SOCIAL STRESS AND DOMINANCE AMONG GROUP MEMBERS AFTER MIXING BEEF COWS

1990 ◽  
Vol 70 (2) ◽  
pp. 345-354 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. A. MENCH ◽  
J. C. SWANSON ◽  
W. R. STRICKLIN

Three groups of 10 spring-calving Angus and Hereford purebred and crossbred cows were placed in drylot paddocks from mid-November until calving to determine the influence of mixing mature beef cows from two different sources on social behavior and stress. Two Angus cows from an outside herd (alien cows) were placed in each paddock, and eight cows selected from the resident herd were added 1 d later. Agonistic behavior was recorded during a total of 21 30-min observation sessions over a period of 13 wk. Blood samples were drawn on days 2, 28 and 84 after penning and analyzed for cortisol, glucose and differential leucocyte counts. Breed-origin influenced (P < 0.01) social dominance values, which averaged 49.8, 48.7, 40.1 and 35.0 for crossbred, resident Angus, Hereford and alien Angus cows, respectively. Alien Angus received the most aggression during the first observation period (0–36 d after mixing) and initiated less aggression throughout the study as compared to resident cows. Physiological measures did not differ due to breed-origin, group or sample day, but there was a significant sample day × breed-origin effect for cortisol (P < 0.01), with levels for the cows from the most socially subordinate groups, alien Angus and Hereford, increasing over the sample days. The increasing cortisol values may have indicated cumulative social stress on the social subordinates within the groups. Other physiological variables, however, did not show a similar trend. We conclude that when small numbers of cattle from different sources are mixed the aliens are at a social disadvantage, and we speculate that under some conditions social stress on aliens and(or) subordinates may be additive over time. Key words: Cattle (beef), agonistic behavior, social stress, mixing, cortisol, immunocompetence

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ville Juhani Ilmarinen ◽  
Mari-Pauliina Vainikainen ◽  
Markku Verkasalo ◽  
Jan-Erik Lönnqvist

Sociometric status, the regard that other group members confer to an individual, is one of the most ubiquitous and behaviorally relevant attributes assigned to the person by the social environment. Despite this, its contribution to personality development has received little attention. The present three-wave longitudinal study, spanning the age range 7-13 years (n = 1222), sought to fill this gap by examining the transactional pathways between peer sociometric status (measured by peer nominations) and Five-Factor personality traits (measured by self-, parent, and teacher ratings). Sociometric status prospectively predicted the development of extraversion. By contrast, agreeableness and neuroticism prospectively predicted the development of sociometric status. Furthermore, individual-level stability in extraversion was associated with individual-level stability in sociometric status. The results were robust across different sources of personality ratings. We argue that peer sociometric status in the school classroom is the type of environmental effect that has potential to explain personality development. Due to its stability, broadness, and possible impact across a variety of personality processes, sociometric status can both repetitiously and simultaneously influence the network of multiple inter-correlated micro-level personality processes, potentially leading to a new network equilibrium that manifests in changes at the level of the broad personality trait.


Author(s):  
M.T. Mendl ◽  
D.M. Broom ◽  
A.J. Zanella

On many farms in Britain, the housing of pregnant sows in groups, principally in electronic sow feeder systems, is becoming an increasingly popular alternative to housing them individually in stalls or tethers. When sows are housed in large groups, particularly in "dynamic groups" where individuals are continually leaving the group to farrow and re-joining it after lactation, aggression between group members may become a problem. Aggression may give rise to social stress and injuries and may also have detrimental effects on production. In order to ensure good welfare and high production in group housing systems, it is essential to gain some fundamental knowledge as to how individual sows are affected by the social environment in which they live. This paper examines how a group of gilts responded to being introduced into an electronic sow feeder system and mixed with unfamiliar animals. Detailed data on behaviour, physiology and reproduction were collected for each individual in the group /in an attempt to examine whether the way in which individuals responded to the social environment had consequences for measures of their welfare and productivity.


1999 ◽  
Vol 58 (4) ◽  
pp. 233-240 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anouk Rogier ◽  
Vincent Yzerbyt

Yzerbyt, Rogier and Fiske (1998) argued that perceivers confronted with a group high in entitativity (i.e., a group perceived as an entity, a tight-knit group) more readily call upon an underlying essence to explain people's behavior than perceivers confronted with an aggregate. Their study showed that group entitativity promoted dispositional attributions for the behavior of group members. Moreover, stereotypes emerged when people faced entitative groups. In this study, we replicate and extend these results by providing further evidence that the process of social attribution is responsible for the emergence of stereotypes. We use the attitude attribution paradigm ( Jones & Harris, 1967 ) and show that the correspondence bias is stronger for an entitative group target than for an aggregate. Besides, several dependent measures indicate that the target's group membership stands as a plausible causal factor to account for members' behavior, a process we call Social Attribution. Implications for current theories of stereotyping are discussed.


2006 ◽  
Vol 65 (2) ◽  
pp. 117-124 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christina Stadler ◽  
Sonja Rohrmann ◽  
Sibylle Steuber ◽  
Fritz Poustka

In this study, the effects of an experimental-induced provocation on emotions and aggression were examined in 34 aggressive conduct-disordered children using a competitive reaction time paradigm. Two experimental conditions were created, an increasing provocation and a low constant provocation condition. Self-rated anger was assessed directly after provocation on a 5-point-visual scale. In addition, negative and positive emotions as well as physiological measures (heart rate and skin conductance level) were measured at baseline and after provocation. Results revealed that participants’ aggressive behaviour and subjective emotions differed as a function of the opponent’s level of provocation. Concerning physiological parameters, no significant differences were found between the experimental conditions. These results suggest that affective, but not physiological variables characterize reactive aggression in conduct-disordered children.


