Covid-19 and the Social Construction of Reality in Jordan

Almost all nations are struggling to slow down the transmission of Covid-19 by restricting large gatherings and close social interactions. However, it is not expected that people will stop all social gatherings and interactions voluntarily. This situation requires the construction of a new social reality that compels people to abandon their traditional practices, particularly in countries such as Jordan that have a traditional social order and strong bonding social capital. Nevertheless, Jordan had the lowest rates of Covid-19 in the Middle East during the first four months of the pandemic, because its government used its power to impose restrictions and new regulations. However, the situation has become one of the worst cases in the entire world after the government eased its restrictions. The example of Jordan provides strong evidence that the social construction of reality sometimes requires coercive intervention. Thus, this article reconsiders and extends Berger and Luckmann’s theory of social construction by examining it in the realm of social power. The theory includes three significant processes of social construction: externalization, objectivation, and internalization that should consider the concept of social power to extend the range of its powerful explanation.

Narratives are Persuasive Because They are Easier to Understand: Examining Processing Fluency as a Mechanism of Narrative Persuasion

Theory suggests that people are more persuaded by information presented within a narrative. We argue there is room for greater understanding about why this may be the case. Accordingly, we 1) examine whether narratives are indeed more persuasive than non-narratives and 2) evaluate two theoretical mechanisms that could be responsible for these effects. Results from a laboratory-based, preregistered experiment (N = 554) support our primary argument that narratives are processed more fluently (easily) than non-narratives, and when processing is eased, persuasion becomes more likely. This work offers a parsimonious and powerful explanation for the advantages of providing persuasive information within a narrative format and advances theory in narrative persuasion.

Understanding neural signals of post-decisional performance monitoring: An integrative review

Performance monitoring is a key cognitive function, allowing to detect mistakes and adapt future behavior. Post-decisional neural signals have been identified that are sensitive to decision accuracy, decision confidence and subsequent adaptation. Here, we review recent work that supports an understanding of late error/confidence signals in terms of the computational process of post-decisional evidence accumulation. We argue that the error positivity, a positive-going centro-parietal potential measured through scalp electrophysiology, reflects the post-decisional evidence accumulation process itself, which follows a boundary crossing event corresponding to initial decision commitment. This proposal provides a powerful explanation for both the morphological characteristics of the signal and its relation to various expressions of performance monitoring. Moreover, it suggests that the error positivity –a signal with thus far unique properties in cognitive neuroscience – can be leveraged to furnish key new insights into the inputs to, adaptation, and consequences of the post-decisional accumulation process.

Network agency and network dynamics

The literature often has assumed, explicitly or implicitly, that entrepreneurs use networks to develop opportunity, access resources, and gain legitimacy in order to perform and achieve success. Entrepreneurs’ networks have become a powerful explanation of success and performance in academia, in the business world, and in the popular press. However, research so far predominantly has relied on static pictures of entrepreneurs’ networks, which potentially provide incomplete and inadequate understanding of what actually occurs. Rather than relying on such static pictures of networks, research should rely on and build on a more social-interactive and dynamic understanding of networks. This chapter develops a social-interactive network dynamics framework that outlines various theories, perspectives, and empirical results related to network agency and network dynamics. Thus, this network dynamics framework becomes the core of the authors’ entrepreneurship-as-networking perspective. The chapter ends with discussions of potential avenues for future research.

A unifying framework for understanding neural signals of post-decisional performance monitoring

Performance monitoring is a key cognitive function, allowing to detect mistakes and adapt future behaviour. Post-decisional neural signals have been identified that are sensitive to decision accuracy, decision confidence and subsequent adaptation. Here, we review recent work that supports an understanding of late error/confidence signals in terms of the computational process of post-decisional evidence accumulation. We argue that the error positivity, a positive-going centro-parietal potential measured through scalp electrophysiology, reflects the post-decisional evidence accumulation process itself, which follows a boundary crossing event corresponding to initial decision commitment. This proposal provides a powerful explanation for both the morphological characteristics of the signal and its relation to various expressions of performance monitoring. Moreover, it suggests that the error positivity –a signal with thus far unique properties in cognitive neuroscience – can be leveraged to furnish key new insights into the inputs to, adaptation, and sequelae of the post-decisional accumulation process.

How Soon Hath Time… A History of Two “Seminal” Publications

This review documents the history of the two papers written half a century ago that relate to this special issue of Cells. The first, “Sperm competition and its evolutionary consequences in the insects” (Biological Reviews, 1970), stressed that sexual selection continues after ejaculation, resulting in many adaptations (e.g., postcopulatory guarding phases, copulatory plugs, seminal fluid components that modify female reproduction, and optimal ejaculation strategies), an aspect not considered by Darwin in his classic treatise of 1871. Sperm competition has subsequently been studied in many taxa, and post-copulatory sexual selection is now considered an important sequel to Darwinian pre-copulatory sexual selection. The second, “The origin and evolution of gamete dimorphism and the male-female phenomenon” (Journal of Theoretical Biology, 1972) showed how selection, based on gamete competition between individuals, can give rise to anisogamy in an isogamous broadcast spawning ancestor. This theory, which has subsequently been developed in various ways, is argued to form the most powerful explanation of why there are two sexes in most multicellular organisms. Together, the two papers have influenced our general understanding of the evolutionary differentiation of the two forms of gametic cells, and the divergence of sexual strategies between males and females under sexual selection.

