scholarly journals Thinking Structurally: A Cognitive Framework for Understanding How People Infer Structural Causes of Inequality

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jamie Amemiya ◽  
Elizabeth Mortenson ◽  
Gail D. Heyman ◽  
Caren Walker
Keyword(s):  
Social Group ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Distinct Type ◽  
Causal Judgment ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Structural Factors ◽  
Causal Explanations ◽  
Societal Factors ◽  
Difference Making ◽  
Cognitive Framework

To accurately explain social group inequalities, people must consider structural explanations, which are causal explanations that appeal to societal factors such as discriminatory institutions and policies. Structural explanations are a distinct type of extrinsic explanation—they identify stable societal forces that are experienced by specific social groups. We argue that a novel framework is needed to specify how people infer structural causes of inequality. The proposed framework is rooted in counterfactual theories of causal judgment, positing that people infer structural causes by discerning whether structural factors were “difference-making” for the inequality they observe. Building on this foundation, our framework makes the following novel contributions: First, we propose specific types of evidence that support this inference, and second, we consider the unique contextual, cognitive, and motivational barriers to the availability and acceptance of this evidence. We conclude by exploring how the framework might be applied in future research examining people’s explanations for inequality.

scholarly journals SUBJECTIVITY AND SUBJECTIVE WELL-BEING OF REPRESENTATIVES OF LARGE SOCIAL GROUPS: ON THE EXAMPLE OF THE FIRST AND SECOND GENERATIONS OF MIGRANTS FROM ARMENIA AND ARMENIANS LIVING IN THEIR HOMELAND

2020 ◽  
pp. 73-115
Author(s):  
Ю.В. Ковалева
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Indigenous People ◽  
Subject Matter ◽  
Social Group ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Two Generations ◽  
The Subject

Изучается субъективное благополучия мигрантов двух поколений и коренных жителей Армении. Делается предположение, что не каждая большая социальная группа может выступить основой для подобного самочувствия человека, а только обладающая субъектными свойствами , т.е. сформировавшая смыслы и ценности, организованная, имеющая средства для вовлечения и самореализации ее членов. Предлагается схеме анализа этапов формирования коллективной субъектности большой социальной группы в соответствии с теоретическими положениями концепции коллективного субъекта (по А.Л. Журавлеву) и представлениями о национальной идее как источника оптимизма, жизнестойкости, жизнеспособности личности, витальности нации и субъективного благополучия ее представителей. В качестве носителя таких ценностей предлагается рассматривать диаспору. Помимо стандартизированных опросников в работе используются оригинальные анкеты для определения национальной идентичности и взаимодействия с диаспорой. Получены различия в уровне субъективного благополучия, оптимистической триады и жизнестойкости между группами, а также в уровне национальной идентичности и взаимодействии с диаспорой между группами мигрантов. Показаны структуры связей между субъективным благополучием респондентов и их оптимизмом, жизнестойкостью, а в группах мигрантов также и с национальной идентичностью и взаимодействием с диаспорой в группах мигрантов. Охарактеризована субъектность мигрантов первого и второго поколений и сделаны предположения относительно субъектности коренных жителей Армении. В задачи будущих исследований входит изучение структуры связей мигрантов первого поколения в зависимости от срока миграции, а также более подробное описание этих больших социальных групп как сетевых сообществ. The subjective well-being of migrants of two generations and indigenous people of Armenia was studied. It was assumed that not every large social group can form the basis for such human well-being, but only with subject properties, which are having formed meanings and values, organized, having means for involvement and self-realization of its members. It was proposed the scheme of analyzing the stages of formation of the collective subjectivity of a large social group. It was made following the general provisions of the concept of a collective subject (according to A.L. Zhuravlev) and perceptions of the national idea as a source of optimism, resilience of the person, vitality of the nation and subjective well-being of its representatives. It was proposed to consider the diaspora as a medium of such values. In addition to standardized questionnaires, the work uses original surveys to determine national identity and interaction with the diaspora. Differences in the level of subjective well-being, optimistic trinity, and resilience between groups, as well as in the level of national identity and interaction with the diaspora between migrant groups, were obtained. Structures of links between subjective well-being of respondents and their optimism, resilience, and in groups of migrants also with national identity and interaction with the diaspora in groups of migrants were shown. The subject matter of migrants of the first and second generations was described, and assumptions were made as to the subject matter of the indigenous people of Armenia. Future research aims to examine the structure of first-generation migrant connections depending on the length of migration, as well as a more detailed description of these large social groups as networking communities.

scholarly journals Studying primate cognition in a social setting to improve validity and welfare: a literature review highlighting successful approaches

