Prey Status Affects Paralysis Investment in the Ponerine Ant Harpegnathos venator

The paralysis behavior of some ponerine ants when foraging may be important for food storage and colony development. However, how workers invest in paralysis under different prey circumstances is often overlooked. Here, we report the prey-foraging behavior and paralysis behavior of Harpegnathos venator under different food supply conditions. Solitary hunting was the main foraging mode of H. venator, with occasional simple collective hunting. Nymphal cockroaches with high activity were the most attractive to H. venator. In the experiment, we found that the stings of H. venator completely paralyzed the cockroaches. The stinging time was significantly longer at a higher prey activity level and for larger cockroaches. In addition, there was no significant difference in the stinging time of H. venator for different prey densities. The results showed that the longer similar cockroaches were stung, the longer it took for them to revive and move. These results are helpful for further understanding the behavioral mechanism underlying the food storage of live prey by predatory insects.

The Relationship Between Facebook Intrusion and Self-Control Dimensions Among Facebook Users

Previous studies have shown the essential role of self-control in the development of behavioral addiction such as gaming, Internet, or gambling addiction. On the one hand, most studies have considered self-control as a homogeneous phenomenon. On the other hand, little evidence has been found on the relationship between the self-control dimensions and Facebook intrusion (FI). Additionally, research on the relationship between the dimensions of self-control and FI has only been conducted on a group of gamers. Consequently, the aim of this study was to test the relationship between FI and the self-control dimensions among young Facebook users who were not gamers. A total of 991 individuals (785 females) took part in the study. The self-control dimensions were assessed with NAS-50 and FI was assessed with the Facebook Intrusion Scale. Taking into account the results of the structural equation analysis, the findings showed a significant relationship between FI and self-control dimensions such as inhibition and adjournment, initiative and persistence, and goal maintenance among young Facebook users. Based on this study, it can be concluded that the behavioral mechanism connected with FI may be primarily associated with a low ability to suppress or delay unwanted or improper actions and that this may contribute to the failure of goal-directed behavior. It can also be assumed that this mechanism is associated with a low ability to focus on goals and a low ability to induce efficient motivation and have persistence to achieve higher-order goals.

On The Likelihood of Acquiring a Premium Service Under Freemium and Paymium: Field and Experimental Evidence

The freemium sales model, which offers consumers the use of a free-basic service that may later be converted to a paid-premium one, has been widely adopted in the online application industry. More recently, the alternative paymium sales method, which unlike freemium offers the basic service at a fee, has gained popularity. We examine the likelihood of acquiring the premium service under freemium and paymium by (a) analyzing real-world data (N=52,156) from a large online classified real estate service that changed its sales model from freemium to paymium, and (b) conducting a series of controlled experiments with real monetary incentives. We consistently find a greater likelihood of acquiring the premium service under paymium and premium-only methods, as compared to freemium. Examining the behavioral mechanism underlying our robust results, we find that people demand greater compensation for relinquishing a free (vs. non-free) service—beyond the trivial difference in services’ costs. Our findings advance the theoretical understanding of the role of zero (vs. non-zero) prices on consumers’ sequential choices and contribute to practical implementation of effective online sales methods.

Reconceptualization of Eating Addiction and Obesity as Displacement Behavior and a Possible Treatment

Purpose: Displacement behavior is a bio-behavioral mechanism that allows an animal to deal with situations that cannot readily be faced nor avoided, or that are thwarting. It may explain compulsive overeating (eating addiction). Resembling addiction, displacement behavior is irrepressible behavior that is contextually inappropriate, e.g., sleeping or feeding when threatened by a predator, or binge eating in response to a work altercation. It is thought to be due to rechanneling of overflow brain energy to another drive (e.g., feeding drive) when two drives, e.g., fight or flight, equally oppose each other. Moving the opposing drives out of equilibrium, by resolving the person’s underlying problem/stressful situations, theoretically should mitigate the displacement mechanism and addictive overeating. Methods: We developed a mobile phone intervention targeting addictive overeating, including a displacement mechanism component. A displacement use subgroup (N=37) ages 14-24 with obesity (mean BMI= 38.1) identified life situations they could neither face nor avoid, or that were thwarting them, and developed action plans to address each situation. Feasibility and acceptability were evaluated. Results: Participants found the displacement component to be understandable and user-friendly. The majority (26/37 – 70%) used the core “Dread List” feature to input 90 individual dreaded/problem situations fueling displacement-based overeating, coupled with action plans to address each problem. Conclusion: The displacement mechanism may be a useful basis for treatment of eating addiction and obesity, and may provide individuals with hope that they can curb their addiction without relying on willpower to not overeat. A randomized trial evaluating the displacement intervention is planned.

