Explaining Behavior

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Talbert ◽  
Jessica Wolfendale
Keyword(s):  
Social Psychology ◽  
Human Behavior ◽  
Large Body ◽  
Abu Ghraib ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Abu Ghraib Prison ◽  
Gilbert Harman ◽  
Stanford Prison Experiment

This chapter explores the relationship between the crimes committed by American troops at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and Philip Zimbardo’s 1971 Stanford Prison Experiment. Zimbardo’s experiment is one of the most famous of a large body of social psychology experiments that support the “situationist” perspective on human behavior. A central situationist claim is that features of the situations in which people act have a greater influence on behavior than we ordinarily suppose, and enduring features of personality and character have a correspondingly smaller role in explaining behavior. We explain how this research has been interpreted by psychologists such as Lee Ross and Richard Nisbett and by philosophers such as Gilbert Harman and John Doris.

Eroticism and the Politics of Representing the Abused Body

2021 ◽  
pp. 500-516
Author(s):  
Lisa Fitzpatrick
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Violence ◽  
Judith Butler ◽  
Georges Bataille ◽  
The Body ◽  
Abu Ghraib ◽  
The Gaze ◽  
Susan Sontag ◽  
The Spectator ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Abu Ghraib Prison

This chapter discusses the photographic and dramatic representation of sexual violence in conflict and the potential for such visual spectacle to be received as erotic or titillating. The chapter begins with a brief consideration of the human fascination with horror, then draws upon the work of Judith Butler on vulnerability, and Susan Sontag and Georges Bataille on suffering to analyze the relationship between pornographic imagery and the images of Abu Ghraib prison. Taking an example of a dramatic representation of wartime rape, Colleen Wagner’s The Monument, the author’s decision not to display the body is explored as one strategy to avoid the exposure of the body to the gaze of the spectator.

To Understand the Informal (on the Book BY V. L. Tambovtsev “Economics of Informal Institutions”)

2015 ◽  
pp. 151-158
Author(s):  
A. Zaostrovtsev
Keyword(s):  
Social Psychology ◽  
Detailed Analysis ◽  
Human Behavior ◽  
Interdisciplinary Approach ◽  
Informal Institutions ◽  
Economic Thought ◽  
History Of ◽  
Original Classification

The review considers the first attempt in the history of Russian economic thought to give a detailed analysis of informal institutions (IF). It recognizes that in general it was successful: the reader gets acquainted with the original classification of institutions (including informal ones) and their genesis. According to the reviewer the best achievement of the author is his interdisciplinary approach to the study of problems and, moreover, his bias on the achievements of social psychology because the model of human behavior in the economic mainstream is rather primitive. The book makes evident that namely this model limits the ability of economists to analyze IF. The reviewer also shares the author’s position that in the analysis of the IF genesis the economists should highlight the uncertainty and reject economic determinism. Further discussion of IF is hardly possible without referring to this book.

Subject of Economic Science

2015 ◽  
pp. 115-120
Author(s):  
D. Egorov
Keyword(s):  
Human Behavior ◽  
Classical Theory ◽  
Adam Smith ◽  
A Priori ◽  
Economic Science ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Consciousness ◽  
Wealth Of Nations ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Relationship

Adam Smith defined economics as “the science of the nature and causes of the wealth of nations” (implicitly appealing – in reference to the “wealth” – to the “value”). Neo-classical theory views it as a science “which studies human behavior in terms of the relationship between the objectives and the limited funds that may have a different use of”. The main reason that turns the neo-classical theory (that serves as the now prevailing economic mainstream) into a tool for manipulation of the public consciousness is the lack of measure (elimination of the “value”). Even though the neo-classical definition of the subject of economics does not contain an explicit rejection of objective measures the reference to “human behavior” inevitably implies methodological subjectivism. This makes it necessary to adopt a principle of equilibrium: if you can not objectively (using a solid measurement) compare different states of the system, we can only postulate the existence of an equilibrium point to which the system tends. Neo-classical postulate of equilibrium can not explain the situation non-equilibrium. As a result, the neo-classical theory fails in matching microeconomics to macroeconomics. Moreover, a denial of the category “value” serves as a theoretical basis and an ideological prerequisite of now flourishing manipulative financial technologies. The author believes in the following two principal definitions: (1) economics is a science that studies the economic system, i.e. a system that creates and recombines value; (2) value is a measure of cost of the object. In our opinion, the value is the information cost measure. It should be added that a disclosure of the nature of this category is not an obligatory prerequisite of its introduction: methodologically, it is quite correct to postulate it a priori. The author concludes that the proposed definitions open the way not only to solve the problem of the measurement in economics, but also to address the issue of harmonizing macro- and microeconomics.

