Do Social Networks Influence Small-Scale Fishermen’s Enforcement of Sea Tenure?

Resource systems with enforced rules and strong monitoring systems typically have more predictable resource abundance, which can confer economic and social benefits to local communities. Co-management regimes demonstrate better social and ecological outcomes, but require an active role by community members in management activities, such as monitoring and enforcement. Previous work has emphasized understanding what makes fishermen comply with rules. This research takes a different approach to understand what influences an individual to enforce rules, particularly sea tenure. We conducted interviews and used multiple regression and Akaike’s Information Criteria model selection to evaluate the effect of social networks, food security, recent catch success, fisherman’s age and personal gear investment on individual’s enforcement of sea tenure. We found that fishermen’s enforcement of sea tenure declined between the two time periods measured and that social networks, age, food security, and changes in gear investment explained enforcement behavior across three different communities on Nicaragua’s Atlantic Coast, an area undergoing rapid globalization.     

The Quality of Spouses’ Social Networks Contributes to Each Other’s Cardiovascular Risk

Objectives

Although the quality of one’s own social relationships has been related to cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, whether a partner’s social network quality can similarly influence one’s cardiovascular risk is unknown. In this study we tested whether the quality of a partner’s social networks influenced one’s own ambulatory blood pressure (ABP).

Methods

The quality of 94 couples’ social networks was determined using a comprehensive model of relationships that separates out social ties that are sources of positivity(supportive), negativity (aversive), and both positivity and negativity (ambivalent). We then utilized statistical models (actor-partner analyses) that allowed us to separate out the links between one’s own social network quality on ABP (actor influences), a partner’s social network quality on ABP (partner influences), and a couple’s network quality combined on ABP (actor X partner interactions).

Results

Independent of one’s own relationship quality, results showed that an individual’s ABP was lower if their spouse had more supportive ties, and higher if a spouse had more aversive and ambivalent ties. In addition, couples’ networks in combination were associated with higher ABP but only if both had a low number of supportive ties, or a high number of aversive or ambivalent ties.

Conclusions

These data suggest that the social ties of those we have close relationships with may influence our cardiovascular risk and opens new opportunities to capitalize on untapped social resources or to mitigate hidden sources of social strain.     

Self-Fulfilling Prophecies as a Link between Men’s Facial Width-to-Height Ratio and Behavior

The facial width-to-height ratio (fWHR) has been identified as a reliable predictor of men’s behavior, with researchers focusing on evolutionary selection pressures as the underlying mechanism explaining these relationships. In this paper, we complement this approach and examine the extent to which social processes also determine the extent to which men’s fWHR serves as a behavioral cue. Specifically, we propose that observers’ treatment of target men based on the targets’ fWHR subsequently affects behavior, leading the targets to behave in ways that are consistent with the observers’ expectations (i.e., a self-fulfilling prophecy). Results from four studies demonstrate that individuals behave more selfishly when interacting with men with greater fWHRs, and this selfish behavior, in turn, elicits selfish behavior in others.     

Environmental transmission of a personality trait: foster parent exploration behaviour predicts offspring exploration behaviour in zebra finches

Consistent behavioural differences among individuals are common in many species and can have important effects on offspring fitness. To understand such ‘personality’ variation, it is important to determine the mode of inheritance, but this has been quantified for only a few species. Here, we report results from a breeding experiment in captive zebra finches, Taeniopygia guttata, in which we cross-fostered offspring to disentangle the importance of genetic and non-genetic transmission of behaviour. Genetic and foster-parents’ exploratory type was measured in a novel environment pre-breeding and offspring exploratory type was assessed at adulthood. Offspring exploratory type was predicted by the exploratory behaviour of the foster but not the genetic parents, whereas offspring size was predicted by genetic but not foster-parents’ size. Other aspects of the social environment, such as rearing regime (uni- versus biparental), hatching position, brood size or an individual''s sex did not influence offspring exploration. Our results therefore indicate that non-genetic transmission of behaviour can play an important role in shaping animal personality variation.     

Social cognitive impairment and autism: what are we trying to explain?

Early psychological theories of autism explained the clinical features of this condition in terms of perceptual and sensory processing impairments. The arrival of domain-specific social cognitive theories changed this focus, postulating a ‘primary’ and specific psychological impairment of social cognition. Across the years, evidence has been growing in support of social cognitive and social attention explanations in autism. However, there has also been evidence for general non-social cognitive impairments in representational understanding, attention allocation and sensory processing. Here, I review recent findings and consider the case for the specificity and primacy of the social cognitive impairment, proposing that we should focus more explicitly on clinically valid features for insights on the integration of ‘social’ and ‘non-social’ cognition.     

