Social Behavior Research Articles

Analysis Of The Meaningfulness Of Lamang Siarang Traditional Food As A Typical Food Of Sariak Alahan Tigo, Solok District

This research is motivated by the fact that traditional cakes are rarely found because most people tend to like ready-to-eat food, especially in economic activities which are intended to increase the productivity of people's living standards. In the economic world, selling traditional cakes is less popular with the public. This has resulted in the lack of existence of traditional cakes among the public. The cause of the decline in the existence of traditional Indonesian cakes is the influence of globalization which makes traditional Indonesian cakes less popular compared to continental cakes and other than that, traditional cake makers are those who can be said to be elderly and quite a few young people are reluctant to participate in continuing to make traditional Indonesian cakes so that traditional cakes are hard to find. Like Lamang Siarang, it is very rarely known by the wider community because this traditional cake itself is only made on certain occasions and the manufacturing process is complicated and takes quite a long time. In this research, qualitative methods are used to reveal phenomena that occur based on natural facts, researching social life, behavior, function, organization, history and social movements, not controlled or manipulated conditions. The type of research used in this research is qualitative with a descriptive approach. Data was obtained from observations, interviews, and documentation by going directly into the field to obtain data from research informants. After the data obtained was saturated, the research stopped to conduct research on the meaning contained in Lamang Siarang on special days such as weddings, the Prophet's birthday, the 100th anniversary of death, welcoming the holy month of Ramadan and major Islamic holidays. 

Comparison of time to clinically meaningful improvement in quality of life in neurological disorders in patients treated with natalizumab versus ocrelizumab.

Aim: To assess time to improvement in Quality of Life in Neurological Disorders (Neuro-QoL) domains for patients treated with natalizumab versus ocrelizumab. Methods: Patients enrolled in the MS PATHS network who initiated treatment with either natalizumab or ocrelizumab rated the Neuro-QoL domains of physical function, symptoms, emotional health, cognitive function and social ability. Results: Time to clinically meaningful improvement was significantly shorter with natalizumab versus ocrelizumab for cognitive function (event time ratio [95% CI]: 0.37 [0.24-0.57]; p<0.001), sleep disturbance (0.45 [0.28-0.72]; p=0.001), social role participation (0.37 [0.21-0.66]; p=0.001) and social role satisfaction (0.5 [0.31-0.8]; p=0.004). Conclusion: Natalizumab had shorter time to clinically meaningful improvement in cognitive, sleep, and social role Neuro-QoL domains versus ocrelizumab.

Neurobehavioral mechanisms influencing the association between generativity, the desire to promote well-being of younger generations, and purpose in life in older adults at risk for Alzheimer's disease.

Generativity, the desire and action to improve the well-being of younger generations, is associated with purpose in life among older adults. However, the neurobehavioral factors supporting the relationship between generativity and purpose in life remain unknown. This study aims to identify the functional neuroanatomy of generativity and mechanisms linking generativity with purpose in life in at-risk older adults. Fifty-eight older adults (mean age = 70.8, SD = 5.03, 45 females) with a family history of Alzheimer's disease (AD) were recruited from the PREVENT-AD cohort. Participants underwent brain imaging and completed questionnaires assessing generativity, social support, and purpose in life. Mediation models examined whether social support mediated the association between generativity and purpose in life. Seed-to-voxel analyses investigated the association between generativity and resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) and ventral striatum (VS), and whether this rsFC moderated the relationship between generativity and purpose in life. Affectionate social support mediated the association between generative desire and purpose in life. Generative desire was associated with rsFC between VS and precuneus, and, vmPFC and right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (rdlPFC). The vmPFC-rdlPFC rsFC moderated the association between generative desire and purpose in life. These findings provide insight into how the brain supports complex social behavior and, separately, purpose in life in at-risk aging. Affectionate social support may be a putative target process to enhance purpose in life in older adults. This knowledge contributes to future developments of personalized interventions that promote healthy aging.

