1,721,004 research outputs found
Gossip about In-group and Out-group Norm Deviations
Full text linkGossip plays an essential role in our societies, and individuals gossip about others’ behavior for various reasons. While previous studies have consistently demonstrated that individuals are more willing to gossip about norm deviations, existing research has understudied the potential role of the group membership of gossip target (i.e., a person who is gossiped about) and gossip recipient (a person who is gossiped to) on the tendency to instigate gossip about norm deviation. We conducted a study (N = 1038) in which we orthogonally manipulated the group membership of a gossip target and a gossip recipient as well as types of target behavior (normative, negative norm deviation, and positive norm deviation), and tested several preregistered hypotheses regarding the willingness to gossip and gossip motivations. We found that individuals were more willing to gossip about negative and positive norm deviations compared to normative behavior regardless of the group membership of a gossip target and recipient, except when they consider gossiping about in-group negative norm deviation towards an out-group member. Gossip motivations substantially varied depending on the valence of norm deviation and the group membership
Reasoning about extreme events: A review of behavioural biases in relation to catastrophe risks
Full text linkThe present report outlines behavioural biases studied in the literature in relation to the way people reason
about and respond to catastrophe risks. The project is led by the Lighthill Risk Network, in collaboration with a
team of social and behavioural researchers from the University of Kent.
The aim of this report is to increase awareness of selected behavioural risks, and to highlight ways how biases
can affect insurance purchases and underwriting decisions. The report focuses on catastrophe risk as a priority
area for the insurance industry, and because catastrophe risks have been more widely studied in the literature
than other types of risk
In-group favouritism in multiple social category contexts: extending generosity towards out-group members
Full text linkIntergroup prosocial behaviour can potentially help us solve intergroup conflicts, but in-group favouring behaviour hinders building a cooperative relationship between different groups. However, why individuals favour in-group members over out-group members has not been well understood, and ways to reduce discrimination in prosocial behaviour have not been sought either. The present research first aimed to elucidate the mechanism of parochial prosocial behaviour (Study 1 and Study 2). Secondly, it tested the hypothesis that individuals would treat partial out-group members more favourably than out-group members, which would help reduce intergroup discrimination (Pilot study, Study 1, and Study 2). Overall, it found support for the group neutral increased prosociality perspectives (Study 1) which assumes that both social identity and reputational concern shape intergroup prosocial behaviour. Previously dominant theories concerning in-group favouritism such as the social identity theory approach (Tajfel & Turner, 1979) and bounded generalized reciprocity (Yamagishi, Jin, & Kiyonari, 1999) were not supported. In addition, the pilot study and Study 1 provided evidence in favour of the hypothesis, but not in Study 2. Discrepancies in findings among those studies were discussed. The research provides theoretical implications for future research concerning in-group favouring behaviour, suggesting possible key issues that will help further elucidate parochialism. Furthermore, the finding that individuals extend in-group favouring behaviour towards partial out-group members is of practical importance as it will potentially reduce intergroup discrimination
Informal punishment of non-cooperators
Full text linkAccording to an influential theory known as "strong reciprocity", humans cooperate at high levels due to the rise of altruistic punishers, that is, individuals who not only cooperate themselves but also informally punish non-cooperators. Strong reciprocity theory assumes that this punishment is costly to the punisher but beneficial to the group, that is, the punisher behaves altruistically. The theory further assumes that by engaging in this individually costly but group-beneficial behavior, punishers gain a good reputation. The aim of my dissertation is to critically examine the empirical validity of these assumptions through a series of experimental studies. Overall, I find that the assumptions of strong reciprocity theory are not supported. (1) Punishment of non-cooperators does not seem to be driven by punishers having the group's interest at heart. In fact, I find that punishers in economic cooperative games tend not to be more cooperative than non-punishers. Punishers also tend to punish both non-cooperators and cooperators. I conclude that punishers seem to be characterized by being generally punitive rather than being generally altruistic. (2) Punishers of non-cooperators do not seem to gain a good reputation in general. Rather, informal social norms about the use of punishment seem to restrict it more than encourage it. Moreover, people who face the choice of whether to punish a non-cooperator seem not to tend to think of punishing as the moral thing to do.
