Social Processes Research Articles

The influence of friends' person-organization fit during recruitment.

Although recruitment and perceptions of fit are inherently social-as they reflect the interactions between applicants and recruiting firms-applicants' social networks during recruitment can exert both positive and potentially negative consequences for subsequent applicant perceptions and behaviors. In this study, we examine the role of applicants' friends' perceptions of fit with the same recruiting organizations. Integrating ideas from social information processing theory and the person-organization (P-O) fit literature, we argue that friends' P-O fit perceptions drive social learning and social influence processes for applicants, thus predicting applicant perceptions and behaviors toward recruiting firms. In addition, we posit that the direct and indirect relationships between friends' P-O fit perceptions and applicants' own fit perceptions and job choices with recruiting firms are further strengthened by how centrally connected applicants are within their friend networks. Using a sample of 576 applicant-firm observations from 178 job applicants, we found that friends' P-O fit perceptions are positively related to applicant P-O fit perceptions and job choice decisions. Furthermore, applicants' position in their network-assessed via applicants' outdegree centrality within their friend group-strengthened the relationship between friends' P-O fit and applicant P-O fit as well as with their job choice decisions. Our research provides important theoretical and empirical findings on the influence of applicants' friends during recruitment. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Identifying Reddit Users at a High Risk of Suicide and Their Linguistic Features During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Growth-Based Trajectory Model.

Suicide has emerged as a critical public health concern during the COVID-19 pandemic. With social distancing measures in place, social media has become a significant platform for individuals expressing suicidal thoughts and behaviors. However, existing studies on suicide using social media data often overlook the diversity among users and the temporal dynamics of suicide risk. By examining the variations in post volume trajectories among users on the r/SuicideWatch subreddit during the COVID-19 pandemic, this study aims to investigate the heterogeneous patterns of change in suicide risk to help identify social media users at high risk of suicide. We also characterized their linguistic features before and during the pandemic. We collected and analyzed post data every 6 months from March 2019 to August 2022 for users on the r/SuicideWatch subreddit (N=6163). A growth-based trajectory model was then used to investigate the trajectories of post volume to identify patterns of change in suicide risk during the pandemic. Trends in linguistic features within posts were also charted and compared, and linguistic markers were identified across the trajectory groups using regression analysis. We identified 2 distinct trajectories of post volume among r/SuicideWatch subreddit users. A small proportion of users (744/6163, 12.07%) was labeled as having a high risk of suicide, showing a sharp and lasting increase in post volume during the pandemic. By contrast, most users (5419/6163, 87.93%) were categorized as being at low risk of suicide, with a consistently low and mild increase in post volume during the pandemic. In terms of the frequency of most linguistic features, both groups showed increases at the initial stage of the pandemic. Subsequently, the rising trend continued in the high-risk group before declining, while the low-risk group showed an immediate decrease. One year after the pandemic outbreak, the 2 groups exhibited differences in their use of words related to the categories of personal pronouns; affective, social, cognitive, and biological processes; drives; relativity; time orientations; and personal concerns. In particular, the high-risk group was discriminant in using words related to anger (odds ratio [OR] 3.23, P<.001), sadness (OR 3.23, P<.001), health (OR 2.56, P=.005), achievement (OR 1.67, P=.049), motion (OR 4.17, P<.001), future focus (OR 2.86, P<.001), and death (OR 4.35, P<.001) during this stage. Based on the 2 identified trajectories of post volume during the pandemic, this study divided users on the r/SuicideWatch subreddit into suicide high- and low-risk groups. Our findings indicated heterogeneous patterns of change in suicide risk in response to the pandemic. The high-risk group also demonstrated distinct linguistic features. We recommend conducting real-time surveillance of suicide risk using social media data during future public health crises to provide timely support to individuals at potentially high risk of suicide.

