The Appraisal and Endorsement of Individual and Public Preventive Measures to Combat COVID-19 and the Associated Psychological Predictors among Chinese Living in Canada

Aims: The study examines the factors related to the appraisal and adherence of the individual and public health preventive measures. Background: The effectiveness of the measures battling the pandemic was largely determined by the voluntary compliance of the public. Objectives: This study aimed to identify psychological perception factors related to the appraisal of individual measures and endorsement of public health measures during the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic among Chinese living in Canada. Methods: A convenience sample of 656 participants completed an online survey. Nonparametric Kruskal Wallis tests were used to compare COVID perception variables (e.g., perceived susceptibility, fear, perceived severity, and information confusion) among different sociodemographic subgroups. Bootstrapped regression models were used to assess the association of these variables with outcome measures. Results: Compared to their counterpart groups, lower perceived susceptibility was reported by adults 65 years and older (p = .002) or retired (p = .015); greater fear was reported by females (p = .044), those with lower education (p = .001), and Mainland Chinese (p = .033); greater perceived severity was reported by individuals with lower education and smaller household size (ps = .003). Perceived susceptibility was inversely associated with individual measure appraisal (p = .032). Perceived severity was positively associated with individual measure appraisal (p = .005) and public measure endorsement (p < .001). Conclusion: Individual behaviour measure appraisal was predicted by lower perceived susceptibility and higher perceived severity, whereas public health measure endorsement was related to higher perceived severity. These results inform the public and the policymakers about the critical factors that affect the preventive measure appraisal and endorsement.

Considering Sex and Gender in Epidemiology: a Challenge Beyond Terminology – Methodological Research

BackgroundEpidemiologists need tools to measure effects of gender, a complex concept originating in the humanities and social sciences which is not easily operationalized in the discipline. MethodsWe conducted a conceptual analysis and applied causal and mediation analysis methodology to standard questions in order to propose a methodologically appropriate strategy for measuring sex and gender effects in health.ResultsWe define gender as a set of norms prescribed to individuals according to their attributed-at-birth sex. Gender pressure creates a systemic gap, at population level, in behaviors, activities, experiences, etc. between men and women. A pragmatic individual measure of gender would correspond to the level at which an individual complies with a set of elements constituting femininity or masculinity in a given population, place and time. However, defining and measuring gender is not sufficient to isolate the effects of sex and gender on a health outcome. We should also think in terms of pathways to define appropriate analysis strategies. Gender could also be examined as a mechanism rather than through its realization in the individual, by considering it as an interaction between sex and environment. ConclusionsBoth analytical strategies have limitations relative to the impossibility of reducing a complex concept to a single or a few measures, and of capturing the entire effect of the phenomenon. However, these strategies could lead to more accurate and rigorous analyses of the mechanisms underlying health differences between men and women, and ultimately limit the sex and/or gender bias encountered in epidemiological and clinical research studies.

Synergetic measures needed to control infection waves and contain SARS-CoV-2 transmission

The public and scientific discourse on how to mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic is often focused on the impact of individual protective measures, in particular on immunization by vaccination. In view of changing virus variants and conditions, however, it seems not clear if vaccination or any other single protective measure alone may suffice to contain the transmission of SARS-CoV-2. Here, we investigate the effectiveness and synergies of vaccination and different non-pharmaceutical interventions such as universal masking (surgical, N95/FFP2), distancing & ventilation, contact reduction, and testing & isolation as a function of compliance in the population. We find that it would be difficult to contain SARS-CoV-2 transmission by any individual measure as currently available under realistic conditions. Instead, we show how multiple synergetic measures can be and have to be combined to decrease and keep the effective reproduction number (Re) below unity, even for virus variants with increased basic reproduction number (R0). We suggest that the presented approach and results can be used to design and communicate efficient strategies for mitigating the COVID-19 pandemic, depending on R0 as well as the efficacy and compliance achieved with each protective measure. At vaccination rates around 70%, the combination and synergies of universal masking, distancing & ventilation, and testing & isolation with moderate compliances around 30% appear well suited to keep Re below 1 and prevent or suppress infection waves. Higher compliance or additional measures like contact reductions (confinement/lockdown) are required to effectively and swiftly break intense waves of infection. For schools, we find that the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 can be contained by 2-3 tests per week combined with distancing & ventilation and masking.

General intelligence disentangled via a generality metric for natural and artificial intelligence

Success in all sorts of situations is the most classical interpretation of general intelligence. Under limited resources, however, the capability of an agent must necessarily be limited too, and generality needs to be understood as comprehensive performance up to a level of difficulty. The degree of generality then refers to the way an agent’s capability is distributed as a function of task difficulty. This dissects the notion of general intelligence into two non-populational measures, generality and capability, which we apply to individuals and groups of humans, other animals and AI systems, on several cognitive and perceptual tests. Our results indicate that generality and capability can decouple at the individual level: very specialised agents can show high capability and vice versa. The metrics also decouple at the population level, and we rarely see diminishing returns in generality for those groups of high capability. We relate the individual measure of generality to traditional notions of general intelligence and cognitive efficiency in humans, collectives, non-human animals and machines. The choice of the difficulty function now plays a prominent role in this new conception of generality, which brings a quantitative tool for shedding light on long-standing questions about the evolution of general intelligence and the evaluation of progress in Artificial General Intelligence.

