Types Of Social Behavior Research Articles

Infants’ social evaluation abilities: testing their preference for prosocial agents at 6, 12 and 18 months with different social scenarios

ABSTRACTRecent research suggests that infants prefer prosocial behaviour. However, some studies have failed to report this preference, raising the question of which specific parameters allow it to be observed. We attempted to answer this question by investigating whether the preference varies (1) with age (by testing infants aged 6, 12 and 18 months), (2) with type of social behaviour (help, play or share) and (3) when the pro- and antisocial agents’ appearance is manipulated (neutral, own-race or other-race faces). To this end, we use an eye-tracking methodology to assess infants’ preferences for pro- versus antisocial agents featured in animated cartoons. We found that the prosocial preference was not stable across ages and varied according to social scenario. No sound conclusion could be reached about the influence of faces. Our results raise a new question, concerning the extent to which very young infants perceive prosociality in complex social behaviour.

Fidelity of parent-offspring transmission and the evolution of social behavior in structured populations

The theoretical investigation of how spatial structure affects the evolution of social behavior has mostly been done under the assumption that parent-offspring strategy transmission is perfect, i.e., for genetically transmitted traits, that mutation is very weak or absent. Here, we investigate the evolution of social behavior in structured populations under arbitrary mutation probabilities. We consider populations of fixed size N, structured such that in the absence of selection, all individuals have the same probability of reproducing or dying (neutral reproductive values are the all same). Two types of individuals, A and B, corresponding to two types of social behavior, are competing; the fidelity of strategy transmission from parent to offspring is tuned by a parameter μ. Social interactions have a direct effect on individual fecundities. Under the assumption of small phenotypic differences (implying weak selection), we provide a formula for the expected frequency of type A individuals in the population, and deduce conditions for the long-term success of one strategy against another. We then illustrate our results with three common life-cycles (Wright-Fisher, Moran Birth-Death and Moran Death-Birth), and specific population structures (graph-structured populations). Qualitatively, we find that some life-cycles (Moran Birth-Death, Wright-Fisher) prevent the evolution of altruistic behavior, confirming previous results obtained with perfect strategy transmission. We also show that computing the expected frequency of altruists on a regular graph may require knowing more than just the graph's size and degree.

Machine vision methods for analyzing social interactions.

Recent developments in machine vision methods for automatic, quantitative analysis of social behavior have immensely improved both the scale and level of resolution with which we can dissect interactions between members of the same species. In this paper, we review these methods, with a particular focus on how biologists can apply them to their own work. We discuss several components of machine vision-based analyses: methods to record high-quality video for automated analyses, video-based tracking algorithms for estimating the positions of interacting animals, and machine learning methods for recognizing patterns of interactions. These methods are extremely general in their applicability, and we review a subset of successful applications of them to biological questions in several model systems with very different types of social behaviors.

Maternal deprivation alters expression of neural maturation gene tbr1 in the amygdala paralaminar nucleus in infant female macaques.

Early parental loss is associated with social-emotional dysregulation and amygdala physiologic changes. Previously, we examined whole amygdala gene expression in infant monkeys exposed to early maternal deprivation. Here, we focus on an amygdala region with immature neurons at birth: the paralaminar nucleus (PL). We hypothesized that 1) the normal infant PL is enriched in a subset of neural maturation (NM) genes compared to a nearby amygdala subregion; and 2) maternal deprivation would downregulate expression of NM transcripts (mRNA). mRNAs for bcl2, doublecortin, neuroD1, and tbr1-genes expressed in post-mitotic neurons-were enriched in the normal PL. Maternal deprivation at either 1 week or 1 month of age resulted in PL-specific downregulation of tbr1-a transcription factor necessary for directing neuroblasts to a glutamatergic phenotype. tbr1 expression also correlated with typical social behaviors. We conclude that maternal deprivation influences glutamatergic neuronal development in the PL, possibly influencing circuits mediating social learning.

