Effects Of Social Reinforcement Research Articles

Modeling the competitive propagation of rumors and counter-rumors in two-layer complex networks with nonlinear spreading and decay rates

Prior investigations into the propagation of rumors have predominantly focused on either online or offline social networks, neglecting the concurrent dissemination of rumors and counter-rumors. Hence, to investigate how rumors and counter-rumors spread and interact in online and offline two-layer networks, and to devise an optimal control strategy for rumors, we propose a nonlinear SEIDR spreading model that incorporates the effects of social reinforcement and interest decay. By constructing mean-field equations, we present the mathematical expression of the SEIDR model and further define and compute the basic reproduction number of rumors. Subsequently, three theorems related to the final scale of rumors are introduced. Finally, we investigate the primary factors influencing rumor propagation via Monte Carlo simulations, yielding the following key findings: (i) The final scale of rumors exhibits a positive correlation with the social reinforcement effect and the second-order moment of the network, while displaying a negative correlation with the interest decay effect and the average degree of the network. (ii) The final scale of rumors ranks in the order of: random network > scale-free network > small-world network > regular network. (iii) Notably, the speed of rumor propagation aligns with the order: scale-free network > random network > small-world network > regular network.

Diffusion in small worlds with homophily and social reinforcement: A theoretical model

We introduce homophily in a percolation model of word-of-mouth diffusion in social networks by reorganizing the nodes according to similarity in preferences for adoption of an innovation. Such preferences are described by a “minimum utility requirement” for an agent to adopt. We show that homophily removes the non-linear relation between preferences and diffusion in the standard percolation model with a high diffusion regime (“hit”) and a low diffusion regime (“flop”). Instead, in a model with perfect homophily, the final diffusion scales linearly with individual preferences: all agents who are willing to adopt, do adopt the innovation. We also investigate the combined effect of homophily and social reinforcement in diffusion. Results indicate that social reinforcement renders clustered networks more efficient in terms of diffusion size for network with strong homophily, while the opposite is true for networks without homophily. The simple structure of our model allows to disentangle the effect of social influence, homophily and the network structure on diffusion. However, the controllability of the theoretical structure comes at the expenses of the realism of the model. For this, we discuss possible extensions and empirical applications.

Teaching Joint Attention: Assessing Generalization and Maintenance of Effects using Multiple Exemplar Training.

The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the effects of multiple exemplar training and social reinforcement on the maintenance and generalization of joint attention initiations across toy classes. Three children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) participated. After analyzing samples of joint attention initiations from neurotypical peers, a composite score was developed and used to evaluate joint attention initiations of the children with ASD. Gaze shifting and commenting were taught using social reinforcement in a multiple exemplar format. Training sessions were followed by probes of untrained stimuli both within and across toy classes. Results showed that the participants acquired both gaze shifting and commenting using social consequences as reinforcers. Following training, participants initiated joint attention with a frequency within the range of their typically developing peers. Multiple exemplar training was also effective in facilitating acquisition within classes and joint attention maintenance during follow-up probes. Additionally, all participants generalized the acquired skills to a class of untrained stimuli.

Social referencing training in children with autism spectrum disorder: A randomized controlled study.

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have been shown to exhibit fewer instances of social referencing compared to their typically developing peers. The current study evaluated the effectiveness of multiple-exemplar training, prompting, and social reinforcement to teach social referencing. We used a single-blind randomized control trial with a multiple-baseline design nested within the experimental group to evaluate treatment effects. Twenty-five children with ASD participated. Participants in the treatment group showed significantly higher social referencing scores. However, there were no statistically significant differences between the groups in the posttraining initiating and responding to joint attention scores. The clinical implications of our findings are discussed.

Going Viral: Stability of Consensus-Driven Adoptive Spread

The spread of new products in a networked population is often modeled as an epidemic. However, in the case of “complex” contagion, these models do not capture nuanced, dynamic social reinforcement effects in adoption behavior. In this paper, we investigate a model of complex contagion which allows a coevolutionary interplay between adoption, modeled as an SIS epidemic spreading process, and social reinforcement effects, modeled as consensus opinion dynamics. Asymptotic stability analysis of the all-adopt as well as the none-adopt equilibria of the combined opinion-adoption model is provided through the use of Lyapunov arguments. In doing so, sufficient conditions are provided which determine the stability of the “flop” state, where no one adopts the product and everyone's opinion of the product is least favorable, and the “hit” state, where everyone adopts and their opinions are most favorable. These conditions are shown to extend to the bounded confidence opinion dynamic under a stronger assumption on the model parameters. Additional analysis is provided for the case where the product is neither a hit nor a flop. To conclude, numerical simulations demonstrate behaviors indicated in the sociology literature such as tipping points.

