Does social influence affect COVID-19 vaccination intention among the unvaccinated?

Conformist social influence is a double-edged sword when it comes to vaccine promotion. On the one hand, social influence may increase vaccine uptake by reassuring the hesitant about the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine; on the other, people may forgo the cost of vaccination when the majority is already vaccinated – giving rise to a public goods dilemma. Here, we examine whether available information on the percentage of double-vaccinated people affects COVID-19 vaccination intention among unvaccinated people in Turkey. In an online experiment, we divided participants (n = 1013) into low, intermediate, and high social influence conditions, reflecting the government’s vaccine promotion messages. We found that social influence did not predict COVID-19 vaccination intention, but psychological reactance and collectivism did. People with higher reactance (intolerance of others telling one what to do and being sceptical of consensus views) had lower vaccination intention, whilst people with higher collectivism (how much a person considers group benefits over individual success) had higher vaccination intention. Our findings suggest that advertising the percentage of double-vaccinated people is not sufficient to trigger a cascade of others getting themselves vaccinated. Diverse promotion strategies reflecting the heterogeneity of individual attitudes could be more effective.

THE TALENT VERSUS LUCK MODEL AS AN ENSEMBLE OF ONE-DIMENSIONAL RANDOM WALKS

The role of luck on individual success is hard to be investigated empirically. Simplified mathematical models are often used to shed light on the subtle relations between success and luck. Recently, a simple model called “Talent versus Luck” showed that the most successful individual in a population can be just an average talented individual that is subjected to a very fortunate sequence of events. Here, we modify the framework of the TvL model such that in our model the individuals’ success is modelled as an ensemble of one-dimensional random walks. Our model reproduces the original TvL results and, due to the mathematical simplicity, it shows clearly that the original conclusions of the TvL model are the consequence of two factors: first, the normal distribution of talents with low standard deviation, which creates a large number of average talented individuals; second, the low number of steps considered, which allows the observation of large fluctuations. We also show that the results strongly depend on the relative frequency of good and bad luck events, which defines a critical value for the talent: in the long run, the individuals with high talent end up very successful and those with low talent end up ruined. Last, we considered two variations to illustrate applications of the ensemble of random walks model.

The Purposes of History Education in the Context of “Flourishing Life”, “Powerful Knowledge” and Political Reconciliation

Stretching beyond its theoretical field, the debates about the purposes of history education are of great importance to curriculum writers and classroom practitioners. The content selection from a broad field of history is connected to what educators deem an overarching purpose of education. With this in mind, this paper aims to examine the purposes of teaching history against the background of the two general theories of education, namely – the theories of a flourishing life and powerful knowledge. While the theory of a flourishing life encourages the development of personal autonomy, allowing individuals to make successful choices, the theory of powerful knowledge examines the importance of traditional academic knowledge for individual success. The paper will also use the context of post-conflict societies, to reflect on the question of possible purposes of history education.

Success as social: Exploring young people's understandings of success in rural Java

<p>Using the case of desa wisata adat (official tourism and traditional cultural village) Ngadas, East Java, Indonesia, this thesis explores the meanings of success from the perspectives of rural young people and how the particular local context of Ngadas shaped their understandings of success. Unlike many rural young people in Indonesia, young people from Ngadas are known for their land ownership, successful farming, low rate of urbanisation and low participation in formal education. With its particular social, economic and cultural background, young people from Ngadas serves as a valuable case study to understand Indonesian rural youth success as it is situated within the village. In this research, I utilise Bourdieu’s theory of practice to focus on the practices of young people for success and explore the capitals and habitus within Ngadas (the field). In doing so, I explore how the adat (customs, rituals, values) is significantly embedded within young people’s practices for success in three key aspects of their lives: work practices, familial/relational practices and religious practices. Drawing on six weeks of ethnographic fieldwork with six youth participants and four village leaders, data were collected through focus group discussion or klumpukan, auto-driven photo-elicitation, individual interviews, and participant observation. My study shows that for young people in Ngadas, their success practices were underpinned by a form of social capital that is founded on reciprocity or a gift exchange which is embedded within and shaped by adat, and in turn also serves to maintain adat. The significance of social capital for young people’s success explains how success in Ngadas is founded on strong relationships, reciprocity, a sense of belonging, and a sense of community to maintain harmony or guyub rukun. Thus, social capital for young people’s success holds a symbolic value not only for the individual, but also for the field of Ngadas. The case study of young people in Ngadas also presents an understanding of success as illusio, a sense of purpose that is gained from investing in social relationships. It is an understanding of success as a sense of being and belonging with and for others that ties young people’s individual success to the collective success of Ngadas as an economic, social and cultural community.</p>