Changes in the Social Behavior of Male CBA/Lac Mice in Response to Agonistic Interactions

The ability to interact and communicate with each other is a necessary component of social behavior and the normal development of community-living individuals. Severe impairments to communicative behavior can result from the development of autism which, appearing mostly in childhood, is characterized by degraded socialization, low levels of communicativeness, and restricted, repetitive behavior. However, the large increase in the occurrence of autistic symptomatology in humans in recent years suggests a role for the environment. The aim of the present work was to study changes in the social behavior of male CBA/Lac mice after repeated experience of aggression and defeats in daily antagonistic interactions. The emphasis on analysis of the data was on seeing similarities in changes in the social behavior of the animals of this strain as compared with another, previously studied, strain – C57BL/6J – in an analogous experiment. Male mice with alternative types of social behavior of both strains displayed similar changes in social behavior, though the extents of changes in some forms of behavior were different in animals of different strains. The data obtained here provide evidence that prolonged living in a hostile environment was accompanied by changes in social behavior analogous to symptoms of autistic spectrum disorder.

A formal account of opportunism based on the situation calculus

In social interactions, it is common for individuals to possess different amounts of knowledge about a specific transaction, and those who are more knowledgeable might perform opportunistic behavior to others in their interest, which promotes their value but demotes others’ value. Such a typical social behavior is called opportunistic behavior (opportunism). In this paper, we propose a formal account of opportunism based on the situation calculus. We first propose a model of opportunism that only considers a single action between two agents, and then extend it to multiple actions and incorporate social context in the model. A simple example of selling a broken cup is used to illustrate our models. Through our models, we can have a thorough understanding of opportunism.

Using Retweets to Shape our Online Persona: A Topic Modeling Approach

Online social networking technologies have given rise to new social behaviors, with the like on Facebook being a prominent example. We study on a specific type of social behavior: the ability to reiterate a friend’s activity, that is, to redistribute an exact copy of content that he or she has posted online (e.g., words, videos, or pictures). Such reiteration tools enable the user to leverage someone else’s self-expression to enhance his or her own image as reflected by the online platform. We focus on the effects of such reiteration tools on the way users present themselves online. Specifically, using data from Twitter we ask: (1) Do users utilize retweets to expand the breadth of topics they discuss, by adding topics not discussed in their self-tweets, or do they use it to enhance their self-produced persona, adding further content relating to the topics they already discuss in their self-tweets? (2) Do users utilize the retweet option to change the distribution of the topics they discuss in their self-tweets? (3) We focus on users' heterogeneity by asking whether the behaviors we analyze differ between expert users and non-expert users.We analyzed data taken from Twitter over a period of 3 weeks in 2015, with regard to 2,435 non-expert core users (defined as users who tweet regularly and are likely to use the platform for personal rather than professional purposes), 415 expert users and the users whom they followed. We find that users rarely add new topics to their profile when retweeting; instead, they enrich their persona by deepening the discussion of topics that they address in their self-tweets. Furthermore, we find that a user's retweets do remarkably little to alter the distribution of topics she discusses in her self-tweets. Finally, we find that both non-expert and expert users tend to add few new topics via retweets, and that this tendency is stronger among expert users. Specifically, on average, experts retweet less often and add fewer topics per tweet, indicating that they rely more on their own words when engaging in impression management.

Neuropeptide S reduces fear and avoidance of con-specifics induced by social fear conditioning and social defeat, respectively

Neuropeptide S (NPS) has anxiolytic effects and facilitates extinction of cued fear in rodents. Here, we investigated whether NPS reverses social fear and social avoidance induced by social fear conditioning (SFC) and acute social defeat (SD), respectively, in male CD1 mice. Our results revealed that intracerebroventricular NPS (icv; 10 and 50 nmol/2 μl) reversed fear of unknown con-specifics induced by SFC and dose-dependently reduced avoidance of known aggressive con-specifics induced by SD. While 50 nmol of NPS completely reversed social avoidance and reinstated social preference, 10 nmol of NPS reduced social avoidance, but did not completely reinstate social preference in socially-defeated mice. Further, a lower dose (1 nmol/2 μl) of NPS facilitated the within-session extinction of cued fear, while a higher dose (10 nmol/2 μl) reduced the expression of cued fear. We could also confirm the anxiolytic effects of NPS (1, 10 and 50 nmol/2 μl) on the elevated plus-maze (EPM), which were not accompanied by alterations in locomotor activity either on the EPM or in the home cage. Finally, we could show that icv infusion of the NPS receptor 1 antagonist D-Cys(tBu)5-NPS (10 nmol/2 μl) did not alter SFC-induced social fear, general anxiety and locomotor activity. Taken together, our study extends the potent anxiolytic profile of NPS to a social context by demonstrating the reduction of social fear and social avoidance, thus providing the framework for studies investigating the involvement of the NPS system in the regulation of different types of social behaviour.

