“Who Cares?”: Investigating Consistency in Expressions of Racial Apathy among Whites

Survey researchers theorize that how whites express racial prejudice changes across time. They argue one of its contemporary forms is racial apathy (i.e., not caring about racial equality). However, few empirical studies characterize racial apathy. To fill this gap, the present study addresses consistency in racial apathy across time at the population level and individual level. Using three waves of panel data (i.e., 2003, 2007–2008, and 2013) from the National Study of Youth and Religion, the authors examine the distribution of racial apathy at each wave. The authors then cross-tabulate racial apathy at wave 1 and wave 3, wave 3 and wave 4, and wave 1 and wave 4. The authors next explore correlates of individual-level consistency in racial apathy across time. Results reveal strong population-level consistency concurrent with weak individual-level consistency in the distribution of racial apathy. Furthermore, few correlates predict individual-level consistency.

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Inferring individual-level processes from population-level patterns in cultural evolution

Royal Society Open Science ◽

10.1098/rsos.170949 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 4 (9) ◽

pp. 170949 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Anne Kandler ◽

Bryan Wilder ◽

Laura Fortunato

Keyword(s):

Cultural Change ◽

Cultural Evolution ◽

Empirical Studies ◽

Population Level ◽

Theoretical Work ◽

Cultural Variation ◽

Group Level ◽

Individual Level ◽

The One ◽

Over Time

Our species is characterized by a great degree of cultural variation, both within and between populations. Understanding how group-level patterns of culture emerge from individual-level behaviour is a long-standing question in the biological and social sciences. We develop a simulation model capturing demographic and cultural dynamics relevant to human cultural evolution, focusing on the interface between population-level patterns and individual-level processes. The model tracks the distribution of variants of cultural traits across individuals in a population over time, conditioned on different pathways for the transmission of information between individuals. From these data, we obtain theoretical expectations for a range of statistics commonly used to capture population-level characteristics (e.g. the degree of cultural diversity). Consistent with previous theoretical work, our results show that the patterns observed at the level of groups are rooted in the interplay between the transmission pathways and the age structure of the population. We also explore whether, and under what conditions, the different pathways can be distinguished based on their group-level signatures, in an effort to establish theoretical limits to inference. Our results show that the temporal dynamic of cultural change over time retains a stronger signature than the cultural composition of the population at a specific point in time. Overall, the results suggest a shift in focus from identifying the one individual-level process that likely produced the observed data to excluding those that likely did not. We conclude by discussing the implications for empirical studies of human cultural evolution.

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Cultural diffusion dynamics depend on behavioural production rules

10.1101/2021.12.22.473828 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Michael Chimento ◽

Brendan J. Barrett ◽

Anne Kandler ◽

Lucy M. Aplin

Keyword(s):

Social Learning ◽

Empirical Studies ◽

Population Level ◽

Social Transmission ◽

Production Rules ◽

Individual Level ◽

Cultural Diffusion ◽

Diffusion Analysis ◽

Diffusion Dynamics ◽

The Social

Culture is an outcome of the acquisition of knowledge about behaviour through social transmission, and its subsequent production. Transmission and production are often discussed interchangeably or modeled separately, yet to date, no study has accounted for both processes and explored their interaction. We present a generative model that integrates the two in order to explore how variation in either might shape cultural diffusion dynamics. Agents make behavioural choices that change as they learn from their behavioural productions. Their repertoires also change over time, and the social transmission of behaviours depends on their frequency. We diffuse a novel behaviour through social networks across a large parameter space to demonstrate how accounting for both transmission and production reveals dependencies between individual-level behavioural production rules and population-level diffusion dynamics. We then investigate how such dependencies might affect the performance of two commonly used inferential models for social learning; Network-based Diffusion Analysis (NBDA), and Experienced Weighted Attraction models (EWA). By clarifying the distinction between acquisition and usage, we illuminate often-overlooked theoretical differences between social learning and social influence. These distinctions yield consequences and new considerations for how inferential methods are applied to empirical studies of culture.

