Social learning dynamics influence performance in career-oriented educational virtual environments

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bradley Dillon Pitcher ◽  
Tara Behrend ◽  
Daniel Ravid ◽  
Peter Mancarella
Keyword(s):  
Social Learning ◽  
Virtual Environments ◽  
Workforce Development ◽  
Social Dynamics ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Skills Training ◽  
Performance Outcomes ◽  
Learning Dynamics ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Group Members

Educational virtual environments (EVEs) are defined by their immersiveness and fidelity to real-life scenarios. EVEs are associated with positive learning outcomes, but research has largely not explored the psychological processes underlying these outcomes. We present two studies that explore this phenomenon in welding skills training. Study 1 provides evidence that welding career exploration in EVEs is associated with positive career-related attitudes. Study 2 explored psychological mechanisms that may explain the attitudinal and performance outcomes of skills training in career-oriented EVEs through a social learning perspective. Since EVEs vary in their level of immersion and fidelity, this study compared groups training with VR to groups using a desktop simulation. Findings indicated strong social learning dynamics in both EVE contexts, but effects were stronger for the VR condition. Learners within groups converged on performance, and the performance of group members who functioned as behavioral models significantly predicted the performance of other group members. Performance at the individual level, in turn, predicted career self-efficacy but only for men. Overall, we observed that social dynamics were powerful among both EVE conditions and that these processes influenced learner performance and attitudinal outcomes. We conclude with recommendations for implementing career-oriented EVEs in skills training and implications for STEM workforce development.

scholarly journals The social dynamics of collective problem-solving

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kyanoush Seyed Yahosseini ◽  
Mehdi Moussaïd
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Social Learning ◽  
Social Dynamics ◽  
Optimal Level ◽  
Individual Performance ◽  
The Other ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
Group Members ◽  
Collective Performance ◽  
The Individual

AbstractWhen searching for solutions to a problem, people often rely on the observation of their peers. How does this process of social learning impact the individual and the group’s performance? On the one hand, research has shown that individuals benefit from social learning in numerous situations and across many domains. Through social learning, individuals can access good solutions found by others, improve them, and share them in turn. On the other hand, this individual benefit may come at a cost: An excessive tendency to copy others often decreases the overall exploration volume of the group, thus reducing the diversity of discovered solutions, and eventually impairing the collective performance.Here we investigate the conditions under which social learning can be beneficial or detrimental to individuals and to the group. For that, we model problem-solving as a search task and simulate various amounts of social learning. We avoid model specific considerations by relying on a simple framework whereby individuals gradually explore the search environment – a two-dimensional landscape of solutions – while being attracted to the best solution of the group.Our results highlight a collective search dilemma: When group members learn from one another, they tend to improve their own individual performance at the expense of the collective performance. How is this dilemma affected by the structure of the search environment? By varying two structural aspects of the search environment, our results reveal that the negative effect of the dilemma is mitigated in more difficult environments.Finally, we show that single individuals can profit from a high propensity of social learning, which in turn is damaging for the other group members. As a consequence, if individuals continually adapt their behavior to maximize their own payoff, groups converge to a sub-optimal level of social learning. Unraveling these intricate social dynamics helps to understand the complex picture of collective problem-solving.

Pluralistic Ignorance Research in Psychology: A Scoping Review of Topic and Method Variation and Directions for Future Research

2021 ◽  
pp. 108926802199516
Author(s):  
Rikki H. Sargent ◽  
Leonard S. Newman
Keyword(s):  
Scoping Review ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Pluralistic Ignorance ◽  
Group Level ◽  
Conceptual Approach ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Group Members

Pluralistic ignorance occurs when group members mistakenly believe others’ cognitions and/or behaviors are systematically different from their own. More than 20 years have passed since the last review of pluralistic ignorance from a psychological framework, with more than 60 empirical articles assessing pluralistic ignorance published since then. Previous reviews took an almost entirely conceptual approach with minimal review of methodology, making existing reviews outdated and limited in the extent to which they can provide guidelines for researchers. The goal of this review is to evaluate and integrate the literature on pluralistic ignorance, clarify important conceptual issues, identify inconsistencies in the literature, and provide guidance for future research. We provide a comprehensive definition for the phenomenon, with a focus on its status as a group-level phenomenon. We highlight three areas of variation in particular in the current scoping review: variation in topics assessed, variation in measurement, and (especially) variation in methods for assessing the implications of individual-level misperceptions that, in aggregate, lead to pluralistic ignorance. By filling these gaps in the literature, we ultimately hope to motivate further analysis of the phenomenon.

scholarly journals Pay-off-biased social learning underlies the diffusion of novel extractive foraging traditions in a wild primate

2017 ◽  
Vol 284 (1856) ◽  
pp. 20170358 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brendan J. Barrett ◽  
Richard L. McElreath ◽  
Susan E. Perry
Keyword(s):  
Social Learning ◽  
Learning Strategies ◽  
Individual Learning ◽  
Adaptive Behaviour ◽  
Cultural Dynamics ◽  
New Techniques ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Important Variation ◽  
In The Wild ◽  
Innovation And Diffusion