My conclusion of these empirical results is that strong reciprocity theory paints an incorrect picture of the psychology of informal punishment of non-cooperators. I argue that this theory likely goes wrong already when it takes cooperative situations as its starting point, and that a better approach would be to assume that there is a more general psychology of informal punishment. I sketch what such an approach would entail
Contact sans Contact: Investigating a Novel Experiential Intergroup Contact Approach to Reducing Mental Health Stigma
Full text linkMental health stigma and prejudice are longstanding societal problems that require new solutions. One in six adults experience a common mental health problem in a given week (e.g. depression, generalised anxiety, phobias; Stansfeld, et al., 2016), yet the stigmatisation and its consequences are widespread. Despite the efforts of campaigns to reshape public opinion of mental illness (e.g., Time to Change; Time to Change, n.d.), the stigma persists as evidenced in this thesis' introductory Chapter One, Study 1. The challenge is to identify ways that can effectively shift public views. Derived from social psychological theory and methodology and the creative arts, the proposed research builds on work conducted at the Centre for the Study of Group Processes to evaluate an innovative prejudice-reduction method I have developed.
One of the most important social psychological theories of the 20th century is intergroup contact theory, which specifies that direct contact between groups is needed (under the right conditions) in order to reduce prejudice (Pettigrew & Tropp, 2006). Extensive research has supported the contact hypothesis and extended contact hypothesis (where only indirect contact is needed). However, direct and extended contact with mental health problem outgroup members is often not possible or counterproductive because of the accompanying stigma. A further implementation of the contact hypothesis, imagined intergroup contact, overcomes the barriers of direct and extended contact, and has been supported by a number of studies (Miles & Crisp, 2014), but is also limited by the narrow scope of contact, weak generalisability outside the lab, and effects that may not be sustained (Brown & Paterson, 2016).
This PhD thesis represents a further step along the continuum of intergroup contact by testing a new contact concept, referred to as Experiential Intergroup Contact (EIC). This approach sits between direct and indirect methods of contact, and is uniquely grounded in theories of intergroup contact, social identity, and experiential role-playing. It is thereby providing a new multi-faceted and interdisciplinary approach to prejudice reduction, and is outlined in detail in Chapter Two. Central to EIC is the idea that simulated contact must shift the boundaries of group identification to create a common identity among people, in addition to engendering positive feelings and attitudes toward outgroup members, in order to produce a sustainable impact on prejudice. Experiential Intergroup Contact does so by implementing a realistic simulation of a more elaborated intergroup context in a format that is readily adapted for different populations. The experiential contact hypothesis proposes that simulated interactions with outgroup members can foster a common group identity and transfer knowledge about outgroup members' experiences, and therefore have a sustained positive impact on stigma and prejudice.
Underpinning EIC is my creation of a story in the form of a script that addresses mental health stigma, entitled Stigmaphrenia©. The story emphasises the positive aspects of being psychologically different and reclassifies mental health status under the umbrella of "neurodiversity". Experiential Intergroup Contact involves reading the Stigmaphrenia© script in a group, with each person taking the perspective of one of the characters in the story. One UK and two US schools have trialled this intervention on a small scale to test feasibility. Verbal reports from key teachers indicate positive impacts on young person's views of mental health. These anecdotal findings and user interest are promising and underscore the urgency for the systematic investigation of EIC.
The main aim for this thesis is to evaluate EIC for reducing mental health stigma and under what conditions it is most likely to be effective. The proposed work is exciting from a social psychological standpoint because it suggests an innovative integrative and interdisciplinary approach to mental health stigma reduction, with strong theoretical and applied implications, and poses new research questions:
Q1: Can EIC reduce mental health stigma?
Q2: Do stigma-reduction outcomes following EIC last?
Q3: By what mechanisms does EIC work?
Six studies attempt to answer these questions. Following the evidence that stigma toward those with mental health problems is still prevalent in Chapter One, Study 1 (N = 154 university students), Chapter Three, Study 2 (N = 84 secondary school pupils) investigates the extent to which the theorised experiential element of Experiential Intergroup Contact outlined in Chapter Two acts as a mediating mechanism. Chapter Four, Study 3 investigates the utility of a neurodiversity superordinate category in effecting stigma - recategorisation - with a crowd sourced population online (N = 146). In Chapter Five, studies 4 and 5 investigate the longitudinality of EICs effects in a school sample (N = 52) and a university sample (N = 89). The final sixth study in Chapter Six (N = 5) qualitatively investigates the longevity of language and behaviour change of past actors as a result of their involvement with the EIC script Stigmaphrenia© in 2013 or 2015.
