Members Of Social Groups Research Articles

Steroidal regulation of the aromatase gene and dominant behavior in the false clown anemonefish Amphiprion ocellaris

The interaction between cortisol and aromatase may be a critical factor in sex determination or sex changes in teleost species. High cortisol concentrations inhibit transcription of the aromatase gene, resulting in masculinization. Anemonefish (Amphiprion spp.) are socially controlled, protandrous sex-changing fish, with a monogamous mating system. Females are the largest and most dominant members of social groups, second-ranking individuals become males, and other individuals remain nonreproductive. Individuals that change from male to female display high plasma cortisol concentrations, contrary to a previously established mechanism of masculinization. We investigated the effects of exogenous steroids on gene expression in the brain and gonads and on the occurrence of dominant behavior in the sexually immature ambisexual false clown anemonefish Amphiprion ocellaris. Transcription of the cyp19a1a aromatase gene increased in the gonads of estradiol pellet-fed fish but decreased in cortisol pellet-fed fish. Dominant behavior intensity significantly increased in estradiol pellet-fed fish, but decreased in cortisol pellet-fed fish. Methyltestosterone had no apparent effect on gene transcription or behavior. These results suggest that the masculinization mechanism induced by cortisol is common among teleost species, including protandrous sex-changing fish, and that behavioral changes induced by steroid supplements reflect social status in A. ocellaris.

IMPLEMENTASI UNDANG-UNDANG DESA NO. 6 TAHUN 2014 TENTANG PENYETARAAN GENDER DAN PERANAN PEREMPUAN DALAM PEMBANGUNAN DESA

This study discusses the Implementation of Village Law No. 6 of 2014 concerning Gender Equality and the Role of Women in Village Development. The purpose of this study is to find out how the Village Law No. 6 of 2014 provides opportunities and opportunities for women in the village to play a role in village development. So that there is gender equality between village ranks which is usually dominated by men, women can also be given roles to sit as members of village officials. Gender roles are the roles played by women and men in accordance with the environmental status, culture and structure of society. This role is taught to every member of society, community and certain social groups that are prepared as roles of women and men. A good method of village development must involve all members of the community and involve activities directly related to their socio-economic interests. As a process, village development is a process of cultural transformation that begins with traditional life that relies on hereditary habits to be transformed into a modern society that bases life progress on a willingness to accept science and technology. The research method used is descriptive qualitative method, namely by gathering various information obtained in the form of written or oral words from people or observable behavior. Research results from the Implementation of the Village Law No. 6 of 2014 concerning Gender Equality and the Role of Women in Village Development is that women in village development have rights and equality with men. So what is expected is that gender equality for women in the village in participating in village development can be done well by providing space and opportunities for women to contribute to village development.

Los nombres de pila en Alemania como portadores de información social. ¿Cómo se puede codificar la información social en los nombres?

In addition to the identification function carried by first names, first names are associated with a lot of information about the person and their social environment because the choice of name is guided by the life experiences of the parents, immersed in a social context. The choice is influenced by regional and temporal circumstances, family traditions, models of conduct, religion, membership of social groups and, today more than ever, by aesthetic aspects. Therefore, a first name always carries social information about gender, age or affiliation to a social group. Within a culture and within an era, this information is perceived in a similar way. 'I fear of God', Gottlieb 'love of God' are perceived as pietist names; Mandy, Peggy, Enrico as typical names of the German Democratic Republic (GDR); Adolf and Horst as names of the time of Nazism; Ali, Mohamed and Aishe as foreign names. What about the other features? "The Image of Names" research is presented on the perception of these names, the core of which is an online survey. The survey captures the individual effect of a series of names with respect to connotation pairs located in a semantic differential. The pairs of connotations relate to the meaning of the name itself, as well as to the attributions to the respective alleged bearers of the name. Among other things, it explores the perception of euphony, religiosity, appearance and social status. As early as the 1970s and 1980s, studies were in Germany indicating that certain character traits were also perceived in all areas. The corpus of names discussed here is higher (more than 2000 names) and large amounts of data are collected (150,000 questionnaires in November 2016). From the collected data, graphical impact profiles, so-called onograms,are calculated, showing whether and in which areas the names have connotations with general effect within the German-speaking world. The results can be compared with the statistical data of the first names. Keywords: Socioanthropymy; perception of first names; onograms, Germany, 20th and 21st centuries.

