Accents as honest signals of in-group membership

Accents, along with other cultural features including shared place of origin, helped to increase the number of people with whom an individual could signal cooperative tendencies (Cohen, 2012). Yet as groups became larger and underwent continued fission and fusion, signals of group membership may have become more important to reduce the risk of infiltration (Foley, 2004). We would expect, as the risk of imposters grew along with group size, for signals of group membership to become more complex, and for true group members to become adept at recognising false signals (McElreath et al., 2003). Here we are exploring how well people who speak naturally in 7 specific regions of the British Isles detect mimicry of their own accent. Our findings suggest that individuals are better than chance at detecting accent-mimicry of their own native accents, supporting this evolutionary account.

Partial Measurement Invariance: Extending and Evaluating the Cluster Approach for Identifying Anchor Items

When measurement invariance does not hold, researchers aim for partial measurement invariance by identifying anchor items that are assumed to be measurement invariant. In this paper, we build on Bechger and Maris’s approach for identification of anchor items. Instead of identifying differential item functioning (DIF)-free items, they propose to identify different sets of items that are invariant in item parameters within the same item set. We extend their approach by an additional step in order to allow for identification of homogeneously functioning item sets. We evaluate the performance of the extended cluster approach under various conditions and compare its performance to that of previous approaches, that are the equal-mean difficulty (EMD) approach and the iterative forward approach. We show that the EMD and the iterative forward approaches perform well in conditions with balanced DIF or when DIF is small. In conditions with large and unbalanced DIF, they fail to recover the true group mean differences. With appropriate threshold settings, the cluster approach identified a cluster that resulted in unbiased mean difference estimates in all conditions. Compared to previous approaches, the cluster approach allows for a variety of different assumptions as well as for depicting the uncertainty in the results that stem from the choice of the assumption. Using a real data set, we illustrate how the assumptions of the previous approaches may be incorporated in the cluster approach and how the chosen assumption impacts the results.

Group Size of Indo-Pacific Humpback Dolphins (Sousa chinensis): An Examination of Methodological and Biogeographical Variances

Observer-based counts and photo-identification are two well-established methods with an extensive use in cetacean studies. Using these two methods, group size has been widely reported, especially for small dolphins. Both methods may come with potential errors in estimating the group size, yet there is still a lack of comparison between both methods over a broad range of group size. Particularly, biogeographical variances in group size estimates were often mixed with methodological variances, making it difficult to compare estimates from different geographic regions. Here, group size estimates of a small, shallow-water, and near-shore delphinid species, Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins (Sousa chinensis), were simultaneously sampled using observer-based counts and photo-identification at three regions in the northern South China Sea. Data showed that dolphin group size from two methods were highly variable and associated with sampling regions. Generalized linear mixed models (GLMMs) indicated that dolphin group size significantly differed among regions. Statistical examinations further demonstrated dolphin group size could be affected by a complex combination of methodological and biogeographical variances. A common hurdle to examine potential factors influencing the estimation process is the inability to know the true group size at each sample. Therefore, other methods that could generate comparable estimates to represent true group size are warranted in future studies. To conclude, our findings present a better understanding of methodological and biogeographical variances in group size estimates of humpback dolphins, and help yield more robust abundance and density estimation for these vulnerable animals.

Collective recognition and function in concepts of institutional social groups

We investigate ordinary concepts of institutional groups: stable, cooperative, and socially constructed entities like clubs, companies, and academic departments. We use a transformation paradigm to examine participants’ causal beliefs about how groups exist and persist over time. We consider whether participants believe groups are grounded in collective recognition or function. Participants' default views about groups see them as persisting because the members or a relevant third-party collectively recognize the members as belonging to a group (Study 1-4). Social groups are dual-character though (Study 5-8). There is a second sense: the true group. This true judgment is grounded in whether the group realizes its basic function. This sense is more influenced by participants' own ideological commitments. Thus, participants can disagree about whether a group truly exists even if they agree about the bare facts. We discuss implications for theories of conceptual representation.

Quantifying the effects of head movement on magnetic resonance spectroscopy estimates of gamma-aminobutyric acid

There has been keen interest in measuring in vivo GABA. However, GABA signal is low and typically measured using techniques vulnerable to the confounding effects of in-scanner head movement. This issue is particularly problematic for clinical studies since it may lead to Type I or II error in testing for group differences. While solutions to mitigate the effects of movement have been proposed, fundamental and largely unexamined issues are the nature and scale of this effect. We developed a method to quantify and characterize head movement during GABA spectroscopy and found that two parameters of movement, displacement and instantaneous movement, were inversely correlated with and accounted for 12.1% and 20.2% variance of GABA estimates respectively. We conclude that head movement can significantly affect GABA measurements and the application of methods to account for movement may improve of GABA measurement accuracy and the detection of true group differences in clinical studies.