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Inferring individual-level processes from population-level patterns in cultural evolution

10.1101/111575 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Anne Kandler ◽

Bryan Wilder ◽

Laura Fortunato

Keyword(s):

Cultural Change ◽

Cultural Evolution ◽

Empirical Studies ◽

Population Level ◽

Theoretical Work ◽

Cultural Variation ◽

Group Level ◽

Individual Level ◽

The One ◽

Over Time

AbstractOur species is characterized by a great degree of cultural variation, both within and between populations. Understanding how group-level patterns of culture emerge from individual-level behaviour is a long-standing question in the biological and social sciences. We develop a simulation model capturing demographic and cultural dynamics relevant to human cultural evolution, focusing on the interface between population-level patterns and individual-level processes. The model tracks the distribution of variants of cultural traits across individuals in a population over time, conditioned on different pathways for the transmission of information between individuals. From these data we obtain theoretical expectations for a range of statistics commonly used to capture population-level characteristics (e.g. the degree of cultural diversity). Consistent with previous theoretical work, our results show that the patterns observed at the level of groups are rooted in the interplay between the transmission pathways and the age structure of the population. We also explore whether, and under what conditions, the different pathways can be distinguished based on their group-level signatures, in an effort to establish theoretical limits to inference. Our results show that the temporal dynamic of cultural change over time retains a stronger signature than the cultural composition of the population at a specific point in time. Overall, the results suggest a shift in focus from identifying the one individual-level process that likely produced the observed data to excluding those that likely did not. We conclude by discussing the implications for empirical studies of human cultural evolution.

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A spatially explicit Bayesian framework for cognitive schooling behaviours

Interface Focus ◽

10.1098/rsfs.2012.0027 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 2 (6) ◽

pp. 738-745 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Daniel Grünbaum

Keyword(s):

Spatial Memory ◽

Spatial Data ◽

Evolutionary Dynamics ◽

Spatial Information ◽

Empirical Studies ◽

Population Level ◽

Cognitive State ◽

Cognitive Responses ◽

Individual Level ◽

Social Animals

Social aggregations such as schools, swarms, flocks and herds occur across a broad diversity of animal species, strongly impacting ecological and evolutionary dynamics of these species and their predators, prey and competitors. The mechanisms through which individual-level responses to neighbours generate group-level characteristics have been extensively investigated both experimentally and using mathematical models. Models of social groups typically adopt a ‘zone’ approach, in which individuals’ movement responses to neighbours are functions of instantaneous relative position. Empirical studies have demonstrated that most social animals such as fish exhibit well-developed spatial memory and other advanced cognitive capabilities. However, most models of social grouping do not explicitly include spatial memory, largely because a tractable framework for modelling acquisition of and response to historical spatial information has been lacking. Using fish schooling as a focal example, this study presents a framework for including cognitive responses to spatial memory in models of social aggregation. The framework utilizes Bayesian estimation parameters that are continuously distributed in time and space as proxies for animals’ spatial memory. The result is a hybrid Lagrangian–Eulerian model in which the effects of cognitive state and behavioural responses to historical spatial data on individual-, group- and population-level distributions of social animals can be explicitly investigated.

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Studying Populations of Online Communities

The Oxford Handbook of Networked Communication ◽

10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190460518.013.8 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 173-193

Author(s):

Benjamin Mako Hill ◽

Aaron Shaw

Keyword(s):

Online Communities ◽

Information Diffusion ◽

Diffusion Processes ◽

Empirical Studies ◽

Population Level ◽

Study Groups ◽

Population Based ◽

Large Majority ◽

Community Processes ◽

Published Research

While the large majority of published research on online communities consists of analyses conducted entirely within individual communities, this chapter argues for a population-based approach, in which researchers study groups of similar communities. For example, although there have been thousands of papers published about Wikipedia, a population-based approach might compare all wikis on a particular topic. Using examples from published empirical studies, the chapter describes five key benefits of this approach. First, it argues that population-level research increases the generalizability of findings. Next, it describes four processes and dynamics that are only possible to study using populations: community-level variables, information diffusion processes across communities, ecological dynamics, and multilevel community processes. The chapter concludes with a discussion of a series of limitations and challenges.