The Effects of Spatial Enclosure on Social Interaction Between Older Adults With Dementia and Young Children

To examine the impact of spatial enclosures on social interaction between older adults with early stage dementia and young children. Intergenerational interaction through meaningful activities can promote positive affects and behaviors of children and older adults. The development of social interaction is closely related to the physical environment in association with personal competence of older adults with dementia and young children. However, minimal attention has been given to the role of physical environment in influencing intergenerational interaction. A quasi-experiment examined the functional relationship between the amount of spatial enclosure and the types of social behaviors of older adults with dementia and young children. Semi-structured interviews, aided by a photographic simulation, were developed to explore the participants' perceptions of and experiences with the different degrees of spatial enclosure. Findings showed that the semienclosed spatial plan impacted both prosocial and antisocial behaviors of older adults with dementia in their interactions with young children. This apparent discrepancy was associated with two conflicting perceptions: a sense of openness and the lack of control due to distraction created by the loose visual boundary. There was no correlation between the elder-child neutral behaviors and the degrees of spatial enclosure. This study suggests that spaces with moderate openness without visual and acoustic distraction are the most desirable to promote prosocial behaviors of older adults with dementia and young children. Additionally, elder-child prosocial behaviors were likely facilitated by specific design features such as adequate personal space, the perception of openness, and possible spaces that provide both prospect and refuge in relation to spatial enclosure.

小学儿童与友伴在社会行为上的相似性：行为类型的差异

实验以同伴提名的方式测量360名小学儿童与友伴的社会行为，并分别采用相关分析和回归分析的方法考察了小学儿童与友伴在社会行为上的相似性。结果发现：1) 在控制了性别的影响之后，小学儿童与友伴在亲社会行为上存在显著的正相关，而在攻击行为上相关不显著；2) 在控制了性别的影响之后，友伴亲社会行为能预测小学儿童的亲社会行为，而友伴攻击行为对小学儿童攻击行为的预测不显著，且上述预测作用在小学阶段不存在年龄间的差异。这些结果说明小学儿童与友伴在社会行为上的相似性受社会行为类型的调节，在亲社会行为上存在相似性，而在攻击行为上相似性不明显。 The current study investigated the similarity of social behavior between primary school children and their friends. A total of 360 primary school children were administered measurement of social behavior by peer nomination. The results of correlation analysis and regression analysis showed that 1) Primary school children’s pro-social behaviors were significantly positive correlated with their friends’ pro-social behaviors after controlled the variable of gender, but their aggressive be-havior was not significantly correlated with their friends. 2) The subsequent results of regression analysis respectively control the variable of gender and age also fully proves this point. The results indicated that the similarity of social behavior between primary school children and their friends were moderated by the type of social behavior.