Convergence on collective memories: Central speakers and distributed remembering.

A primary interest in the psychological study of collective memory concerns the sociocognitive processes by which Central Speakers-politicians, journalists, and other public voices-may reshape the memory of groups of listeners. In 2 experiments, we examine how (a) Central Speakers may induce shared practice effects and socially shared retrieval-induced forgetting (SSRIF) for related but unmentioned items in a group of listeners, (b) how communicational remembering along a serial transmission chain can moderate this initial mnemonic influence, and (c) how listeners' relational motives toward the Central Speaker, operationalized as perceived social group membership, impact both (a) and (b). Experiment 1 shows that a Central Speaker may induce both SSRIF and shared practice effects in a group of listeners, and that, relative to noncommunicating nominal groups, communicational remembering in a looped serial transmission chain amplifies the relative inaccessibility of related but unmentioned items. In Experiment 2, we show that the Central Speaker's perceived group membership moderates the effects of subsequent communicational remembering. When ingroup, communicational remembering amplifies the Central Speaker's SSRIF, when outgroup, subsequent communicational remembering attenuates it. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Adoption of bio-security measures against avian-influenza outbreaks among poultry farmers in Jigawa State, Nigeria

The study examined the adoption of selected bio-security measures against avian-influenza (HPAI-A/H5N1) outbreaks among poultry farmers in Jigawa State, Nigeria. A total of 120 respondents selected through a multistage sampling procedure was used for the study. Structured questionnaire was used to elicit information from the respondents. Data collected were subjected to percentages, mean and binary regression. The study revealed that the high level of adoption on biosecurity measures of segregation and traffic control (x̄ =2.82), medium level of adoption for cleaning (x̄ =2.440) and low level of adoption for disinfection of the standard bio-security components (x̄ =1.290). There was a positive and significant relationship between some socio-economic characteristics (age, average monthly income, farming experience and membership of social group) and adoption of bio-security measures of poultry farmers. Constraints to adoption of biosecurity measure poultry tension/veterinary contact, lack of buffer areas (x̄ =3.21) around the farm site and inadequate access to fund (x̄ =3.21). Provision of accessible and affordable credit facilities by government to poultry farmers, and extension agents should intensify more effort on continuous training and constant veterinary services for poultry farmers in the study area towards increased capability to eradicate the negative effect of this acute and highly contagious viral disease on their means of livelihood.Keywords: Adoption of bio-security, avian-influenza, outbreak, poultry farmers

Coaction vs. Reciprocal Cooperation Among Unrelated Individuals in Social Cichlids

Members of social groups often temporally coordinate their behaviours, for instance in defence or foraging. In the context of cooperation, simultaneous or sequential coordination of behaviour may allow social partners to adjust their cooperative effort quickly among each other. By manipulating individual behaviours, here we tested experimentally whether unrelated brood care helpers of the cichlid fish Neolamprologus pulcher would cooperate in dyads when enabled to dig out a joint shelter or to defend their territory against a predator. Both the digging and defence efforts of social partners were contingent on each other’s investment, and the test subjects temporally coordinated these behaviours. Remarkably, the direction of conditional responses to each other’s cooperative investment diverged between the two chosen experimental time frames, which tested for coaction and reciprocity. Test subjects reduced their own digging and defence efforts while their partners were showing these behaviours themselves, implying that they did not exert coaction but rather economized on their investment. In contrast, if a social partner had helped to dig out the common shelter in a previous time period, focal test fish advanced their digging effort in the subsequent experimental phase, which indicates reciprocal cooperation. Social partners also coordinated shelter use when they could see each other, especially after they had been visually exposed to a predator. Our results reveal coordination of cooperative behaviours among unrelated social partners, which has not yet been experimentally demonstrated in cooperatively breeding vertebrates.

