scholarly journals A feature-based network analysis and fMRI meta-analysis of the task structure underlying prosocial decision-making reveals three distinct clusters: cooperation, equity, and altruism

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shawn A. Rhoads ◽  
Jo Cutler ◽  
Abigail A. Marsh

AbstractTasks that measure correlates of prosocial decision-making share one common feature: agents can make choices that increase the welfare of a beneficiary. However, prosocial decisions vary widely as a function of other task features. The diverse ways that prosociality is defined and the heterogeneity of prosocial decisions have created challenges for interpreting findings across studies and identifying their neural correlates. To overcome these challenges, the present study aimed to organize the prosocial decision-making task-space of neuroimaging studies. We conducted a systematic search for studies in which participants made decisions to increase the welfare of others during fMRI. We identified shared and distinct features of these tasks and employed an unsupervised graph-based approach to assess how various forms of prosocial decision-making are related in terms of their low-level components (e.g., task features like potential cost to the agent or potential for reciprocity). We uncovered three clusters of prosocial decisions: cooperation, equity, and altruism. This feature-based representation of the task structure was supported by results of a neuroimaging meta-analysis that each category of prosocial decisions recruited diverging neural systems. Results clarify some of the existing heterogeneity in how prosociality is conceptualized and generate insight for future research and task paradigm development.

F1000Research ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 1155
Author(s):  
Roselyne Choiniere ◽  
Patrick O. Richard ◽  
Melanie Morin ◽  
Le-Mai Tu ◽  
Gordon H. Guyatt ◽  
...  

Background: Post-radical prostatectomy urinary incontinence (PPI) is a frequent and feared complication that can affect approximately 25% of patients. Between 1 and 10% of patients suffering from PPI will require surgery. The effectiveness of the available surgical interventions has only been compared in a few randomized controlled trials and the available reviews have important limitations regarding both benefits and harms that make them insufficient to inform decision-making. The aim of the study is to provide systematic summaries of benefits and harms of contemporary surgical treatment options for PPI through systematic review and meta-analysis using GRADE methodology and reporting in accord with the PRISMA-P statement. Methods: Studies pertaining to bulking agents, male synthetic slings, compressive balloon systems (ProACT) or artificial urinary sphincters (AUS) used for the treatment of patients suffering from PPI will be included. A systematic search will be conducted using the OVID and PubMED platforms in MEDLINE, Embase and Cochrane databases, and reference lists of relevant reviews and guidelines. Trained independent reviewers will conduct study selection and data extraction. Outcomes will include the number of pads used per day, the 24-h pad weight test, the Patient Global Impression of Improvement (PGI-I) and the Incontinence Quality of Life (IQOL) as possible benefits and the reoperations, the Clavien-Dindo complications and the other reported adverse events as the harms. When possible, pooled analyses will be completed. Risk of bias will be assessed using the CLARITY tools and a new tool for the before-and-after studies without a control group. Finally, study heterogeneity will be assessed, publication bias will be evaluated with funnel plots and quality of evidence rated for each outcome. Discussion: Our study will address patient-important outcomes and will be useful in clinical decision-making as well as identifying key elements for future research. Study registration: PROSPERO: CRD42018073923 05/12/2018


Land ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (10) ◽  
pp. 380
Author(s):  
Luis Diaz-Balteiro ◽  
Carlos Iglesias-Merchan ◽  
Carlos Romero ◽  
Silvestre García de Jalón

In recent years modern societies have attached a multifunctional requirement to the use of renewable resources, making their optimal sustainable management more complex. In the last decades, in many cases, this complexity is addressed by formulating management models with the help of the concepts and methods belonging to the well-known multicriteria decision-making (MCDM) paradigm. The purpose of this paper was to undertake a hermeneutic meta-analysis of the literature provided in primary journals on issues related to the management of these resources with the help of the MCDM paradigm. In this way, the paper aimed to obtain new, basic insights with considerations that might improve the efficiency of future research in the field studied. The meta-analysis was implemented by formulating and testing a battery of hypotheses of how the MCDM methods have been used in the past for the formulation of management models for the type of resource analyzed.