Language Learners’ Transferable Skills and Narrative Competence in U.S. Career Advising Appointments: Multilingual Development Beyond Higher Education

ABSTRACT In a career climate that casts “foreign” language proficiency as a measurable and technical skill, this study examines how the notion of transferable skills alternatively mediates how collegiate language learners (LLs) co-construct multilingual-professional trajectories in career advising appointments. In particular, it focuses on how LLs are positioned as perpetually responsible for acquiring and articulating transferable skills of sorts and the affordances of this ideology for sustained engagement with the target language (TL) beyond higher education. Data include five audio-recorded, transcribed career advising appointments with collegiate LLs of five non-English TLs. Excerpts from advising appointments illustrate how transferable skills may or may not be constructed as emanating from language learning but are assumed to provide access to new settings wherein LLs develop professional identities through TL use. The findings highlight socialization processes as LLs develop narrative competence to essentialize skill sets for continuity between previous and prospective positions to construct themselves as employable.

It's not who you know, but who you are: Explaining income gaps of stigmatized-caste business owners in India.

Scholars across disciplines and around the world have diverted research attention to rising income inequalities across groups and strategies to reduce them. The literature has broadly identified human capital and social capital as two potential tools to facilitate economic mobility and to reduce inequalities. However, it is not known whether these tools work equally well for stigmatized groups, particularly in societies with systemic inequalities. Analyzing data from a pan-India survey, we show that business owners from stigmatized groups (i.e., Dalits in India, who are stigmatized as untouchables) experience a business income gap of around 16% compared to others, including those business owners who are from communities that are disadvantaged but are not similarly stigmatized. We find that, instead of being reduced, this gap in fact increases at higher levels of social capital, especially bridging social capital, illustrating the social processes of stigmatization that limit the benefits that Dalits can reap from social capital. By contrast, Dalits can reap similar income benefits as others from human capital. Our results show that human capital helps stigmatized groups mitigate the implications of stigma, but social capital does not.

Exploring Student Perspectives of the Dietetics Profession Using a Professional Socialization Lens.

Purpose: We aimed to explore student perspectives of the dietetics profession using a professional socialization lens.Methods: We conducted qualitative semi-structured interviews, virtually or by phone, with 25 dietetic undergraduate/graduate students or interns in 2020/21. Transcripts were thematically analyzed.Results: All participants identified as female, averaged 25 years old at the time of the interviews, and were in different stages of their education. Two themes captured their perspectives of the profession: dietitians have technical expertise and professional identities are evolving. Technical expertise was focused on scientific understandings of how individuals consume and utilize food, and how (mostly Western) food should be prepared for safety and maximum nutrition. Participants perceived dietetics as a white, feminized profession with dietitians' role to aid in weight loss; participants actively sought to resist these stereotypes, notably through social media.Conclusions: While holding technical expertise continues to be embedded as a key component of dietetics identity, student professional socialization is also being shaped by social media, racial justice, and body positivity movements. This socialization process is likely to influence changes to the profession as students enter practice.

MENTORING IN THE HEALTHCARE SYSTEM: PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS

ANNOTATION Rationale. During the period of rapid development of science and medical technologies, the professional and working environment is faced with the urgent task of finding mechanisms and tools for increasing the level of professional competencies and practical skills of medical specialists in the process of professional socialization. The sociological study conducted by the authors was focused on identifying factors of successful/unsuccessful professional socialization of young medical specialists, one of which is mentoring. Purpose of the study. Determining the role of the mentoring institution as a factor influencing the success/failure of professional socialization of medical specialists. Materials and methods. A survey was conducted among clinical residents of the Far Eastern State Medical University. A total of 184 respondents were interviewed using a questionnaire using a Google form. To solve the research problems, methods of analysis, comparison and generalization of the obtained data, analysis of regulatory documents, survey results and secondary data from sociological research were used. At the level of data processing and work with source material, descriptive statistics methods provided by SPSS and EXCEL software were used. Results. In the course of a sociological study conducted by the authors, the most pressing problems of introducing and implementing mentoring practices in the healthcare system were identified. The role of the mentoring institution as a socializing factor influencing the success/failure of professional socialization of medical specialists is also determined. The study formulates tasks for further research into the process of professional socialization of medical specialists from the point of view of identifying factors of a positive and destructive nature, and the role of socialization institutions in this process. Conclusion. Problems in the implementation of mentoring practices in healthcare related to the low mentoring activity of practicing medical specialists have been identified. A special need for the implementation of mentoring practices was identified at the stage of postgraduate training (clinical residency) by 83% of respondents and at the stage of starting independent professional work by 61% of respondents. Respondents expressed a positive attitude towards the introduction of mentoring in healthcare: 90% of respondents indicated that having a mentor when obtaining a medical specialty is mandatory.

