Intragroup Interactions Research Articles

Increase in social interactions of wild Northern Gray gibbons (Hylobates funereus) during the mast fruiting period in the Danum Valley Conservation Area, Sabah, Malaysia

In Southeast Asian forests, there are dramatic supra-annual peaks in fruit availability known as mast fruiting, followed by low-fruit periods. Gibbons are frugivorous small apes. In this study, we investigated how gibbons varied their social and calling behaviors in response to changes in fruit availability. Activity budget, travel distance, sleeping time, and song duration of two wild Northern Gray gibbon (Hylobates funereus) groups were investigated during both mast and non-mast fruiting periods at the Danum Valley Conservation Area, Sabah, Malaysia. Gibbons traveled longer, entered the sleeping tree later, and spent more time engaged in singing, playing, and grooming behaviors during the mast fruiting period. Playing and grooming are intra-group social interactions. Gibbon songs were sung antiphonally within and among groups, indicating that singing is both an intra- and inter-group social interaction. Furthermore, copulatory behaviors that occurred during female pregnancy were observed during the mast fruiting period, suggesting this might be a social interaction behavior rather than a reproductive activity. Our results show that gibbons extended their daily activity schedules during the mast fruiting period and spent this extra time on social interactions. We examined whether male song complexity increased during the mast fruiting period by using the Levenshtein distance method, but we did not find such a trend. In the mast fruiting period, gibbons may consume more energy than in the non-mast fruiting period. Social and calling behaviors are energetically costly. Our results show that there is a link between energy intake and social and calling behaviors.

Individual distinctiveness across call types of the southern white rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum simum).

Individual distinctiveness in the acoustic structure of vocalizations provides a basis for individual recognition in mammals and plays an important role in social behavior. Within a species, call types can differ in individual distinctiveness, which can be explained by three factors, namely differences in the social function, the distance of the caller to the receiver, and the acoustic structure of the call. We explored the variation in individual distinctiveness across three call types (Grunt, Hiss, Snort) of the southern white rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum simum) and investigated to what extent the abovementioned factors account for individual distinctiveness. Calls were recorded from 25 adult southern white rhinoceroses in six different zoos. We used three methods to compare the level of individual distinctiveness across call types, namely discriminant function analysis (DFA), potential for individual identity coding (PIC), and the information criterion (Hs). The three call types possessed an acoustic structure capable of showing individual variation to different extents. Individual distinctiveness was lowest for Snorts, intermediate for Hisses, and highest for Grunts. The level of individual distinctiveness of all three call types was lower than that previously reported for Pant calls of this species. Calls functioning to mediate intragroup social interactions had the highest individual distinctiveness. This highlights that a given communicative function and the need for individual discrimination during a social interaction have a major influence on the degree of individual distinctiveness.

Dynamics of the price behavior in stock markets: A statistical physics approach

We study the time evolution of stock markets using a statistical physics approach. We consider an ensemble of agents who sell or buy a good according to several factors acting on them: the majority of the neighbors, the market atmosphere, the variation of the price and some specific measure applied at a given time. Each agent is represented by a spin having a number of discrete states q or continuous states, describing the tendency of the agent for buying or selling. The market atmosphere is represented by a parameter T which plays the role of the temperature in physics: low T corresponds to a calm market, high T to a turbulent one. We show that there is a critical value of T, say Tc, where strong fluctuations between individual states lead to a disordered situation in which there is no majority: the numbers of sellers and buyers are equal, namely the market clearing. The specific measure, by the government or by an economic organization, is parameterized by H applied on the market at the time t1 and removed at the time t2. We have used Monte Carlo simulations to study the time evolution of the price as functions of those parameters. In particular we show that the price strongly fluctuates near Tc and there exists a critical value Hc above which the boosting effect remains after H is removed. Our model replicates the stylized facts in finance (time-independent price variation), volatility clustering (time-dependent dynamics) and persistent effect of a temporary shock. The second part of the paper deals with the price variation using a time-dependent mean-field theory. By supposing that the sellers and the buyers belong to two distinct communities with their characteristics different in both intra-group and inter-group interactions, we find the price oscillation with time. Results are shown and discussed.

