Social Groups Research Papers

Zoos are duty bound to maintain a high standard of welfare for all animals for which they are responsible. For elephants, this represents a greater challenge than for many other species; their sheer size, sophisticated social life, high level of intelligence and large behavioural repertoire, combined with their origins in tropical and subtropical climates mean that replicating the physical, social and environmental requirements needed for a high standard of welfare in captivity is a significant challenge. This is compounded by the difficulties in measuring welfare generally, and specifically for animals such as elephants within zoo environments. Evidence does exist relating to the longevity, reproductive success and the health status of captive elephants which suggests that their management is not at as high a standard as it is for many other species kept in zoos, and that elephant welfare is likely to be compromised as a result. It is suggested that for as long as elephants remain in captivity that their management should be based around the requirements of the animals themselves taking into account an understanding of their biology and behavioural ecology. Given the difficulties in measuring welfare, it is suggested that those responsible for elephant management should not rely on proof of suffering prior to making adjustments to their programmes, but in the first instance consider the likely physical and behavioural needs of the elephant. As a minimum, facilities should provide for those behaviours and contingencies which are biologically significant in terms of survival and reproduction in the wild, which take up a significant proportion of an elephant's time in the wild and are not necessarily triggered by external stimuli alone. It is suggested that a high standard of captive elephant welfare is theoretically attainable and that significant improvements in welfare are likely to be achieved by addressing inadequacies in the physical environment which predispose captive elephants to trauma and by providing for appropriate social and foraging opportunities.

- by
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- Management, Standards, Health, Social Groups

The behavior of nine lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) living in three social groups at Zoo Atlanta was compared in an indoor holding area versus an outdoor exhibit. Focal animal data were collected for each animal during 15 min observation sessions, alternating between indoors and outdoors. A variety of solitary and social behaviors differed in the two conditions. All individual and social behaviors that showed a difference, except eating, occurred more indoors than outdoors. These included aggressive displays, reclining, self manipulation, and social examination of others. Additionally, the gorillas spent more time closer together in the indoor condition. A variety of other behaviors measured did not change between the two environments. There was a clear effect on behavior of the different housing conditions in which the gorillas were kept. It is suggested that the differences in aggressive behavior may be related to environmental complexity. It is further suggested that zoos should be aware that differences in behavior reported by caretaking staff, researchers and visitors may be a reflection of the differing environmental circumstances in which the animals are observed. 0 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.

- by Michael P. Hoff
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- Zoology, Psychology, Behavior, Housing
- by Brenda Major
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- Psychology, Cognitive Science, Personality, Social Problems
- by Trajano Quinhoes and +1
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- Political Science, Financial management, Conflict of Interest, Social Groups
- by Ronald Immerman
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- Psychology, Cognitive Science, Male Circumcision, Culture

This research provides evidence for the role of self-esteem in social influence; it demonstrates that the positions taken by self-relevant social groups can threaten people's self-esteem. Participants who wished to align themselves with a majority group and who learned that the group held a counterattitudinal position suffered a reduction in self-esteem. Similarly, participants who wished to differentiate themselves from a derogated minority group and who learned that the group held attitudes similar to theirs experienced reduced self-esteem. Group attitudes, however, did not affect the self-esteem of participants who were indifferent to the group. In addition, this study demonstrates that self-relevant motivations direct the way people process influence appeals. Participants adopted interpretations of the issues that allowed them to align themselves with valued majorities and differentiate themselves from derogated minorities. Social psychologists have long recognized that people's attitudes and interpretations of events are influenced by important reference groups. According to classic theories of social influence, people adopt the attitudes of valued groups in order to obtain valid information and to achieve a broad set of normative, or social, goals (Deutsch & Gerard, 1955; Kelley, 1952; Kelman, 1958). Normatively based influence occurs when people conform with the expectations of a group, another person, or themselves (e.g., Insko, Drenan, Solomon, Smith, & Wade, 1983). Influence that fulfills one's own or others' expectations supposedly generates positive feelings of self-esteem and approval and avoids negative feelings of anxiety, guilt, and alienation. Self-Esteem and Influence A number of specific influence theories have drawn on the idea that people adopt attitudes of social groups in order to achieve or maintain a positive self-view. In early social judgment research, membership in a social group was sometimes used as a proxy for ego-involvement in an issue closely related to group identity (Hovland, Harvey, & Sherif, 1957). According to more recent social identity and self-categorization theories, people align themselves with positively valued reference groups and differentiate themselves from negatively valued groups in order

