with the everyday life world. The primary illustrative case here is the qualitative component of the evaluation of an NIH-funded, translational medical research program. The qualitative component has provided interactionist-inspired insights into translational research, such as examining cultural change in medical research in terms of changes in the form and content of formal and informal discourse among scientists; delineating the impact of significant symbols such as "my lab" on the social organization of science; and appreciating the essence of the self-concept "scientist" on the increasingly bureaucratic and administrative identities of medical researchers. This

Using social media technologies for teaching and research

OpenAIRE

Minocha, Shailey

2012-01-01

The goal of this workshop is to examine and discuss how educators and researchers can adopt and use social media tools such as blogs, wikis, micro-blogging (e.g. Twitter), social bookmarking tools, photo-sharing sites (e.g. Flickr), or social networking tools (e.g. Facebook) in the service of their teaching and research, and, particularly, in engaging with students and other researchers. \\ud \\ud We will cover the following topics in the workshop:\\ud a. A catalogue of social media tools that c...

Informing Science (IS and Science and Technology Studies (STS: The University as Decision Center (DC for Teaching Interdisciplinary Research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Teresa Castelao-Lawless

2001-01-01

Full Text Available Students of history and philosophy of science courses at my University are either naïve robust realists or naïve relativists in relation to science and technology. The first group absorbs from culture stereotypical conceptions, such as the value-free character of the scientific method, that science and technology are impervious to history or ideology, and that science and religion are always at odds. The second believes science and technology were selected arbitrarily by ideologues to have privileged world views of reality to the detriment of other interpretations. These deterministic outlooks must be challenged to make students aware of the social importance of their future roles, be they as scientists and engineers or as science and technology policy decision makers. The University as Decision Center (DC not only reproduces the social by teaching standard solutions to well-defined problems but also provides information regarding conflict resolution and the epistemological, individual, historical, social, and political mechanisms that help create new science and technology. Interdisciplinary research prepares students for roles that require science and technology literacy, but raises methodological issues in the context of the classroom as it increases uncertainty with respect to apparently self-evident beliefs about scientific and technological practices.

Key role of social work in effective communication and conflict resolution process: Medical Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (MOLST) Program in New York and shared medical decision making at the end of life.

Science.gov (United States)

Bomba, Patricia A; Morrissey, Mary Beth; Leven, David C

2011-01-01

In this article, the authors review the development of the Medical Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (MOLST) Program and recent landmark legislation in New York State in the context of advance care planning and shared medical decision making at the end of life. Social workers are central health care professionals in working with patients, families, practitioners, health care agents, and surrogates in the health systems and in the communication and conflict resolution process that is integral to health care decision making. The critical importance of ethics and end-of-life training and education for social workers is also addressed. Data from a pilot study evaluating interdisciplinary ethics training on legal and ethical content in communication and conflict resolution skills in health care decision making are reported. Recommendations are made for research on education and training of social workers, and investigation of the role and influence of systems in shaping social work involvement in end-of-life and palliative care.

Decision strategy research: system analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Carle, B.

2000-01-01

The objective of SCK-CEN's R and D programme on decision strategies is (1) to develop theories, methods and software tools which help decision makers shape, analyse and understand their decisions; (2) to study group processes in decision making; (3) to apply theories, methods and tools in a context related to nuclear emergency preparedness and more generally to support in a context dealing with ionising radiation; (4) to increase SCK-CEN's knowledge on general emergency preparedness and to introduce SCK-CEN staff to computer supported decision techniques. Ongoing R and D has two components: (1) the study of the use of information and knowledge transfer in group decision processes, and more specific studying important factors when computers are used as information source and communication tool; and (2) the study of preference modelling individually and during group decision processes. Principal achievements in 1999 are described

Decision strategy research: system analysis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Carle, B

2000-07-01

The objective of SCK-CEN's R and D programme on decision strategies is (1) to develop theories, methods and software tools which help decision makers shape, analyse and understand their decisions; (2) to study group processes in decision making; (3) to apply theories, methods and tools in a context related to nuclear emergency preparedness and more generally to support in a context dealing with ionising radiation; (4) to increase SCK-CEN's knowledge on general emergency preparedness and to introduce SCK-CEN staff to computer supported decision techniques. Ongoing R and D has two components: (1) the study of the use of information and knowledge transfer in group decision processes, and more specific studying important factors when computers are used as information source and communication tool; and (2) the study of preference modelling individually and during group decision processes. Principal achievements in 1999 are described.

The Art of Moral Decision Making in Educational Research.

Science.gov (United States)

Fetterman, David M.

Moral decision-making is an essential element in educational research. The dilemmas examined and explored in this review were drawn from the author's experience as an ethnographic evaluator and consultant in a bay area educational research corporation for the last five years. The major concerns addressed include: conflicting expectations between…

Social theory and Brazilian social thought: notes for a research agenda

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marcelo Maia

2010-01-01

Full Text Available So-called "social thought" has always occupied a prominent place in the social sciences in Brazil. Current research in the field has increasingly sought to articulate in its analysis of national essayistic production broader theoretical preoccupations regarding the status of modernity in non-central societies. Taking as its starting point this intellectual state of affairs, this article seeks to accomplish two principal goals: a justify the need for a dialogue between Brazilian social thought and social theory, in particular post-colonial theories and criticism of the Eurocentric tradition in sociology; b explore possible further points of dialogue between these areas through an examination of analytical nexuses common to both fields of research.

Extending Impact Analysis in Government Social Media Research

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Medaglia, Rony; Zheng, Lei

2017-01-01

of this phenomenon, and falls short of investigating the impacts that these dimensions have on each other. Drawing on a revised framework for classifying existing social media research foci in the categories of management, context, user behavior, user characteristics, platform properties, and effects, we present......The use of social media by governments is a complex phenomenon that touches upon multiple dimensions, and that involves a wide array of relationships between these dimensions. Existing empirical research on government social media, however, is still mostly focusing on describing isolated aspects...... five empirical cases to illustrate impacts between dimensions of government social media. The empirical findings from the cases extend impact analysis beyond the existing foci, and enable us to propose a research agenda for future research on impacts in government social media....

Embodied economics: how bodily information shapes the social coordination dynamics of decision-making

Science.gov (United States)

Oullier, Olivier; Basso, Frédéric

2010-01-01

To date, experiments in economics are restricted to situations in which individuals are not influenced by the physical presence of other people. In such contexts, interactions remain at an abstract level, agents guessing what another person is thinking or is about to decide based on money exchange. Physical presence and bodily signals are therefore left out of the picture. However, in real life, social interactions (involving economic decisions or not) are not solely determined by a person's inference about someone else's state-of-mind. In this essay, we argue for embodied economics: an approach to neuroeconomics that takes into account how information provided by the entire body and its coordination dynamics influences the way we make economic decisions. Considering the role of embodiment in economics—movements, posture, sensitivity to mimicry and every kind of information the body conveys—makes sense. This is what we claim in this essay which, to some extent, constitutes a plea to consider bodily interactions between agents in social (neuro)economics. PMID:20026467

Embodied economics: how bodily information shapes the social coordination dynamics of decision-making.

Science.gov (United States)

Oullier, Olivier; Basso, Frédéric

2010-01-27