Epigenetic Effects of Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals

Recently, there is increasing evidences supported by animal studies emphasizing that exposure to environmental factors, nutritional conditions, xenobiotic chemicals, reproductive factors and low dose exposure to radiations can alter epigenetic programming and concomitantly enhance the risk of developing diseases. Endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) can influence organization of developing brain, which may appear in expression of species typical social behaviors. Environmental exposures to EDCs are shown to increase the susceptibility against many kind of diseases. Currently, there are already several articles, books and journals about the epigenetic effects of EDCs available in media and internet. The aim of this thesis is to review these articles and to evaluate the possible consequences of being exposed to these agents in our daily life for the process of risk assessment of these chemicals. Epigenetic effects do not change the gene sequence. They affect the gene expression and therefore identification of expression profile in sensitive genes to epigenetic effects may be used as a biomarker for disease and environmental exposure. In the future, theses epigenetic biomarkers may help for early diagnosis of sensitivity of an individual for adult onset disease or maybe used to prevent the disease before the disease’s symptoms develop. When an organism grows and develops, precisely organized chemical reactions activate or deactivate parts of the genome at specific time and locations. The study of these chemical reactions and factors influencing them is called epigenetics. It has been observed that, transgenerationally modified progenies in their life are more prone to different kinds of diseases, such as mammary tumors, prostate disease, kidney disease, testis abnormalities and immune abnormalities. Our health depends on our normal development and reproductive ability. Healthy endocrine system is needed to have normal development and normal reproduction. Few years ago we thought that our life starts with the DNA we receive from our parents, but currents studies have shown that we receive more than just DNA from our parents. Famine, stress, fear and even drug use could all leave chemical marks on parent’s genetic material. Environmental exposure to EDCs during early development and pregnancy can modify epigenomes and induce trans-generationally asthma, autism, cancer, cardiovascular dysfunctions, diabetes, obesity, schizophrenia, infertility, reproductive diseases and dysfunction later in life. There is evidence showing that EDCs can induce epigenetic gene alterations by which these altered genes can be transferred into subsequent generations.

Friend or foe: inter-specific interactions and conflicts of interest within the family.

1. Interactions between species can vary from mutually beneficial to evolutionarily neutral to antagonistic, even when the same two species are involved. Similarly, social interactions between members of the same species can lie on a spectrum from conflict to cooperation.2. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether variation in the two types of social behaviour are interconnected. Is the fitness of the various classes of social partner within species (such as parent and offspring, or male and female) differently affected by interactions with a second species? Moreover, can inter‐specific interactions influence the outcome of social interactions within species?3. The present experiments focus on the interactions between the burying beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides Herbst and the phoretic mite Poecilochirus carabi G. Canestrini & R. Canestrini. The approach was to measure the fitness of burying beetle mothers, fathers, and offspring after reproduction, which took place either in the presence or absence of mites.4. We found that male, female, and larval burying beetles derive contrasting fitness costs and benefits from their interactions with the mite, despite sharing a common family environment. From the mite's perspective, its relationship with the burying beetle can, therefore, be simultaneously antagonistic, neutral, and possibly even mutualistic, depending on the particular family member involved. We also found that mites can potentially change the outcome of evolutionary conflicts within the family.5. We conclude that inter‐specific interactions can explain some of the variation in social interactions seen within species. It is further suggested that intra‐specific interactions might contribute to variation in the outcome of interactions between species.

Empathizing With Others’ Pain Versus Empathizing With Others’ Joy: Examining the Separability of Positive and Negative Empathy and Their Relation to Different Types of Social Behaviors and Social Emotions

Existing work linking empathy with social behavior has focused overwhelmingly on empathy for the negative emotions of others. But recent research suggests that feeling along with others’ negative emotions is a capacity distinct from feeling along with others’ positive emotions. In Study 1, we demonstrate the separability of positive and negative empathy by showing that although both relate to some of the same foundational empathic processes, each has a number of distinct correlates. In Study 2 we take an experimental approach and show that encouraging participants to empathize with the positive versus negative emotions of a suffering yet hopeful social group results in distinct patterns of vicarious emotion. Finally, Study 3 shows that although both positive empathy and negative empathy are associated to a similar degree with helping behavior directed toward others in need, positive—but not negative—empathy is related to “everyday” prosocial behaviors aimed specifically at increasing others’ positive emotions (e.g., random acts of kindness). Together, these results provide what to our knowledge is the first demonstration of the causal potency of positive and negative empathy as well as the first evidence that positive and negative empathy relate to different types of social behaviors.