Integrating Emotion Perception in Rehabilitation Programs for Cochlear Implant Users: A Call for a More Comprehensive Approach.

Postoperative rehabilitation programs for cochlear implant (CI) recipients primarily emphasize enhancing speech perception. However, effective communication in everyday social interactions necessitates consideration of diverse verbal social cues to facilitate language comprehension. Failure to discern emotional expressions may lead to maladjusted social behavior, underscoring the importance of integrating social cues perception into rehabilitation initiatives to enhance CI users' well-being. After conventional rehabilitation, CI users demonstrate varying levels of emotion perception abilities. This disparity notably impacts young CI users, whose emotion perception deficit can extend to social functioning, encompassing coping strategies and social competence, even when relying on nonauditory cues such as facial expressions. Knowing that emotion perception abilities generally decrease with age, acknowledging emotion perception impairments in aging CI users is crucial, especially since a direct correlation between quality-of-life scores and vocal emotion recognition abilities has been observed in adult CI users. After briefly reviewing the scope of CI rehabilitation programs and summarizing the mounting evidence on CI users' emotion perception deficits and their impact, we will present our recommendations for embedding emotional training as part of enriched and standardized evaluation/rehabilitation programs that can improve CI users' social integration and quality of life. Evaluating all aspects, including emotion perception, in CI rehabilitation programs is crucial because it ensures a comprehensive approach that enhances speech comprehension and the emotional dimension of communication, potentially improving CI users' social interaction and overall well-being. The development of emotion perception training holds promises for CI users and individuals grappling with various forms of hearing loss and sensory deficits. Ultimately, adopting such a comprehensive approach has the potential to significantly elevate the overall quality of life for a broad spectrum of patients.

Observations of a greater sac-winged bat pup (Saccopteryx bilineata) with a chromatic disorder

Abstract Chromatic disorders in bats are typically documented by brief, incidental observations of individuals at day roosts or by accidental captures during mist-netting. Such descriptions usually lack observations on social behaviour including interactions between bats with aberrant pigmentation and other individuals. Here, we report the first observation of leucism in the greater sac-winged bat Saccopteryx bilineata. Over the course of six weeks, we were able to follow the development of a wild pup with a conspicuous aberrant pigmentation, by observing it in its day roost. Our observations indicate that the vocal and behavioural development of the pup was entirely normal, as well as the integration into its social group. After six weeks, when the pup was already foraging individually, it did not return to its colony in the morning, indicating that it may have been preyed on.

Video Ethogram of Equine Social Behaviour

Equine social behaviour studies face challenges stemming from the absence of a comprehensive ethogram with unequivocal standardised definitions and the resulting limits to data comparison across studies. To address these constraints, this ethogram offers researchers a standardised framework, defining thirty-seven distinct equine social behaviours supplemented by video examples for enhanced clarity. These definitions amalgamate insights from existing ethograms and are fine-tuned through meticulous video observations, encompassing contextual cues such as distinguishing between aggressive and playful circling based on ear position and facial expressions and communicative nuances to provide a detailed representation of equine social behaviours. Video recordings complement the standardised definitions by capturing the dynamic flow and sequence of social interactions. By providing a dynamic and detailed representation, videos allow researchers to observe the temporal aspects of behaviour, including the sequence, duration, and rhythm of interactions. These detailed data are crucial for interpreting social behaviours and unravelling the complexities of equine societies. Standardized and video-illustrated definitions of equine social behaviour facilitate clear and consistent communication between researchers, enabling cross-study comparisons regarding the impact of husbandry practices and health conditions on equine social behaviour, which, in turn, can facilitate the assessment and optimisation of management practices and equine welfare.