Specificity of metacognitive regulation of educational activity in the context of using computer means of education

Introduction. The aim of the work is an empirical study of the problem of identifying and explaining the psychological consequences that appear during the complex introduction of computer teaching aids in the educational process. The investigated problem is relevant in theoretical and practical terms. Within the framework of this general problem, for the first time, a special class of determinants of pedagogical activity – metacognitive and metaregulatory factors – has been investigated. Materials and research methods. We used the most valid and reliable methods developed in modern metacognitivism – the method «Metacognitive Awareness Inventory» (G. Schraw, R. Dennison); MAI questionnaire (H. Everson); a method for diagnosing an individual measure of the development of reflexivity (A.V. Karpov, V.V. Ponomareva), as well as the author's methods for diagnosing an individual measure of the severity of meta-thinking, meta-memory and meta-decisions. Traditional methods of mathematical and statistical processing (ANOVA) were also used; methods based on the methodology of structural psychological analysis. 132 lecturers from the universities of Yaroslavl and Moscow took part in various stages of this study. Research results. It was established for the first time that this influence is fundamentally diversified, since its nature – measure and direction – is significantly different in relation to two categories of factors – metacognitive and metaregulatory. In relation to metacognitive factors, the influence was established for 5 out of 6 studied parameters, and for 4 of them it is statistically significant at a high level of significance – not lower than p <0.05. In relation to metaregulatory factors, the influence was not presented and the opposite tendency was established – with respect to 5 out of 6 studied parameters, there is an increase in the measure of their representation, which in 2 cases is statistically significant at the level of p <0.05. Discussion of results and conclusion. New data have been obtained that reveal and explain the general pattern, which consists in the existence of a significant determinative influence of computer teaching aids in professional educational activity on the nature and degree of representation in the structure of its psychological support of a number of important components of the metacognitive metaregulatory plan. The revealed influence is also fundamentally diversified, since its character – measure and direction – is significantly different in relation to the two indicated categories of factors – metacognitive and metaregulatory. As an integrative effect of the revealed patterns, there is a certain decrease in the degree of personality subjectivity in its implementation under the influence of the inclusion of computer teaching aids in the activity, which allows us to fix a previously undescribed phenomenon – the phenomenon of subjectivity reduction.

Despite Appearances: Comparing Emotion Recognition in Abstract and Humanoid Avatars Using Nonverbal Behavior in Social Virtual Reality

The ability to perceive emotional states is a critical part of social interactions, shaping how people understand and respond to each other. In face-to-face communication, people perceive others’ emotions through observing their appearance and behavior. In virtual reality, how appearance and behavior are rendered must be designed. In this study, we asked whether people conversing in immersive virtual reality (VR) would perceive emotion more accurately depending on whether they and their partner were represented by realistic or abstract avatars. In both cases, participants got similar information about the tracked movement of their partners’ heads and hands, though how this information was expressed varied. We collected participants’ self-reported emotional state ratings of themselves and their ratings of their conversational partners’ emotional states after a conversation in VR. Participants’ ratings of their partners’ emotional states correlated to their partners’ self-reported ratings regardless of which of the avatar conditions they experienced. We then explored how these states were reflected in their nonverbal behavior, using a dyadic measure of nonverbal behavior (proximity between conversational partners) and an individual measure (expansiveness of gesture). We discuss how this relates to measures of social presence and social closeness.

Application of Random Forest and SHAP Tree Explainer in Exploring Spatial (In)Justice to Aid Urban Planning

In light of recent local, national, and global events, spatial justice provides a potentially powerful lens by which to explore a multitude of spatial inequalities. For more than two decades, scholars have been espousing the power of this concept to help develop more equitable and just communities. However, defining spatial justice and developing a methodology for quantitatively analyzing it is complicated and no agreed upon metric for examining spatial justice has been developed. Instead, individual measures of spatial injustices have been studied. One such individual measure is economic mobility. Recent research on economic mobility has revealed the importance of local geography on upward mobility and may serve as an important keystone in developing a metric for multiple place-based issues of spatial inequality. This paper seeks to explore place-based variables within individual census tracts in an effort to understand their impact on economic mobility and potentially spatial justice. The methodology relies on machine learning techniques and the results show that the best performing model is able to predict economic mobility of a census tract based on its spatial variables with 86% accuracy. The availability and density of jobs, compactness of the area, and the presence of medical facilities and underground storage tanks have the greatest influence, whereas some of the influential features are positively while the others are negatively associated. In the end, this research will allow for comparative analysis between differing geographies and also identify leading variables in the overall quest for spatial justice.