A protocol for assessing bias and robustness of social network metrics using GPS based radio-telemetry data

BackgroundSocial network analysis of animal societies allows scientists to test hypotheses about social evolution, behaviour, and dynamic processes. However, the accuracy of estimated metrics depends on data characteristics like sample proportion, sample size, and frequency. A protocol is needed to assess for bias and robustness of social network metrics estimated for the animal populations especially when a limited number of individuals are monitored.MethodsWe used GPS telemetry datasets of five ungulate species to combine known social network approaches with novel ones into a comprehensive five-step protocol. To quantify the bias and uncertainty in the network metrics obtained from a partial population, we presented novel statistical methods which are particularly suited for autocorrelated data, such as telemetry relocations. The protocol was validated using a sixth species, the fallow deer, with a known population size where ∼85%\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$\\sim 85\\%$$\\end{document} of the individuals have been directly monitored.ResultsThrough the protocol, we demonstrated how pre-network data permutations allow researchers to assess non-random aspects of interactions within a population. The protocol assesses bias in global network metrics, obtains confidence intervals, and quantifies uncertainty of global and node-level network metrics based on the number of nodes in the network. We found that global network metrics like density remained robust even with a lowered sample size, while local network metrics like eigenvector centrality were unreliable for four of the species. The fallow deer network showed low uncertainty and bias even at lower sampling proportions, indicating the importance of a thoroughly sampled population while demonstrating the accuracy of our evaluation methods for smaller samples.ConclusionsThe protocol allows researchers to analyse GPS-based radio-telemetry or other data to determine the reliability of social network metrics. The estimates enable the statistical comparison of networks under different conditions, such as analysing daily and seasonal changes in the density of a network. The methods can also guide methodological decisions in animal social network research, such as sampling design and allow more accurate ecological inferences from the available data. The R package aniSNA enables researchers to implement this workflow on their dataset, generating reliable inferences and guiding methodological decisions.

Rodrigo Duterte as “the Trump of Asia”? The Limits and Pitfalls of Thin Comparison

The former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte often gets lumped together with the former U.S. president Donald Trump on the basis of their autocratic practices. However, there are crucial differences in their respective situations and the reception of their autocratic practices on the ground. Consequently, if we understand Duterte only through Trump or with reference to the category of “emerging autocrat” then we end up misunderstanding the situation in the Philippines. This article is about the limits and pitfalls of thin comparison and the necessity of thicker ones. It advocates understanding practices embedded in the social structures and processes that make them meaningful. I proceed as follows: I present the case of Rodrigo Duterte and review the grounds for lumping him along with Trump as an emerging autocrat. I then pursue a thicker comparison of Duterte and Trump, putting their support in economic, social, political, and historical context and highlighting substantial differences in their respective situations. Finally, I argue that thin comparisons are especially susceptible to interpretive biases in general and highlight three such biases—toward contemporaneity, continuity, and centrality—using the case of Duterte to illustrate.