PeerJ ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. e3649 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine A. Cronin ◽  
Sarah L. Jacobson ◽  
Kristin E. Bonnie ◽  
Lydia M. Hopper
Keyword(s):  
Literature Review ◽  
Social Group ◽  
Survey Methodology ◽  
Animal Cognition ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Social Setting ◽  
Primate Cognition ◽  
Cognitive Research ◽  
Wide Range

BackgroundStudying animal cognition in a social setting is associated with practical and statistical challenges. However, conducting cognitive research without disturbing species-typical social groups can increase ecological validity, minimize distress, and improve animal welfare. Here, we review the existing literature on cognitive research run with primates in a social setting in order to determine how widespread such testing is and highlight approaches that may guide future research planning.Survey MethodologyUsing Google Scholar to search the terms “primate” “cognition” “experiment” and “social group,” we conducted a systematic literature search covering 16 years (2000–2015 inclusive). We then conducted two supplemental searches within each journal that contained a publication meeting our criteria in the original search, using the terms “primate” and “playback” in one search and the terms “primate” “cognition” and “social group” in the second. The results were used to assess how frequently nonhuman primate cognition has been studied in a social setting (>3 individuals), to gain perspective on the species and topics that have been studied, and to extract successful approaches for social testing.ResultsOur search revealed 248 unique publications in 43 journals encompassing 71 species. The absolute number of publications has increased over years, suggesting viable strategies for studying cognition in social settings. While a wide range of species were studied they were not equally represented, with 19% of the publications reporting data for chimpanzees. Field sites were the most common environment for experiments run in social groups of primates, accounting for more than half of the results. Approaches to mitigating the practical and statistical challenges were identified.DiscussionThis analysis has revealed that the study of primate cognition in a social setting is increasing and taking place across a range of environments. This literature review calls attention to examples that may provide valuable models for researchers wishing to overcome potential practical and statistical challenges to studying cognition in a social setting, ultimately increasing validity and improving the welfare of the primates we study.

The Development of Moral Self-Presentation

2020 ◽  
pp. 91-109
Author(s):  
Robin Banerjee ◽  
Gail D. Heyman ◽  
Kang Lee
Keyword(s):  
Social Groups ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Truth Telling ◽  
Moral Self ◽  
Self Presentation ◽  
Emotional Processes ◽  
The Social ◽  
Moral Context

Children come to recognize that the impressions one makes on other people can be controlled and managed. In this chapter, the authors situate the development of such “self-presentation” in the moral context, with attention to a range of relevant social, cultural, cognitive, motivational, and emotional processes. Children’s appreciation of self-presentational tactics such as self-promotion, modesty, and ingratiation is reviewed before turning specifically to the factors involved in deception and truth-telling. The authors analyze the emergence of children’s self-presentational competencies in shaping both their own individual reputations and the reputations of the social groups with which they identify, especially in contexts where moral and social-conventional rules have been transgressed. Key goals for future research that illuminates the nature and implications of children’s moral self-presentation are identified.

Towards a computational theory of social groups: A finite set of cognitive primitives for representing any and all social groups in the context of conflict

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-62
Author(s):  
David Pietraszewski
Keyword(s):  
Social Group ◽  
Group Representation ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Study Groups ◽  
Human Mind ◽  
Computational Theory ◽  
Mistaken Belief ◽  
Finite Set ◽  
The One ◽  
Definition Of

Abstract We don't yet have adequate theories of what the human mind is representing when it represents a social group. Worse still, many people think we do. This mistaken belief is a consequence of the state of play: Until now, researchers have relied on their own intuitions to link up the concept social group on the one hand, and the results of particular studies or models on the other. While necessary, this reliance on intuition has been purchased at considerable cost. When looked at soberly, existing theories of social groups are either (i) literal, but not remotely adequate (such as models built atop economic games), or (ii) simply metaphorical (typically a subsumption or containment metaphor). Intuition is filling in the gaps of an explicit theory. This paper presents a computational theory of what, literally, a group representation is in the context of conflict: it is the assignment of agents to specific roles within a small number of triadic interaction types. This “mental definition” of a group paves the way for a computational theory of social groups—in that it provides a theory of what exactly the information-processing problem of representing and reasoning about a group is. For psychologists, this paper offers a different way to conceptualize and study groups, and suggests that a non-tautological definition of a social group is possible. For cognitive scientists, this paper provides a computational benchmark against which natural and artificial intelligences can be held.

