scholarly journals Contextual modulation of preferred social distance during the Covid-19 pandemic

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chiara Fini ◽  
Luca Tummolini ◽  
A. M. Borghi
Keyword(s):  
Risk Taking ◽  
Social Distance ◽  
Risk Attitude ◽  
Perceived Threat ◽  
Interpersonal Distance ◽  
Social Categories ◽  
Contextual Modulation ◽  
Domain Specific ◽  
The Social ◽  
General Preference

AbstractSocial distancing during a pandemic might be influenced by different attitudes: people may decide to reduce the risk and protect themselves from viral contagion, or they can opt to maintain their habits and be more exposed to the infection. To better understand the underlying motivating attitudes, we asked participants to indicate in an online platform the interpersonal distance from different social targets with professional/social behaviors considered more or less exposed to the virus. We selected five different social targets: a cohabitant, a friend working in a hospital, a friend landed from an international flight, a friend who is back from a cycling ride, or a stranger. In order to measure the realistic and the symbolic perceived threat, we administered the Brief 10-item COVID-19 threat scale. Moreover, in order to measure the risk attitude in different domains, the participants were also asked to fill in the Domain-Specific Risk-Taking DOSPERT scale. Results reveal a general preference for an increased distance from a stranger and the friends who are considered to be more exposed to the virus: the friend working in a hospital or landed from an international flight. Moreover, the interpersonal distance from friends is influenced by the perception of Realistic Threat measured through the Integrated Covid Threat Scale and the Health/Safety Risk Perception/Assumption as measured by the DOSPERT scale. Our results show the flexible and context-dependent nature of our representation of other people: as the social categories are not unchangeable fixed entities, the bodily (e.g., spatial) attitudes towards them are an object of continuous attunement.

scholarly journals Testing the relationships between narcissism, risk attitude, and income with data from a representative German sample

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johannes Leder ◽  
Sarah Schneider ◽  
Astrid Schütz
Keyword(s):  
Risk Taking ◽  
Indirect Effect ◽  
Risk Attitude ◽  
Relative Strength ◽  
German Population ◽  
Additive Effects ◽  
Grandiose Narcissism ◽  
German Sample ◽  
Domain Specific ◽  
Predicted Risk

Narcissism is related to income and risk-taking behavior, but previous studies have computed only pairwise associations and have used only domain-specific risk-taking measures. We jointly investigated narcissistic admiration and rivalry, income, and general risk attitude. Using a representative sample from the German population (N = 14,473), we contrasted a model with an indirect effect through risk attitude to income and a model with additive effects of narcissism and risk attitude. We found stronger effects of admiration on risk attitude and income than of rivalry and no evidence of the proposed indirect effect. Contrary to previous studies, we found that an individual's income was independent of their risk attitude. In exploratory analyses (Response Surface Analysis, level-and-difference-approach), we found that the relative strength of admiration compared with rivalry positively predicted risk attitude and income. Taken together, our findings are consistent with the hierarchical model of grandiose narcissism.

Seeing Similarity or Distance?

2014 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 127-134 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leigh Wilton ◽  
Diana T. Sanchez ◽  
Lisa Giamo
Keyword(s):  
Social Distance ◽  
Mixed Race ◽  
Racial Groups ◽  
Perceived Similarity ◽  
The Social ◽  
Intergroup Perception ◽  
Intergroup Perceptions ◽  
Racially Ambiguous ◽  
Ambiguous Faces

Biracial individuals threaten the distinctiveness of racial groups because they have mixed-race ancestry, but recent findings suggest that exposure to biracial-labeled, racially ambiguous faces may positively influence intergroup perception by reducing essentialist thinking among Whites ( Young, Sanchez, & Wilton, 2013 ). However, biracial exposure may not lead to positive intergroup perceptions for Whites who are highly racially identified and thus motivated to preserve the social distance between racial groups. We exposed Whites to racially ambiguous Asian/White biracial faces and measured the perceived similarity between Asians and Whites. We found that exposure to racially ambiguous, biracial-labeled targets may improve perceptions of intergroup similarity, but only for Whites who are less racially identified. Results are discussed in terms of motivated intergroup perception.