Power through ‘Us’: Leaders’ Use of We-Referencing Language Predicts Election Victory

Leaders have been observed to use distinct rhetorical strategies, but it is unclear to what extent such strategies are effective. To address this issue we analyzed the official election campaign speeches of successful and unsuccessful Prime Ministerial candidates in all 43 Australian Federal elections since independence from Britain in 1901 and measured candidates'' use of personal (‘I’, ‘me’) and collective pronouns (‘we’, ‘us’). Victors used more collective pronouns than their unsuccessful opponents in 80% of all elections. Across all elections, victors made 61% more references to ‘we’ and ‘us’ and used these once every 79 words (vs. every 136 words for losers). Extending social identity theorizing, this research suggests that electoral endorsement is associated with leaders'' capacity to engage with, and speak on behalf of, a collective identity that is shared with followers whose support and energies they seek to mobilize.     

Social Engagement,Health, and Changes in Occupational Status: Analysis of the Korean Longitudinal Study of Ageing (KLoSA)

Background

We focused on whether changes in the occupational status of older male adults can be influenced by social engagement and health status measured at the baseline.

Methods

This study used a sample of the Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging (KLoSA), and the study population was restricted to 1.531 men who were aged 55 to 80 years at the 2006 baseline survey and participated in the second survey in 2008. Social engagement and health status, measured by the number of chronic diseases, grip strength, and depressive symptoms as well as covariates (age, marital status, educational level, and household income) were based on data from the 2006 baseline survey. Occupational engagement over the first and second survey was divided into four categories: ‘consistently employed’ (n = 892), ‘employed-unemployed’ (n = 152), ‘unemployed-employed’ (n = 138), and ‘consistently unemployed’ (n = 349).

Results

In the multinomial model, the ‘consistently employed’ and ‘unemployed-employed’ groups had significantly higher social engagement (1.19 and 1.32 times, respectively) than the referent. The number of chronic diseases was significantly associated with four occupational changes, and the ‘unemployed-employed’ had the fewest chronic conditions.

Conclusion

Our finding suggests that social engagement and health status are likely to affect opportunities to continue working or to start working for older male adults.     

Social Cognition in Individuals at Ultra-High Risk for Psychosis: A Meta-Analysis

Objective

Treatment in the ultra-high risk stage for a psychotic episode is critical to the course of symptoms. Markers for the development of psychosis have been studied, to optimize the detection of people at risk of psychosis. One possible marker for the transition to psychosis is social cognition. To estimate effect sizes for social cognition based on a quantitative integration of the published evidence, we conducted a meta-analysis of social cognitive performance in people at ultra high risk (UHR).

Methods

A literature search (1970-July 2015) was performed in PubMed, PsychINFO, Medline, Embase, and ISI Web of Science, using the search terms ‘social cognition’, ‘theory of mind’, ‘emotion recognition’, ‘attributional style’, ‘social knowledge’, ‘social perception’, ‘empathy’, ‘at risk mental state’, ‘clinical high risk’, ‘psychosis prodrome’, and ‘ultra high risk’. The pooled effect size (Cohen’s D) and the effect sizes for each domain of social cognition were calculated. A random effects model with 95% confidence intervals was used.

Results

Seventeen studies were included in the analysis. The overall significant effect was of medium magnitude (d = 0.52, 95% Cl = 0.38–0.65). No moderator effects were found for age, gender and sample size. Sub-analyses demonstrated that individuals in the UHR phase show significant moderate deficits in affect recognition and affect discrimination in faces as well as in voices and in verbal Theory of Mind (TOM). Due to an insufficient amount of studies, we did not calculate an effect size for attributional bias and social perception/ knowledge. A majority of studies did not find a correlation between social cognition deficits and transition to psychosis, which may suggest that social cognition in general is not a useful marker for the development of psychosis. However some studies suggest the possible predictive value of verbal TOM and the recognition of specific emotions in faces for the transition into psychosis. More research is needed on these subjects.

Conclusion

The published literature indicates consistent general impairments in social cognition in people in the UHR phase, but only very specific impairments seem to predict transition to psychosis.     

