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Theory and Decision Apr 2023We report the results of an experiment on how individual risk taking clusters together when subjects are informed of peers' previous risk taking decisions. Subjects are...
UNLABELLED
We report the results of an experiment on how individual risk taking clusters together when subjects are informed of peers' previous risk taking decisions. Subjects are asked how much of their endowment they wish to allocate in a lottery in which there is a 50% chance the amount they invest will be tripled and a 50% chance their investment will be lost. We use a 2 × 2 factorial design varying: (i) whether the subjects initially observed high or low investment social anchors, (ii) whether information about the investment decisions of other subjects in their social group is provided. We find strong evidence that individuals' risk taking decisions are malleable to that of their peers, which in turn leads to social clustering of risk taking. Social anchors shape initial risk taking, with mean investment then converging to a high level across treatments.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION
The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11238-023-09927-x.
PubMed: 37361605
DOI: 10.1007/s11238-023-09927-x -
Quarterly Journal of Experimental... Aug 2023Our conscious experience is determined by a combination of top-down processes (e.g., prior beliefs) and bottom-up processes (e.g., sensations). The balance between these...
Our conscious experience is determined by a combination of top-down processes (e.g., prior beliefs) and bottom-up processes (e.g., sensations). The balance between these two processes depends on estimates of their reliability (precision), so that the estimate considered more reliable is given more weight. We can modify these estimates at the metacognitive level, changing the relative weights of priors and sensations. This enables us, for example, to direct our attention to weak stimuli. But there is a cost to this malleability. For example, excessive weighting of top-down processes, as in schizophrenia, can lead to perceiving things that are not there and believing things that are not true. It is only at the top of the brain's cognitive hierarchy that metacognitive control becomes conscious. At this level, our beliefs concern complex, abstract entities with which we have limited direct experience. Estimates of the precision of such beliefs are more uncertain and more malleable. However, at this level, we do not need to rely on our own limited experience. We can rely instead on the experiences of others. Explicit metacognition plays a unique role, enabling us to share our experiences. We acquire our beliefs about the world from our immediate social group and from our wider culture. And the same sources provide us with better estimates of the precision of these beliefs. Our confidence in our high-level beliefs is heavily influenced by culture at the expense of direct experience.
Topics: Humans; Metacognition; Consciousness; Reproducibility of Results; Schizophrenia; Culture
PubMed: 36880665
DOI: 10.1177/17470218231164502 -
Theory in Biosciences = Theorie in Den... Sep 2023Adaptive mimicry in animals is a well-known phenomenon. Here, we propose that a similarly adaptive strategy in humans is using kin terms for people who are not closely...
Adaptive mimicry in animals is a well-known phenomenon. Here, we propose that a similarly adaptive strategy in humans is using kin terms for people who are not closely genetically related. Irrespective of the initiator attributing a kin term to a non-kin, we call this kin term mimicry (KTM). The emergence of human sociality and language allowed not only easy kin recognition, but also led to strong positive emotions related to such kin names as "mother," "father," "brother," "sister," "aunt" or "uncle." Although the phenomenon of using kin terms of genetically unrelated people is well known in the social sciences, here we discuss it in the light of evolution. We notice this is an evolutionary adaptive cooperation strategy, which allows us to predict in which ecological or social circumstances it will be more prevalent. We postulate specific testable factors that affect the prevalence of kin mimicry. We also discuss who is more likely to be an initiator of calling non-kin a fictive kin, and who benefits from such behavior. The KTM hypothesis postulates that an individual or social group initiating or bestowing kin terms usually receives more benefits (economic and/or psychological support) from such mimicry.