- by Gregory Pool
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- Marketing, Psychology, Cognitive Science, Personality

The Social Construction of Technology (SCOT) theory offers a useful conceptual framework for examining the social and cultural factors that may contribute to or detract from the successful integration of computer technology into educational environments. This theory, which grew out of studies in the history of technology and the sociology of science, suggests methods for studying the phenomenon of technological development, such as identifying the relevant social groups involved in the development process and the factors that either leave the technology in a state of interpretive flexibility or bring the interpretation of the technology to closure. This paper uses a SCOT approach to explore how personal and institutional beliefs can shape the ways in which technologies are used by teachers and students, and to identify the social, epistemological, cognitive and motivational factors that need to be considered as computer technology becomes an integral part of the educational experience.

http://revistes.iec.cat/chr/ lers, 1096-1291. 5 His book remains to this day a seminal study of the history of Barcelona from the 11th to the 13th century by virtue of its insightful, penetrating approach, the relevance of the themes addressed, and its congruency and clarity of exposition. 6 The legal system of 13th century Barcelona can be described, in essence, as primarily the fruit of the self-interested desires of its rulers. Bensch studies the origins of these rulers, or patricians, 7 the role they played in directing urban expansion, which was of benefit to them, and how they consolidated and perpetuated their own social group by means of family forms suited to their aspiration to assume the social leadership of the city. The basic clues for interpreting the entire process of formation and evolution of the Barcelona patriciate are to be found, of course, in the geographical, political and economic setting. The origins of Catalan Barcelona date back to 801, when the Carolingians conquered what was then a Muslim city. Soon the surrounding area under the city's direct influence began to specialize in producing high-quality crops. This ultimately led to its being referred to as the horta i vinyet (garden and vineyard) of Barcelona. The rec comtal, a channel following the course of the ancient Roman aqueduct from the Besòs river, became the city's first source of water power, while the narrowness of the coastal plain forced the townspeople to seek whatever resources

- by tomas montagut
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- History, Catalan History, Social Groups, Legal system

Individuals in social groups interact with numerous other group members in a polyadic network. Interactions can depend on the individual's own attributes (age, sex, status etc.), on their partner's attributes, and the group's network of social interactions. Previous studies tend to look at a subset of dyadic interactions, focusing on particular classes of individuals. We used social network analysis to explore how an individual wild meerkat's (Suricata suricatta) attributes related to their positions in three different interaction networks (grooming, dominance interactions, and foraging competitions) across eight groups. We asked whether individuals within groups associated assortatively and whether individuals with similar attributes occupied similar network positions. Differences in an individual's attributes did not consistently influence association patterns across different interaction network types. However, within network types, some attributes were especially influential across all groups. Grooming networks revealed negative assortativity by age and mass. Dominance networks revealed dominant-subordinate associations and high assortativity between males. Dominant individuals exhibited higher levels of dominance interactions and were aggressive to more different individuals than subordinates. Heavier individuals received higher levels of dominance interactions. Foraging competition networks revealed that younger and lighter individuals received higher overall levels of competitions and from more group members. Our observations were similar to focused studies on dyadic interactions but also revealed subtle differences. Future descriptions of social interactions should account for networks of social interactions occurring within a group and should be cautious about treating individuals with similar attributes as functionally similar with respect to their position within a social network.

- by Gareth Pearce
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- Social Networks, Social Interaction, Social learning, Behavioral Ecology
- by Farouk El Maarouf
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- Cultural Studies, Anthropology, Aesthetics, Art History