Development of Eye Position Dependency of Slow Phase Velocity during Caloric Stimulation

The nystagmus in patients with vestibular disorders often has an eye position dependency, called Alexander’s law, where the slow phase velocity is higher with gaze in the fast phase direction compared with gaze in the slow phase direction. Alexander’s law has been hypothesized to arise either due to adaptive changes in the velocity-to-position neural integrator, or as a consequence of processing of the vestibular-ocular reflex. We tested whether Alexander’s law arises only as a consequence of non-physiologic vestibular stimulation. We measured the time course of the development of Alexander’s law in healthy humans with nystagmus caused by three types of caloric vestibular stimulation: cold (unilateral inhibition), warm (unilateral excitation), and simultaneous bilateral bithermal (one side cold, the other warm) stimulation, mimicking the normal push-pull pattern of vestibular stimulation. Alexander’s law, measured as a negative slope of the velocity versus position curve, was observed in all conditions. A reversed pattern of eye position dependency (positive slope) was found <10% of the time. The slope often changed with nystagmus velocity (cross-correlation of nystagmus speed and slope was significant in 50% of cases), and the average lag of the slope with the speed was not significantly different from zero. Our results do not support the hypothesis that Alexander’s law can only be observed with non-physiologic vestibular stimulation. Further, the rapid development of Alexander’s law, while possible for an adaptive mechanism, is nonetheless quite fast compared to most other ocular motor adaptations. These results suggest that Alexander’s law may not be a consequence of a true adaptive mechanism.     

Social structure of primate interaction networks facilitates the emergence of cooperation

Animal cooperation has puzzled biologists for a long time as its existence seems to contravene the basic notion of evolutionary biology that natural selection favours ‘selfish’ genes that promote only their own well-being. Evolutionary game theory has shown that cooperators can prosper in populations of selfish individuals if they occur in clusters, interacting more frequently with each other than with the selfish. Here we show that social networks of primates possess the necessary social structure to promote the emergence of cooperation. By simulating evolutionary dynamics of cooperative behaviour on interaction networks of 70 primate groups, we found that for most groups network reciprocity augmented the fixation probability for cooperation. The variation in the strength of this effect can be partly explained by the groups’ community modularity—a network measure for the groups’ heterogeneity. Thus, given selective update and partner choice mechanisms, network reciprocity has the potential to explain socially learned forms of cooperation in primate societies.     

The Brain’s Response to the Human Voice Depends on the Incidence of Autistic Traits in the General Population

Optimal brain sensitivity to the fundamental frequency (F0) contour changes in the human voice is important for understanding a speaker’s intonation, and consequently, the speaker’s attitude. However, whether sensitivity in the brain’s response to a human voice F0 contour change varies with an interaction between an individual’s traits (i.e., autistic traits) and a human voice element (i.e., presence or absence of communicative action such as calling) has not been investigated. In the present study, we investigated the neural processes involved in the perception of F0 contour changes in the Japanese monosyllables “ne” and “nu.” “Ne” is an interjection that means “hi” or “hey” in English; pronunciation of “ne” with a high falling F0 contour is used when the speaker wants to attract a listener’s attention (i.e., social intonation). Meanwhile, the Japanese concrete noun “nu” has no communicative meaning. We applied an adaptive spatial filtering method to the neuromagnetic time course recorded by whole-head magnetoencephalography (MEG) and estimated the spatiotemporal frequency dynamics of event-related cerebral oscillatory changes in beta band during the oddball paradigm. During the perception of the F0 contour change when “ne” was presented, there was event-related de-synchronization (ERD) in the right temporal lobe. In contrast, during the perception of the F0 contour change when “nu” was presented, ERD occurred in the left temporal lobe and in the bilateral occipital lobes. ERD that occurred during the social stimulus “ne” in the right hemisphere was significantly correlated with a greater number of autistic traits measured according to the Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ), suggesting that the differences in human voice processing are associated with higher autistic traits, even in non-clinical subjects.     

Never Say No … How the Brain Interprets the Pregnant Pause in Conversation

In conversation, negative responses to invitations, requests, offers, and the like are more likely to occur with a delay–conversation analysts talk of them as dispreferred. Here we examine the contrastive cognitive load ‘yes’ and ‘no’ responses make, either when relatively fast (300 ms after question offset) or delayed (1000 ms). Participants heard short dialogues contrasting in speed and valence of response while having their EEG recorded. We found that a fast ‘no’ evokes an N400-effect relative to a fast ‘yes’; however, this contrast disappeared in the delayed responses. ''No'' responses, however, elicited a late frontal positivity both if they were fast and if they were delayed. We interpret these results as follows: a fast ‘no’ evoked an N400 because an immediate response is expected to be positive–this effect disappears as the response time lengthens because now in ordinary conversation the probability of a ‘no’ has increased. However, regardless of the latency of response, a ‘no’ response is associated with a late positivity, since a negative response is always dispreferred. Together these results show that negative responses to social actions exact a higher cognitive load, but especially when least expected, in immediate response.     