The Dopaminergic Cells in the Median Raphe Region Regulate Social Behavior in Male Mice

According to previous studies, the median raphe region (MRR) is known to contribute significantly to social behavior. Besides serotonin, there have also been reports of a small population of dopaminergic neurons in this region. Dopamine is linked to reward and locomotion, but very little is known about its role in the MRR. To address that, we first confirmed the presence of dopaminergic cells in the MRR of mice (immunohistochemistry, RT-PCR), and then also in humans (RT-PCR) using healthy donor samples to prove translational relevance. Next, we used chemogenetic technology in mice containing the Cre enzyme under the promoter of the dopamine transporter. With the help of an adeno-associated virus, designer receptors exclusively activated by designer drugs (DREADDs) were expressed in the dopaminergic cells of the MRR to manipulate their activity. Four weeks later, we performed an extensive behavioral characterization 30 min after the injection of the artificial ligand (Clozapine-N-Oxide). Stimulation of the dopaminergic cells in the MRR decreased social interest without influencing aggression and with an increase in social discrimination. Additionally, inhibition of the same cells increased the friendly social behavior during social interaction test. No behavioral changes were detected in anxiety, memory or locomotion. All in all, dopaminergic cells were present in both the mouse and human samples from the MRR, and the manipulation of the dopaminergic neurons in the MRR elicited a specific social response.

Use of a Calving Blind That Imitates a Natural Environment

Many indoor-housed cows isolate at calving when given the opportunity, and calving behaviors vary by blind and pen design. The objectives of this study were to determine if cows preferred calving in a visibly separated (blind) or an open area of a group maternity pen, and if there was a preference for the degree of seclusion provided by the blind (50% vs. 100% coverage). Two calving blinds were provided in a group calving pen, and the amount of visibility through the blinds was created using firehoses secured from the top of a metal frame that lined the entire front of the blind (100%) or with every other hose rolled up (50%). Holstein cows and heifers (n = 79) were enrolled into a dynamic group calving pen 21 ± 3 d before calving. Calving location, the difference in blind use prior to calving compared to a baseline period, and social behaviors were recorded using video observation. There was no difference in the number of cows that calved in or outside of a blind (28 vs. 37 calvings, respectively). Cows were more likely to calve in a blind during the day than at night and as the number of cows in the pen increased. For cows who calved in a blind, there was no preference for calving in the 50% or 100% blind (10 vs. 18, respectively). Providing a varied environment for intensively managed cattle can improve their welfare by allowing cows the opportunity to perform natural behaviors and choice over their environment.

Discrimination in the Spotlight: The Effects of Political and Religious Bias on Consumer Behaviour and Labour Markets

There has been a surge in concern about political polarization and discrimination based on religious and political attitudes in the workplace. Using a nationally-representative sample of nearly 3,000 respondents, this paper presents new empirical evidence on the incidence of social hostilities in the workplace and the causal effects of providing information on consumer and labor market behavior across a range of indicators. Several empirical patterns emerge. First, nearly half of respondents have not shared their personal views about a social or political issue because of fear that sharing it would harm their career. Second, roughly a fifth of respondents have encountered discrimination for respectfully communicating their religious or political viewpoint. Third, these attitudes are negatively correlated with labor market and social media behavior: 40% of respondents say that perceptions of hostility against religious or political views make them much less likely to apply to a company, and 50% of respondents say that they are “very concerned” or “somewhat concerned” about adverse effects related with posting on social media about their religious and political attitudes. Finally, exposure to information about politicized topics is associated with a decline in respondents’ support for companies taking more activist stances. These results suggest that there are adverse and unintended consequences associated with religious and political discrimination, and companies could realize additional benefits by focusing on their core business activities.

Microbiome-microbolome and Disease: A Covert Nexus

The microbial diversity associated with all life forms, including humans, plants, and animals, is magnificent. Different regions of the body are inhabited by different species and forms of microbes. Such transient interaction with the microbiome affects all organisms concerning their physiological functioning as well as disease. Inherent functions of the body, like immune reactions, developmental pathways, metabolic and endocrinological attributes coupled with genetics, lifestyle factors, diet, and introduction of antibiotics in the system, and other metabolites, all play an important integrative role in the maintenance or loss of health. Research indicates that the occurrence of diverse types of health conditions, like autoimmune disorders, neurological problems like Alzheimer’s, mood alterations, cancer, and even social behavior, are related to the changes in the microbial population in the human gastrointestinal tract. This paper highlights the different effects of the gut microbiome-metabolome conjugate and its effect on health conditions, with a brief reflection on the diverse modes of advanced treatment and future research using nanotechnology and artificial intelligence.