Morality and Social Identity

Moral norms and values are key features of human essence, that provide the standards against which behavior is evaluated. Some moral norms and values are universally endorsed (e.g., “do no harm”), others can be more specific (e.g., “eat no meat”). Professional, cultural or religious groups and communities often define their own unique system of moral norms that true group members are expected to adhere to. These are used to identify ‘proper’ group members, regulate the behavior of individuals, and sanction those who transgress them. This is functional to the extent that such guidelines help provide groups and their members with a unique and distinct social identity. Yet they can also constitute a source of social tension and intergroup conflict. This hallmark feature of human morality represents an important challenge to contemporary societies.

A group-enhanced sprint interval training program for amateur athletes

Sprint interval training (SIT) can elicit improvements in aerobic and anaerobic capacity. While variations in SIT protocols have been investigated, the influence of social processes cannot be overlooked. As research supports the use of groups to influence individual cognitions and behaviours, the current project assessed the effectiveness of a group-based intervention with participants conducting SIT. Specifically, 53 amateur athletes (age, 21.9 ± 2.9 years; 53% females) took part in a 4-week training program (3 sessions per week, 30-s “all-out” efforts with 4 min active recovery, repeated 4–6 times per session), and were assigned to “true group”, aggregate, or individual conditions. Results indicated no significant differences between groups for the physiological measures. With regards to training improvements from baseline for all participants— regardless of condition — significant main effects for time were identified for maximal oxygen uptake (2.5–2.8 mL·kg−1·min−1, p < 0.001, η2 = 0.03), time-trial performance (14–32 s, p < 0.001, η2 = 0.37), and anaerobic power (1.1–1.7 k·h−1, p < 0.001, η2 = 0.66). With regards to the psychological measures, significant main effects between groups were found for motivation (p = 0.033, η2 = 0.13), task self-efficacy (p = 0.018, η2 = 0.15), and scheduling self-efficacy (p = 0.003, η2 = 0.22). The true group experienced greater improvements in motivation than the individual condition, but the aggregate and individual conditions demonstrated greater increases in task and scheduling self-efficacy. Though the SIT paradigm employed induced training improvements similar to previous work, the group intervention was not able to further these improvements.

Reparations for Genocide: Group Harm and the Limits of Liberal Individualism

In recent years, there has been a handful of lawsuits billed as attempts to gain reparations for the Armenian Genocide. These suits, however, have concerned only ancillary wrongs done to individuals, not the culpable harm done to the Armenian group as a whole through genocide. As such, these suits do not actually pursue reparations for the Armenian Genocide. Not only do awarded or negotiated reparations not function to address the damage done by the Armenian Genocide as a force of group destruction – a force whose consequences remain debilitating today politically, economically, culturally, and socially – but the basis of the cases is not the genocide. In fact, misrepresented as genocide reparations cases, they displace genuine reparation claims. The focus on individual suits and exclusion of genuine group reparations are a function of the limits of the Western liberal individual intellectual and political system that grounds international law. Only through fundamental changes in the guiding assumptions of that system will adequate, that is, true group reparations become viable.

In search of the true group animal: the effects of affiliation orientation and social comparison orientation upon group satisfaction

A study among 653 undergraduate students examined the effects upon group satisfaction of social comparison orientation (Gibbons & Buunk, 1999) and affiliation orientation, i.e. the preference for doing things together and in groups versus a preference for doing things alone. Affiliation orientation correlated positively with extraversion and agreeableness, and social comparison orientation correlated negatively with emotional stability and openness to experience. A multi‐level analysis showed that individual level variance in group satisfaction was explained by an interaction effect of affiliation orientation and social comparison orientation: a high level of affiliation orientation was associated with high group satisfaction of individual group members, but only among those low in social comparison orientation. Among those high in social comparison orientation, a high level of affiliation orientation was even associated, though not very strongly, with low group satisfaction. These effects were upheld when simultaneously controlling for all ‘Big Five’ personality dimensions. It was concluded that the typical ‘group animal’ is someone who has a strong preference for affiliation, combined with a low tendency to compare him‐ or herself with others. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.