Optimal Incentives Schemes under Homo Moralis Preferences

This study focuses on the optimal incentive schemes in a multi-agent moral hazard model, where each agent has other-regarding preferences and an individual measure of output, with both being observable by the principal. In particular, the two agents display homo moralis preferences. I find that, contrary to the case with purely selfish preferences, tournaments can never be optimal when agents are risk averse, and as the degree of morality increases, positive payments are made in a larger number of output realizations. Furthermore, I extend the analysis to a dynamic setting, in which a contract is initially offered to the agents, who then repeatedly choose which level of effort to provide in each period. I show that the optimal incentive schemes in this case are similar to the ones obtained in the static setting, but for the role of intertemporal discounting.

Concept and Structure of Tolerance (Experience of Theoretical Research)

Norms and values in societies are different in civilizational, historical, and ethnical aspect because they were formed according to the specific historical needs of each society. They contain the requirements for both intolerant and tolerant attitude towards ‘others’. The modern concept which social scientists use to try to grasp the sense of “peaceful coexistence in a multicultural society” is the concept of ‘tolerance’. Social science borrowed the concept of tolerance from medicine where tolerance is defined as a neutral or insignificant reaction of a living being to biologically active substances and objects that enter it. In social science itself, tolerance appears as a compromise (conflict-free) behavior in a multicultural society. According to the principles of organization, tolerance is divided into radical (fundamental non-violence) and moderate (civil society). Based on behavior, tolerance represents four levels: 1) unconscious tolerance (symbiosis); 2) conscious (educated) tolerance (indifference, conformism, understanding, consent); 3) self-serving (interaction, cooperation, solidarity); 4) actual (emotional) tolerance (affection, reciprocity, infatuation, love). In total, we get 22 (4 conscious + 3 self-serving + 4 actual) × 2 (radical and moderate) types of tolerance, plus unconscious tolerance/symbiosis. The problem of tolerance is the problem of the correlation of good and harm arising from compromise (conflict-free) behavior in a multicultural society. Therefore, tolerance is an individual measure of good/harm arising from compromise (conflict-free) behavior in a multicultural society. Values can be normative (individual measure of good/harm corresponding to their social measure) and non-normative (individual measure of good/harm not corresponding to their social measure). The absence of a definition of tolerance in modern legislation indicates the normative nature of this value. Consequently, tolerance is a non-normative value of compromise (conflict-free) behavior in a multicultural society. Aim: theoretical study and definition of the concept and structure of tolerance. Keywords: tolerance, value, norm, structure of tolerance

How the Bachelors of Psychology Reflect on Professional Speech: The State of Discursive Reflexivity Development

The article deals with one of the problems of reflexive psycholinguistics; namely: reflections of speakers – future psychotherapists and psycho-counselors – on professional speech, its awareness and control over its generation. The purpose of the article is to describe the results of the theoretical and empirical study of spontaneous and reflexive speech processes in Bachelors of Psychology, who have entered the Master’s program in the speciality 053 Psychology (specialization – “psychotherapy” and “psychological counseling”). The article presents conceptual approaches, criteria indicators, methods and techniques that contributed to the study of reflection on professional speech, which facilitated the study of how the Bachelors of Psychology reflect on professional speech and if it is refined, what reflection is it: spontaneous or arbitrary?; Conscious or unconscious is the control over the generative process?; How they objectify the language of their profession: whether it is “transparent” in them or has become an object of perception?; What is the extent to which they reflect on professional speech?. Methods & Techniques. Using a set of methods (discourse analysis of transcribed psychotherapeutic discourses, produced by respondents, content analysis, observation of professionally centered speech, analysis of informants’ judgments about their speech and their individual language, analysis of the done by them self-analysis of audio recordings of their psychotherapeutic discourses) and techniques (tests of achievement with closed and open tasks, tests with one radical; diagnostics of an individual measure of expression the properties of speech reflectivity) there were identified two levels of reflectiveness development in professional speech. Results. Identified two levels of reflectiveness development in professional speech: 1) low level, which is characterized by such qualitative characteristics, as spontaneous reflection on professional speech at the level of unconsciousness, complete absence of objectification of the language of specialty and control over the speech, dominance of interpsychic spontaneous (situationally revealed) reflection on professionally directed speech, lack of situational, retrospective and perspective reflection; 2) the average level when in respondents is observed manifestation of spontaneous reflection on professional speech at the level of unconscious control, the lack of objectification of the language of their specialty, the dominance of interpsychic reflection on speech, the presence of spontaneous situational reflection in the absence of retrospective and perspective professional speech reflexivity. The respondents which can be referred to the high level of reflexivity development were not revealed. Conclusions. It is established that empirically the reflection on professional speech in students is not formed enough. Purposeful psycholinguistic-didactic influences are required for ensuring the success of the professional speech of the Bachelors of Psychology.