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Review of Associations between Built Environment Characteristics and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Infection Risk

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph18147561 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 18 (14) ◽

pp. 7561

Author(s):

Jingjing Wang ◽

Xueying Wu ◽

Ruoyu Wang ◽

Dongsheng He ◽

Dongying Li ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome ◽

Built Environment ◽

Longitudinal Research ◽

Empirical Studies ◽

Infection Risk ◽

Design Guidelines ◽

Individual Level ◽

Transit Accessibility ◽

Level Data ◽

Transmission Pathways

The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic has stimulated intensive research interest in its transmission pathways and infection factors, e.g., socioeconomic and demographic characteristics, climatology, baseline health conditions or pre-existing diseases, and government policies. Meanwhile, some empirical studies suggested that built environment attributes may be associated with the transmission mechanism and infection risk of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). However, no review has been conducted to explore the effect of built environment characteristics on the infection risk. This research gap prevents government officials and urban planners from creating effective urban design guidelines to contain SARS-CoV-2 infections and face future pandemic challenges. This review summarizes evidence from 25 empirical studies and provides an overview of the effect of built environment on SARS-CoV-2 infection risk. Virus infection risk was positively associated with the density of commercial facilities, roads, and schools and with public transit accessibility, whereas it was negatively associated with the availability of green spaces. This review recommends several directions for future studies, namely using longitudinal research design and individual-level data, considering multilevel factors and extending to diversified geographic areas.

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Blood Pressure Trajectories Across the Life Course

American Journal of Hypertension ◽

10.1093/ajh/hpab009 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 34 (3) ◽

pp. 234-241

Author(s):

Norrina B Allen ◽

Sadiya S Khan

Keyword(s):

Blood Pressure ◽

Measurement Errors ◽

Clinical Care ◽

Population Level ◽

Cumulative Exposure ◽

Older Adulthood ◽

Individual Level ◽

The Life Course ◽

Level Group ◽

Improve Health

Abstract High blood pressure (BP) is a strong modifiable risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD). Longitudinal BP patterns themselves may reflect the burden of risk and vascular damage due to prolonged cumulative exposure to high BP levels. Current studies have begun to characterize BP patterns as a trajectory over an individual’s lifetime. These BP trajectories take into account the absolute BP levels as well as the slope of BP changes throughout the lifetime thus incorporating longitudinal BP patterns into a single metric. Methodologic issues that need to be considered when examining BP trajectories include individual-level vs. population-level group-based modeling, use of distinct but complementary BP metrics (systolic, diastolic, mean arterial, mid, and pulse pressure), and potential for measurement errors related to varied settings, devices, and number of readings utilized. There appear to be very specific developmental periods during which divergent BP trajectories may emerge, specifically adolescence, the pregnancy period, and older adulthood. Lifetime BP trajectories are impacted by both individual-level and community-level factors and have been associated with incident hypertension, multimorbidity (CVD, renal disease, cognitive impairment), and overall life expectancy. Key unanswered questions remain around the additive predictive value of BP trajectories, intergenerational contributions to BP patterns (in utero BP exposure), and potential genetic drivers of BP patterns. The next phase in understanding BP trajectories needs to focus on how best to incorporate this knowledge into clinical care to reduce the burden of hypertensive-related outcomes and improve health equity.

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Are International Indices Good Predictors of Economic Growth? Panel Data and Cluster Analysis for European Union Countries

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13116003 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (11) ◽

pp. 6003

Author(s):

Manuel Carlos Nogueira ◽

Mara Madaleno

Keyword(s):