Three isosexual social groups, each containing ten subadult female hamadryas monkeys (Papio hamadryas) were studied for seven months to test three hypotheses dealing with the assumptions underlying SEYFARXH'S (1977) model of allogrooming and social organization. Aggression, avoid and allogrooming behaviors were used as criteria for studying the social organization of the groups. Using LANOAU'S (1951) index and discriminant analyses, we found that each of the three isosexual female social units conformed to a model of social organization having a non-linear hierarchy and only two major strata: a dominant animal and subordinates who were largely undifferentiated. This aspect of social organization is similar to the normal one-male unit leader harem form of social organization that is typical of hamadryas. However, since no male was present, the role of unit leader was filled by a female. The length of allogrooming bouts and the amount of allogroom received was affected by the social status of the recipient, with high status individuals receiving more than low status individuals. Social peers were not observed competing for access to high status individuals and did not exchange most of their grooming among themselves. We found that the assumptions underlying SEYFARTn'S (I 977) model were not appropriate for the type of social organization typically found in hamadryas monkeys, thus suggesting the need for further modification of the model so that it fits available data.

- by Claud Bramblett
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- Zoology, Psychology, Social Groups, Social status

This paper focuses on the motives underpinning the formation and (re)production of a marginal social group residing in houseboats within Shoreham-by-Sea, Southeast England. It is contended that the 'boat-people' represent a unique example of going back-to-the-water, which is tied to a predilection for a self-sufficient and sustainable lifestyle, anti-consumerism, a sense of community, and closeness to nature and natural elements. The discussion points to the importance of idyllic rural representations of the South Downs, which render positive cultural readings of the river, coast, water and tides. It is also noted that the houseboats provide an economic 'loop-hole' into the wider gentrified housing markets of Brighton and Hove. Focusing on recent socio-cultural and economic transformations, and linked to the regulation and commodification of the alternative lifestyles and living arrangements, the case study provides an example of the 'purification' of manufactured, atypical gentrified spaces. The findings therefore disrupt ideas of gentrification being synonymous with conventional residential spaces, and extend understandings of the diversity of 'other' geographies of gentrification to more fully embrace sociocultural marginality.

- by Darren Smith
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- Economics, Culture, Neoliberalism, Social Groups

Urban dwellers experience conflicting thoughts and feelings about urban woodlands; valued for their natural qualities, the relief they provide from the stress of modern urban living and the opportunities they afford for children's play and exploration. At the same time the seclusion inherent in this type of urban greenspace seems fraught with risk from crime, vandalism and abuse. Whilst many of these characteristics are well-researched, less is known about the differing perceptions of particular social groups. This study aimed to explore the ways in which age affects urban dwellers' aspirations, values and fears concerning the woods, and woodland accessibility, focusing on the views of elderly people (aged over 65). This pilot study was based in Norfolk Heritage Park, an urban park containing a variety of woodland settings located in Sheffield, UK. The questionnaire survey (participants n ¼ 97) revealed that although walking is the most popular leisure activity, most respondents did not visit urban parks as often as they would like, regardless of age. Whilst many of the meanings associated with urban woodland (were shared amongst age groups, it seemed that the elderly respondents particularly valued the woods for their links with the past, and opportunities for immersion in the natural world. Some respondents from all age groups had fears about their personal security in the woodland, and the concerns of the elderly were heightened by their perceived frailty, reduced mobility and sense of vulnerability; this age group had a corresponding need for particular measures to alleviate these problems. The study provides preliminary evidence for the idea that adults of different ages have differing perceptions and requirements in relation to urban woodlands. Due to the small sample size and other methodological issues, further research is needed to confirm and develop the findings.

- by anna haapanen
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- Urban Forestry, Social Groups, Elderly People, Pilot study

Purpose: To determine if cohesion serves as a mediator between leader behavior and participant satisfaction.

- by Todd Loughead
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- Education, Service Quality, Sport And Exercise Psychology, Social Groups

Inherent components of group life, conflicts include both positive and negative aspects from a psycho-social point of view. They can generate chaos and progress, separation and cohesion. More and more specialists believe that conflict management is as important as the other management functions. We can say that there is no organization without conflicts and no social group without disputes. The present paper tries to identify the modality in which conflicts are born, as well as to present various strategies of conflict resolution, on the basis of a cost analysis generated by conflicts at organizational level.