Topics: Male; Animals; Humans; Social Behavior; Family
PubMed: 37277580
DOI: 10.1007/s12064-023-00393-1 -
Reviews in Medical Virology Jan 2023The SARS-CoV-2 omicron variant (B.1.1.529) was first identified in Botswana and South Africa, and its emergence has been associated with a steep increase in the number... (Review)
Review
The SARS-CoV-2 omicron variant (B.1.1.529) was first identified in Botswana and South Africa, and its emergence has been associated with a steep increase in the number of SARS-CoV-2 infections. The omicron variant has subsequently spread very rapidly across the world, resulting in the World Health Organization classification as a variant of concern on 26 November 2021. Since its emergence, great efforts have been made by research groups around the world that have rapidly responded to fill our gaps in knowledge for this novel variant. A growing body of data has demonstrated that the omicron variant shows high transmissibility, robust binding to human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 receptor, attenuated viral replication, and causes less severe disease in COVID-19 patients. Further, the variant has high environmental stability, high resistance against most therapeutic antibodies, and partial escape neutralisation by antibodies from convalescent patients or vaccinated individuals. With the pandemic ongoing, there is a need for the distillation of literature from primary research into an accessible format for the community. In this review, we summarise the key discoveries related to the SARS-CoV-2 omicron variant, highlighting the gaps in knowledge that guide the field's ongoing and future work.
Topics: Humans; COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; Pandemics; Social Group
PubMed: 35662313
DOI: 10.1002/rmv.2373 -
International Journal of Environmental... Jan 2023As campuses wish to stimulate interactions among different campus users, we aim to identify why some locations are successful in fostering unplanned meetings while...
As campuses wish to stimulate interactions among different campus users, we aim to identify why some locations are successful in fostering unplanned meetings while others are not. This can help campus managers, directors, and other practitioners to optimize their campus to facilitate unplanned meetings between academic staff and companies. Findings of a previous survey were discussed in five focus groups, which were transcribed and thematically coded. Three separate theme groups were identified: function (food, drinks, events, work, facilities), space (distance, experience, accessibility, characteristics), and organization (coherence, culture, organization). Time was an overarching constraint, influencing all other themes. There were three natural moments for unplanned meetings: during short breaks, lunch breaks, and events. The outcomes suggest a 5-minute campus as the environment of interaction; a campus where natural moments, locations, and travel time for unplanned meetings are designed and aligned: (1) under 5 min walking for short workplace breaks, (2) approximately 5 min travel time for lunch breaks, and (3) over 5 min travel time for events, depending on the event length and anticipated knowledge gain.
Topics: Humans; Universities; Walking; Social Group; Surveys and Questionnaires; Food
PubMed: 36674028
DOI: 10.3390/ijerph20021274 -
Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 2021Intersectionality contends that sex/gender is constituted of and with other social categories, and that the social structures giving rise to inequality should be... (Review)
Review
Intersectionality contends that sex/gender is constituted of and with other social categories, and that the social structures giving rise to inequality should be addressed in research. This is a powerful and important perspective from which to investigate the processes and consequences of social group memberships, one which has been overlooked by most neuroscientific research. In particular, neurofeminism, a field of critical neuroscience that challenges neuroscientific assumptions, methods and interpretations of data that reinforce sexism, has ignored intersectionality to date. In contrast, research in the field of psychology has been engaging with intersectionality for more than a decade. In reflecting on how intersectionality has advanced feminist research in psychology, this paper provides a critical analysis of potential novel research avenues for neurofeminism. We identify three main research themes guided by intersectionality. The first theme involves research centered on understanding the of health inequalities experienced by individuals with intersecting marginalized social identities; the second concerns research addressing the that underlies the enactment of systemic discriminatory practices; and the third theme comprises intersectionality research that aims to challenge . Drawing parallels between the fields of psychology and neuroscience, we explore the potential benefits and risks of advancing an intersectionality-informed neurofeminism.
PubMed: 34658813
DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2021.684412 -
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal... Feb 2022Across species, animals organize into social dominance hierarchies that serve to decrease aggression and facilitate survival of the group. Neuroscientists have adopted... (Review)
Review
Across species, animals organize into social dominance hierarchies that serve to decrease aggression and facilitate survival of the group. Neuroscientists have adopted several model organisms to study dominance hierarchies in the laboratory setting, including fish, reptiles, rodents and primates. We review recent literature across species that sheds light onto how the brain represents social rank to guide socially appropriate behaviour within a dominance hierarchy. First, we discuss how the brain responds to social status signals. Then, we discuss social approach and avoidance learning mechanisms that we propose could drive rank-appropriate behaviour. Lastly, we discuss how the brain represents memories of individuals (social memory) and how this may support the maintenance of unique individual relationships within a social group. This article is part of the theme issue 'The centennial of the pecking order: current state and future prospects for the study of dominance hierarchies'.