A case study: exploring the impact of 3D printed models on cognitive integration during clinical skills training

Background: Cognitive integration occurs when trainees make conceptual connections between relevant knowledges and is known to improve learning. While several experimental studies have demonstrated how text and audio-visual instruction can be designed to enhance cognitive integration, clinical skills training in real-world contexts may require alternative educational strategies. Introducing three-dimensional (3D) printed models during clinical skills instruction may offer unique learning opportunities to support cognitive integration. Methods: Using case study methodology, we explore how learners and an instructor used 3D printed bones to augment their learning interactions during a clinical skills laboratory on shoulder on palpation, and to describe the instructional strategies with 3D printed bones that may support learning. Students (n = 21) worked in small groups and were given access to a 3D printed clavicle, scapula, and humerus. Data were collected through observation, a student focus group, and a semi-structured interview with the instructor. Thematic analysis to review and code the data and to generate themes. Results: We developed four themes that describe how 3D printed models were used in the classroom and how they may support cognitive integration: classroom interactivity, visualization of anatomy, integrating knowledge, and educational potential. Conclusions: The findings demonstrate several ways 3D printed models can augment how learners, instructors, and educational materials interact with one another and how readily learners make connections between different sources and types of knowledge. This research extends previous work by demonstrating how social learning processes and interactions with physical models can offer unique affordances that may support cognitive integration.

The beliefs and practices used to promote physical and mental health in youth who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, or queer plus (LGBTIQ+) experiencing housing insecurity: An integrative review.

The purpose of this integrative review was to explore the beliefs and practices used to promote physical and mental health among youth ages 18-25 years, identifying as LGBTIQ+ experiencing housing insecurity. The approach used strategies described by Whittemore and Knafl. Peer-reviewed, published research articles in English were identified using eight electronic databases. Eighteen research reports using qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods were identified. Articles were evaluated for quality using the American Association of Critical Care Nurses Evidenced-Level Hierarchy evaluation tool. Data were analyzed and synthesized using Braun and Clarke's method. Four themes related to the purpose were extracted: pervasive experiences of stigma and discrimination, constantly attuned to navigating risks, inconsistent engagement in health information and care, and inner strength developed through personal and community experiences. There are strong implications for future research, public health nursing practice, and health policy. Public health nurses should incorporate social determinants of health (addressing harmful social processes such as homophobia and racism) as well as a strength-based upstream approach in research, education, and health care practices. More research must also be done to assess engagement in physical and mental health information and care.

Issues of Social Media Usage by Adolescents in their Socialisation Process

This study, employing a rigorous qualitative approach and case study design, investigated the common types of social media adolescents use in their socialisation process in Somanya in the Yilo Krobo Municipality in the Eastern Region of Ghana. The sample size was twenty adolescents selected through the convenience sampling technique. One-on-one interviews and focus group discussions were conducted to collect data. The significant findings from the study were that adolescents use social networking sites such as Facebook, WhatsApp, and Twitter. It recommends that parents socialise adolescents to conform to contemporary social interaction patterns to aid the proper use of social media. It was concluded that social media usage affects the socialisation of adolescent, thereby affecting their social behaviour.

"All the Stars Will Be Wells With a Rusty Pulley": Neural Processing of the Social and Pragmatic Content in a Narrative.

Making sense of natural language and narratives requires building and manipulating a situation model by adding incoming information to the model and using the context stored in the model to comprehend subsequent details and events. Situation model maintenance is supported by the default mode network (DMN), but comprehension of the individual moments in the narratives relies on access to the conceptual store within the semantic system. The present study examined how these systems are engaged by different narrative content to investigate whether highly informative, or semantic, content is a particularly strong driver of semantic system activation compared with contextually driven content that requires using the situation model, which might instead engage DMN regions. The study further investigated which subregions of the graded semantic hub in the left anterior temporal lobe (ATL) were engaged by the type of narrative content. To do this, we quantified the semantic, pragmatic, social, ambiguous, and emotional content for each sentence in a complete narrative, the English translation of The Little Prince. Increased activation in the transmodal hub in the ventral ATL was only observed for high semantic (i.e., informative) relative to low semantic sentences. Activation in the dorsolateral and ventrolateral ATL subregions was observed for both high relative to low semantic and social content sentences, but the ventrolateral ATL effects were more extensive in the social condition. There was high correspondence between the social and pragmatic content results, particularly in the ventrolateral ATL. We argue that the ventrolateral ATL may be particularly engaged by internal, or endogenous, processing demands, aided by functional connections between the anterior middle temporal gyrus and the DMN. Pragmatic and social content may have driven endogenous processing given the pervasive and plot-progressing nature of this content in the narrative. We put forward a revised account of how the semantic system is engaged in naturalistic contexts, a critical step toward better understanding real-world semantic and social processing.