Impact of network density on cascade size and community growth

This paper addresses two critical questions related to (1) the co-evolutionary dynamics between information diffusion and network topology and (2) the relationship between viral content and social reinforcement. A recurrence relation model is developed to formulate the growth dynamics of a community centered on a dominant user using the tweet-retweet-follow (TRF) and exogenous link-creation events. This model illustrates several fundamental relations among parameters and quantities that are critical to answering the questions. The model reproduces social reinforcement and structural trapping effects, including empirical evidence that viral content does not require strong social reinforcement. In addition, the model demonstrates that the community growth rate is influenced not only by the rate of retweets but also by the network density of the community.

Influence Maximization in Social Network Considering Memory Effect and Social Reinforcement Effect

Social networks have attracted a lot of attention as novel information or advertisement diffusion media for viral marketing. Influence maximization describes the problem of finding a small subset of seed nodes in a social network that could maximize the spread of influence. A lot of algorithms have been proposed to solve this problem. Recently, in order to achieve more realistic viral marketing scenarios, some constrained versions of influence maximization, which consider time constraints, budget constraints and so on, have been proposed. However, none of them considers the memory effect and the social reinforcement effect, which are ubiquitous properties of social networks. In this paper, we define a new constrained version of the influence maximization problem that captures the social reinforcement and memory effects. We first propose a novel propagation model to capture the dynamics of the memory and social reinforcement effects. Then, we modify two baseline algorithms and design a new algorithm to solve the problem under the model. Experiments show that our algorithm achieves the best performance with relatively low time complexity. We also demonstrate that the new version captures some important properties of viral marketing in social networks, such as such as social reinforcements, and could explain some phenomena that cannot be explained by existing influence maximization problem definitions.

Modeling for heterogeneous multi-stage information propagation networks and maximizing information**Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 61873194).

In this paper, we propose a heterogeneous multi-stage model to study the effect of social reinforcement on information propagation. Both heterogeneity of network components and the heterogeneity of individual reinforcement thresholds are considered. An information outbreak condition is derived, according to which the outbreak scale and individual density of each state under specific propagation parameters can be deduced. Monte Carlo experiments are conducted in Facebook networks to demonstrate the outbreak condition, and we find that social reinforcement effects generally inhibit the propagation of information though it contributes to the emergence of certain hot spots simultaneously. Additionally, by applying Pontryagin’s Maximum Principle, we derive the optimal control strategy in the case of limited control resources to maximize the information propagation. Then the forward–backward sweep method is utilized to verify its performance with numerical simulation.

To free, or not to free: Social reinforcement effects in the social release paradigm with rats

The present research measured social reinforcement in rats, using a social-release procedure in which lever presses permitted 10-s access to a familiar social partner. The work requirements for reinforcement increased systematically according to progressive-ratio (PR) schedules. Social and food reinforcement value were compared across blocks of sessions (Experiment 1) and concurrently within the same sessions (Experiment 2). To assess motivational effects, response and reinforcer rates for both reinforcer types were studied under food restriction, social restriction, and combined food and social restriction. Responding was maintained by both reinforcers, albeit at substantially higher levels for food than for social access. Responding for social access decreased to low levels under extinction conditions, demonstrating functional control by the social-reinforcement contingency. Sensitivity to social restriction was seen in some conditions in Experiment 2, in which social reinforcers were earned earlier in the session (at lower food prices) under social restriction than under the other deprivation conditions. Altogether, results are consistent with a social reinforcement conceptualization, and demonstrate an important role for social contact in social release behavior. The study demonstrates a promising set of methods for analyzing and quantifying social reinforcement.