- by Iuliana Talmaciu
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- Conflict, Political Science, Conflict Resolution, Conflict Management

An alpine marmot's home range is a structured portion of soil, vegetation and rocky outcrops. The dynamics of home range and resource use were investigated in Marmota marmota L. at Gran Paradiso National Park, south-west Alps, Italy. Data were collected during 8 years from 73 individually known marmots, occupying three adjacent locations, in 264 hr of scanning and 551 hr of focal animal sampling. Three different locations did not differ in the total dimension of the home range but they differed in the total dimension of pasture. The home range inherited by immigrant monogamous couples supplanting the unrelated previous groups did not contract, and the dimension were not dictated by immediate feeding necessities, thus suggesting that in some way alpine marmots may envisage future needs. The main burrow systems and hibernacula were inherited by the new couples as well, while the spotting/resting points and other burrows varied across years and groups. The capability of the alpine marmots to maintain stable home ranges across years is unique in the marmot genus, and should be ascribed to common use of space and common defence in kin social groups.

- by Daniela Lenti Boero
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- Zoology, Social Groups, Resource use, Home Range

Data collected under the ESRC Research Programme &The Nation's Diet: The Social Science of Food Choice' o!er an opportunity for detailed analysis of British eating-out habits. 1001 respondents in Bristol, London and Preston reported on their use of various types of eating-out venue. We "nd evidence of considerable market segmentation. The eating-out product is signi"cantly di!erentiated, with &ethnic' venues appealing to certain social groups for particular reasons. The paper uses logistic regression to distinguish the factors a!ecting the probability of exposure to each type of restaurant. Age, earnings and household income are important but vary in their speci"c e!ects. We "nd additional, independent e!ects of locality, occupational class, education, and ethnicity. We describe and recommend logistic regression as an analytic technique for explaining di!erential participation in the selection between di!erent types of places to eat out.

- by Wendy Olsen
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- Marketing, Hospitality, Social Groups, Market Segmentation

The paper presents an empirical model of acceptance of mobile phones by elderly people. It is based on an extension of the widely used TAM-Technology Acceptance Model and aims specifically at investigating the relationship among intrinsic and extrinsic motivations to use. The data consists of 740 questionnaires from people over 65 years old. The validated model shows that intrinsic motivations play an important role albeit always mediated by utilitarian motives. Similarly, it emerges a strong influence of the reference social group (children and relatives) in increasing the utilitarian values of the use of mobile phones. These findings suggest that mobile phone usage by elderly might not be, after all, too much different, from a motivational point of view, from that of younger or adult people.

- by Mario Cit
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- Intrinsic motivation, Social Groups, Older people, Elderly People

Urban mobility is a key determinant of household social status. The capacity to traverse urban space to undertake employment and to obtain the various goods and services that contribute to social wellbeing is dependent upon the transport options available to households. Contemporary planning for urban mobility is overwhelmingly focused on catering for travel by private automobile. Households that lack the financial or personal capacities to travel by car are potentially at a disadvantage in their ability to ...

- by Jago Dodson and +1
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- Public Transport, Urban Policy, Young People, Social Groups
- by ADI putra
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- Ethnic Identity, Speech Communication, Social Groups, Language Use

Work on adult humans has revealed a limit on the size of freely forming conversational groups that has been attributed to the mechanical constraints on human speech production. However, it is also possible that cognitive constraints limit the number of individuals with which it is possible to interact. Data from South African and British children were used to test this hypothesis. A significant developmental trend in both clique and group sizes was found, which mapped onto the developmental trend for metacognitive skills. Notably, children with high levels of metarepresentational skill for their age were not found in significantly larger groups. This may be because group size is set by the average level of metarepresentation within a particular population and/or that extensive experience of within-group peer interaction is needed to function within larger groups. D

- by James Stiller
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- Psychology, Cognitive Science, Anthropology, Human Evolution

This paper presents a brief overview of findings collected from an ethnographic field study of young people and their use of mobile telephones. The findings indicate that mobile phones provide young people with a means of demonstrating their social networks. That is, through owning and using mobile phones, young people demonstrate their participation in social groupings and define the boundaries of their social networks. Using activity theory, the findings from this research have been interpreted to produce a number of preliminary design considerations. This work reflects the first of several stages aimed at investigating a systematic means of using rich and meaningful qualitative data for the purposes of design.