Relationships between performers’ daily social skills, social behaviors in ensemble practice, and evaluations of ensemble performance

Prior studies have demonstrated that appropriate social behaviors during ensemble practice enhance performance quality. Thus, do social behaviors during ensemble practice reflect performers’ daily (i.e., non-musical) social skills? The purpose of the present study was to investigate correlations among daily social skills, social behaviors during ensemble practice, and the evaluation of ensemble music performance. A total of 68 female music majors responded to performance questionnaires created for this study and to five scales measuring daily social skills: two scales for social skills, one for the style of handling interpersonal conflict, one for nonverbal behavior, and one for leadership. To assess the causal model of the relationship among social skills, social behaviors during ensemble practice, and the evaluation of ensemble performance, this work employed structural equation modeling. With respect to the scores for social skills, styles of handling interpersonal conflicts, and leadership, the scores and social behaviors during ensemble practice revealed significant positive correlations. An analysis of the causal model suggested that a performer’s daily social skills, an integrating style of handling interpersonal conflict (namely, the win–win style), and leadership in daily communication affect the evaluation of ensemble performance via social behaviors during ensemble practice. Overall, the main findings are as follows: (1) daily social skills are correlated with behaviors during ensemble practice; (2) performers with a high evaluation of their ensemble performance might employ two types of social behaviors during performance; (3) the causal sequence in which daily social skills influence the evaluation of ensemble performance via social behaviors during ensemble practice is likely to be valid; and (4) no correlation was observed between nonverbal skills in daily communication and the evaluation of ensemble performance.

Neighborhood effects and social behavior: The case of irrigated and rainfed farmers in Bohol, the Philippines

Artifactual field experiments, spatial econometrics, and household surveys are combined in a single study to investigate the neighborhood effects of social behaviors. The dictator and public goods games are conducted among rice farmers in irrigated and non-irrigated areas in the Philippines. We find the neighborhood effects but the magnitude and statistical significance of endogenous social effects vary with the irrigation availability, type of social behavior, and type of neighborhood. Altruistic and cooperative behaviors are significantly influenced by the behaviors of neighbors only in the irrigated area, where social ties are strengthened through collective irrigation management. Through this effect, irrigated farmers’ social behaviors become similar to those of one another. Neighborhood effects for cooperative behavior are stronger among farm plot neighbors than among residential neighbors, which may reflect their interactions in irrigation management. Although non-dynamic, these findings are consistent with the theory of social norm evolution through common pool resource management.

Those marvellous millennia: the Middle Stone Age of Southern Africa

Africa's Middle Stone Age (MSA) may have lasted almost half a million years, but its earliest expression is not yet well understood. The MSA is best known for innovations that appear in the archaeological record at various times after about 200,000 years ago with the first appearance of Homo sapiens. These novel behaviours embrace hafting technology, the use of compound paints and adhesives, ingenious lithic technology that included pressure flaking and the heat treatment of rock, the engraving of ochre and eggshell with geometric designs, the stringing of shell beads and the production of a wide range of bone implements. Such innovations might have been linked to new types of social behaviour stimulated by demographic pulses and movements within and out of the continent. Population shifts may have occurred repeatedly during the MSA. Southern African sites seem concentrated in the interior of the subcontinent before 130 kya. Thus, the florescence of MSA innovations described here appears to have coincided with the dispersal after 130 kya of populations from the interior to mountainous areas, but, more particularly, to the coastal stretches of the southern and western Cape. Coastal sites are the focus of much of southern Africa’s research into the MSA and some of the continent’s most esteemed sites are coastal ones, particularly those containing iconic Still Bay and Howiesons Poort technocomplexes. By 58 kya occupations tended once more to shift away from the southern coast and back into the interior, or to the eastern seaboard. Some of these later MSA sites have extensive footprints, implying population growth or repeated occupations. Regional and even local variability is characteristic of stone assemblages of the time, while sites seem to have fewer ornaments or decorated items than was formerly the case. The variability in late MSA lithic assemblages is matched by apparent flexibility in the timing of the transfer from the MSA to the Later Stone Age.