SOCIO-PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS OF WOMEN’S LONELINESS

2020 ◽  
pp. 171-188
Author(s):  
І. M. Leonova
Keyword(s):  
Interpersonal Relationships ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Antisocial Behaviour ◽  
Self Esteem ◽  
Structural Factors ◽  
Emotional Instability ◽  
Factors Influencing ◽  
Behavioural Types ◽  
Personal Qualities ◽  
Fear And Anxiety

Factors of loneliness experienced by women from different social groups, identified with factor analysis, are considered. Six structural factors were identified: neuroticism, an individual’s position in relation to herself and others, sociability, interpersonal relationships, personal potential, behavioural types. Each of these factors has a direction, so determines a woman’s sociality or, vice versa, deepness of her loneliness. We have determined that personal qualities developed due to experienced negative emotions, including low self-esteem, too high demands toward themselves and others, depression, fear and anxiety, insecurity, or emotional instability, contribute to antisocial behaviour (social indifference) and loneliness. A woman’s aggressive-negative position is one of the factors influencing her maladaptation to society and making her feels lonely. We can also argue that destructive communications also contribute to the feeling of loneliness. We have found that harmony and comfort at interpersonal relationships and loneliness depends on a woman’s position in interpersonal relationships, their distance and valence. Women with a high personal potential are less likely to experience feelings of loneliness than women with low personal potential. Moreover, fear and aggression directly affect the development of women’s depressed-aggressive behaviour, which leads to social maladaptation; this fact allowed us to understand the causes for the fear of being alone and the mechanism forming women’s feeling of loneliness.

Time budgets of group-housed pigs in relation to social aggression and production

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carly I O’Malley ◽  
Juan P Steibel ◽  
Ronald O Bates ◽  
Catherine W Ernst ◽  
Janice M Siegford
Keyword(s):  
Social Group ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Social Aggression ◽  
Growing Pigs ◽  
Least Square ◽  
Time Budgets ◽  
Aggressive Behaviors ◽  
Welfare Benefits ◽  
Production Parameters ◽  
Use Of Resources

Abstract Commercial producers house growing pigs by sex and weight to allow for efficient use of resources and provide pigs the welfare benefits of interacting with their conspecifics and more freedom of movement. However, introduction of unfamiliar pigs can cause increased aggression for 24-48 h as pigs establish social relationships. To address this issue, a better understanding of pig behavior is needed. The objectives of this study were to quantify time budgets of pigs following introduction into a new social group and how these changed over time, and to investigate how social aggression influences overall time budgets and production parameters. A total of 257 grow-finish Yorkshire barrows across 20 pens were introduced into new social groups at 10 wk of age (~23 kg) and observed for aggression and time budgets of behavior at 4 periods: immediately after introduction, 3, 6, and 9 wk later. Pigs were observed for duration of total aggression and initiated aggression (s) for 9 h after introduction and for 4 h at 3, 6, and 9 wk later. Time budgets were created by scan-sampling inactive, movement, ingestion, social, and exploration behaviors every 2 min for 4 h in the afternoon and summarizing proportion of time each behavior was performed by period. Least square means of each behavior were compared across time points. Pigs spent most of their time inactive. In general, the greatest change in pig behavior was observed between introduction and wk 3 (P<0.003), with gradual changes throughout the study period as pigs became more inactive (wk 3 vs. wk 6: P=0.209; wk 6 vs. wk 9: P=0.007) and spent less time on other behaviors. Pigs’ non-aggressive behavior and production parameters were compared to aggression using generalized linear mixed models. The time pigs spent on non-aggressive behaviors were negatively related to aggression (P<0.045) with few exceptions. Initiated aggression after introduction was negatively related to loin muscle area (P=0.003). These results show how finishing pigs spend their time in commercial facilities and indicate that behavior continues to change for up to 9 wk after introduction to a new social group. Efforts to reduce chronic levels of aggression should focus on promoting non-aggressive behaviors, such as exploration and movement, after the initial fighting that occurs immediately after introduction has waned and should be implemented for up at 9 wk after introduction into new social groups.

Longitudinal Pathways to Influenza Vaccination Vary With Socio-Structural Disadvantages

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bita Fayaz Farkhad ◽  
Alexander Karan ◽  
Dolores Albarracín
Keyword(s):  
Influenza Vaccination ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Structural Factors ◽  
Research Needs ◽  
Knowledge And Attitudes ◽  
Nationally Representative ◽  
Moderating Role ◽  
Vaccination Knowledge ◽  
Lower Educational Attainment