Genetic composition of social groups influences male aggressive behaviour and fitness in natural genotypes of Drosophila melanogaster

Indirect genetic effects (IGEs) describe how an individual''s behaviour—which is influenced by his or her genotype—can affect the behaviours of interacting individuals. IGE research has focused on dyads. However, insights from social networks research, and other studies of group behaviour, suggest that dyadic interactions are affected by the behaviour of other individuals in the group. To extend IGE inferences to groups of three or more, IGEs must be considered from a group perspective. Here, I introduce the ‘focal interaction’ approach to study IGEs in groups. I illustrate the utility of this approach by studying aggression among natural genotypes of Drosophila melanogaster. I chose two natural genotypes as ‘focal interactants’: the behavioural interaction between them was the ‘focal interaction’. One male from each focal interactant genotype was present in every group, and I varied the genotype of the third male—the ‘treatment male’. Genetic variation in the treatment male''s aggressive behaviour influenced the focal interaction, demonstrating that IGEs in groups are not a straightforward extension of IGEs measured in dyads. Further, the focal interaction influenced male mating success, illustrating the role of IGEs in behavioural evolution. These results represent the first manipulative evidence for IGEs at the group level.     

Social orienting in gaze leading: a mechanism for shared attention

Here, we report a novel social orienting response that occurs after viewing averted gaze. We show, in three experiments, that when a person looks from one location to an object, attention then shifts towards the face of an individual who has subsequently followed the person''s gaze to that same object. That is, contrary to ‘gaze following’, attention instead orients in the opposite direction to observed gaze and towards the gazing face. The magnitude of attentional orienting towards a face that ‘follows’ the participant''s gaze is also associated with self-reported autism-like traits. We propose that this gaze leading phenomenon implies the existence of a mechanism in the human social cognitive system for detecting when one''s gaze has been followed, in order to establish ‘shared attention’ and maintain the ongoing interaction.     

How Possibly Do Leisure and Social Activities Impact Mental Health of Middle-Aged Adults in Japan?: An Evidence from a National Longitudinal Survey

Objectives

This study aimed to investigate longitudinal relations between leisure and social activities and mental health status, considering the presence or absence of other persons in the activity as an additional variable, among middle-aged adults in Japan. This study used nationally representative data in Japan with a five-year follow-up period.

Methods

This study focused on 16,642 middle-aged adults, age 50–59 at baseline, from a population-based, six-year panel survey conducted by the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare. To investigate the relations between two leisure activities (‘hobbies or cultural activities’ and ‘exercise or sports’) and four social activities (‘community events’, ‘support for children’, ‘support for elderly individuals’ and ‘other social activities’) at baseline and mental health status at follow-up, multiple logistic regression analysis was used. We also used multiple logistic regression analysis to investigate the association between ways of participating in these activities (‘by oneself’, ‘with others’, or ‘both’ (both ‘by oneself’ and ‘with others’)) at baseline and mental health status at follow-up.

Results

Involvement in both leisure activity categories, but not in social activities, was significantly and positively related to mental health status in both men and women.Furthermore, in men, both ‘hobbies or cultural activities’ and ‘exercise or sports’ were significantly related to mental health status only when conducted ‘with others’. In women, the effects of ‘hobbies or cultural activities’ on mental health status were no differences regardless of the ways of participating, while the result of ‘exercise or sports’ was same as that in men.

Conclusions

Leisure activities appear to benefit mental health status among this age group, whereas specific social activities do not. Moreover, participation in leisure activities would be effective especially if others are present. These findings should be useful for preventing the deterioration of mental health status in middle-aged adults in Japan.     

Mirroring and the development of action understanding

The discovery of mirror neurons in the monkey motor cortex has inspired wide-ranging hypotheses about the potential relationship between action control and social cognition. In this paper, we consider the hypothesis that this relationship supports the early development of a critical aspect of social understanding, the ability to analyse others’ actions in terms of goals. Recent investigations of infant action understanding have revealed rich connections between motor development and the analysis of goals in others’ actions. In particular, infants’ own goal-directed actions influence their analysis of others’ goals. This evidence indicates that the cognitive systems that drive infants’ own actions contribute to their analysis of goals in others’ actions. These effects occur at a relatively abstract level of analysis both in terms of the structure infants perceive in others’ actions and relevant structure in infants’ own actions. Although the neural bases of these effects in infants are not yet well understood, current evidence indicates that connections between action production and action perception in infancy involve the interrelated neural systems at work in generating planned, intelligent action.     