Findings indicate that there is still work to be done to be able to operationalise Experiential Intergroup Contact with Stigmaphrenia© to reduce mental health stigma, and the general limitations of its investigation and future directions of this novel intergroup contact are detailed in the final Chapter Seven
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe 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
Variations on the Author
Full text link“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
Moments of State Mindfulness: Development of an online tool and its application to social judgements.
Full text linkThe overall aim of this thesis is to investigate the effectiveness of a 5-minute online mindfulness practice, and test its applications to social judgements including attribution and decision-making. The seven experiments (N = 959) presented in this thesis address an important gap in the current literature on mindfulness. Specifically: 1) the empirical test of the effectiveness of a 5-minute, single-session, online mindfulness manipulation and; 2) the impact of a brief mindfulness manipulation on social judgements.
At present, the majority of mindfulness research has focused on multiple sessions of practice over a number of weeks as part of a course, usually aimed at clinical populations, and at enhancing trait mindfulness (Brown & Ryan, 2003). There is evidence that such courses can be effectively delivered online (Allexandre, Neuman, Hunter, Morledge, & Roizen, 2012; Krusche, Cyhlarova, King, & Williams, 2012; Krusche, Cyhlarova, & Williams, 2013; Morledge et al., 2013) and emerging evidence for the use of single-session mindfulness with non-clinical samples (Erisman & Roemer, 2010; Heppner et al., 2008; Hong, Lishner, & Han, 2014; Hooper, Erdogan, Keen, Lawton, & Mchugh, 2015a; Jordan, Wang, Donatoni, & Meier, 2014; Kiken & Shook, 2011; Papies, Barsalou, & Custers, 2012; Weger, Hooper, Meier, & Hopthrow, 2012) that aims to increase state mindfulness (Bishop et al., 2004; Lau et al., 2006). In addition, although mindfulness exercises are readily available online and via smartphone apps, there has yet to be an empirical investigation of the effectiveness of self-help online practices, and whether brief, single-session practices actually enhance levels of mindfulness.
Based on evidence that some people prefer to complete such practices in their own surroundings (Beattie, Shaw, Kaur, & Kessler, 2009; Cavanagh et al., 2013), and that a smartphone app was preferred to an in-person and web-based mindfulness practice, it is expected that a short (5-minute) single-session, online mindfulness manipulation will effectively increase state mindfulness, measured by the Toronto Mindfulness Scale (TMS, Lau et al., 2006).
Mindfulness is thought to be effective in slowing automatic responding (Jordan et al., 2014; Kiken & Shook, 2011; Papies et al., 2012) and may reduce reliance on previously learnt associations (Langer & Moldoveanu, 2000b), allowing attention to be refocused on aspects of the environment that usually go unnoticed. As such, it has the potential to reduce errors in attribution. Reliance on automatic processes in social judgements can be detrimental for social harmony. For example, the mindless use of heuristics and stereotypes in person judgement can lead to prejudice and discrimination (Abrams, 2010). Furthermore, dysfunctional group dynamics can lead to poorly made decisions (Berger & Zelditch, 1998; Larson, Foster-Fishman, & Franz, 1998; Stasser & Stewart, 1992; Stasser, Taylor, & Hanna, 1989). With this in mind, the beneficial effects that mindfulness can have on interpersonal relationships (e.g. increased empathy; Block-Lerner, Adair, Plumb, Rhatigan, & Orsillo, 2007) should also help to improve group decision-making.
The core aim of this thesis is to test whether a 5-minute, single-session, online mindfulness manipulation effectively increases state mindfulness, and then apply this to social judgements. Specifically, whether the mindfulness manipulation is effective in reducing attribution errors, and improving group decision-making. It is expected that after the mindfulness manipulation, participants will be less likely to respond in an automatic way when asked to attribute another individual's behaviour, or the cause of a situation based on limited information. Moreover, this is expected to improve the social experience of individuals working in groups and therefore increase decision-making accuracy.
This thesis presents seven experiments in which a 5-minute mindfulness manipulation is tested in different settings (Chapter 4), applied to two attribution errors (Chapters 5 and 6), and used before a group decision-making task (Chapter 7). A summary of the findings, and the theoretical and practical implications of the findings are presented alongside limitations and avenues for future research in the final chapter of this thesis (Chapter 8)
Social dilemmas : group discussion, group decision, and demonstrability
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