Abstract Background Although influenza vaccination can prevent influenza-related deaths, uptake remains low, particularly in disadvantaged populations. Purpose A theoretical model of psychological pathways to vaccination accounting for the direct and moderating role of socio-structural factors was tested. The study sought to understand the joint contributions of psychological (i.e., knowledge, attitudes, and intention) and socio-structural factors (i.e., income, education, and insurance) to influenza vaccination, prospectively. Methods A nationally representative empaneled sample of over 3,000 U.S. adults answered questions about vaccination knowledge, attitudes, and intentions, as well as actual vaccination across five timepoints from September 2018 to May 2019. Socio-structural factors were examined as moderators. Results Findings revealed strong positive associations between knowledge and attitudes, attitudes and intentions, as well as intentions and subsequent vaccination. Importantly, health insurance moderated the associations between attitudes and intentions and between intentions and vaccination, such that those without insurance had weaker associations between attitudes and intentions and between intentions and vaccination. In addition, education moderated the path from knowledge to attitude and from intentions to vaccination, such that people with lower educational attainment had weaker associations between knowledge and attitudes and between intentions and vaccination. Conclusions Socio-structural factors act as barriers to the influence of knowledge on attitudes, attitudes on intentions, and intentions on behavior. Future research needs to be mindful of the specific paths disrupted by social disadvantages and examine ways to intervene to decrease those effects.

Why does global democracy not inspire explanatory research? Removing conceptual obstacles toward a new research agenda

2018 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 68-88
Author(s):  
Hans Agné
Keyword(s):  
The State ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Explanatory Theory ◽  
Causal Explanations ◽  
Human Rights Protection ◽  
Global Democracy ◽  
Rights Protection ◽  
Political Outcomes ◽  
Democratic Practices ◽  
New Research

Democratic practices exist in politics within and beyond individual states. To date, however, it is only the democratic practices within states that have been analyzed in search for causal explanations of political outcomes, for example, peace and human rights protection. Having established the problematic nature of this situation, the purpose of this article is to explain why the situation emerges in political science and then to suggest a strategy to overcome it. The lack of attention to global democracy, or democracy beyond the state more generally, in explanatory theory is suggested to depend on prevalent but unnecessary conceptual delimitations of democracy which contradict standard assumptions about international politics. Those contradictions can be avoided, however, by defining democracy as rule by the largest group. It is argued that the concept of rule by the largest group, while protecting traditional virtues of democracy such as freedom and equality of individual persons in politics, allows scholars to describe a wider range of international practices than have been available for empirical research based on the dominating conceptions of democracy in normative and empirical literatures. Most fundamentally, it frees future research on the effects of democracy beyond the state from a key risk of self-contradiction.

Social Differentiation in the Use of English Vocabulary

1997 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 133-152 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Rayson ◽  
Geoffrey N. Leech ◽  
Mary Hodges
Keyword(s):  
Social Group ◽  
Geographical Region ◽  
Social Differentiation ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Analysis Tool ◽  
Spoken English ◽  
Transcription System ◽  
Group A ◽  
British National Corpus ◽  
National Corpus

In this article, we undertake selective quantitative analyses of the demographi-cally-sampled spoken English component of the British National Corpus (for brevity, referred to here as the ''Conversational Corpus"). This is a subcorpus of c. 4.5 million words, in which speakers and respondents (see I below) are identified by such factors as gender, age, social group, and geographical region. Using a corpus analysis tool developed at Lancaster, we undertake a comparison of the vocabulary of speakers, highlighting those differences which are marked by a very high X2 value of difference between different sectors of the corpus according to gender, age, and social group. A fourth variable, that of geographical region of the United Kingdom, is not investigated in this article, although it remains a promising subject for future research. (As background we also briefly examine differences between spoken and written material in the British National Corpus [BNC].) This study is illustrative of the potentiality of the Conversational Corpus for future corpus-based research on social differentiation in the use of language. There are evident limitations, including (a) the reliance on vocabulary frequency lists and (b) the simplicity of the transcription system employed for the spoken part of the BNC The conclusion of the article considers future advances in the research paradigm illustrated here.

Perceived Discrimination and Health: Integrative Findings

2018 ◽  
pp. 442-456 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adolfo G. Cuevas ◽  
David R. Williams
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Health Outcomes ◽  
National Health ◽  
Perceived Discrimination ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
The United States ◽  
Health Study ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Priority Areas

The Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) study was the first national health study to include a comprehensive battery to measure both major acute and chronic experiences of discrimination. Studies using MIDUS data have made significant contributions to the growing area of research on discrimination and health. This chapter provides an overview of research on discrimination and health, giving special attention to how findings from the MIDUS study have contributed to this literature. It provides a description of the discrimination instruments in MIDUS and summarizes key MIDUS findings that have examined discrimination in relation to health outcomes. This chapter outlines priority areas for future research. With growing recognition of the need to better understand the conditions under which specific aspects of discrimination are pathogenic for particular social groups, this chapter highlights the importance of using MIDUS to reach these goals.

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