- by Richard Harper
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- Computer Science, Mobile Technology, Activity Theory, Young People

Eight pregnant rhesus monkeys were injected with 100 /Lg diethylstilbestrol dipropionate (DESDP) from the 40th day of gestation until term, a long-term treatment. Male (n = 3) and female (n = 5) offspring were obtained. Five other pregnant females were injected with DESDP beginning on the 115th day of gestation and continuing until either the 140th day or term-a relatively short-term treatment. Five female infants were obtained from these short-term treatments. Monkeys from the treated pregnancies were assigned randomly to mother-infant social groups containing untreated male and female infants the same age. They were observed in their peer groups each weekday from 3 to 12 months of age, and the display of mounting and play behavior was recorded for each subject. Results showed that DESDP significantly increased the frequency of display of these juvenile behaviors only in long-term-treated females. However, one of the aspects of mounting that is characteristic of males (the ratio of complete to abortive mounts) was unaffected even by the long-term treatment. Thus, DESDPtreated females displayed a Iimited behavioral masculinization. Whether this limitation was due to dosage and/ or timing or to a selective action of DESDP was not determined. DESDP-treated males were not altered in any measurable way compared to untreated males. © 1996

- by Bertrand Deputte
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- Social Groups, Biological Sciences, Rhesus Monkey
- by Klaus Moser
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- Psychology, Mental Health, Social Groups, Life Satisfaction

Sense of virtual community (SOVC) reflects the feeling that individual members have of belonging to an online social group. Yet there is a lack of investigation focusing on its individual-level antecedents. We argue that in order to enhance understanding of how SOVC develops we first need to distinguish between the individual expectations, actions, and the resulting community-related feelings. Drawing upon the uses and gratifications approach, we explore the community members' expected benefits, their linkages with different types of community participation and consequently with the experienced SOVC. We tested the hypotheses on a sample of 395 members of a virtual community hosted by a Finnish business newspaper. The findings suggest that both forms of participation -reading and posting messages -have a positive impact on SOVC, but the expected benefits differ. Participation by reading messages is mainly driven by the expectation of cognitive benefits, while posting messages seems to be largely driven by the anticipation of both social and personal integrative benefits. Our study contributes by providing a refined SOVC conceptualization and operationalization for virtual-community research, and by opening up the individual-level actions that build up a sense of virtual community.

- by Miia Kosonen
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- Information Systems, Psychology, Cognitive Science, Virtual Community
- by Nadia Hashimi
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- Information Technology, Social Work, Higher Education, Leadership

The Food Security and Agricultural Projects Analysis Unit (ESAF) of FAO has undertaken a number of pilot studies to develop a methodology for understanding why certain groups of people are vulnerable to becoming food insecure. The studies use the sustainable livelihoods approach adopted for food security analysis and are primarily based on qualitative information collection. The objective of these studies is to inform policy and programming decisions for reducing vulnerability to food insecurity. Drawing from these experiences and those of other FAO units involved in similar work, this paper identifies key lessons learnt and makes recommendations for strengthening future work on food security and vulnerability analysis.

- by Marco Knowles
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- Economics, Poverty, Data Analysis, Home Economics
- by Patrick T. Hurley
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- Human Geography, Conservation Biology, Property Rights, Environmental Planning
- by Frederic Vallee-Tourangeau
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- Psychology, Cognitive Science, Cognition, Social Perception

PR systems often are credited with producing more equitable outcomes between political parties and encouraging wider social group representation than majoritarian systems. Theory suggests that this should instill greater trust, efficacy, and faith in the political system. We assume that citizens disadvantaged by majoritarian rules (political minorities) will have a relatively greater shift toward positive attitudes about democracy following a

- by Todd Donovan
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- Political Parties, Political Science, Social Groups, Electoral Studies

Meles meles numbers have been reported from long-term studies on local populations and national surveys in Britain. One theory proposed to explain this population change, is that increased protective legislation has led to reduced levels of persecution, allowing the population to expand. In the present study, we show that the badger population in Northern Ireland has not increased in parallel with the British population, and investigate whether sustained high persecution levels are responsible. As legal protection of badgers in Northern Ireland was not increased at the same time as in Britain, a simultaneous decrease in persecution would not be expected. We test two hypotheses: (i) where there is no change in the level of sett disturbance, the number of social groups will remain unchanged and, (ii) if sett disturbance affects group size, those groups suffering from most disturbance will be smallest. We demonstrate that badger sett disturbance affects both social group size and the number of social groups, thus influencing overall badger density. We also show that high levels of sett disturbance are constraining the growth of the Northern Ireland badger population and discuss what lies behind the apparent failure of the protective legislation in this country.