More than song and calls: New repetitive tones for humpback whales in the breeding area of Colombia

The vocal repertoire of humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) consist of long and complex songs and social calls. Songs are characterized by their cyclical and predictable structure in form of units, phrases, and themes. On the contrary, social calls are less predictable and generally short bursts of vocalizations that mainly occur during inter or intragroup interactions. During monitoring activities of reproductive stock G in Bahía Solano (Breeding ground, Colombia), a series of undescribed vocalizations were recorded, which we called repetitive tones. These are loud, frequency modulated (between 280 and 770 Hz), quickly repeated vocalizations. They are shorter than one second and have short inter-call intervals (from 0.7 to 1.0s). They do not follow the pattern of either vocal category established in the species' repertoire. Here we discuss the occurrence of such vocalizations as a result of acoustic and behavioral plasticity of cetaceans. We explore vocal mimicry, song crystallization, or the documentation of a new single-unit song type as possible scenarios to understand the potential function(s) of these tones. Framing acoustic behavior in the cognitive and adaptive capacity of cetaceans argues for a third vocal repertoire category that could serve as the basis for contextualizing new behavioral displays.

Intragroup Behavioral Changes Following Intergroup Conflict in Mountain Gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei)

Group-living animals face a number of threats from extragroup conspecifics: from individuals seeking mating opportunities to rival groups attempting to access limited resources. The consequences of intergroup interactions can therefore include loss of mates, increased energy expenditure, and injury or death. There is increasing evidence that aggressive intergroup interactions can affect subsequent intragroup behavior, and that such post-conflict behavior may be directly related to the threats posed by different opponent groups (e.g., familiar vs. unfamiliar). However, empirical evidence for changes in intragroup behavior following intergroup conflict in social animals is limited. We compared the proximity and behavior of group members before and after 84 aggressive intergroup interactions involving 14 study groups of wild, habituated mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei) in Volcanoes National Park, Rwanda. Intergroup conflict affected subsequent intragroup behavior in several ways. We found that immediate movement away from the opponent following intergroup conflict was less likely between familiar groups compared to unfamiliar groups. However, both winning and losing groups spent twice as much time moving post-conflict, and losing groups spent less time resting. There was an increase in female intragroup affiliative interactions and a decrease in male intragroup agonistic interactions post-conflict. These results demonstrate that such intergroup contests can influence intragroup dynamics beyond the immediate period of interaction.

Modeling joint activity-travel patterns in pedestrian networks with use of Wi-Fi data

Abstract This paper proposes a new activity-based equilibrium model to solve a joint activity-travel pattern scheduling problem in pedestrian networks. A novel supernetwork platform, pedestrian-joint-activity-time-space, is proposed to capture the complex structure of pedestrian networks and intragroup interactions on joint activity choices of pedestrians. The joint activity-travel pattern scheduling problem is transformed into an extended static user equilibrium traffic assignment model with side constraints for group interactions. A heuristic solution method is proposed to solve the user equilibrium problem concerned. A simplified pedestrian network is used to illustrate the convergence of the proposed heuristic solution method. Furthermore, the use of Wi-Fi tracking data from mobile phones to generate the activity patterns of pedestrians and their interactions is also investigated with a real case study in a selected area of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

Spatial segregation and urban structure

AbstractIn this paper, we develop a model of spatial segregation mediated by competitive land prices. Agents of two groups consume city land and benefit from social interactions. Because of cultural or ethnic differences, intragroup interactions are more frequent than intergroup ones. When group sizes differ, population groups sort into distinct neighborhoods. We characterize two‐ and three‐district urban structures. For high population ratios or strong intergroup interactions, only a three‐district city exists. In other cases, multiplicity of equilibria arises. Both groups generally rank these equilibria differently. However, when group sizes are similar, all individuals agree on which spatial equilibrium is best.