The type and variety of learning strategies used by individuals to acquire behaviours in the wild are poorly understood, despite the presence of behavioural traditions in diverse taxa. Social learning strategies such as conformity can be broadly adaptive, but may also retard the spread of adaptive innovations. Strategies like pay-off-biased learning, by contrast, are effective at diffusing new behaviour but may perform poorly when adaptive behaviour is common. We present a field experiment in a wild primate, Cebus capucinus , that introduced a novel food item and documented the innovation and diffusion of successful extraction techniques. We develop a multilevel, Bayesian statistical analysis that allows us to quantify individual-level evidence for different social and individual learning strategies. We find that pay-off-biased and age-biased social learning are primarily responsible for the diffusion of new techniques. We find no evidence of conformity; instead rare techniques receive slightly increased attention. We also find substantial and important variation in individual learning strategies that is patterned by age, with younger individuals being more influenced by both social information and their own individual experience. The aggregate cultural dynamics in turn depend upon the variation in learning strategies and the age structure of the wild population.

“Scrub”

2012 ◽  
Vol 642 (1) ◽  
pp. 86-95 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott N. Brooks
Keyword(s):  
Social Dynamics ◽  
Social Worlds ◽  
Site Analysis ◽  
Ethnographic Fieldwork ◽  
The Social ◽  
Specific Setting ◽  
Group Members ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
Complete Account

Conducting ethnographic fieldwork in varied spaces, with different actors, enriches our understanding. A researcher may find paradoxes in practices and ideas and ask for clarification, or recognize that social dynamics and behavior are peculiar to group members present in a specific setting. This article highlights the usefulness of intentional variability and flexibility in the field. Researchers should plan to do multi-site analysis (MSA) to look for negative cases and opportunities to challenge commonsense notions. Additionally, this article emphasizes that the relationships built during fieldwork shape the data that are captured. Therefore, researchers need to consider the bases for their relationships, including what the subjects get out of them, and how subjects’ positionality affects what comes to be known. This perspective de-emphasizes false norms of objectivity and renders a more complete account of the social worlds we study.

scholarly journals A realist evaluation exploring simulated patient role-play in pharmacist undergraduate communication training

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Aisling Kerr ◽  
Judith Strawbridge ◽  
Caroline Kelleher ◽  
James Barlow ◽  
Clare Sullivan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Focus Groups ◽  
Communication Skills ◽  
Role Play ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Skills Training ◽  
Realist Evaluation ◽  
Communication Training ◽  
Pharmacy Students ◽  
Simulated Patients ◽  
Rank Test

Abstract Background Effective communication between pharmacists and patients is essential and improves health outcomes. Simulated patients (SPs) are trained to reproduce real-life situations and can help pharmacy students to develop and adapt their communication skills in a safe, learner-centred environment. The aim of this research was to explore how SP and pharmacy student role-play supports communication training. Methods A mixed methods realist evaluation approach was adopted to test an initial theory relating to SP role-play for pharmacy students. The intervention tested involved complex communication cases in a men’s and women’s health module in year three of a new MPharm programme. This SP session was the first such session, of the programme which exclusively focused on complex communication skills for the students. Data collected comprised video-recordings of both training and mock OSCE sessions, and from student focus groups. Communication videos were scored using the Explanation and Planning Scale (EPSCALE) tool. Scores from SP and mock OSCE sessions were compared using the Wilcoxon-signed rank test. Focus groups were conducted with students about their experience of the training and analysed thematically, through a realist lens. Data was analysed for Context-Mechanism-Outcome configurations to produce modified programme theories. Results Forty-six students (n = 46/59, 78 %) consented to their video-recorded interactions to be used. Students identified contextual factors relating to the timing within the course and the setting of the intervention, the debrief and student individual contexts. Mechanisms included authenticity, feedback, reflection, self-awareness and confidence. Negative responses included embarrassment and nervousness. They distinguished outcomes including increased awareness of communication style, more structured communication and increased comfort. However quantitative data showed a decrease (p < 0.001) in communication scores in the mock OSCE compared with scores from training sessions. Modified programme theories relating to SP training for pharmacy students were generated. Conclusions SP role-play is a valuable communication skills training approach. Emphasis should be placed on multiple stakeholder feedback and promotion of reflection. Time limits need to be considered in this context and adjusted to meet student needs, especially for students with lower levels of communication comfort and those communicating in languages different to their first language.