The domestic rabbit, Oryctolagus cuniculus, is descended from the European rabbit, which lives in large social groups and digs extensive warrens. Behavior problems include urine spraying, failure to use the litter box, fear of humans and humandirected aggression, intraspecies aggression, destructive digging and chewing, and infanticide. These problems are best prevented and treated by understanding their origin in both species-specific behavior and learning. Urine spraying is primarily a problem of intact males. Litter box use results from both rabbits' species-specific tendency to use particular sites for elimination and from training. Rabbits may become fearful of humans because of painful or frightening experiences with them. Rabbits will become comfortable with humans if they have numerous positive interactions with them. Fearful or aggressive rabbits may be treated by repeatedly exposing them to pleasant associations with humans. Rabbits are territorial and may aggressively reject new rabbits that are not members of the group. Introduction of a new rabbit must be gradual, allowing rabbits to become familiar with each other and preventing them from fighting. Digging and chewing are natural, speciesspecific behaviors. Giving rabbits acceptable objects to chew prevents them from destroying household items. Infanticide originates, in part, from intense competition between wild females for safe nesting sites. Housing birthing does separately may prevent infanticide.

- by Sharon Crowell-Davis
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- Behavior, Social Groups, Oryctolagus cuniculus, Behavior Problems

Green spaces play a crucial role in supporting urban ecological and social systems, a fact recognised in public policy commitments in both the UK and Europe. The amount of provision, the distribution of green space and the ease of access to such spaces are key contributors to social and ecological function in urban environments. We measured distance along the transport network to public green space available to households in Sheffield, and compared this with the distribution of private garden space. In addition, we used a geodemographic database, Mosaic UK, to examine how access to green space varies across different sectors of society. Public green spaces are chronically underprovided relative to recommended targets. For example, 64% of Sheffield households fail to meet the recommendation of the regulatory agency English Nature (EN), that people should live no further than 300 m from their nearest green space. Moreover, this figure rises to 72% if we restrict attention to municipal parks recognised by the local council. There is an overall reduction in coverage by green space when moving from neighbourhoods where green space is primarily publicly provided to those where it is privately provided. While access to public green space varies significantly across different social groups, those enjoying the greatest access include more deprived groups and older people. This study highlights the need for additional green space to be created and existing green space to be protected in light of increasing development pressure.

- by Olga Barbosa
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- Engineering, Social Groups, Urban Landscape, Environmental Sciences
- by Elena Pisani
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- Economic Growth, Scenario planning, Social Groups, Quantitative analysis

This paper provides estimates of poverty and inequality across states as also for different subgroups of population for 2004-05 by using the old and new methods of the Planning Commission. The new method is critically evaluated with the help of some existing literature and its limitations discussed with regard to doing away with calorie norm, use of median expenditure as a norm for education when the distribution is positively skewed, difficulty in reproducing results for earlier rounds acting as a constraint on comparisons, and using urban poverty ration of the old method as a starting point to decide a consumption basket. More importantly, it discusses the implications on financial transfers across states if the share of poor is only taken into account without accounting for an increase in the total number of poor. Despite these limitations, on grounds of parsimony and prudence the state-specific poverty lines suggested in the new method, as also in the old method, are used to calculate incidence, depth (intensity) and severity (inequality among poor) estimates of poverty for different subgroups of population, viz., NSS regions, social groups and occupation groups.

- by Srijit Mishra
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- Poverty, Rural, Urban Poverty, Social Groups

The Rudd and Lennon (1994) model of body aesthetics is used in this research to guide research investigating relationships among body image, attitudes toward gender roles, and self-esteem. Questionnaires were completed by 202 Korean college women, 52 Singaporean college women, 171 African-American college women, and 109 Caucasian-American college women. Significant differences were found among the groups on gender ideology, self-esteem, and the body image variables. African-American college women had the highest self-esteem and appearance evaluation scores. More importantly, however, across all groups high self-esteem was associated with positive body images and non-traditional attitudes toward gender roles. Additionally, social group membership and individualism were related to body image. Results are explained within the context of the Rudd and Lennon (1994) model of body aesthetics and suggestions are offered for future research within that context.