Economic Growth ◽

European Union ◽

Panel Data ◽

Human Development ◽

Empirical Studies ◽

The European Union ◽

Global Competitiveness ◽

Environmental Performance Index ◽

European Union Countries ◽

And Cluster Analysis

Every year, news about the publication of rankings and scores of important international indexes are highlighted, with some of the most prestigious being the Global Competitiveness Index (GCI), the Human Development Index (HDI), the Ease of Doing Business (EDB), the Environmental Performance Index (EPI) and the Global Entrepreneurship (GEI). A country’s progression in these indices is associated with economic growth, especially since several empirical studies have found evidence to reinforce these beliefs, the indices having been built based on the scientific literature on economic growth. Building a database on these indices for European Union countries between 2007 and 2017 and using panel data methodologies and then 2SLS (Two-Stage Least Squares) to solve the problem of endogeneity, we verify empirically through panel data estimates, what is the relationship between the mentioned indices and the European Union countries’ economic growth for the period. However, as the European Union is made up of diverse countries with different economic and social realities, we divided the countries into six clusters and made an individual interpretation for each one. We found that human development and competitiveness play an important role in economic growth, and entrepreneurship also impacts this growth. Regarding income distribution, applying the Gini index, we found that only human development mitigates inequalities.

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Examining the Effects of the Sacramento Dockless E-Bike Share on Bicycling and Driving

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13010368 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (1) ◽

pp. 368

Author(s):

Dillon T. Fitch ◽

Hossain Mohiuddin ◽

Susan L. Handy

Keyword(s):

Travel Behavior ◽

Regression Models ◽

Population Level ◽

Panel Survey ◽

Multilevel Regression ◽

Combine Data ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Individual Level ◽

Before And After ◽

Bike Share

One way cities are looking to promote bicycling is by providing publicly or privately operated bike-share services, which enable individuals to rent bicycles for one-way trips. Although many studies have examined the use of bike-share services, little is known about how these services influence individual-level travel behavior more generally. In this study, we examine the behavior of users and non-users of a dockless, electric-assisted bike-share service in the Sacramento region of California. This service, operated by Jump until suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic, was one of the largest of its kind in the U.S., and spanned three California cities: Sacramento, West Sacramento, and Davis. We combine data from a repeat cross-sectional before-and-after survey of residents and a longitudinal panel survey of bike-share users with the goal of examining how the service influenced individual-level bicycling and driving. Results from multilevel regression models suggest that the effect of bike-share on average bicycling and driving at the population level is likely small. However, our results indicate that people who have used-bike share are likely to have increased their bicycling because of bike-share.

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Medication Adherence: Expanding the Conceptual Framework

American Journal of Hypertension ◽

10.1093/ajh/hpab046 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Marie Krousel-Wood ◽

Leslie S Craig ◽

Erin Peacock ◽

Emily Zlotnick ◽

Samantha O’Connell ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Medication Adherence ◽

Conceptual Framework ◽

Clinical Outcomes ◽

Implicit Attitudes ◽

Explanatory Power ◽

Population Level ◽

Time Preferences ◽

Adherence Behavior ◽

Individual Level

Abstract Interventions targeting traditional barriers to antihypertensive medication adherence (AHMA) have been developed and evaluated, with evidence of modest improvements in adherence. Translation of these interventions into population-level improvements in adherence and clinical outcomes among older adults remains suboptimal. From the Cohort Study of Medication Adherence among Older adults (CoSMO), we evaluated traditional barriers to AHMA among older adults with established hypertension (N=1544; mean age=76.2 years, 59.5% women, 27.9% Black, 24.1% and 38.9% low adherence by proportion of days covered (i.e., PDC<0.80) and the 4-item Krousel-Wood Medication Adherence Scale (i.e., K-Wood-MAS-4≥1), respectively), finding that they explained 6.4% and 14.8% of variance in pharmacy refill and self-reported adherence, respectively. Persistent low adherence rates, coupled with low explanatory power of traditional barriers, suggest that other factors warrant attention. Prior research has investigated explicit attitudes toward medications as a driver of adherence; the roles of implicit attitudes and time preferences (e.g., immediate versus delayed gratification) as mechanisms underlying adherence behavior are emerging. Similarly, while associations of individual-level social determinants of health (SDOH) and medication adherence are well-reported, there is growing evidence about structural SDOH and specific pathways of effect. Building on published conceptual models and recent evidence, we propose an expanded conceptual framework that incorporates implicit attitudes, time preferences and structural SDOH, as emerging determinants that may explain additional variation in objectively and subjectively measured adherence. This model provides guidance for design, implementation and assessment of interventions targeting sustained improvement in implementation medication adherence and clinical outcomes among older women and men with hypertension.

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