Cooperative–Competitive Multiagent Systems for Distributed Minimax Optimization Subject to Bounded Constraints

This paper presents continuous-time multiagent systems for distributed minimax optimization subject to bounded constraints. All agents in the system are divided into two groups for minimization and maximization. The multiagent system features competitive intergroup interactions and cooperative intragroup interactions, both of which are based on the output information of agents. First, a proportional-integral (PI) intragroup interaction rule is utilized for consensus within each group in the system. With this interaction rule, the system is proved to be convergent to an optimal solution to the problem, under a certain requirement on the intergroup interactions. Second, another discontinuous intragroup interaction rule is introduced. It is proved that the system with such an interaction is still convergent to an optimal solution if the proportional gain exceeds a derived lower bound, without the previous requirement on the intergroup interactions. As a special case, the systems are further applied for distributed optimization. Finally, simulation results are presented to substantiate the theoretical results.

An Examination of the Effects of Mediated Intragroup and Intergroup Interactions among Latino/a Characters

Content analytic work has consistently shown that Latinas are consistently found to be one of the most sexualized social groups in the media. In this study we experimentally examined the implications of exposure to the sexualized depiction of Latinas (among non-Latino viewers), when presented in the media in a within group context (Latina-Latino portrayal) and an intergroup context (Latina-White male portrayal). Findings suggest that when in an intergroup interaction, sexualized Latinas are evaluated more favorably and elicit less negative emotion than sexualized Latinas in an intragroup interaction. Implications are discussed within the context of mediated intergroup contact and intergroup emotion.

Self-regulation of life purpose values in youth cultural space

Young people’s transitioning into adulthood is accompanied by their inclusion into society’s socio-cultural context, together with the development of their own cultural models and interaction practices. Youth cultural space develops as a result of layered connections between young people and culture in general – elements of which are simultaneously inherited and altered by them – as well as subculture models, which emerge in the realm of intra-group interactions, i.e. within youth communities. During the dialectical process of inheritance, denial and construction, young people obtain their own social-group characteristics. In turn their cultural space is distinguished by features which differentiate their activities from other social groups. In modern society youth cultural space is very much a self-regulating realm, within which occurs the development and construction of the most important values which then become the foundation for purpose in life. Base culture plays an essential role in shaping purpose, with its models – contained within the collective unconscious – being directly linked to historic memory. Historic memory, reflected in archetypical and mental structures, influences the content of life purpose values. Engraining itself into habitus during the habitualization process, it becomes the basis for purpose which defines the direction for behavioral predispositions. Together with historic memory, youth life purpose values are significantly influenced by everyday knowledge and experience, which accumulate as a result of young people interacting with others participating in the development of cultural space. In order to confirm self-regulation of youth life purpose values as a holistic process, this article analyzes the connection between young people’s concepts on the meaning of life and various types of culture, archetypes, mentality, habitus. This was facilitated by the fact that the article presents results of developing a cultural space typology, of highlighting – based on analyzing existing approaches towards studying the unconscious – the most common archetypes, mental and modern features of national character, habitual attitudes. Analyzing their relationship allowed for tracing the influence of each on the development of young people’s purposes in life during the self-regulation process. The article substantiates the conclusion – drawn as a result of analyzing how life purposes are connected with types of culture and archetypes – that young people for the most part accept traditional culture, which defines the general direction for the development of meaning in their lives. Based on analyzing the connection between life purpose values and mental, modern features of national character, the study reveals the dialectics of “traditional” and “contemporary” in the altering of meanings in young people’s lives. Analyzing the connection between life purpose values and habitus allows us to consider the modification (hybridization) of meanings in the process of developing behavioral inclinations among young people in terms of self-regulating their living activity. Therefore self-regulation of young people’s life purpose values appears to be a dynamic process which fills their lives with new meanings in an evolving cultural space.