Contagion of Cheating Behaviors in Online Social Networks

Human behaviors are known to spread through social contact. The diffusion process on social networks has also been leveraged to understand the spread of undesirable contagion. The contagion of malicious or even criminal behaviors in online social networks is just beginning to attract attention. Here, we study the social contagion problem of cheating behavior found in the massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) that provides a lifelike environment with rich and realistic user interactions. Because cheating users boast an abnormal thus conspicuous degree of success, it has a strong chance of being noticed by their friends and leading them to cheat themselves. To detect and prevent cheating, it is beneficial to understand this dynamic as a contagion problem. In this paper, we show the existence of the contagion of cheating. We then explore various possible social reinforcement mechanisms after introducing several factors to quantify the effect of social reinforcement on the contagion and analyze the dynamics of bot diffusion in an extensive user interaction log from a major MMORPG.

Effects of social reinforcement on the emission of tacts by preschoolers.

Effects of social reinforcement on the emission of tacts by preschoolers.

Effects of Antecedent Manipulations and Social Reinforcement to Increase Lateral Positioning in a Premature Infant with Obstructive Sleep Apnea.

Recent research suggests supine positioning for sleeping infants is the safest position to prevent breathing related difficulties; however doing so can significantly increase obstruction in apneic infants resulting in decreased sleep quality. We implemented a multi-component treatment package compromised of antecedent interventions and parent-mediated social reinforcement to increase lateral positioning in a premature infant with obstructive sleep apnea. Results indicate that the intervention increased lateral positioning in the participant by over 80% in the final phase of the study, indicating efficacy of the intervention. Limitations and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Mathematical modeling of complex contagion on clustered networks

The spreading of behavior, such as the adoption of a new innovation, is influenced bythe structure of social networks that interconnect the population. In the experiments of Centola (Science, 2010), adoption of new behavior was shown to spread further and faster across clustered-lattice networks than across corresponding random networks. This implies that the “complex contagion” effects of social reinforcement are important in such diffusion, in contrast to “simple” contagion models of disease-spread which predict that epidemics would grow more efficiently on random networks than on clustered networks. To accurately model complex contagion on clustered networks remains a challenge because the usual assumptions (e.g. of mean-field theory) regarding tree-like networks are invalidated by the presence of triangles in the network; the triangles are, however, crucial to the social reinforcement mechanism, which posits an increased probability of a person adopting behavior that has been adopted by two or more neighbors. In this paper we modify the analytical approach that was introduced by Hebert-Dufresne et al. (Phys. Rev. E, 2010), to study disease-spread on clustered networks. We show how the approximation method can be adapted to a complex contagion model, and confirm the accuracy of the method with numerical simulations. The analytical results of the model enable us to quantify the level of social reinforcement that is required to observe—as in Centola’s experiments—faster diffusion on clustered topologies than on random networks.

Message spreading in networks with stickiness and persistence: large clustering does not always facilitate large-scale diffusion.

Recent empirical studies have confirmed the key roles of complex contagion mechanisms such as memory, social reinforcement, and decay effects in information diffusion and behavior spreading. Inspired by this fact, we here propose a new agent–based model to capture the whole picture of the joint action of the three mechanisms in information spreading, by quantifying the complex contagion mechanisms as stickiness and persistence, and carry out extensive simulations of the model on various networks. By numerical simulations as well as theoretical analysis, we find that the stickiness of the message determines the critical dynamics of message diffusion on tree-like networks, whereas the persistence plays a decisive role on dense regular lattices. In either network, the greater persistence can effectively make the message more invasive. Of particular interest is that our research results renew our previous knowledge that messages can spread broader in networks with large clustering, which turns out to be only true when they can inform a non-zero fraction of the population in the limit of large system size.

The Effects of Social Reinforcement and Faded Prompts on the Behavior of Taking a Seat and Following Directions of a Child with Developmental Disabilities

The Effects of Social Reinforcement and Faded Prompts on the Behavior of Taking a Seat and Following Directions of a Child with Developmental Disabilities