Promoting Inter-Ethnic Understanding and Empathy Using a Round Table Cinema Activity with Malaysian Malay and Chinese Students.

The Round Table Cinema Activity (RTCA) is an intervention designed to promote improved multicultural understanding by having different social identity groups watch a carefully-selected film and take part in repeated dialogic exchanges. Here, we examined the efficacy of the RTCA paradigm at improving inter-ethnic understanding and empathy among members of different social identity groups from the same country (i.e., Malaysian Malays and Chinese). A total of 87 participants completed a measure of ethnocultural empathy before and after the RTCA paradigm, which involved watching the film Sepet, taking part in group discussions, and answering open-ended question about their experiences. Analyses of written responses suggested that the RTCA was successful at promoting intergroup dialogue and exchange of ideas. Analyses of quantitative data suggested significant and large improvements in ethnocultural empathy at post-intervention. Our findings suggest that the RTCA paradigm may be a useful tool for promoting inter-ethnic harmony in the Malaysian context.

Conflicting group memberships modulate neural activation in an emotional production-perception network

Social group membership modulates the neural processing of emotional facial expressions, which, in turn, recruits part of the neural production system. However, little is known about how mixed – and potentially conflicting – social identity cues affect this mechanism. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that incongruent cues of two group memberships (ethnic and experimentally created minimal groups) elicit conflict processing for neutral and, in particular, angry facial expressions. We further expected this interaction of ethnic group, minimal group and emotion to also modulate activation in an emotional production-perception network.Twenty-two healthy German subjects saw dynamic angry and neutral facial expressions, presented in short video clips during functional MRI scanning. All depicted actors belonged to an ethnic in– or outgroup (German or Turkish descent) as well as an ad hoc experimentally created minimal in– or outgroup. Additionally, subjects produced angry or neutral expressions themselves.The whole-brain interaction of ethnic group, minimal group and emotion revealed activity in the right parietal lobule and left cerebellum. Both showed strongest activation for angry faces with conflicting group memberships (e.g., ‘ethnic outgroup/minimal ingroup’). In addition, a sub-region of the left cerebellum cluster was also activated for both perceiving and producing angry versus neutral expressions.These results suggest that incongruent group members displaying angry facial expressions elicit conflict processing. Group interaction effects in an emotional production-perception network further indicate stronger neural resonance for incongruent group members.

Early body ornamentation as Ego-culture: Tracing the co-evolution of aesthetic ideals and cultural identity

AbstractWhile the “symbolic” meaning of early body ornamentation has received the lion’s share of attention in the debate on human origins, this paper sets out to explore their aesthetic and agentive dimensions, for the purpose of explaining how various ornamental forms would have led interacting groups to form a cultural identity of their own. To this end, semiotics is integrated with a new paradigm in the archaeology of mind, known as the theory of material engagement. Bridging specifically Peirce’s pragmatic theory and Malafouris’ enactive take on aesthetics allows us to appreciate the formation of aesthetic ideals through the agentive effects of material signs. It is thus proposed that, by attending to the interrelation between form, effect, and affect, members of social groups would have come to appreciate the ways in which their ornamental culture resembles and differs from that of neighbouring groups. Following the Lund conception of cultural semiotics, I argue that models of Ego-culture would have come to evolve along Alter-cultures that also employ ornaments, and against Alius-cultures that have yet to develop or adopt personal decoration. The aesthetic ideals associated with early body ornaments must have therefore played a catalytic role in the formation and communication of group membership. I thus close by proposing that the origins of new cultural identities can be explained by tracing the co-development of ideas and ideals.

Prevention of teenage suicides committed under the influence of the Internet

The subject of the research is the reasons for the commission of unlawful acts provided for by Art. 110.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation committed on the Internet in relation to minors, as well as the existing system for the prevention of these illegal acts. The aim of the study is to develop proposals for improving the specified mechanism for preventing illegal acts. As a result of the study, it was concluded that the prevention of unlawful acts under Art. 110.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation committed on the Internet in relation to minors, should include the following components: detection and suppression of suicidal content; identifying individuals who are members of social network groups and taking part in games, and carefully withdrawing them from such communities; prevention of suicidal behavior with individuals who have committed suicide attempts and with their immediate surroundings. In addition, early prevention of minors and their parents of dangerous behavior on the Internet is of great importance.