Examining pre‐service teachers' teaching anxiety during student teaching: A Chinese perspective

AbstractTo better understand pre‐service teachers' teaching anxiety in specific cultural contexts and promote their overall anticipatory socialisation process, this study investigated the level, dimensions and causality of Chinese pre‐service teachers' teaching anxiety during student teaching. We conducted a survey of 426 Chinese pre‐service teachers who were at the end of their bachelor or master programmes to become primary or secondary school teachers. The results of this study revealed that the participants experienced moderate anxiety (M = 25.51), with more concerns about their professional teaching competencies (M = 10.75) and teaching management ability (M = 7.66) than personal image, personal affairs and evaluation (M = 2.92, 2.35, 1.82). Moreover, gender, educational background, self‐concept, student ability, job demands and job resources were correlated with teaching anxiety. Among these, self‐concept and job demands best explained teaching anxiety with estimated regression weights of −0.541 for self‐concept and 0.079 for job demands (p &lt; .001). This study contributes to the literature on teaching anxiety by exploring culturally specific elements in China and offers valuable implications for interventions to reduce anxiety among pre‐service teachers.

The Process of Becoming

Second language teacher education (SLTE) involves the process of becoming a professional. This professionalization is presented from a sociocognitive perspective, whereby SLTE is considered part of the innate, human condition of life-long learning and teaching. This adaptive, social process involves learning and socialization during the development of skills, knowledge, identities, norms and values associated with professional communities of practice. The sociocognitive tools of progressive alignment and affiliation are used to identify instances of evaluation that make visible professionalization from student-produced materials and interviews with 13 SLTE students. Results show that participant professionalization differed based on their perceptions and evaluations, often filtered through their real and imagined teaching contexts and past experiences. The context of schools, which is the physical, synchronic context of teaching, appeared more influential than the diachronic contexts of schooling. However, far from uncritical, top-down indoctrination, SLTE students projected their own unique perspectives into the learning environment, in a mutuality of socialization. Professionalization results from an ongoing process, influenced by personal, local, cultural, national, and social demands, along with changing demands for language acquisition.

Wuhan residents perceptions of prejudice and discrimination and the social categorization processes during and after the COVID-19 lockdown: A qualitative study

Although studies have focused on intergroup biases (e.g., discrimination) during the COVID-19 pandemic, little is known about the underlying mechanisms driving intergroup bias, specifically social categorization. In-depth interviews were conducted among 32 residents of Wuhan, P.R. China, during and after the initial COVID-19 lockdown (Jan-July, 2020). Interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) was applied to describe perceived prejudice and discrimination and the intergroup interaction processes. Results indicated that: (1) Wuhan residents’ interpretations of perceived prejudice and discrimination evolved over time, especially regarding views of the pandemic prevention measures; (2) intergroup contact, emotional factors and cognitive factors influenced individuals’ perceptions of prejudice and discrimination; (3) social categorization and integration processes underwent changes across different stages of the COVID-19 pandemic in Wuhan, encompassing the lockdown and reopening; (4) the group identity of recovered COVID-19 patients was easily solidified; (5) in the group integration process, emphasizing common attributes between groups, individualized media coverage and positive aspects of intergroup interactions weakened intergroup boundaries and promoted group integration. These results enrich existing knowledge about perceived discrimination and social categorization processes of a suddenly marginalized group through qualitative research methods.