Tendency to Conform: A New Measure and its Relationship to Psychological Reactance

2005 ◽  
Vol 96 (3) ◽  
pp. 591-594 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronald E. Goldsmith ◽  
Ronald A. Clark ◽  
Barbara A. Lafferty
Keyword(s):  
Social Psychology ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Study Data ◽  
Psychological Reactance ◽  
Self Report ◽  
The Relationship

This study assessed the relationship between two important constructs in social psychology, conformity and psychological reactance, which are suggested to be negatively related, i.e., a person higher in the tendency to conform will score lower on psychological reactance and vice versa. The two constructs were measured by multi-item self-report scales, the Therapeutic Reactance Scale of Dowd, et al. and a new tendency to conform scale constructed for this study. Data from a survey of 423 undergraduate students were used to test the hypothesis that scores on the scales were negatively correlated. The hypothesized relationship was positively supported by a significant but only moderately sized correlation ( r = -.32, p < .001).

scholarly journals When does geography matter most? Age-specific geographical effects in the patterning of, and relationship between, mental wellbeing and mental illness.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gareth J Griffith ◽  
Kelvyn Jones
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Illness ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Large Body ◽  
Multilevel Modelling ◽  
Contextual Effects ◽  
Mental Wellbeing ◽  
Covariate Adjustment ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Geographical Context

Mental illness and mental wellbeing are related but distinct constructs. Despite this, geographical enquiry often references the two as interchangeable indicators of mental health and assumes the relationship between the two is consistent across different geographical scales. Furthermore, the importance of geography in such research is commonly assumed to be static for all age groups, despite the large body of evidence demonstrating contextual effects in age-specific populations. We leverage simultaneous measurement of a mental illness and mental wellbeing metric from Understanding Society, a UK population-based survey, and employ bivariate, cross-classified multilevel modelling to characterise the relationship between geographical context and mental health. Results provide strong evidence for contextual effects for both responses before and after covariate adjustment, with weaker evidence for area-classification and PSU-level contextual effects for the GHQ-12 after covariate adjustment. Results support a two-continua model of mental health at the individual level, but indicates that consensual benefit may be achieved across both dimensions by intervening at household and regional levels. There is also some evidence of a greater contextual effects for mental wellbeing than for mental illness. Results highlight the potential of the household as a target for intervention design for consensual benefit across both constructs. Results highlight the increased importance of geographical context for older respondents across both responses. This research supports an area-based approach to improving both mental illness and mental wellbeing in older populations.

scholarly journals Is It All a Conspiracy? Conspiracy Theories and People’s Attitude to COVID-19 Vaccination

Vaccines ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (10) ◽  
pp. 1051 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zheng Yang ◽  
Xi Luo ◽  
Hepeng Jia
Keyword(s):  
Infectious Diseases ◽  
Health Behaviors ◽  
Large Body ◽  
Pharmaceutical Companies ◽  
Conspiracy Theories ◽  
Conspiracy Beliefs ◽  
Quota Sampling ◽  
To Receive ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Vaccination Hesitancy

A large body of research has found that people’s beliefs in conspiracy theories about infectious diseases negatively impacts their health behaviors concerning vaccination. Conspiracy belief-based vaccination hesitancy has become more rampant after the global outbreak of COVID-19. However, some important questions remain unanswered. For instance, do different versions of conspiracy theories—particularly conspiracy theories about the origin of the epidemic (e.g., that the SARS-CoV-2 leaked from a Wuhan virology laboratory or that the virus was of foreign origin) and the general theories about vaccine conspiracies (e.g., pharmaceutical companies covered up the danger of vaccines or people are being deceived about the effectiveness of vaccines)—have the same effect on vaccination intentions? Through a national survey adopting quota sampling in China, the current study tested the relationship between people’s conspiracy beliefs and their intention to receive the COVID-19 vaccination. The findings show that people’s embrace of conspiracy theories did indeed affect their intention to take COVID-19 shots. However, only conspiracy theories related to vaccines had a significant impact, while belief in more general theories about COVID-19 did not significantly affect vaccination intentions. People’s knowledge of vaccines (vaccine literacy) played an important role in this relationship. People with lower beliefs in vaccines conspiracy theories and higher levels of vaccine literacy were more likely to receive the COVID-19 vaccination.