Structural Analysis of Pedagogic Mediation in a Foreign Language Classroom

Cultural diffusion and a paradigm shift from a “skill-based” approach to an “action-oriented” approach in language pedagogy transform the functions of an educator in a foreign language classroom. A language instructor accepts an intermediatory role in learners’ interactions with the environment, using language as a primary mediation tool. Thus, by being involved in varied social contexts and activities, a language educator mediates learning, communication, and sociocultural environments. This study relies on a structural analysis to investigate the mediating role of a language educator. It suggests that pedagogic mediation should be viewed as a specific form of language educators’ activity and described through three dimensions: mediating learning, mediating communication, and mediating sociocultural space. In the teaching and learning context, these dimensions manifest themselves as skills to adapt to the instructional and linguistic complexity of texts, manage interaction, facilitate communication in sensitive situations, etc. Drawing upon a phenomenological research design and qualitative methods, the study develops illustrative descriptors that can be used in a foreign language classroom to assess the patterns of social, instructional, and communicative behavior of educators. The developed descriptors allowed for exploring the self-perceptions of pre-service language teachers towards their abilities for pedagogic mediation in a foreign language classroom. The results of the study identified the learning gaps among novice language teachers that can be further addressed as learning objectives while designing a curriculum for professional training in language education.

Determinants of immunization defaulters among children aged 12–23 months in Ambo town, Oromia, Ethiopia: A case–control study

ABSTRACT Immunization is a public health intervention to reduce morbidity and mortality among children. However, vaccination becomes more effective if the child can receive the full course of recommended vaccination doses according to the schedule. Many children fail to complete the full course of vaccination. To identify the determinants of immunization defaulters among children aged 12–23 months in Ambo town, Oromia, Ethiopia. A community-based, unmatched, case–control study was done from October 1 to 25, 2021. A simple random sampling was used to select 317 (106 cases and 211 controls). Data were collected by using a pretested and structured questionnaire. Data were coded and entered to Epi-data version 3.1 and then transported to SPSS version 21.0 for statistical analysis. Descriptive analysis like frequency, mean, and percentage was calculated. Binary and multivariable logistic regression analysis was done. Finally, variables with a p value  < .05 were considered statistically significant. Urban residences (AOR = 0.288, 95% CI, 0.146, 570), government employee (AOR = 0.179, 95% CI, 0.057, 0.565), number of family members more than four (AOR = 2.696, 95% CI, 1.143, 6.358), higher income (AOR = 0.250, 95% CI, 0.099, 0.628), attending ANC (AOR = 0..237, 95% CI, 0.107, 0.525), and good awareness (AOR = 0.070, 95% CI, 0.005, 308) were significant predictors of immunization defaulters. This study has found that urban residences, government employee by occupation, number of family members more than four, higher monthly income, and attending ANC were identified as determinants of childhood immunization defaulters. Social Behavior Change intervention programs should focus on providing health information about the importance of the vaccine and vaccine schedule. Due attention should be given for rural residents and farmers who had limited access to information and are more prone to defaulting. Policy-makers should consider those identified factors while designing intervention programs to enhance vaccination coverage.

Investigating the effects of social information on spite in an online game

Abstract While humans are highly cooperative, they can also behave spitefully. Yet, spite remains understudied. Spite can be normatively driven and while previous experiments have found some evidence that cooperation and punishment may spread via social learning, no experiments have considered the social transmission of spiteful behaviour. Here we present an online experiment where, following an opportunity to earn wealth, we asked participants to choose an action toward an anonymous partner across a full spectrum of social behaviour, from spite to altruism. In accordance with cultural evolutionary theory, participants were presented with social information that varied in source and content. Across six conditions, we informed participants that either the majority or the highest earner had chosen to behave spitefully, neutrally or altruistically. We found an overall tendency towards altruism, but at lower levels among those exposed to spite compared to altruism. We found no difference between social information that came from the majority or the highest earner. Exploratory analysis revealed that participants’ earnings negatively correlated with altruistic behaviour. Our results contrast with previous literature that report high rates of spite in experimental samples and a greater propensity for individuals to copy successful individuals over the majority.