Complex and Conflicting Social Norms: Implications for Implementation of Future HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) Interventions in Vancouver,Canada

Background

HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) has been found to be efficacious in preventing HIV acquisition among seronegative individuals in a variety of risk groups, including men who have sex with men and people who inject drugs. To date, however, it remains unclear how socio-cultural norms (e.g., attitudes towards HIV; social understandings regarding HIV risk practices) may influence the scalability of future PrEP interventions. The objective of this study is to assess how socio-cultural norms may influence the implementation and scalability of future HIV PrEP interventions in Vancouver, Canada.

Methods

We conducted 50 interviews with young men (ages 18–24) with a variety of HIV risk behavioural profiles (e.g., young men who inject drugs; MSM). Interviews focused on participants’ experiences and perceptions with various HIV interventions and policies, including PrEP.

Results

While awareness of PrEP was generally low, perceptions about the potential personal and public health gains associated with PrEP were interconnected with expressions of complex and sometimes conflicting social norms. Some accounts characterized PrEP as a convenient form of reliable protection against HIV, likening it to the female birth control pill. Other accounts cast PrEP as a means to facilitate ‘socially unacceptable’ behaviour (e.g., promiscuity). Stigmatizing rhetoric was used to position PrEP as a tool that could promote some groups’ proclivities to take ‘risks’.

Conclusion

Stigma regarding ‘risky’ behaviour and PrEP should not be underestimated as a serious implementation challenge. Pre-implementation strategies that concomitantly aim to improve knowledge about PrEP, while addressing associated social prejudices, may be key to effective implementation and scale-up.     

Public Parks and Wellbeing in Urban Areas of the United States

Sustainable development efforts in urban areas often focus on understanding and managing factors that influence all aspects of health and wellbeing. Research has shown that public parks and green space provide a variety of physical, psychological, and social benefits to urban residents, but few studies have examined the influence of parks on comprehensive measures of subjective wellbeing at the city level. Using 2014 data from 44 U.S. cities, we evaluated the relationship between urban park quantity, quality, and accessibility and aggregate self-reported scores on the Gallup-Healthways Wellbeing Index (WBI), which considers five different domains of wellbeing (e.g., physical, community, social, financial, and purpose). In addition to park-related variables, our best-fitting OLS regression models selected using an information theory approach controlled for a variety of other typical geographic and socio-demographic correlates of wellbeing. Park quantity (measured as the percentage of city area covered by public parks) was among the strongest predictors of overall wellbeing, and the strength of this relationship appeared to be driven by parks’ contributions to physical and community wellbeing. Park quality (measured as per capita spending on parks) and accessibility (measured as the overall percentage of a city’s population within ½ mile of parks) were also positively associated with wellbeing, though these relationships were not significant. Results suggest that expansive park networks are linked to multiple aspects of health and wellbeing in cities and positively impact urban quality of life.     

When Women Deliver with No One Present in Nigeria: Who,What, Where and So What?

With the current maternal mortality ratio (MMR) of 630/100,000 live births, Nigeria ranks among the nations with the highest mortality rates in the world. The use of skilled assistants during delivery has been identified a key predictor in the reduction of mortality rates in the world over. Not only are Nigerian women predominantly using unskilled attendants, one in five births are delivered with No One Present (NOP). We assessed who, what, where and the so what of this practice using 2008 Nigeria DHS (NDHS) data. The study revealed that the prevalence of NOP is highest in the northern part of Nigeria with 94% of all observed cases. Socio-demographic factors, including, women’s age at birth, birth order, being Muslim, and region of residence, were positively associated with NOP deliveries. Mother’s education, higher wealth quintiles, urban residence, decision-making autonomy, and a supportive environment for women’s social and economic security were inversely associated with NOP deliveries. Women’s autonomy and social standing were critical to choosing to deliver with skilled attendance, which were further amplified by economic prosperity. Women’s’ economic wellbeing is entwined with their feelings of independence and freedom. Programs that seek to improve the autonomy of women and their strategic participation in sound health seeking decisions will, most likely, yield better results with improvements in women’s education, income, jobs, and property ownership. As a short term measure, the use of conditional cash transfer, proven to work in several countries, including 18 in sub-Saharan Africa, is recommended. Its use has the potential to reduce household budget constraint by lowering cost-related barriers associated with women’s ability to demand and use life-saving services. Given the preponderance of NOP in the Northern region, the study suggests that interventions to eradicate NOP deliveries must initially focus this region as priority.