Is temporal leadership always beneficial? The role of job passion and synchrony preference

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between temporal leadership and employees' innovative behavior while considering the competitive mediators of harmonious and obsessive passions in work situations, along with the moderating role of synchrony preference.Design/methodology/approachInsights from the literature and affective events theory (AET) underpin the hypotheses on whether and how temporal leadership would affect employees' innovative behavior. A total of 365 responses were received, and 336 questionnaires were considered for the analysis. This paper examined the whole model through a path analysis using Mplus 7.4.FindingsThe results indicated the significant effect of temporal leadership on innovative behavior through harmonious passion which is moderated by synchrony preference, such that the positive effects are stronger when employee's synchrony preference is higher.Originality/valueThis paper contributes to the emerging literature on temporal management by examining the path of temporal leadership→ job passion→ innovative behavior to deepen knowledge of how temporal leadership may impact employees' innovative behavior. This paper also proposed a collaborative model related to temporal leadership and the synchronization of employees, providing a powerful explanation for the boundary conditions of temporal leadership.

Inference of a universal social scale and segregation measures using social connectivity kernels

How people connect with one another is a fundamental question in the social sciences, and the resulting social networks can have a profound impact on our daily lives. Blau offered a powerful explanation: people connect with one another based on their positions in a social space. Yet a principled measure of social distance, allowing comparison within and between societies, remains elusive. We use the connectivity kernel of conditionally independent edge models to develop a family of segregation statistics with desirable properties: they offer an intuitive and universal characteristic scale on social space (facilitating comparison across datasets and societies), are applicable to multivariate and mixed node attributes, and capture segregation at the level of individuals, pairs of individuals and society as a whole. We show that the segregation statistics can induce a metric on Blau space (a space spanned by the attributes of the members of society) and provide maps of two societies. Under a Bayesian paradigm, we infer the parameters of the connectivity kernel from 11 ego-network datasets collected in four surveys in the UK and USA. The importance of different dimensions of Blau space is similar across time and location, suggesting a macroscopically stable social fabric. Physical separation and age differences have the most significant impact on segregation within friendship networks with implications for intergenerational mixing and isolation in later stages of life.

Inference of a universal social scale and segregation measures using social connectivity kernels

How people connect with one another is a fundamental question in the social sciences, and the resulting social networks can have a profound impact on our daily lives. Blau offered a powerful explanation: people connect with one another based on their positions in a social space. Yet a principled measure of social distance, allowing comparison within and between societies, remains elusive. We use the connectivity kernel of conditionally independent edge models to develop a family of segregation statistics with desirable properties: they offer an intuitive and universal characteristic scale on social space (facilitating comparison across datasets and societies), are applicable to multivariate and mixed node attributes, and capture segregation at the level of individuals, pairs of individuals and society as a whole. We show that the segregation statistics can induce a metric on Blau space (a space spanned by the attributes of the members of society) and provide maps of two societies. Under a Bayesian paradigm, we infer the parameters of the connectivity kernel from 11 ego-network datasets collected in four surveys in the UK and USA. The importance of different dimensions of Blau space is similar across time and location, suggesting a macroscopically stable social fabric. Physical separation and age differences have the most significant impact on segregation within friendship networks with implications for intergenerational mixing and isolation in later stages of life.

Links between influence strategies and satisfaction: reexamination from the dyadic and network perspectives

Purpose Previous studies have investigated the influence strategy–economic satisfaction links within a pairwise framework. This study aims to reexamine this issue in a network context from both the structural and relational embeddedness perspectives. Design/methodology/approach An ego network approach in which the network consists of a focal distributor, other distributors and alternate manufacturers is adopted to measure the distributor’s network. Drawing on data from 124 distributors from China’s tire industry, a hierarchical multiple regression analysis is used to test the hypotheses. Findings The empirical results find a positive relationship between a manufacturer’s noncoercive influence strategies and the distributor’s economic satisfaction and an inverse U-shaped relationship between coercive influence strategies and economic satisfaction. It discusses the joint effects of coercive and noncoercive influence strategies and finds that the former mitigate the positive effects of the latter and that the latter flatten the inverse-U shaped effect of the former. Further, when a distributor spans rich structural holes, the effects of coercive and noncoercive influence strategies on economic satisfaction weaken. When a distributor has strong ties with its network members, the effects of noncoercive influence strategies are mitigated, while the effects of coercive influence strategies are enhanced. Practical implications This study provides implications for manufacturers, particularly concerning how to properly exert influence strategies to improve distributors’ economic satisfaction. Manufacturers should consider the attributes of the networks in which the distributors are embedded, involving structural holes and tie strength. They should also carefully use the two influence strategies simultaneously. Originality/value This study contributes to the influence strategy literature by incorporating a network perspective by empirically examining the different moderating effects of structural holes and tie strength; provides a new and powerful explanation for the effects that coercive influence strategies have on economic satisfaction by testing an inverse U-shaped effect; and examines the effects of the interaction of two strategies.