The Budding Neuroscience of Ant Social Behavior.

Ant physiology has been fashioned by 100 million years of social evolution. Ants perform many sophisticated social and collective behaviors yet possess nervous systems similar in schematic and scale to that of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, a popular solitary model organism. Ants are thus attractive complementary subjects to investigate adaptations pertaining to complex social behaviors that are absent in flies. Despite research interest in ant behavior and the neurobiological foundations of sociality more broadly, our understanding of the ant nervous system is incomplete. Recent technical advances have enabled cutting-edge investigations of the nervous system in a fashion that is less dependent on model choice, opening the door for mechanistic social insect neuroscience. In this review, we revisit important aspects of what is known about the ant nervous system and behavior, and we look forward to how functional circuit neuroscience in ants will help us understand what distinguishes solitary animals from highly social ones.

Social media behaviors and barriers impacting women e-commerce entrepreneurs in rural Australia: A pilot study

ABSTRACT E-commerce businesses have proven to offer lifelines for residents in regional, rural, and remote (RRR) locations traditionally reliant on agricultural income. Prolonged droughts and frequent floods have had devastating impacts on the ability to farm, propelling the need to generate off-farm income to survive. This ever-growing necessity to overcome climate hardship has catalyzed a new generation of women e-commerce entrepreneurs in RRR Australia, in turn, supporting community development. Our study focuses on interviews with successful women e-commerce entrepreneurs from rural Queensland, Australia, to explore the common barriers they face and their use of social media to connect with consumers throughout Australia and globally. Results identified their three greatest challenges to be product supply, product distribution, and unreliable internet connectivity. Data exploring social media behaviors suggested a strong reliance on Facebook and Instagram to drive website traffic and generate sales. This study provides a unique contribution to knowledge regarding an under-researched segment of entrepreneurs, and how they contribute to community development.

Immediate effect of physical activity on the autonomic nervous system in individuals with autism spectrum disorders of different age groups: a randomised trial

BackgroundAutism spectrum disorder (ASD) is one of the most complex neurodevelopmental disorders. It affects almost all human physiological systems. Individuals with ASD often display dysregulation in their autonomic nervous system...

Effects of different types of induced neonatal inflammation on development and behavior of C57BL/6 and BTBR mice

Neuroinflammation in the early postnatal period can disturb trajectories of the completion of normal brain development and can lead to mental illnesses, such as depression, anxiety disorders, and personality disorders later in life. In our study, we focused on evaluating short- and long-term effects of neonatal inflammation induced by lipopolysaccharide, poly(I:C), or their combination in female and male C57BL/6 and BTBR mice. We chose the BTBR strain as potentially more susceptible to neonatal inflammation because these mice have behavioral, neuroanatomical, and physiological features of autism spectrum disorders, an abnormal immune response, and several structural aberrations in the brain. Our results indicated that BTBR mice are more sensitive to the influence of the neonatal immune activation (NIA) on the formation of neonatal reflexes than C57BL/6 mice are. In these experiments, the injection of lipopolysaccharide had an effect on the formation of the cliff aversion reflex in female BTBR mice. Nonetheless, NIA had no delayed effects on either social behavior or anxiety-like behavior in juvenile and adolescent BTBR and C57BL/6 mice. Altogether, our data show that NIA has mimetic-, age-, and strain-dependent effects on the development of neonatal reflexes and on exploratory activity in BTBR and C57BL/6 mice.