Copy the In-group: Group Membership Trumps Perceived Reliability, Warmth, and Competence in a Social-Learning Task

2021 ◽  
pp. 095679762110322
Author(s):  
Marcel Montrey ◽  
Thomas R. Shultz
Keyword(s):  
Social Learning ◽  
Cultural Evolution ◽  
Learning Strategy ◽  
Group Membership ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Learning Task ◽  
Minimal Group Paradigm ◽  
Learning Game ◽  
Group Members ◽  
Cumulative Cultural Evolution

Surprisingly little is known about how social groups influence social learning. Although several studies have shown that people prefer to copy in-group members, these studies have failed to resolve whether group membership genuinely affects who is copied or whether group membership merely correlates with other known factors, such as similarity and familiarity. Using the minimal-group paradigm, we disentangled these effects in an online social-learning game. In a sample of 540 adults, we found a robust in-group-copying bias that (a) was bolstered by a preference for observing in-group members; (b) overrode perceived reliability, warmth, and competence; (c) grew stronger when social information was scarce; and (d) even caused cultural divergence between intermixed groups. These results suggest that people genuinely employ a copy-the-in-group social-learning strategy, which could help explain how inefficient behaviors spread through social learning and how humans maintain the cultural diversity needed for cumulative cultural evolution.

Coworkers’ Relationship Quality and Interpersonal Emotions in Team-Member Dyads in China: the Moderating Role of Cooperative Team Goals

2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 687-716 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catherine K. Lam ◽  
Xu Huang ◽  
Frank Walter ◽  
Simon C. H. Chan
Keyword(s):  
Relationship Quality ◽  
Work Performance ◽  
Team Member ◽  
Performance Outcomes ◽  
Dyadic Relationships ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Interpersonal Emotions ◽  
Cooperative Team ◽  
The Individual

ABSTRACTThis study investigates the origins of discrete interpersonal emotions in team-member dyads using two independent samples from an education institute and a telecommunication services company in China. Results across both studies showed that the quality of team members’ dyadic relationships positively relates to interpersonal admiration, sympathy, and envy, and negatively relates to interpersonal contempt. Furthermore, teams’ cooperative goals moderate these dyad-level linkages. The association of relationship quality with interpersonal emotions is particularly pronounced in teams with less cooperative goals but buffered in teams with more cooperative goals. Finally, on the individual level of analysis, envy and contempt are inversely associated with team members’ work performance, objectively measured. These findings provide new insights about key antecedents and crucial moderators in the development of interpersonal emotions in Chinese work teams and reiterate the relevance of these emotions for tangible performance outcomes.

scholarly journals Crowd behaviour during high-stress evacuations in an immersive virtual environment

2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (122) ◽  
pp. 20160414 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mehdi Moussaïd ◽  
Mubbasir Kapadia ◽  
Tyler Thrash ◽  
Robert W. Sumner ◽  
Markus Gross ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Environments ◽  
Virtual Environment ◽  
Human Subjects ◽  
High Stress ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Social Conventions ◽  
Emergency Situations ◽  
Crowd Behaviour ◽  
The Individual

Understanding the collective dynamics of crowd movements during stressful emergency situations is central to reducing the risk of deadly crowd disasters. Yet, their systematic experimental study remains a challenging open problem due to ethical and methodological constraints. In this paper, we demonstrate the viability of shared three-dimensional virtual environments as an experimental platform for conducting crowd experiments with real people. In particular, we show that crowds of real human subjects moving and interacting in an immersive three-dimensional virtual environment exhibit typical patterns of real crowds as observed in real-life crowded situations. These include the manifestation of social conventions and the emergence of self-organized patterns during egress scenarios. High-stress evacuation experiments conducted in this virtual environment reveal movements characterized by mass herding and dangerous overcrowding as they occur in crowd disasters. We describe the behavioural mechanisms at play under such extreme conditions and identify critical zones where overcrowding may occur. Furthermore, we show that herding spontaneously emerges from a density effect without the need to assume an increase of the individual tendency to imitate peers. Our experiments reveal the promise of immersive virtual environments as an ethical, cost-efficient, yet accurate platform for exploring crowd behaviour in high-risk situations with real human subjects.

scholarly journals Who is Portrayed in Second Life: Dr. Jekyll or Mr. Hyde? The Extent of Congruence Between Real Life and Virtual Identity

2012 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernadett Koles ◽  
Peter Nagy
Keyword(s):  
Second Life ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Physical World ◽  
Social Environments ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Virtual Identity ◽  
Digital Environments ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Public Self Consciousness

Virtual social environments opened the door to individual experiences that may not be feasible or possible in real physical settings; in turn bringing to question the applicability of certain more traditional theories to digital environments. Addressing some of this gap in the available literature, in the current study, we compare virtual and real life identities simultaneously, as well as explore the impact of selfconsciousness on virtual identity. Our results indicate that while some of the overall trends are similar between identities constructed in the physical world and those constructed in virtual settings, different identity elements and dimensions tend to be emphasized to different degrees. Furthermore, we find evidence for the role of private in addition to public self-consciousness as influencing virtual existence. In other words, in addition to the general emphasis concerning the  role of socially influenced external elements in the formulation of virtual identities, the current study highlights the importance of more internalized and  individual level attitudes and perceptions, including one’s inner thoughts, emotions, and perspectives. Implications and future directions are discussed.

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