A Spatial- Location Analysis of the Factors Affecting Place Attachment (Case Study: Kurdish Villages, Rahmatabad and Blokat Districts, Rudbar County)

Purpose- Place attachment is not just dependent on the place of birth and, as phenomenologists have acknowledged, experience, is the most significant element of the perception of concepts and meaning of a place; accordingly, meaning in a place is directly related to the way of human perception and its related categories. The main objective of the present study is to investigate and analyze the spatial-geographic factors affecting place attachment of the Kurdish immigrants in Rudbar, Guilan province. Design/methodology/approach- This study is quantitative in terms of the nature of the research and is descriptive-analytical in terms of data analysis. Data collection was done using library and documentary as well as field and survey methods. The statistical population of the study consisted of the Kurdish villages of Guilan province in Rudbar with 12 villages and a total population of 2,955 people. Using Morgan's table, the number of samples was determined as 340 people. To increase the level of confidence and reduce the error in data, the number of samples was increased and 355 questionnaires were finally completed. The validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by a number of professors in the geography department of Guilan University. Moreover, to determine the reliability of the questionnaire, Cronbach's alpha was run. The value of 0.874 was obtained for the coefficient. Findings- The results of the study showed that there was a negative relationship between the location of the villages and the level of education and place attachment of the villagers in the way that the more the distance between the villages and districts, towns, and cities, the lower the sense of place attachment of the villagers would be. Based on the coefficient of determination (R2), 4.5% of the variance of place in the rural households under study was explained by these indicators. Also, with the increase in the education level of the villagers, place attachment is reduced. On the other hand, there was a direct and positive relationship between the duration of residence in the village and place attachment to the village, which means that people who had lived longer in the village had also more sense of place. The obtained results showed the effect of spatial-geographic factors on place attachment of rural households. Based on the coefficient of determination (R2), 99.1% of the variance of place attachment was explained by spatial, economic, and socio-political factors. Research limitations/implications- A limitation of this study was the lack of easy access to the Kurdish villagers in the above-mentioned villages. Originality/value- By providing the ideal conditions for living in different spatial (geographical) dimensions, one can strengthen place attachment in the villagers and significantly reduce its harmful consequences. For instance, despite the great ethnic and cultural differences with the host society within a long period of residence, the immigrant Kurds in Rudbar have been able to have pleasant feelings towards their place of life and somehow attach to it due to the existence of certain desirable spatial, social, and economic features and potentials such as proper and safe physical environment, intergroup and intragroup interactions, as well as desirable areas for earning money and employment.

The parallel culture of bullying in Polish secondary schools: A grounded theory study

IntroductionBullying is a universal phenomenon observed in all schools worldwide, with as many as 35% of students being involved in bullying. Group context is crucial for understanding and preventing bullying, as peers are often present in bullying situations and have key roles in maintaining, preventing, or stopping it. The aims of this study were to investigate school bullying as a social phenomenon in Poland and to understand how Polish adolescents perceive, discuss, and make sense of bullying in their communities. MethodsI carried out fieldwork at three public secondary schools in a city in southern Poland, and conducted in-depth semi-structured interviews with 26 students aged 16/17 (16 girls, 10 boys). I used the grounded theory approach to analyze the data, as it offered an opportunity for deeper understanding of adolescents' social context and culture, with intragroup interactions playing a central role. Results & conclusionsThe results suggest that a parallel culture of bullying at the micro level is created at these schools, which includes norms; a multi-stage process of victim creation; and rituals confirming the victim's status, group coherence, and other students' attitudes and roles in the bullying. In terms of policy implications, the findings suggest that it could prove beneficial to plan anti-bullying programs with adolescents themselves, as they could clarify the contexts, situations, or triggers that might lead to bullying.