Physiological and behavioral contagion/buffering effects of chronic unpredictable stress in a socially enriched environment: A preliminary study

Rodents are sensitive to the emotional state of conspecifics. While the presence of affiliative social partners mitigates the physiological response to stressors (buffering), the partners of stressed individuals show behavioral and endocrine changes indicating that stress parameters can be transmitted across the group members (contagion). In this study, we investigated the social contagion/buffering phenomena in behavior and neuroendocrine mechanisms after exposure to chronic stress, in groups of rats living in the PhenoWorld (PhW). Three groups were tested (8 stressed rats, 8 unstressed rats, and a mixed group with 4 and 4) and these were analyzed under 4 conditions: stressed (pure stress group, n = 8), unstressed (naive control group, n = 8), stressed from mixed group (stressed companion group, n = 8), unstressed from mixed group (unstressed companion group, n = 8. While naive control animals remained undisturbed, pure stress group animals were all exposed to stress. Half of the animals under the mixed-treatment condition were exposed to stress (stressed companion group) and cohabitated with their unstressed partners (unstressed companion group). We confirmed the well-established chronic unpredictable stress (CUS) effects in physiological, behavioral, and neuroendocrine endpoints; body weight gain, open arm entries and time in EPM, and oxytocin receptor expression levels in the amygdala decreased by stress exposure, whereas adrenal weight was increased by stress. Furthermore, we found that playing, rearing and solitary resting behaviors decreased, whereas huddling behavior increased by CUS. In addition, we detected significant increases (stress-buffering) in body weight gain and huddling behaviors between pure stress and stress companion animals, and significant stress contagion effects in emotional behavior and oxytocin receptor expression levels between naive control and control companion groups. Hence, we demonstrate buffering and contagion effects were evident in physiological parameters, emotional behaviors, and social home-cage behaviors of rats and we suggest a possible mediation of these effects by oxytocin neurotransmission. In conclusion, the results herein suggest that the stress status of animals living in the same housing environment influences the behavior of the group.

Training and coaching early childhood teachers to foster social, emotional, and behavioral competence of children in Turkey.

A growing evidence base demonstrates the effectiveness of teacher training and coaching interventions to improve teacher- and child-level outcomes in high-income countries. However, more information is needed to show the benefits of these interventions in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). To provide an evidence base for LMICs, we conducted a cluster-randomized controlled trial examining the efficacy of a teacher training and coaching intervention for promoting children's social, emotional, and behavioral competence, Reaching Educators and Children (REACH) Classroom Check-Up (CCU), on teachers' behaviors, teacher-child relationship quality, and children's social competence and problem behaviors. Participants included 20 early childhood teachers and 175 children (4-6 year olds) in Turkey. Findings indicate that REACH CCU increased teachers' positive behaviors and teacher behaviors that support social, emotional, and behavioral competence of children, while reducing teachers' negative behaviors. Teachers in REACH CCU demonstrated an increased level of closeness and reduced levels of conflict with children in their classrooms. Furthermore, REACH CCU improved teacher-reported social competence and reduced problem behaviors of children. Results provide evidence that REACH CCU is a promising approach for improving teachers' behaviors, teacher-child relationship quality, and children's social, emotional, and behavioral competence, especially in LMICs. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Metaverse in Mental Health: The Beginning of a Long History.

We review the first pilot studies applying metaverse-related technologies in psychiatric patients and discuss the rationale for using this complex federation of technologies to treat mental diseases. Concerning previous virtual-reality applications in medical care, metaverse technologies provide the unique opportunity to define, control, and shape virtual scenarios shared by multi-users to exploit the "synchronized brains" potential exacerbated by social interactions. The application of an avatar-based sexual therapy program conducted on a metaverse platform has been demonstrated to be more effective concerning traditional sexual coaching for treating female orgasm disorders. Again, a metaverse-based social skills training program has been tested on children with autism spectrum disorders, demonstrating a significant impact on social interaction abilities. Metaverse-related technologies could enable us to develop new reliable approaches for treating diseases where behavioral symptoms can be addressed using socio-attentive tasks and social-interaction strategies.