Resilience of Nematode Connectomes Based on Network Dimension-reduced Method

The whole map of nematode connectomes provides important structural data for exploring the behavioral mechanism of nematodes, but to further reveal the functional importance and resilience pattern of nematode neurons, it is necessary to effectively couple the regulatory relationship between neurons and their topology. Here, with a typical signal excitation function we propose a model to capture the interacting relationship between the neurons, because a differential equation depicts the activity of a neuron, n neurons mean we need high-D differential equations to capture the neural network. With mean-field theory, we decouple this N-dimension question into a one-dimension problem mathematically. In our framework, we emphatically analyze the characteristics, similarities and differences of the structure and dynamical behaviors of the neuronal system for Caenorhabditis elegans and Pristionchus pacificus. The comparing results of simulating method and theoretical approach show that the most important homologous neurons between C.elegans and P.pacificus are I2 and NSM, which may lead to their different behavior characteristics of predation and prey. At the same time, we expect that the xeff index can be used to reveal the importance of neurons for the functional evolution and degeneration of neural networks from a dynamic perspective. In the hermaphroditic and male C.elegans, we test the control level of the intermediate neuron groups over the output neuron groups and the single neuron. These results suggest that our theoretical approach can be used to reveal the effects of bio-connectivity groups, potentially enabling us to explore the interaction relationship of neural networks in humans and animals.

Carrots or sticks in debt collection services? A voice metrics and text analysis of debt collection calls

PurposeAlthough phone calls are widely used by debt collection services to persuade delinquent customers to repay, few financial services studies have analyzed the unstructured voice and text data to investigate how debt collection call strategies drive customers to repay. Moreover, extant research opens the “black box” mainly through psychological theories without hard behavioral data of customers. The purpose of our study is to address this research gap.Design/methodology/approachThe authors randomly sampled 3,204 debt collection calls from a large consumer finance company in East Asia. To rule out alternative explanations for the findings, such as consumers' previous experience of being persuaded by debt collectors or repeated calls, the authors selected calls made to delinquent customers who had not been delinquent before and were being called by the company for the first time. The authors transformed the unstructured voice and textual data into structured data through automatic speech recognition (ASR), voice mining, natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning analyses.FindingsThe findings revealed that (1) both moral appeal (carrot) and social warning (stick) strategies decrease repayment time because they arouse mainly happy emotion and fear emotion, respectively; (2) the legal warning (stick) strategy backfires because of decreasing the happy emotion and triggering the anger emotion, which impedes customers' compliance; and (3) in contrast to traditional wisdom, the combination of carrot and stick fails to decrease the repayment time.Originality/valueThe findings provide a valuable and systematic understanding of the effect of carrot strategies, stick strategies and the combinations of them on repayment time. This study is among the first to empirically analyze the effectiveness of carrot strategies, stick strategies and their joint strategies on repayment time through unstructured vocal and textual data analysis. What's more, the previous studies open the “black box” through psychological mechanism. The authors firstly elucidate a behavioral mechanism for why consumers behave differently under varying debt collection strategies by utilizing ASR, NLP and vocal emotion analyses.

The Great Gatsby Curve

This paper provides a synthesis of theoretical and empirical work on the Great Gatsby Curve, the positive empirical relationship between cross-section income inequality and persistence of income across generations. We present statistical models of income dynamics that mechanically give rise to the relationship between inequality and mobility. Five distinct classes of theories, including models on family investments, skills, social influences, political economy, and aspirations are developed, each providing a behavioral mechanism to explain the relationship. Finally, we review empirical studies that provide evidence of the curve for a range of contexts and socioeconomic outcomes as well as explore evidence on mechanisms. (Stone Center on Socio-Economic Inequality Working Paper)

Optimal Artificial Neural Network based Data Mining Technique for Stress Prediction in Working Employees

Depression has become a common issue among IT industry professionals today. Lifestyle changes and new work culture increase the risk of depression among employees. Various companies and organizations offer mental health plans and try to pacify the work environment. However, the problem is already out of control. This research paper proposes an effective deep learning model for stress prediction among working employees with the help of lion optimization-based Optimal Artificial Neural Network (OANN) model. Here, the features are selected using optimal ANN technique and the diseases are predicted using lion optimization method. ANN technique eliminates inappropriate and unnecessary attributes in a significant manner, once the information on calculated characteristics and weight is disseminated to lion optimization classifier. The test results inferred that the Artificial Neural Network is highly efficient than the current OANN algorithm method, based on lion optimization. The study evaluated the data and found that the performance of employees working under normal conditions was higher when compared to the performance of employees who work under stress. Furthermore, attitude-coping efforts may be a cognitive-behavioral mechanism, which explains how workload is related to courage and work performance of employees with high stress level.

Modeling the Feedback Process in Teams: A Field Study of Teamwork

Research on teamwork has considered the effects of different types of feedback and information exchanged as teams coordinate their actions and has described team processes in terms of phases of task performance. Interpersonal communication processes represent the behavioral mechanism by which teams create shared mental models, but it is not clear how teams use and exchange feedback as part of these processes as they perform together. Using a 5-year-period, grounded theory methodology, we investigated how action teams exchange feedback to achieve teamwork. We examined the feedback process of three different elite French military teams. Our findings offer new evidence that action teams working in extreme/high stakes contexts use different types of feedback from multiple sources and that certain feedback sources are more relevant and certain feedback practices are more prevalent at certain stages. Specifically, throughout briefing, team task performance, formal debriefing, and informal debriefing stages, the teams we studied used information from multiple sources as they engaged in technique, reflexive, and socialization feedback practices. Teamwork was evident as the teams coordinated their action during recurring performance cycles. We use our findings to model the feedback process for teamwork and discuss implications for research and practice.