Learning about social category-based obligations

Two studies tested how children (N = 196) use a framework theory of the social world to (a) shape their expectations of and (b) guide new learning about social behaviors. In Study 1, when introduced to two novel social groups, children predicted that an agent would preferentially harm members of the other group, be friends with members of their own group, and save members of their own group from harm. In Study 2, 4-year-old children who had been shown evidence of prior inter-group and intra-group interactions predicted that future behaviors would match the evidence they were shown only if the interactions they observed were consistent with their expectations of how members of groups should relate to one another. Thus, children use their framework theory to predict social behaviors and guide new learning about the social world.

Influences of adding negative couplings between cliques of Kuramoto-like oscillators.

We study the dynamics in a clustered network of coupled oscillators by considering positive and negative coupling schemes. Second order oscillators can be interpreted as a model of consumers and generators working in a power network. Numerical results indicate that coupling strategies play an important role in the synchronizability of the clustered power network. It is found that the synchronizability can be enhanced as the positive intragroup connections increase. Meanwhile, when the intragroup interactions are positive and the probability p that two nodes belonging to different clusters are connected is increased, the synchronization has better performance. Besides, when the intragroup connections are negative, it is observed that the power network has poor synchronizability as the probability p increases. Our simulation results can help us understand the collective behavior of the power network with positive and negative couplings.

From Local Integration Toward Ghettoized Community With Transnational Connections: The Case of Vietnamese Pagodas in Poland

A case study of Vietnamese pagodas operating in Warsaw and its surroundings in the past 25 years shows the strength with which local social and spatial conditions affect adaptation strategies of migrant institutions. Taking into account, the ecological perspective and the discourse of Vietnamese community concerning the role of temples enabled us to answer the question about the role of pagodas in maintaining local and transnational intragroup bonds and interactions with the majority society. This article shows how a process of local social and cultural integration that was beginning to emerge was significantly slowed down by spatial separation of the Vietnamese community and by this community’s transnational connections getting on intensity.

Speech, stone tool-making and the evolution of language.

The ‘technological hypothesis’ proposes that gestural language evolved in early hominins to enable the cultural transmission of stone tool-making skills, with speech appearing later in response to the complex lithic industries of more recent hominins. However, no flintknapping study has assessed the efficiency of speech alone (unassisted by gesture) as a tool-making transmission aid. Here we show that subjects instructed by speech alone underperform in stone tool-making experiments in comparison to subjects instructed through either gesture alone or ‘full language’ (gesture plus speech), and also report lower satisfaction with their received instruction. The results provide evidence that gesture was likely to be selected over speech as a teaching aid in the earliest hominin tool-makers; that speech could not have replaced gesturing as a tool-making teaching aid in later hominins, possibly explaining the functional retention of gesturing in the full language of modern humans; and that speech may have evolved for reasons unrelated to tool-making. We conclude that speech is unlikely to have evolved as tool-making teaching aid superior to gesture, as claimed by the technological hypothesis, and therefore alternative views should be considered. For example, gestural language may have evolved to enable tool-making in earlier hominins, while speech may have later emerged as a response to increased trade and more complex inter- and intra-group interactions in Middle Pleistocene ancestors of Neanderthals and Homo sapiens; or gesture and speech may have evolved in parallel rather than in sequence.

Seasonal variation in effectiveness of the boar-operated system to deliver baits to wild boar.

Wild boar and feral pig numbers are growing worldwide and have substantial economic and environmental impacts. Bait-delivered pharmaceuticals such as disease vaccines, toxicants and contraceptives are advocated to mitigate these impacts. Effective campaigns based on these pharmaceuticals rely on optimising the target species' bait uptake, which may differ between seasons. We investigated seasonal differences in the use of Boar-Operated Systems (BOSs) by wild boar and non-target species in an English woodland. In a pre-trial phase (BOS left open), wild boar, wild mammals, birds, livestock and companion animals fed on the peanuts and maize used as bait in the BOS. During the trial (BOS closed), only wild boar consumed the baits. Wild boar visited and fed from a larger number of BOSs in spring than in summer or winter. No aggressive intra-group interactions were recorded when wild boar fed from the BOSs but adult males were observed to monopolise two BOSs. Group size was highest in spring and bait uptake was lowest in winter. The study confirmed the species-specificity of the BOS throughout the year and highlighted that, at least in this area, bait uptake by wild boar for baits delivered through the BOS would be maximised in spring. © 2017 Crown copyright. Pest Management Science © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry.