Topics: Aggression; Animals; Hierarchy, Social; Social Dominance
PubMed: 35000438
DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2020.0444 -
Scientific Reports Feb 2022The factors favoring the evolution of certain cognitive abilities in animals remain unclear. Social learning is a cognitive ability that reduces the cost of acquiring...
The factors favoring the evolution of certain cognitive abilities in animals remain unclear. Social learning is a cognitive ability that reduces the cost of acquiring personal information and forms the foundation for cultural behavior. Theory predicts the evolutionary pressures to evolve social learning should be greater in more social species. However, research testing this theory has primarily occurred in captivity, where artificial environments can affect performance and yield conflicting results. We compared the use of social and personal information, and the social learning mechanisms used by wild, asocial California scrub-jays and social Mexican jays. We trained demonstrators to solve one door on a multi-door task, then measured the behavior of naïve conspecifics towards the task. If social learning occurs, observations of demonstrators will change the rate that naïve individuals interact with each door. We found both species socially learned, though personal information had a much greater effect on behavior in the asocial species while social information was more important for the social species. Additionally, both species used social information to avoid, rather than copy, conspecifics. Our findings demonstrate that while complex social group structures may be unnecessary for the evolution of social learning, it does affect the use of social versus personal information.
Topics: Animals; Animals, Wild; Association Learning; Cognition; Cues; Ecosystem; Female; Male; Memory; Passeriformes; Social Environment; Social Evolution; Social Learning
PubMed: 35169186
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-06496-x -
Animals : An Open Access Journal From... Jun 2023Unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) have recently been used in various behavioral ecology studies. However, their application has been limited to single groups, and most... (Review)
Review
Unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) have recently been used in various behavioral ecology studies. However, their application has been limited to single groups, and most studies have not implemented individual identification. A multilevel society refers to a social structure in which small stable "core units" gather and make a larger, multiple-unit group. Here, we introduce recent applications of drone technology and individual identification to complex social structures involving multiple groups, such as multilevel societies. Drones made it possible to obtain the identification, accurate positioning, or movement of more than a hundred individuals in a multilevel social group. In addition, in multilevel social groups, drones facilitate the observation of heterogeneous spatial positioning patterns and mechanisms of behavioral propagation, which are different from those in a single-level group. Such findings may contribute to the quantitative definition and assessment of multilevel societies and enhance our understanding of mechanisms of multiple group aggregation. The application of drones to various species may resolve various questions related to multilevel societies.
PubMed: 37370421
DOI: 10.3390/ani13121911 -
Proceedings of the National Academy of... Dec 2021The quest for how to collectively self-organize in order to maximize the survival chances of the members of a social group requires finding an optimal compromise between...
The quest for how to collectively self-organize in order to maximize the survival chances of the members of a social group requires finding an optimal compromise between maximizing the well-being of an individual and that of the group. Here we develop a minimal model describing active individuals which consume or produce, and respond to a shared resource-such as the oxygen concentration for aerotactic bacteria or the temperature field for penguins-while urging for an optimal resource value. Notably, this model can be approximated by an attraction-repulsion model, but, in general, it features many-body interactions. While the former prevents some individuals from closely approaching the optimal value of the shared "resource field," the collective many-body interactions induce aperiodic patterns, allowing the group to collectively self-optimize. Arguably, the proposed optimal field-based collective interactions represent a generic concept at the interface of active matter physics, collective behavior, and microbiological chemotaxis. This concept might serve as a useful ingredient to optimize ensembles of synthetic active agents or to help unveil aspects of the communication rules which certain social groups use to maximize their survival chances.
PubMed: 34853169
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2111142118