Leveraging local knowledge for landslide disaster risk reduction in an urban informal settlement in Manado, Indonesia

Disaster preparedness and response, including for landslides, increasingly involves local knowledge. Incorporating contextual, dynamic and experience-based local knowledge leads to greater awareness of the interconnectedness of geological, natural, and social processes. Still, technical literature on urban landslide risk is mainly based on geological and natural dynamics and, to a lesser extent, physical infrastructure. Moreover, although local knowledge is recognized as important in principle for all aspects of disaster risk management, it is not frequently taken as a starting point for identifying contextually specific landslide risk factors in practice. To gain insights into local knowledge on factors contributing to landslide risk, we conducted a qualitative case study within a landslide-prone informal settlement in Manado, Indonesia. The study comprised qualitative household interviews, transect walks, and ethnographic observation. Our findings indicate that anthropogenic factors specific to informal settlements, particularly inadequate solid waste management, may serve as an overlooked risk factor for urban landslides. This is especially problematic in low-income or informal neighborhoods, where detrimental effects of poor solid waste management frequently intersect with heightened vulnerability to various hazards. We therefore advocate systematically incorporating anthropogenic factors into studies of contributing factors to urban landslides. Additionally, we encourage further research into the interactions between inadequate solid waste management and landslide risk. Finally, we call for leveraging local knowledge to enhance policy, planning, and research efforts, with the ultimate goal of fostering safer urban environments for all.

Inter-subject gamma oscillation synchronization as a biomarker of abnormal processing of social interaction in ADHD

Children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have difficulties in social interactions. Studying brain activity during social interactions is difficult with conventional artificial stimuli. This pioneering study examined the neural correlates of social perception in children with ADHD and matched controls using naturalistic stimuli. We presented 20 children with ADHD and 20 age-and-sex-matched controls with tailored movies featuring high- or low-level social interactions while recording electroencephalographic signals. Both groups exhibited synchronized gamma-band oscillations, but controls demonstrated greater inter-subject correlations. Additionally, the difference in inter-subject correlations between high- and low-interaction movies was significantly larger in controls compared to ADHD patients. Between 55 and 75 Hz comparing viewing high interaction movies with low interaction moves, controls had a significantly larger weighting in the right parietal lobe, while ADHD patients had a significantly smaller weighting in the left occipital lobe. These findings reveal distinct spatiotemporal neural signatures in social interaction processing among children with ADHD and controls using naturalistic stimuli. These neural markers offer potential for group differentiation and assessing intervention efficacy, advancing our understanding ADHD-related social interaction mechanisms.

Inter-generational Governance Transition in Chinese Family Businesses: Relational or Contractual?

Inter-generational succession in family enterprises influences internal governance models, and their relationship is mediated by the successor's socialization process. Drawing on the enterprise capability theory, the author employed a survey method to examine the relationship between cognitive assets held by family enterprise successors and two governance modes. The findings confirm that tacit knowledge, relational networks, and entrepreneurial spirit among family enterprise successors positively influence their socialization roles, thereby triggering governance adaptation. Specifically, relational governance is continuously strengthened, while contractual governance exhibits an inverted U-shaped trend. Organizational conventions play a positively moderating role in this influencing process. This study extends the application boundaries of enterprise capability theory, deepens the understanding of enterprise cognitive systems, enriches the literature on the relationship between relational and contractual governance, and provides theoretical foundations for inter-generational governance in family enterprises.

Self-Disclosure in Online Social Networks: An Empirical Study of Location-Based Check-Ins and Impression Management

Leveraging online networks like Twitter and Foursquare, our study explores the dynamics of self-disclosure and impression management through location sharing. Grounded in social and hyperpersonal information processing theories, we investigate how peer influence, geographical proximity, and exposure to promotional content impact self-disclosure behaviors. Through an integrated dataset, we determine that friends’ check-ins and their physical proximities significantly sway individual self-disclosure. Particularly, in the presence of health-conscious peers, users tend to avoid check-ins that create a negative health impression. Furthermore, exposure to health-related promotional content significantly influences these behaviors. Our findings provide crucial perspectives on impression management in the digital age.

Is Leader Humor a Life Buoy in the Workplace Waves? A Social Information Processing Perspective

Is Leader Humor a Life Buoy in the Workplace Waves? A Social Information Processing Perspective