Success as social: Exploring young people's understandings of success in rural Java

<p>Using the case of desa wisata adat (official tourism and traditional cultural village) Ngadas, East Java, Indonesia, this thesis explores the meanings of success from the perspectives of rural young people and how the particular local context of Ngadas shaped their understandings of success. Unlike many rural young people in Indonesia, young people from Ngadas are known for their land ownership, successful farming, low rate of urbanisation and low participation in formal education. With its particular social, economic and cultural background, young people from Ngadas serves as a valuable case study to understand Indonesian rural youth success as it is situated within the village. In this research, I utilise Bourdieu’s theory of practice to focus on the practices of young people for success and explore the capitals and habitus within Ngadas (the field). In doing so, I explore how the adat (customs, rituals, values) is significantly embedded within young people’s practices for success in three key aspects of their lives: work practices, familial/relational practices and religious practices. Drawing on six weeks of ethnographic fieldwork with six youth participants and four village leaders, data were collected through focus group discussion or klumpukan, auto-driven photo-elicitation, individual interviews, and participant observation. My study shows that for young people in Ngadas, their success practices were underpinned by a form of social capital that is founded on reciprocity or a gift exchange which is embedded within and shaped by adat, and in turn also serves to maintain adat. The significance of social capital for young people’s success explains how success in Ngadas is founded on strong relationships, reciprocity, a sense of belonging, and a sense of community to maintain harmony or guyub rukun. Thus, social capital for young people’s success holds a symbolic value not only for the individual, but also for the field of Ngadas. The case study of young people in Ngadas also presents an understanding of success as illusio, a sense of purpose that is gained from investing in social relationships. It is an understanding of success as a sense of being and belonging with and for others that ties young people’s individual success to the collective success of Ngadas as an economic, social and cultural community.</p>

Self-Help in the 1990s: The Management of the Self in the Clinton Era

<p>In the 1990s, there was a presumption that the election of Bill Clinton marked a new kind of politics, one marked in part by the heightened visibility of therapeutic language and concepts in political discourse. This thesis questions that presumption by placing trends in the mainstream of self-help (as articulated directly in books and television talk-shows and indirectly in Hollywood cinema) alongside the policy agenda of successive administrations. A comparison of the Clinton era and the preceding Reagan-Bush era does indeed reveal parallels between the dominant strains of therapeutic culture and the dominant politics of each era. Some have sought to explain these parallels by arguing that therapeutic culture displaces traditional forms of legitimisation in the political system. Such an argument suggests that the therapeutic ethos succeeds where “traditional” institutions of all kinds (mainstream religion, the family, the law) are in a post-1960s state of decline. Others find that the influence works in the other direction: that the ethos of personal responsibility within contemporary self-help reflects the growing strength of neoliberalism as practiced by the state since the late 1970s. Neoliberalism here appears not just as an economic agenda but as a wholesale displacement of the social as an organising principle within people's lives - explaining away structural inequalities as the result of individual success and failure. In this argument, neoliberal policies under Clinton may differ in inflection but are essentially continuous with those under Reagan and Bush Snr. By contrast, this thesis argues that the prominence of therapeutic culture in the 1990s represents neither the decline of the social nor the rise of individualism. Following Nikolas Rose and the Foucauldian model of governmentality he uses, I argue that, on the contrary, there was, in the Clinton era, a deep concern both for the therapeutic healing of the self and for the reparation of the social fabric in the midst of a supposed “culture war.” However, the subject and object of that reconciliation differ in kind from that of the Reagan era. While Reagan-era neoliberalism associates freedom with the creation of markets in which rational, choice-making individuals can succeed on their own terms, the centrist politics of the Third Way under Clinton presupposes a world in which partnership not competition is the basis for a new ethical citizen-subject. A close reading of both eighties’ Recovery literature and nineties’ New Age literature shows that while the opposing themes of freedom and responsibility are foregrounded in both eras, the context, rationale and ultimately the meaning of these themes is distinct because they address two different kinds of subjectivity. Similarly, while the actual policies of the Clinton era may resemble those of the Reagan era, the rhetorical terrain of government had shifted: from the market unleashed to the community empowered. I argue that an analysis which seeks not to separate but align the personal and political provides the basis for more nuanced cultural history of both therapeutic culture and contemporary American politics.</p>