scholarly journals Job demands when exhausted: the relationship between exhaustion and the perception of job demands mediated by self-undermining

2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 38-50
Author(s):  
Lucia Rațiu ◽  
Ana-Maria Dobre
Keyword(s):  
Indirect Effect ◽  
Large Body ◽  
Job Demands ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Future Studies ◽  
Mediating Role ◽  
Cross Sectional Design ◽  
And Performance ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Practical Implications

There is a large body of literature devoted to factors that shape performance in organizations. Although much of this literature focuses on the relationships between job demands, job resources and performance, Bakker and his colleagues (2014; 2018) have recently drawn attention to self-undermining effects that can add support for a deeper understanding of such a relationship. The following contribution explores self-undermining related to exhaustion at work and its mediating role in the perception of three types of job demands in a sample of employees working in IT companies. More specifically, the paper draws on the concept of self-undermining to reflect on how it activates a loss cycle of job demands and potential negative reactions at work. We argue that (i) exhaustion has an indirect effect on the perception of job demands through self-undermining; and so on referring to each dimension of job demands: (ii) exhaustion has an indirect effect on the perception of workload through self-undermining; (iii) exhaustion has an indirect effect on the emotional load through self-undermining; (iv) exhaustion has an indirect effect on the cognitive load through self-undermining. In order to test the hypotheses, a cross-sectional design was employed. The regression analyses revealed that self-undermining mediated the relationship between exhaustion and the perception of workload meeting our expectations, and a significant indirect effect of exhaustion on the perception of job demands and emotional load. However, there is a need for future studies to generalize the results. Finally, theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

scholarly journals Cognitive-Inspired Conversational-Strategy Reasoner for Socially-Aware Agents

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oscar J. Romero ◽  
Ran Zhao ◽  
Justine Cassell
Keyword(s):  
Social Psychology ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Conversational Agent ◽  
Conversational Analysis ◽  
Dialogue System ◽  
The Social ◽  
Conversational Style ◽  
Prior Literature ◽  
Task Goals ◽  
The Relationship

In this work we propose a novel module for a dialogue system that allows a conversational agent to utter phrases that do not just meet the system's task intentions, but also work towards achieving the system's social intentions. The module - a Social Reasoner - takes the task goals the system must achieve and decides the appropriate conversational style and strategy with which the dialogue system describes the information the user desires so as to boost the strength of the relationship between the user and system (rapport), and therefore the user's engagement and willingness to divulge the information the agent needs to efficiently and effectively achieve the user's goals. Our Social Reasoner is inspired both by analysis of empirical data of friends and stranger dyads engaged in a task, and by prior literature in fields as diverse as reasoning processes in cognitive and social psychology, decision-making, sociolinguistics and conversational analysis. Our experiments demonstrated that, when using the Social Reasoner in a Dialogue System, the rapport level between the user and system increases in more than 35% in comparison with those cases where no Social Reasoner is used.

scholarly journals Factors Influencing Evaluation of Remuneration Justice

2018 ◽  
Vol 48 (3) ◽  
pp. 41-52
Author(s):  
Marta Juchnowicz ◽  
Hanna Kinowska
Keyword(s):  
Factor Analysis ◽  
Organizational Justice ◽  
Employee Engagement ◽  
Representative Sample ◽  
Large Body ◽  
Three Dimensions ◽  
Factors Influencing ◽  
Theoretical Assumptions ◽  
Fair Compensation ◽  
The Relationship

Although the large body of literature suggests the importance of fair compensation, the understanding of the nature of remuneration justice remains limited. The paper fills the gap by combining the three streams in the research: diversified definitions of justice in management sciences, philosophy and ethics, theory of organizational justice and research on employee engagement. Based on theoretical assumptions, a remuneration justice as-sessment model was developed. The evaluation of the remuneration fairness depends on three dimensions: perception of the features of the remuneration system, employees’ convictions regarding the legitimacy of pay differentiation and work needs. The hypothe-sised model was tested on a representative sample of 1,067 working Poles. This research has used SEM-PLS approach including exploratory factor analysis. The find-ings carry theoretical implications, since they extend the research and refine the essence of remuneration justice. From a practical perspective, the relationship between the three predictors – system, beliefs and needs – provide a proof on how remuneration justice is composed and how it could be developed.

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