Against the Alienage Condition for Refugeehood

Under the 1951 Refugee Convention, there are two necessary conditions for refugeehood: (1) a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion and (2) alienage – that is, being outside of one’s country of nationality or habitual residence. In 1985 Andrew Shacknove famously argued that both of these conditions should be rejected. Shacknove’s paper prompted much debate about the suitability of the persecution condition, but his rejection of the alienage requirement has received significantly less attention. In this paper I argue, against some recent defenders of the Convention, that Shacknove was right to claim that the alienage condition should be rejected. On my view, people who would be granted refugee status if they crossed a border, but who remain in their country of nationality, should also be eligible for refugee status.

Revisiting Immutability: Competing Frameworks for Adjudicating Asylum Claims Based on Membership in a Particular Social Group

The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) defines a refugee as any person who has a “well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion.” An emerging issue in U.S. asylum law is how to define the category “membership of a particular social group.” This question has become ever-more pressing in light of the fact that the majority of migrants seeking asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border are claiming persecution on account of their “membership in a particular social group.” The INA does not define the meaning of “particular social group” and courts are split over the correct definition of the term. According to one approach, the focus should be on which immutable characteristics should be protected from systemic discrimination. According to a second approach, the focus should rather be on how members of a given society define the boundaries of the proposed group. Each framework centers the analysis on a fundamentally distinct set of questions and concerns. This Article outlines the development and conceptual basis of each framework, to show that an immutability-centered approach to defining particular social group generates more consistency in asylum decisions and broadens the scope of asylum to include women and victims of harm traditionally categorized as falling within the category of “private criminal activity.” This Article contributes to debates on asylum policy by shedding new light on how to define the contours of asylum status and proposing concrete means by which to accomplish change.

Quantitative characterization of animal social organization: Applications for epidemiological modelling.

Social organization is a key aspect of animal ecology, closely interlinked with all aspects of animal behaviour. The structure of animal assemblages is highly diverse, both within and between species. The complexity and variety of social systems and the dynamic nature of interactions and dependencies between members of social groups have long been major obstacles for developing operational characterizations of social organization. Here, social network analysis, a set of statistical tools rooted in graph theory, suggests itself as a potential solution for this problem, by offering quantitative measures for various aspects of social relationships. In this review I will first introduce network analysis as a tool to characterize the social organization of animal groups and population and, then, focus on the application of this method for epidemiological modelling, specifically the prediction of spreading patterns of pathogens in livestock and its potential for informing targeted surveillance and planning of intervention measures.

Replacing the Persecution Condition for Refugeehood

In order to be eligible for refugee status under the 1951 Refugee Convention, an individual must have a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion. A major problem with this condition for refugee status is that it leaves significant protection gaps, for it is generally agreed that individuals fleeing indiscriminate violence or generalized harm do not satisfy this requirement. In this paper, I evaluate existing arguments both defending and critiquing the persecution condition, and then outline my own account of the criteria that should replace it. I argue that my view is preferable to alternatives suggested in the literature because it satisfies three key desiderata: 1) it eliminates protection gaps; 2) it is feasible to implement in a world like ours; and 3) it preserves the importantly political nature of the institution of refugeehood.

The asylum and extradition or the criminal pursuit and persecution. Important concepts that create difficulties in the judicial practice

In this article I will briefly analyze a very important and actual theme related to reciprocal influences of two similar judicial regimes, such as the asylum and the extradition, which frequently have problems or difficulties in application in judicial practice. From a more general point of view, difficulties may arise in the English language from a vocabulary point of view, which frequently also generates problems in interpretation. For instance, such may be the case for the terms prosecution and persecution, which formally are translated respectively as criminal charge and persecution. I would also like to emphasize on the theoretical and practical importance, domestically and internationally, on matters related to asylum and extradition. The integrating and globalizing processes, the liberalization and the opening of frontiers, the effective war against international criminality, the consolidation of the state of law, the guaranteeing of individual fundamental rights and liberties, the protection of people in necessity from persecution because of race, religion, nationality, membership in a certain social group or because of political convictions, as essential values of the community of nations, are some of the main reasons that encourage the debate for a more effective application of these institutes.