People represent their own mental states more distinctly than others’

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Allen Thornton ◽  
Miriam E. Weaverdyck ◽  
Judith Mildner ◽  
Diana Tamir
Keyword(s):  
Mental State ◽  
Social Distance ◽  
Activity Patterns ◽  
Mental States ◽  
Direct Access ◽  
Social Brain ◽  
Privileged Access ◽  
Behavioral Studies ◽  
The Social ◽  
External Cues

One can never know the internal workings of another person – one can only infer others’ mental states based on external cues. In contrast, each person has direct access to the contents of their own mind. Here we test the hypothesis that this privileged access shapes the way people represent internal mental experiences, such that they represent their own mental states more distinctly than the states of others. Across four studies, participants considered their own and others’ mental states; analyses measured the distinctiveness of mental state representations. Two neuroimaging studies used representational similarity analyses to demonstrate that the social brain manifests more distinct activity patterns when thinking about one’s own states versus others’. Two behavioral studies support these findings. Further, they demonstrate that people differentiate between states less as social distance increases. Together these results suggest that we represent our own mind with greater granularity than the minds of others.

scholarly journals Social Distance during the COVID-19 Pandemic Reflects Perceived Rather Than Actual Risk

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (11) ◽  
pp. 5504
Author(s):  
Tina Iachini ◽  
Francesca Frassinetti ◽  
Francesco Ruotolo ◽  
Filomena Leonela Sbordone ◽  
Antonella Ferrara ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Distance ◽  
Perceived Risk ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Face Mask ◽  
Interpersonal Distance ◽  
Actual Risk ◽  
Italian Regions ◽  
Environmental Events ◽  
Related Level

Interpersonal space (IPS) is the area surrounding our own bodies in which we interact comfortably with other individuals. During the COVID-19 pandemic, keeping larger IPS than usual, along with wearing a face mask, is one of the most effective measures to slow down the COVID-19 outbreak. Here, we explore the contribution of actual and perceived risk of contagion and anxiety levels in regulating our preferred social distance from other people during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy. In this study, 1293 individuals from six Italian regions with different levels of actual risk of infection participated in an online survey assessing their perceived risk to be infected, level of anxiety and IPS. Two tasks were adopted as measures of interpersonal distance: the Interpersonal Visual Analogue Scale and a questionnaire evaluating interpersonal distance with and without face mask. The results showed that the IPS regulation was affected by how people subjectively perceived COVID-19 risk and the related level of anxiety, not by actual objective risk. This clarifies that the role of threat in prompting avoidant behaviors expressed in increased IPS does not merely reflect environmental events but rather how they are subjectively experienced and represented.

scholarly journals Effect of Train-Induced Wind on the Transmission of COVID-19: A New Insight into Potential Infectious Risks

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (15) ◽  
pp. 8164
Author(s):  
Simin Zou ◽  
Xuhui He
Keyword(s):  
Social Distance ◽  
Quantitative Research ◽  
Virus Transmission ◽  
Passenger Safety ◽  
The Social ◽  
Gaussian Puff ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Fresh Insight ◽  
Moving Train

The unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic has caused a traffic tie-up across the world. In addition to home quarantine orders and travel bans, the social distance guideline of about six feet was enacted to reduce the risk of contagion. However, with recent life gradually returning to normal, the crisis is not over. In this research, a moving train test and a Gaussian puff model were employed to investigate the impact of wind raised by a train running on the transmission and dispersion of SARS-CoV-2 from infected individuals. Our findings suggest that the 2 m social distance guideline may not be enough; under train-induced wind action, human respiratory disease-carrier droplets may travel to unexpected places. However, there are deficiencies in passenger safety guidelines and it is necessary to improve the quantitative research in the relationship between train-induced wind and virus transmission. All these findings could provide a fresh insight to contain the spread of COVID-19 and provide a basis for preventing and controlling the pandemic virus, and probe into strategies for control of the disease in the future.

What Can Experimental Studies of Bias Tell Us About Real-World Group Disparities?

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-82
Author(s):  
Joseph Cesario
Keyword(s):  
Real World ◽  
Experimental Studies ◽  
White Men ◽  
Human Mind ◽  
Behavioral Differences ◽  
Social Categories ◽  
Systematic Testing ◽  
Black And White ◽  
Research Tradition ◽  
The Social