Author(s):  
Jenny J. W. Liu ◽  
Julia Gervasio ◽  
Kenneth Fung ◽  
Kristin Vickers

Abstract. This study examined whether the relationship between subjective and physiological outcomes of stress, and the responsivity to stressors, are affected by whether participants can see a visual display of their physiological output. Participants were randomly assigned to have a visible view of their physiological output readings, or to a condition in which physiological output readings were out of view. Participants individually completed a 30-min laboratory study including the modified Trier Social Stress Task. Both physiological markers of stress (heart rate and blood pressure) and subjective evaluations of stress (visual analog scale) were measured. Results found little congruency across subjective and physiological measures of stress. The visible visual display condition had elevated physiological arousal, while no group differences were observed in self-reported stress. Findings from the study provide insight into the use of visual physiological displays and hold practical implications for both the measurement of stress in research, and the development of wearable technologies without accompanying response strategies.


Author(s):  
Nerida Jarkey

This chapter examines the forms and usage of imperatives and command strategies in contemporary standard Japanese. Although commands are highly face-threatening acts in any language, speakers of Japanese encounter particular challenges in using them in socially acceptable ways. Commands are generally only given to those considered ‘below’ the speaker in the social hierarchy, and are normally considered appropriate only when used toward ‘in-group’ members. Further restrictions relate to the identity the speaker wishes to convey. Numerous command strategies have emerged to avoid using the most direct imperative forms, and some of these strategies have gradually come to be reinterpreted as imperative forms themselves, suggesting a loss of their original euphemistic qualities. Furthermore, when issuing commands, speakers often go to considerable lengths to soften the face threat, for example by giving reasons for the command, adding markers of hesitancy, or softening illocutionary particles, and using appropriate honorific language forms.


2020 ◽  
Vol 55 (3) ◽  
pp. 321-338
Author(s):  
Justice Richard Kwabena Owusu Kyei ◽  
Lidewyde H. Berckmoes

Literature on political vigilante groups has centred on the violence and conflict that emanate from their activities. This article approaches political vigilante groups as political actors who engage in political mobilisation and participation and therewith also contribute to nation state building. It explores how such groups participate in Ghana’s democratic governance and asks whether violence is an inevitable characteristic. The article builds on individual in-depth interviews and focus group discussions with political vigilante group members in Kumasi and Tamale in 2019. Findings show that political vigilante “youth” appeared to refer primarily to the social position attributed to non-elite groups in the political field. Political vigilante groups are multi-faceted in their organisational structures, membership, and activities both during electoral campaigns and during governing periods. While some groups revert to violence occasionally, the study concludes that political vigilante groups, in enabling different voices to be heard, are also contributing to democratic governance.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin Allan ◽  
Nir Oren ◽  
Jacqui Hutchison ◽  
Douglas Martin

AbstractIf artificial intelligence (AI) is to help solve individual, societal and global problems, humans should neither underestimate nor overestimate its trustworthiness. Situated in-between these two extremes is an ideal ‘Goldilocks’ zone of credibility. But what will keep trust in this zone? We hypothesise that this role ultimately falls to the social cognition mechanisms which adaptively regulate conformity between humans. This novel hypothesis predicts that human-like functional biases in conformity should occur during interactions with AI. We examined multiple tests of this prediction using a collaborative remembering paradigm, where participants viewed household scenes for 30 s vs. 2 min, then saw 2-alternative forced-choice decisions about scene content originating either from AI- or human-sources. We manipulated the credibility of different sources (Experiment 1) and, from a single source, the estimated-likelihood (Experiment 2) and objective accuracy (Experiment 3) of specific decisions. As predicted, each manipulation produced functional biases for AI-sources mirroring those found for human-sources. Participants conformed more to higher credibility sources, and higher-likelihood or more objectively accurate decisions, becoming increasingly sensitive to source accuracy when their own capability was reduced. These findings support the hypothesised role of social cognition in regulating AI’s influence, raising important implications and new directions for research on human–AI interaction.


Author(s):  
Simone Anzá ◽  
Bonaventura Majolo ◽  
Federica Amici

AbstractGenerally, nonreproductive sex is thought to act as “social grease,” facilitating peaceful coexistence between subjects that lack close genetic ties. However, specifc nonreproductive sexual behaviors may fulfill different functions. With this study, we aimed to test whether nonreproductive mounts in Barbary macaques are used to 1) assert dominance, 2) reinforce social relationships, and/or 3) solve conflicts. We analyzed nonreproductive mounts (N = 236) and postmount behavior in both aggressive and nonaggressive contexts, in 118 individuals belonging to two semi-free-ranging groups at La Montagne des Singes (France). As predicted by the dominance assertion hypothesis, the probability to be the mounter increased with rank difference, especially in aggressive contexts (increasing from 0.066 to 0.797 in nonaggressive contexts, and from 0.011 to 0.969 in aggressive contexts, when the rank difference was minimal vs. maximal). The strength of the social bond did not significantly predict the proportion of mounts across dyads in nonaggressive contexts, providing no support for the relationship reinforcement hypothesis. Finally, in support of the conflict resolution hypothesis, when individuals engaged in postconflict mounts, 1) the probability of being involved in further aggression decreased from 0.825 to 0.517, while 2) the probability of being involved in grooming interactions with each other increased from 0.119 to 0.606. The strength of the social bond between former opponents had no significant effect on grooming occurrence and agonistic behavior after postconflict mounts. Overall, our findings suggest that nonreproductive mounts in Barbary macaques have different functions that are not affected by the strength of the social bond.


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