Crowding as a primary source of stress in an endangered fragment‐dwelling strepsirrhine primate

AbstractNutritional and social challenges arising from habitat fragmentation can be significant sources of stress for animals. If prolonged, such stressors can pose a threat to the longevity of a species within a fragmented landscape. While each may elicit a physiological response, the coupled and often additive nature of these stressors can make it difficult to determine their relative impact on an individual or population. We measured fecal glucocorticoids (fGC) in two populations of Lemur catta, an endangered strepsirrhine primate, inhabiting forest fragments that vary markedly in resource structure and population density. We also examined the relative importance of behavioral variables indicative of feeding environment, intergroup territoriality, and intragroup social interactions in predicting fGC levels in these populations. Lemur catta living with ample food resources but at high population density exhibited higher fGC concentrations throughout the study period, independent of sex or reproductive state. At both sites, fGC levels reflected consistent seasonal variation, with lowest levels occurring during the resource‐rich pre‐mating period. Foraging effort was positively associated with fGC levels at each site, yet the population exhibiting the highest foraging effort had consistently lower levels of fGC. Intergroup territoriality was a positive predictor and intragroup agonism a negative predictor of fGC levels; however, trends in these variables were inconsistent when examining the two sites separately. Within‐site group differences highlighted the additive nature of nutritional and social stressors in predicting fGC levels. Our results suggest that the intense or unpredictable impact of crowding and, correspondingly, heightened intergroup resource defense may be an important consideration when addressing long‐term conservation initiatives for fragment‐dwelling L. catta.

A Human Factors Approach to Exploring the Experience of Group Trip Planning from the Perspective of Intragroup Interaction

ABSTRACTPrevious studies have investigated the experiences and characteristics of holiday decision-making among groups of travelers. This study adds to the knowledge of group trip holiday planning through exploring influential factors (including the individual and group characteristics of travelers), and linking those with their intragroup interactions when planning a group trip. A total of 261 usable questionnaires were collected across two university campuses in the UK and China. The survey employed a retrospective approach, asking participants to recall one of their past group trip planning experiences within the previous 3 months. This study found that intragroup interactions during a group trip planning process are influenced both by tourists’ individual factors, such as age, gender, and nationality, and by group characteristics, such as group size, common interest, group type, and group travel style. This study shows that common interest is the most influential factor in terms of its positive impact on group collaboration, feeling of connectedness, strength of preparation, and flexibility and spontaneity during group trip planning process. Further, in general, Chinese groups tend to spend less time on planning their trips before departure, but focus more on the details of the itinerary. Finally, the implications for technologies that are designed to facilitate the group trip planning process, with a view to enhancing the level of group enjoyment, are discussed based on the findings in this study.

Fifth-graders’ social interactions in a student-designed games unit

ABSTRACTStudent-designed games (SDG) are a student-centred approach that motivates students to work together while designing and playing their own games based on their ability level. The purpose of this study was to investigate students’ social interactions during 11 lessons of SDG focused on target games. Participants were 27 fifth-graders. Lessons were based on Hastie (2010) [Student-designed games. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics]. Five-Step SDG implementation process. Field notes and post-intervention interviews transcriptions were analysed through a systematic process of inductive analysis. Two themes were generated based on field note observations and students’ focus interviews: (a) who is the leader and (b) leadership dispute. The results showed that within coeducational groups, girls took the leadership roles. It was found that during intra-group interactions, leaders who took a more democratic approach motivated students engagement, and promoted opportunities for compromising during decision-making process.