Abstract This article questions the widespread use of experimental social psychology to understand real-world group disparities. Standard experimental practice is to design studies in which participants make judgments of targets who vary only on the social categories to which they belong. This is typically done under simplified decision landscapes and with untrained decision makers. For example, to understand racial disparities in police shootings, researchers show pictures of armed and unarmed Black and White men to undergraduates and have them press "shoot" and "don't shoot" buttons. Having demonstrated categorical bias under these conditions, researchers then use such findings to claim that real-world disparities are also due to decision-maker bias. I describe three flaws inherent in this approach, flaws which undermine any direct contribution of experimental studies to explaining group disparities. First, the decision landscapes used in experimental studies lack crucial components present in actual decisions (Missing Information Flaw). Second, categorical effects in experimental studies are not interpreted in light of other effects on outcomes, including behavioral differences across groups (Missing Forces Flaw). Third, there is no systematic testing of whether the contingencies required to produce experimental effects are present in real-world decisions (Missing Contingencies Flaw). I apply this analysis to three research topics to illustrate the scope of the problem. I discuss how this research tradition has skewed our understanding of the human mind within and beyond the discipline and how results from experimental studies of bias are generally misunderstood. I conclude by arguing that the current research tradition should be abandoned.

SWQL: A new domain-specific language for mining the social Web

2021 ◽  
pp. 102642
Author(s):  
Xiomarah Guzmán-Guzmán ◽  
Edward Rolando Núñez-Valdez ◽  
Raysa Vásquez-Reynoso ◽  
Angel Asencio ◽  
Vicente García-Díaz
Keyword(s):  
Domain Specific Language ◽  
Social Web ◽  
Specific Language ◽  
Domain Specific ◽  
The Social

scholarly journals Non-discursive Knowledge and the Construction of Identity Potters, Potting and Performance at the Bronze Age Tell of Százhalombatta, Hungary

2009 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 203-220 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandy Budden ◽  
Joanna Sofaer
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Social Categories ◽  
Social Sphere ◽  
Construction Of Identity ◽  
Differential Acquisition ◽  
The Social ◽  
And Performance ◽  
The Bronze Age

This article explores the relationship between the making of things and the making of people at the Bronze Age tell at Százhalombatta, Hungary. Focusing on potters and potting, we explore how the performance of non-discursive knowledge was critical to the construction of social categories. Potters literally came into being as potters through repeated bodily enactment of potting skills. Potters also gained their identity in the social sphere through the connection between their potting performance and their audience. We trace degrees of skill in the ceramic record to reveal the material articulation of non-discursive knowledge and consider the ramifications of the differential acquisition of non-discursive knowledge for the expression of different kinds of potter's identities. The creation of potters as a social category was essential to the ongoing creation of specific forms of material culture. We examine the implications of altered potters' performances and the role of non-discursive knowledge in the construction of social models of the Bronze Age.

Biased Benevolence: The Perceived Morality of Effective Altruism Across Social Distance

2021 ◽  
pp. 014616722110027
Author(s):  
Kyle Fiore Law ◽  
Dylan Campbell ◽  
Brendan Gaesser
Keyword(s):  
Relationship Quality ◽  
Social Distance ◽  
Alternative Explanation ◽  
Cooperative Behavior ◽  
Physical Distance ◽  
Moral Judgments ◽  
The Social ◽  
Effective Altruism ◽  
Quality Study ◽  
Matched Study

Is altruism always morally good, or is the morality of altruism fundamentally shaped by the social opportunity costs that often accompany helping decisions? Across four studies, we reveal that in cases of realistic tradeoffs in social distance for gains in welfare where helping socially distant others necessitates not helping socially closer others with the same resources, helping is deemed as less morally acceptable. Making helping decisions at a cost to socially closer others also negatively affects judgments of relationship quality (Study 2) and in turn, decreases cooperative behavior with the helper (Study 3). Ruling out an alternative explanation of physical distance accounting for the effects in Studies 1 to 3, social distance continued to impact moral acceptability when physical distance across social targets was matched (Study 4). These findings reveal that attempts to decrease biases in helping may have previously unconsidered consequences for moral judgments, relationships, and cooperation.

Portrayals of autism and social awareness: a scoping review

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosa Fontes ◽  
Margarita Pino-Juste
Keyword(s):  
Social Awareness ◽  
Social Categories ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Media Portrayals ◽  
Broadcast Media ◽  
News Broadcasts ◽  
The Social ◽  
Recent Trends ◽  
The Subject

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to look at recent trends in scientific literature on the portrayal of autism in published and broadcast media and social awareness of the subject. Design/methodology/approach A bibliometric analysis of content of such publications was performed. Findings Results show that portrayals of autism from books, newspapers, news broadcasts, films and TV series are being scrutinized. Research focuses on the social categories of resulting stereotypes, the quality of such depictions, the benefits and downsides, stigmatization of individuals (with autism) and how society responds to these portrayals. Originality/value It is important to understand if media portrayals of autism are creating a realistic and constructive awareness of autism in society.

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