- by Sharron J. Lennon
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- Gender Roles, Body Image, Social Groups, African American
- by Katharina Michaelowa
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- Social Groups, Standardisation
- by Caroline van den Berg and +2
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- Nutrition, Child Development, Human Development, Public Health
- by Heribert Hofer
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- Social Groups, Fatty Acid

Positive reinforcement training holds great potential for enhancing the management of species for reproduction. This paper reviews a wide range of animal training activities and resultant benefits which could have application to captive reproduction programs. Recognized benefits fall into several categories. Basic animal care can be improved through voluntary cooperation by the animals with veterinary procedures and routine husbandry activities. The quality and quantity of physiological data collected for research can be improved through voluntary cooperation by the animal subjects with sample collection. Positive social interaction and reproductive behavior can be increased and aggressive behavior reduced through employment of a specialized training regime called "cooperative feeding". Good success has been reported with special training programs to facilitate introduction of new members into primate social groups while mixed results have been obtained in efforts to use training to enhance maternal skills. Finally, a discussion of both direct and indirect enhancement of psychological well-being through the use of positive reinforcement training is presented. While positive reinforcement training techniques will not be useful in every situation, information developed to date strongly suggests that these techniques should be given serious consideration when developing comprehensive programs for the management of species for reproduction.

- by Gail Laule
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- Zoology, Social Interaction, Socialization, Social Groups

This chapter challenges traditional models of deindividuation. These are based on the assumption that such factors as immersion in a group and anonymity lead to a loss of selfhood and hence of control over behaviour. We argue that such models depend upon an individualistic conception of the self, viewed as a unitary construct referring to that which makes individuals unique. This is rejected in favour of the idea that self can be defined at various different levels including the categorical self as well as the personal self. Hence a social identity model of deindividuation (SIDE) is outlined. Evidence is presented to show that deindividuation manipulations gain effect, firstly, through the ways in which they affect the salience of social identity (and hence conformity to categorical norms) and, secondly, through their effects upon strategic considerations relating to the expression of social identities. We conclude that the classic deindividuation paradigm of anonymity within a social group, far from leading to uncontrolled behaviour, maximizes the opportunity of group members to give full voice to their collective identities.

- by Russell Spears
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- Psychology, Cognitive Science, Social Identity, Social Groups

Consistent with the affiliative social tuning hypothesis, this study showed that the desire to get along with another person shifted participants' automatic attitudes toward the ostensible attitudes of that person. In Experiment 1, the automatic racial attitudes of women but not men emulated those of an experimenter displaying race-egalitarian attitudes or attitudes neutral with respect to race. Mediational analysis revealed that the gender difference in social tuning was mediated by liking for the experimenter. In Experiment 2, the likability of the experimenter was manipulated. Individuals who interacted with a likable experimenter exhibited social tuning more so than did those who interacted with a rude experimenter. These findings suggest that affiliative motives may elicit malleability of automatic attitudes independent of manipulations of social group exemplars.

- by Curtis Hardin and +1
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- Marketing, Psychology, Cognitive Science, Personality

A number of low and middle income countries (LMICs) are considering social health insurance (SHI) for adoption into their social and economic environment or striving to sustain and improve already existing SHI schemes. SHI was first introduced in Germany in 1883. An analysis of the German system from its inception up to today may yield lessons relevant to other countries.

- by Rainer Sauerborn
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- Sociology, Anthropology, Poverty, Developing Countries
- by Jenni Millbank
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- Law, Social Groups, Decision Maker, Refugee Status