Bounded Solidarity in Cross-National Encounters: Individuals Share More with Others from Poor Countries but Trust Them Less

Globalization makes cross-national encounters increasingly common. Hesitant cooperation across national, ethnic, and cultural boundaries, however, undercuts the microlevel stabilizers of global integration and, most importantly, the willingness to share with and place trust in members of other social groups. In a 109-country online experiment, we convey information on interaction partners' nationalities to indicate membership in a broader in- or out-group, cultural distance, and perceived material neediness—or status differences more generally—to 1,674 participants in incentivized games of generosity (dictator game) and trust (trust game). We find consistent evidence for in-group favoritism and—against this benchmark—demonstrate that individuals across the globe share more with but place less trust in interaction partners from poor countries and that cultural distance moderates this status effect.

Contextualizing the development of social essentialism.

Given the critical role that psychological essentialism is theorized to play in the development of stereotyping and prejudice, researchers have increasingly examined the extent to which and when children essentialize different social categories. We review and integrate the types of contextual and cultural variation that have emerged in the literature on social essentialism. We review variability in the development of social essentialism depending on experimental tasks, participant social group membership, language use, psychological salience of category kinds, exposure to diversity, and cultural norms. We also discuss future directions for research that would help to identify the contexts in which social essentialism is less likely to develop in order to inform interventions that could reduce social essentialism and possible negative consequences for intergroup relations.

Groups as moral boundaries: A developmental perspective.

In this chapter we present the perspective that social groups serve as moral boundaries. Social groups establish the bounds within which people hold moral obligations toward one another. The belief that people are morally obligated toward fellow social group members, but not toward members of other groups, is an early-emerging feature of human cognition, arising out of domain-general processes in conceptual development. We review evidence that supports this account from the adult and child moral cognition literature, and we describe the developmental processes by which people come to view social groups as shaping moral obligation. We conclude with suggestions about how this account can inform the study of social cognitive development more broadly, as well as how it can be used to promote positive moral socialization.

Oxytocin changes behavior and spatio-temporal brain dynamics underlying inter-group conflict in humans

Inter-group conflicts drive human discrimination, mass migration, and violence, but their psychobiological mechanisms remain largely unknown. Here, we investigated whether the neuropeptide oxytocin modulates behavior and spatio-temporal brain dynamics in naturalistic inter-group conflict. Eighty-six male members of natural rival social groups received either oxytocin or placebo intranasally. In a decision-making paradigm involving real monetary stakes, participants could sacrifice their own resources to modulate the monetary gains and losses of in- and out-group members. Oxytocin eliminated the reduction in out-group gains - particularly in individuals with low emotional empathy, whereas those given placebo exhibited this negative social behavior. Our spatio-temporal analysis of event-related potentials elicited by outcome valuation revealed that oxytocin replaced a neurophysiological process associated with the negative valuation of out-group gains via a process associated with positive valuation between 200-500ms after outcome presentation. Oxytocin thus seems to modulate inter-group behavior in humans via a specific alteration of valuation-related brain dynamics.

Group behavior in social media: Antecedents of initial trust formation

This study investigates the influence of antecedents of user trust amongst peers on social media platforms that they apply without sufficient cognitive judgment. Based on extensive literature review and analysis of social theories, we propose a theoretical framework for social media trust (SMT). Based on the SMT model, we conduct empirical analysis using structural equation modeling to verify the cause-effect relationships hypothesized in this study. The findings reveal that initial formation of SMT relies on five predictors - fulfilled expectations, predictability, familiarity, monitor, and norms. These findings have significant theoretical and practical implications. The study finds that peers are likely to invest blind faith in the content shared on social media groups without subjecting it to verification. It also identifies the threat of biased peers, who spread irresponsible content with predetermined motives to influence members of certain social media groups. Policymakers can use insights from this study to highlight the ills of non-verification, and its potential to cause harm at the very extreme.