Spreading in online social networks: The role of social reinforcement

Some epidemic spreading models are usually applied to analyze the propagation of opinions or news. However, the dynamics of epidemic spreading and information or behavior spreading are essentially different in many aspects. Centola's experiments [Science 329, 1194 (2010)] on behavior spreading in online social networks showed that the spreading is faster and broader in regular networks than in random networks. This result contradicts with the former understanding that random networks are preferable for spreading than regular networks. To describe the spreading in online social networks, a unknown-known-approved-exhausted four-status model was proposed, which emphasizes the effect of social reinforcement and assumes that the redundant signals can improve the probability of approval (i.e., the spreading rate). Performing the model on regular and random networks, it is found that our model can well explain the results of Centola's experiments on behavior spreading and some former studies on information spreading in different parameter space. The effects of average degree and network size on behavior spreading process are further analyzed. The results again show the importance of social reinforcement and are accordant with Centola's anticipation that increasing the network size or decreasing the average degree will enlarge the difference of the density of final approved nodes between regular and random networks. Our work complements the former studies on spreading dynamics, especially the spreading in online social networks where the information usually requires individuals' confirmations before being transmitted to others.

Promoting Recreation Skills in Severely Retarded Children

The importance of physical education and recreation activities for retarded children has been stressed from many quarters. Accordingly, in a summer day camp for retarded children, behavior modification procedures were examined as a means to increase cliii­dren’s participation iii recreational activities and to demonstrate that supervised staff members can serve as experimenters in camp setting as they modify behaviors that are of concern. Four studies were conducted m which camp personnel acted as primary ex­perimenters; the subjects of these studies ranged from single subjects to entire classroom groups. In the first study, on-task classroom behavior was examined for two boys who displayed higli rates of distractible behavior (e.g., shouting, throwing materials, runnmg, etc.). A token reinforcement procedure was sequentially applied to three different activity classrooms ni a multiple-baseline design. Similar contingencies were arranged for an entire class of children in a second study. Substantial increases iii the classroom participation of ah children were functionally related to the mtroduction of the ex­perimental contingencies. In a third study, the effects of adult social reinforcement on the appropriate play with basketballs and roller skates of a young Down’s Syndrome boy were assessed using a reversal design. Observations made during free play showed increases of 75% iii appropriate play during periods of adult social reinforcement. In the fourth study, extinctjon was employed using a multiple basehine design to reduce disruptive physical contact of a physically handicapped girl. Records kept on the daily number of disruptive physical contacts directed toward two staff members showed that durmg ex­tinction phases, disruptive behavior was nearly ehiminated. Taken together, these four studies demonstrated that (1) day camps can be significant teaching settings for young handicapped children, (2) childrens’ participation in healthy, physical activities can be increased by employing behavior modification procedures, (3) indigenous camp personnel with proper trainmg and supervision can carry out behavior modification techniques and demonstrate proyects with’out disrupting the normal camp routine and as a result have more time to supervise children’s activities, and (4) conditions need to be arranged to msure children’s participation if benefits are to accrue from recreation asid physical education activities.

The effects of social vs. non-social reinforcement on perceptual performance in schizophrenics

The effects of social vs. non-social reinforcement on perceptual performance in schizophrenics

Medical Social Work Management of Urinary Incontinence in the Elderly:

The effect of stimulus cues and social reinforcement on urinary incontinence of three wheel-chair bound, nursing home residents was investigated using a multiple-baseline across subjects. The residents included three seriously impaired elderly women who were offered the opportunity to use the toilet hourly and taken to the toilet on a 2-hour schedule. Praise and cookies were provided as a consequence for appropriate urination in the toilet. Following the intervention opportunities for toileting increased, and there was a decrease in urinary incontinence, and an increase in appropriate urinary toileting.

Mediating Effects of Material Payment, Social Reinforcement, and Familiarity on Foot-in-the-Door Phenomena in Thailand

Abstract Material payment, social reinforcement, and familiarity were examined as possible mediating variables in the foot-in-the-door technique in the Thai society. Female college students in Thailand were randomly assigned to one of the eight possible combinations of the above three variables (e.g., material payment-social reinforcement-familiarity; no material payment-social reinforcement-familiarity; material payment-no social reinforcement-familiarity). At first contact, subjects were asked to respond to a 10-item checklist regarding environmental concerns. Four days later the same subjects were asked to travel a few miles from the college to plant trees as part of an environmental enhancement project. Verbal compliance (agreeing to go) and behavioral compliance (showing up at the appointed time and place for transportation to the planting site) were assessed and analyzed according to the experimental condition to which each subject was assigned. Social reinforcement significantly affected both verba...