Human language is unparalleled in both its expressive capacity and its diversity. What accounts for the enormous diversity of human languages ? Recent evidence suggests that the structure of languages may be shaped by the social and demographic environment in which the languages are learned and used. In an analysis of over 2,000 languages Lupyan and Dale [25] demonstrated that socio-demographic variables, such as population size, significantly predicted the complexity of inflectional morphology: Languages spoken by smaller populations tend to employ more complex inflectional systems. Languages spoken by larger populations tend to avoid complex morphological paradigms, employing lexical constructions instead. This relationship may exist because of how language learning takes place in these different social contexts . In a smaller population, a tightly-knit social group combined with exclusive or almost exclusive language acquisition by infants permits accumulation of complex inflectional forms. In larger populations, adult language learning and more extensive cross-group interactions produce pressures that lead to morphological simplification. In the current paper, we explore this learningbased hypothesis in two ways. First, we develop an agent-based simulation that serves as a simple existence proof: As adult interaction increases, languages lose inflections. Second, we carry out a correlational study showing that English-speaking adults who had more interaction with non-native speakers as children showed a relative preference for over-regularized (i.e., morphologically simpler) forms. The results of the simulation and experiment lend support to the linguistic niche hypothesis: Languages may vary in the ways they do in part due to different social environments in which they are learned and used. In short, languages adapt to the learning constraints and biases of their learners.

- by Rick Dale
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- Applied Mathematics, Language Acquisition, Agent Based Simulation, Complex Systems
- by Eliot Smith and +1
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- Psychology, Cognitive Science, Intergroup Relations, Social Groups

Seed production of Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus L.) in nylon mesh net cages (hapas) was tested through a participatory on-farm trial with households in NW Bangladesh. A total of 43 households with small ponds (0.04-0.08 ha) located close to the homesteads were sampled from poor to medium social groups in three communities: Tarala Banara (TB), Dewnaghata (DW) and Dola Para (DP). Broodfish of GIFT strain Nile tilapia (12 female and 6 male; 60 g size) were stocked in a single spawning hapa (3 × 2 × 1 m). Swim-up fry were collected from breeding hapas at 15 day intervals and stocked alternately in two nursing hapas (1.5 × 1 × 1 m). With the exception of 15 households at DP in which flooding caused loss of fish, most of the households in TB and DW produced tilapia fry from hapas for 4-5 months in addition to the usual production of foodfish/ fingerlings in their ponds. Mean swim-up fry production in TB and DW was 5185 ± 3764 and 3415 ± 1536 fry household − 1 , leading to nursed fry production of 2708 ± 1967 and 1380 ± 734 fry household − 1 respectively. Nursed fry were sold (70%) or re-stocked (30%) for foodfish production in the participants' own ponds. Only households with perennial ponds that were able to hold and rear tilapia broodfish (25% of total households at TB and DW) successfully produced seed in Year 2, but such households started earlier in the season (March) and achieved significantly higher productivity than the previous year. Hapa productivity was impacted by local soil type, presence of shade, depth of mud and level of drainage inputs; more fry were produced in ponds based on sandy and sandy-loam soils with less overhanging vegetation and shade, lower levels of turbidity and benthic mud, and no drainage connections with tube wells or surface run-off. Poorer households were more successful overall and tended to prioritise sale of fry over retention for foodfish culture Households engaged in ancillary fry trading and/or nursery businesses also tended to be relatively successful. Between 8 and 20 customers were supplied by each hapa operator, indicating the broader impacts of local seed production on grow-out for foodfish production.

- by Benoy Barman
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- Zoology, Aquaculture, Social Groups, Seed production

Taking issue with Michael Freeden's sceptical assessment that 'it is far too early to pronounce on globalism's status as an ideology', this article seeks to establish that globalism not only represents a set of political ideas and beliefs coherent enough to warrant the status of a new ideology, but also constitutes the dominant ideology of our time against which all of its challengers must define themselves. After drawing careful analytic distinctions between often-conflated terms involving the concept of 'globalization', the main section of this article relies on three criteria suggested by Freeden to assess the ideological maturity of globalism. It is proposed that its conceptual structure be disaggregated not merely into core, adjacent, and peripheral concepts, but-perhaps more dynamicallyinto a set of six core claims that play crucial semantic and political roles. With regard to semantics, this article argues that these claims absorb and rearrange bits and pieces of several established ideologies and integrate them with new concepts into a hybrid meaning structure of genuine novelty. Their political role consists chiefly in preserving and enhancing asymmetrical power structures that benefit particular social groups. The article ends with a short experimental 'thought exercise' designed to bring the insights gained from my critical analysis of globalism to bear on the necessary project of reclassifying conventional political belief systems.

- by Manfred Steger
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- Political Science, Social Groups, Political Ideologies

Social Groups Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)