Do non-human primates cooperate? Evidences of motor coordination during a joint action task in macaque monkeys

Humans are intensively social primates, therefore many of their actions are dedicated to communication and interaction with other individuals. Despite the progress in understanding the cognitive and neural processes that allow humans to perform cooperative actions, in non-human primates only few studies have investigated the ability to interact with a partner in order to reach a common goal. These studies have shown that in naturalistic conditions animals engage in various types of social behavior that involve forms of mutual coordination and cooperation. However, little is known on the capacity of non-human primates to actively cooperate in a controlled experimental setting, which allows full characterization of the motor parameters underlying individual action and their change during motor cooperation. To this aim, we analyzed the behavior of three pairs of macaque monkeys trained to perform solo and joint-actions by exerting a force on an isometric joystick, as to move an individual or a common cursor toward visual targets on a screen. We found that during cooperation monkeys reciprocally adapt their behavior by changing the parameters that define the spatial and temporal aspects of their action, as to fine tune their joint effort, and maximize their common performance. Furthermore the results suggest that when acting together the movement parameters that specify each actor's behavior are not only modulated during execution, but also during planning. These findings provide the first quantitative description of action coordination in non-human primates during the performance of a joint action task.

Automatic Detection of Social Behavior of Museum Visitor Pairs

In many cases, visitors come to a museum in small groups. In such cases, the visitors’ social context has an impact on their museum visit experience. Knowing the social context may allow a system to provide socially aware services to the visitors. Evidence of the social context can be gained from observing/monitoring the visitors’ social behavior. However, automatic identification of a social context requires, on the one hand, identifying typical social behavior patterns and, on the other, using relevant sensors that measure various signals and reason about them to detect the visitors’ social behavior. We present such typical social behavior patterns of visitor pairs, identified by observations, and then the instrumentation, detection process, reasoning, and analysis of measured signals that enable us to detect the visitors’ social behavior. Simple sensors’ data, such as proximity to other visitors, proximity to museum points of interest, and visitor orientation are used to detect social synchronization, attention to the social companion, and interest in museum exhibits. The presented approach may allow future research to offer adaptive services to museum visitors based on their social context to support their group visit experience better.

Female juvenile play elicits Fos expression in dopaminergic neurons of the VTA.

Juveniles of many species engage in rough-and-tumble play behaviors, and these social encounters are important for the expression of typical social behaviors. Play is a highly motivated and rewarding behavior, which suggests that the mesocorticolimbic dopamine system is likely important for reinforcing the behavior. Indeed, systemic dopamine receptor antagonists decrease the expression of play behaviors, but the specific dopaminergic networks important for play are not known. In this study, we examined immediate-early gene expression in specific dopaminergic cell groups after juvenile male and female rats played or did not play. Subjects were housed with a same-sex sibling, and spontaneous play behavior (or lack thereof) was observed for 1 hr. Brains were harvested and immunohistochemistry was used to localize Fos and tyrosine hydroxylase. Cells expressing both proteins were counted in midbrain and forebrain dopaminergic cell groups. Females that played had more double-labeled cells in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) than females that did not play, but there was no effect of play on double-labeled cell counts in any brain region in males. Furthermore, many measures of play in females were positively correlated with the number of double-labeled cells in the VTA, including play duration and pin duration. Our results suggest that play in females likely induces dopamine release from mesocorticolimbic neurons to reinforce play behaviors. Our results also highlight a sex difference in the neural networks mediating play, thus emphasizing the importance of studying the neurobiology of play in both males and females.

Apples, Oranges, and the Burden of Proof – Putting Media Violence Findings Into Context

In this comment on Elson and Ferguson (2013) , areas of agreement are noted in terms of the need to thoroughly and scientifically document the boundary conditions under which violent video games most impact players. However it is argued, in contrast to Elson and Ferguson, that violent media generally (and violent video games specifically) can and do increase the likelihood of aggressive behavior and desensitization to violence, and are linked to increases in aggressive attitudes and beliefs. It is also argued that research findings demonstrating these violent video game effects must be considered in terms of both the known impacts of other types of media on human thoughts and behavior, and well-documented psychological processes that have been empirically demonstrated to underlie the acquisition of all types of social behavior, not just aggression. To this end, evidence is provided that other types of media such as advertising are shown to clearly impact human psychology, and psychological mechanisms that potentially underlie media violence effects are discussed. It is further noted that there are no clearly evident reasons as to why violent video games should impact thoughts and behavior less than other media or be subject to different psychological processes. When the research evidence is considered in these contexts, it is concluded that the above-mentioned impacts of violent media exposure on human thought and behavior (including those of violent digital games) are demonstrated to two levels of proof – on the balance of probabilities and beyond reasonable doubt.