2021 ◽  
pp. 109442812110463
Author(s):  
Jessica Villiger ◽  
Simone A. Schweiger ◽  
Artur Baldauf

This article contributes to the practice of coding in meta-analyses by offering direction and advice for experienced and novice meta-analysts on the “how” of coding. The coding process, the invisible architecture of any meta-analysis, has received comparably little attention in methodological resources, leaving the research community with insufficient guidance on “how” it should be rigorously planned (i.e., cohere with the research objective), conducted (i.e., make reliable and valid coding decisions), and reported (i.e., in a sufficiently transparent manner for readers to comprehend the authors’ decision-making). A lack of rigor in these areas can lead to erroneous results, which is problematic for entire research communities who build their future knowledge upon meta-analyses. Along four steps, the guidelines presented here elucidate “how” the coding process can be performed in a coherent, efficient, and credible manner that enables connectivity with future research, thereby enhancing the reliability and validity of meta-analytic findings. Our recommendations also support editors and reviewers in advising authors on how to improve the rigor of their coding and ultimately establish higher quality standards in meta-analytic research.


2018 ◽  
Vol 52 (3) ◽  
pp. 174-187 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marissa J. Filderman ◽  
Jessica R. Toste ◽  
Lisa Anne Didion ◽  
Peng Peng ◽  
Nathan H. Clemens

For students with persistent reading difficulties, research suggests one of the most effective ways to intensify interventions is to individualize instruction through use of performance data—a process known as data-based decision making (DBDM). This article reports a synthesis and meta-analysis of studies of reading interventions containing DBDM for struggling readers, as well as the characteristics and procedures that support the efficacy of these interventions. A systematic search of peer-reviewed literature published between 1975 and 2017 was conducted, resulting in 15 studies of reading interventions that incorporated DBDM for struggling readers in Grades K–12. A comparison of students who received reading interventions with DBDM with those in business-as-usual (BAU) comparison groups yielded a weighted mean effect of g = .24, 95% confidence interval (CI) = [.01 to .46]. A subset of six studies that compared students receiving similar reading interventions with and without DBDM yielded a weighted mean effect of g = .27, 95% CI = [.07, .47]. Implications for DBDM in reading interventions for struggling readers and areas for future research are described. In particular, experimental investigation is necessary to establish DBDM as an evidence-based practice for struggling readers.


2021 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 64-72
Author(s):  
Rainer Sibbel ◽  
Angelina Huber

Purpose: Medical treatments and medical decision making are mostly human based and therefore in risk of being influenced by cognitive biases. The potential impact could lead to bad medical outcome, unnecessary harm or even death. The aim of this comprehensive literature study is to analyse the evidence whether healthcare professionals are biased, which biases are most relevant in medicine and how these biases may be reduced. Approach/Findings: The results of the comprehensive literature based meta-analysis confirm on the one hand that several biases are relevant in the medical decision and treatment process. On the other hand, the study shows that the empirical evidence on the impact of cognitive biases on clinical outcome is scarce for most biases and that further research is necessary in this field. Value/Practical Implications: Nevertheless, it is important to determine the extent to which biases in healthcare professionals translate into negative clinical outcomes such as misdiagnosis, delayed diagnosis, or mistreatment. Only this way, the importance of incorporating debiasing strategies into the clinical setting, and which biases to focus on, can be properly assessed. Research Limitations/Future Research: Though recent literature puts great emphasis on cognitive debiasing strategies, there are still very few approaches that have proven to be efficient. Due to the increasing degree of specialization in medicine, the relevance of the different biases varies. Paper type: Theoretical.


2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 93
Author(s):  
Nik Maheran Nik Muhammad