Self-Help in the 1990s: The Management of the Self in the Clinton Era

<p>In the 1990s, there was a presumption that the election of Bill Clinton marked a new kind of politics, one marked in part by the heightened visibility of therapeutic language and concepts in political discourse. This thesis questions that presumption by placing trends in the mainstream of self-help (as articulated directly in books and television talk-shows and indirectly in Hollywood cinema) alongside the policy agenda of successive administrations. A comparison of the Clinton era and the preceding Reagan-Bush era does indeed reveal parallels between the dominant strains of therapeutic culture and the dominant politics of each era. Some have sought to explain these parallels by arguing that therapeutic culture displaces traditional forms of legitimisation in the political system. Such an argument suggests that the therapeutic ethos succeeds where “traditional” institutions of all kinds (mainstream religion, the family, the law) are in a post-1960s state of decline. Others find that the influence works in the other direction: that the ethos of personal responsibility within contemporary self-help reflects the growing strength of neoliberalism as practiced by the state since the late 1970s. Neoliberalism here appears not just as an economic agenda but as a wholesale displacement of the social as an organising principle within people's lives - explaining away structural inequalities as the result of individual success and failure. In this argument, neoliberal policies under Clinton may differ in inflection but are essentially continuous with those under Reagan and Bush Snr. By contrast, this thesis argues that the prominence of therapeutic culture in the 1990s represents neither the decline of the social nor the rise of individualism. Following Nikolas Rose and the Foucauldian model of governmentality he uses, I argue that, on the contrary, there was, in the Clinton era, a deep concern both for the therapeutic healing of the self and for the reparation of the social fabric in the midst of a supposed “culture war.” However, the subject and object of that reconciliation differ in kind from that of the Reagan era. While Reagan-era neoliberalism associates freedom with the creation of markets in which rational, choice-making individuals can succeed on their own terms, the centrist politics of the Third Way under Clinton presupposes a world in which partnership not competition is the basis for a new ethical citizen-subject. A close reading of both eighties’ Recovery literature and nineties’ New Age literature shows that while the opposing themes of freedom and responsibility are foregrounded in both eras, the context, rationale and ultimately the meaning of these themes is distinct because they address two different kinds of subjectivity. Similarly, while the actual policies of the Clinton era may resemble those of the Reagan era, the rhetorical terrain of government had shifted: from the market unleashed to the community empowered. I argue that an analysis which seeks not to separate but align the personal and political provides the basis for more nuanced cultural history of both therapeutic culture and contemporary American politics.</p>

Coordination during group departures and progressions in the tolerant multi-level society of wild Guinea baboons (Papio papio)

Collective movement of social groups requires coordination between individuals. When cohesion is imperative, consensus must be reached, and specific individuals may exert disproportionate influence during decision-making. Animals living in multi-level societies, however, often split into consistent social subunits during travel, which may impact group coordination processes. We studied collective movement in the socially tolerant multi-level society of Guinea baboons (Papio papio). Using 146 group departures and 100 group progressions from 131 Guinea baboons ranging in Senegal’s Niokolo-Koba National Park, we examined individual success at initiating group departures and position within progressions. Two-thirds of attempted departures were initiated by adult males and one third by adult females. Both sexes were equally successful at initiating departures (> 80% of initiations). During group progressions, bachelor males were predominantly found in front, while reproductively active ‘primary’ males and females were observed with similar frequency across the whole group. The pattern of collective movement in Guinea baboons was more similar to those described for baboons living in uni-level societies than to hamadryas baboons, the only other multi-level baboon species, where males initiate and decide almost all group departures. Social organization alone therefore does not determine which category of individuals influence group coordination.

Measuring athletic performance in post-metamorphic fire salamanders

Objective Athletic performances are dynamic movements that are physically challenging and often predict individual success in ecological contexts. They stem from a complex integration of multiple phenotypic traits—e.g., morphological, physiological and behavioural—that dictate animal survival and individual fitness. However, directly quantifying athletic performances can be particularly challenging in cryptic, slow-moving species or not very reactive in attitude. Here we present and describe a rapid, simple, and low-cost method to measure athletic performance in post-metamorphic individuals of the fire salamander Salamandra salamandra. While extremely reactive during the larval stage, adult salamanders are, in fact, cryptic and relatively slow-moving. Results Forcing terrestrial juveniles to swim under standard, albeit ecologically plausible, laboratory conditions, and using an automatic point-mass tracking tool, we were able to measure maximal and average performance indicators of post-metamorphic individuals. This method avoids inter-individual variation in motivation, as it forces individuals to perform at their best. Moreover, with this method, measures of athletic performance will be directly comparable between larval and terrestrial stages, allowing to study the contribution of carryover effects to the wide range of processes implicated in the eco-evo-devo of athletic performance in salamanders.