40 research outputs found
A Pseudoscientific Theory of Consciousness from an Outsider’s Perspective
No full textHere I respond to Bayne’s recent article about whether the integrated information theory (IIT) of consciousness should be considered pseudoscience
Assimilation of China’s rural-to-urban migrants: A multidimensional process
No full text This study explores the multidimensional process of assimilation in rural-to-urban migration in China. We distinguish between (a) intrinsic acculturation—the adoption of values; (b) extrinsic acculturation—the adoption of observable traits such as language; and (c) structural assimilation—the achievement of socio-economic status comparable to that of locals. Cross-provincial analysis shows that there are substantial variations in the social and economic distances faced by migrants across provinces. Our novel acculturation/assimilation measures take into account the different cultural and socioeconomic distances faced by migrants with heterogeneous places of origin and destinations. Hypothetical measurement errors are used in a robust hierarchical regression analysis to assess the potential effect of self-selection. Analyses of the Chinese General Social Survey 2012–2013 show that extrinsic acculturation typically takes place later than structural assimilation, while intrinsic acculturation can fail to happen despite a long stay. Assimilation is not guaranteed; only some rural-to-urban migrants, particularly those with high levels of education, from families of high socio-economic status, and interacting with friends and neighbors, manage to assimilate across all three dimensions. </jats:p
The Roles of Neighborhood Composition and Autism Prevalence on Vaccination Exemption Pockets: A Population-wide Study
No full textAbstractThe number of children entering schools without mandated vaccinations has increased in high-income countries due to the rise of nonmedical exemptions from school vaccination requirements. Herd immunity is threatened when unvaccinated children are concentrated in spatial pockets. It is often assumed that these exemption clusters are merely the result of population composition. On the other hand, despite the role of vaccine-autism controversy to the current wave of anti-vaccine movement, we do not know if exemption clusters are associated with local autism rates. Our spatial analysis of California shows that while racial/ethnic composition is associated with the locations of large exemption pockets, other sociodemographic factors and access to health care resources have limited geographical span. We decouple the race/ethnicity effect from that of unobserved socioeconomic status by examining families in poverty. Using unique address-level data on the locations of the majority of children with an autism diagnosis, we show that the prevalence of autism is not associated with the locations of large pockets of vaccination exemptions. In addition, we find charter schools in most exemption clusters; potential spillovers from charter schools to neighboring public schools are evaluated. Exemption pockets are not merely the result of population composition and community-level interventions are needed to maintain herd immunity.HighlightsAutism prevalence rates are not associated with the locations of large exemption pockets.The average exemption rate in charter schools (7.5%) was higher than private schools.Proportion non-Hispanic white has the strongest association with large exemption clusters.Population composition cannot fully explain the exemption clusters.</jats:sec
To Compare is to Despair? A Population-Wide Study of Neighborhood Composition and Suicide in Stockholm
No full textNeighborhood context can change the effect of a socio-demographic attribute on the risk of suicide. Eight hypotheses about the interactions between neighborhood composition, ethnicity, income, and socially disadvantaged propositions are proposed based on social support, social comparison, and social regulation mechanisms. They are tested with a population-based dataset of all adults (1.4 million) who lived in the greater Stockholm area in the 1990s. On one hand, multilevel analysis shows that suicide risk increases with the level of affluence in one's neighborhood, particularly among individuals with low income. This supports the notion that income comparison can have negative consequences. On the other hand, social welfare recipients are less likely to commit suicide when there are other social welfare recipients in the neighborhood. Suicide risk among immigrants deceases with the proportion of co-ethnics in the neighborhood, confirming previous findings on social support and suicide. However, further analyses show that the protection effect of having co-ethnic neighbors is limited to immigrants from countries with low suicide rates. This study shows that administrative data can be used to examine neighborhood effects on rare outcomes. The findings are relevant to the contemporary trends towards rising income inequality and ethnic diversity
Focal Points, Endogenous Processes, and Exogenous Shocks in the Autism Epidemic
No full textAutism prevalence has increased rapidly in the United States during the past two decades. We have previously shown that the diffusion of information about autism through spatially proximate social relations has contributed significantly to the epidemic. This study expands on this finding by identifying the focal points for interaction that drive the proximity effect on subsequent diagnoses. We then consider how diffusion dynamics through interaction at critical focal points, in tandem with exogenous shocks, could have shaped the spatial dynamics of autism in California. We achieve these goals through an empirically calibrated simulation model of the whole population of 3- to 9-year-olds in California. We show that in the absence of interaction at these foci—principally malls and schools—we would not observe an autism epidemic. We also explore the idea that epigenetic changes affecting one generation in the distal past could shape the precise spatial patterns we observe among the next generation
Think about your friends and family: The disparate impacts of relationship-centered messages on privacy concerns, protective health behavior, and vaccination against Covid-19.
No full textObjectiveTo understand which factors affect how willing people are to share their personal information to combat the Covid-19 pandemic, and compare them to factors that affect other public health behaviors.MethodWe analyze data from three pre-registered online experiments conducted over eight months during the Covid-19 pandemic in the United States (April 3 2020 -November 25, 2020). Our primary analysis tests whether support for data sharing and intention to practice protective behavior increase in response to relationship-centered messages about prosociality, disease spread, and financial hardship. We then conduct a secondary correlational analysis to compare the demographic and attitudinal factors associated with willingness to share data, protective behavior, and intent to get vaccinated. Our sample (N = 650) is representative to socio-demographic characteristics of the U.S. population.ResultsWe find the altruistic condition increased respondents' willingness to share data. In our correlational analysis, we find interactive effects of political ID and socio-demographic traits on likelihood to share data. In contrast, we found health behavior was most strongly associated with political ID, and intent to vaccinate was more associated with socio-demographic traits.ConclusionsOur findings suggest that some public health messaging, even when it is not about data sharing or privacy, may increase public willingness to share data. We also find the role of socio-demographic factors in moderating the effect of political party ID varies by public health behavior
Interactions between key demographic traits and Party ID on dependent variables.
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Unconscious Psychological Treatments for Physiological Survival Circuits
No full textThe idea of targeting unconscious or implicit processes in psychological treatments is not new, but until recently it has not been easy to manipulate these processes without also engaging consciousness. Here we review how this is possible, using various modern cognitive neuroscience methods including a technique known as Decoded Neural-Reinforcement. We discuss the general advantages of this approach, such as how it can facilitate double-blind placebo-controlled studies, and minimize premature patient dropouts in the treatment of fear. We also speculate how this may generalize to other similar physiological survival processes