This article advocates that research is lacking on the connection between leadership theory and social network theory. To date, little empirical research has been conducted on leadership and social networks. Thus, the proposition of this article goes beyond traditional leadership models to advocate for a fuller and more integrative focus that is multilevel, multi-component and interdisciplinary, while recognizing that leadership is a complex function of both the organisational leaders and the followers who perform tasks, all of which subsequently leads to decision making qualities. Indeed, the current leadership model focuses on leadership behaviour and the ability to gain followers mutuality, to achieve decision making quality involving the integration of leadership and social network theories. Given the apparent mutable palette of contemporary leadership theory, this emergent construct of the leadership paradigm can expand the poles of the leadership continuum and contribute to a richer and deeper understanding of the relationships and responsibilities of leaders and followers as they relate to decision making qualities. This new construct, which is termed prophetic leadership, explores the literature of the life experiences of the prophet in the ‘Abrahamic Faith’ religion. Drawing on a priori links between the personality trait and spiritual leadership that has recently garnered the interest of scholars, the present study asserts a normative leadership theory that links the personal quality of a leader, posture and principal (based on the Prophet’s leadership behaviour) to synergy and decision making quality. Altruism is proposed to enhance relationships between leadership behaviour and decision making quality. For future research, much work needs to be done specifically aiming to (a) achieve greater clarity of construct definitions, (b) address measurement issues, and (c) avoid construct redundancy.


2015 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 93
Author(s):  
Nik Maheran Nik Muhammad

This article advocates that research is lacking on the connection between leadership theory and social network theory. To date, little empirical research has been conducted on leadership and social networks. Thus, the proposition of this article goes beyond traditional leadership models to advocate for a fuller and more integrative focus that is multilevel, multi-component and interdisciplinary, while recognizing that leadership is a complex function of both the organisational leaders and the followers who perform tasks, all of which subsequently leads to decision making qualities. Indeed, the current leadership model focuses on leadership behaviour and the ability to gain followers mutuality, to achieve decision making quality involving the integration of leadership and social network theories. Given the apparent mutable palette of contemporary leadership theory, this emergent construct of the leadership paradigm can expand the poles of the leadership continuum and contribute to a richer and deeper understanding of the relationships and responsibilities of leaders and followers as they relate to decision making qualities. This new construct, which is termed prophetic leadership, explores the literature of the life experiences of the prophet in the ‘Abrahamic Faith’ religion. Drawing on a priori links between the personality trait and spiritual leadership that has recently garnered the interest of scholars, the present study asserts a normative leadership theory that links the personal quality of a leader, posture and principal (based on the Prophet’s leadership behaviour) to synergy and decision making quality. Altruism is proposed to enhance relationships between leadership behaviour and decision making quality. For future research, much work needs to be done specifically aiming to (a) achieve greater clarity of construct definitions, (b) address measurement issues, and (c) avoid construct redundancy.


2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 53
Author(s):  
Bushra Mahadin

Purpose-This paper aims to investigate factors that affect customer switching from Internal Combustion Engine Vehicles (ICEV’s) to Hybrid Electrical Vehicles (HEV’s), in Jordan for the period of (2010-2014).Design/methodology/approach-A self-administered survey was hand-delivered to the targeted sample of car users in Jordan. The authors delivered 400 questionnaires to customers, from which 333 were deemed valid for the analysis, corresponding to the percentage of (83.25%) which indicates the validity of the study. Findings- There was no difference in switching behavior between (ICEV’s) and (HEV’s) based on gender in the Jordanian market. Fuel consumption efficiency was the number one variable that supports the switching behavior towards (HEV's), followed by Eco friendliness, lower taxes and technological features. Price and the current trend in the market were the least supporting factors. In addition to that the perception of the battery life of (HEV's), limited choices in the market, lack of information and fear of the relatively new technology were the major hindering factors of choosing an (HEV).Research limitations-Future research needs to investigate other factors that may affect customers’ behavior such as perceived image, trust, and subjective norms. Future research should investigate into the importance of environmental awareness and new technologies, and gender differences in behavior. From an international marketing standpoint, comparative studies between Jordanian and non-Jordanian customers are potential areas of future research for international marketing strategies and cross-cultural consumer behaviour analysis. Practical implications-The paper identifies the determinants of switching behavior. marketers should focus addressing customers concerns in terms of providing enough information and building awareness towards the technology and it's benefits towards the society and the environment.Originality/value-Our study is one of the few in Jordan that investigates the switching behavior towards vehicles technology. Our study is thought to have made a modest contribution to consumer behaviour literature and, specifically, for decision making process. It offers marketers insights into the determinants of switching behavior towards the hybrid vechicle technology and how this contribute to consumers’ decision making process and attitudes to achieve the intended behavioural outcomes


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