1,720,965 research outputs found
Social Norms and Reducing Belief in Conspiracy Theories
Get PDFConspiracy theories are explanations for important events that involve secret plots from powerful malevolent groups. Research finds that belief in conspiracy theories can lead to negative consequences for individuals and society. Importantly, belief in anti-vaccine conspiracy theories is related to vaccine hesitancy. Intervention attempts to attenuate the consequences of these beliefs thus far have had limited success. This thesis empirically tests social norms-based interventions to address anti-vaccine conspiracy beliefs.
Social norms are expectations about appropriate social behaviour. Our perceptions of social norms can exert a powerful influence on beliefs and behaviours. Across four studies, we found that perceived norms of in-group conspiracy beliefs are strongly related to personal conspiracy beliefs; demonstrated in a student sample (Study 1), in a community sample (Study 2), and specific to anti-vaccine conspiracy beliefs in a UK parent sample (Study 4). Similarly, the level of identification to the in-group is important in this relationship (Study 3). This thesis also found that individuals overestimated the perceived belief of others in conspiracy theories, misperceiving that these beliefs are more normative than they are.
Utilizing this knowledge, two experimental studies with UK parents were conducted, which paired anti-conspiracy counterarguments and social norm messages to address anti-vaccine conspiracy beliefs. However, these interventions were ineffective in reducing anti-vaccine conspiracy beliefs and increasing vaccination intentions (Studies 5 and 6). Combatting limitations of the previous interventions tested in this thesis, a Social Norms Approach (SNA) intervention was conducted, using normative feedback to challenge misperceptions of anti-vaccine conspiracy beliefs amongst UK parents (Study 7). The SNA intervention successfully reduced these beliefs, but the effects did not extend to increasing vaccination intentions.
Overall, the research in this thesis demonstrates the strong relationship between perceived norms of conspiracy beliefs and personal beliefs and the potential of the SNA to address these beliefs. Future research is invited to further explore the contribution of the SNA to reduce anti-vaccine conspiracy endorsement
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Coronavirus anti-vaxxers: one in six British people would refuse a vaccine – here’s how to change their minds
Get PDFIt didn’t take long after the first cases of COVID-19 were reported for conspiracy theories to begin circulating that the virus was a secret ploy by pharmaceutical companies to sell a vaccine. Other false theories quickly emerged, including one suggesting Bill Gates is creating a tracking device to be implanted in a COVID-19 vaccine. This sentiment has spread quickly. Perhaps unsurprisingly, such theories have bred reluctance to use a future vaccine against COVID-19 and this is a problem that may affect us all
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Get PDFWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Get PDFWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
koamabayili/VECTRON-author-checklist: VECTRON author checklist
No full textWe have done our best to complete the author checklist relating to the use of animals in the hut study. Note that the objective for the hut study was to evaluate the IRS treatment applications for residual efficacy against Anopheles mosquitoes, including the local An. coluzzii mosquito population. Cows were only used to attract mosquitoes into the huts and no tests were carried out directly on the cows. The author checklist is intended for use with studies where experiments are carried out on animals, which is why we have had such difficulty in completing this for the hut study, as many of the questions do not relate to how the cows were used
Fresh perspectives of the PsyPAG 2018 Conference
No full textAttending a Conference Full of ‘People Like Us’ by Nihan Albayra
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