The Cultural Transmission of Prestige and Dominance Social Rank Cues: an Experimental Simulation

This is the final version. Available from Springer via the DOI in this record.Below is the link to the dataset and preview of the experiment, and Dataset (CSV, 133KB) - process_raw_data_included.csv can be found in the Electronic Supplementary Material section Preview of the experiment: https://exetercles.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_071cfHiCY9qBEkB.Informal social hierarchies within small human groups are argued to be based on prestige, dominance, or a combination of the two (Henrich & Gil-White, 2001). Prestige-based hierarchies entail the ordering of individuals by the admiration and respect they receive from others due to their competence within valued domains. This type of hierarchy provides benefits for subordinates such as social learning opportunities and both private and public goods. In contrast, dominance-based hierarchies entail the ordering of individuals by their capacity to win fights, and coerce or intimidate others. This type of hierarchy produces costs in subordinates due to its aggressive and intimidating nature. Given the benefits and costs associated with these types of social hierarchies for subordinates, we hypothesised that prestige and dominance cues are better recalled and transmitted than social rank cues that do not elicit high prestige or dominance associations (i.e. medium social rank cues). Assuming that for the majority of the population who are not already at the top of the social hierarchy it is more important to avoid the costs of dominance-based hierarchies than to obtain the benefits of prestige-based hierarchies, we further hypothesised that dominance cues are better transmitted than prestige cues. We conducted a recall-based transmission chain experiment with 30 chains of four generations each (N = 120). Participants read and recalled descriptions of prestigious, dominant, and medium social rank footballers, and their recall was passed to the next participant within their chain. As predicted, we found that both prestige cues and dominance cues were better transmitted than medium social rank cues. However, we did not find support for our prediction of the better transmission of dominance cues than prestige cues. We discuss whether the results might be explained by a specific social-rank content transmission bias or by a more general emotional content transmission bias.University of Exete

Effects of Breast Milk Feedings versus Formula Feedings on Health and Developmental Outcomes in Preterm Infants: Systematic Literature Review

Background: Gestation is the period of time between conception and birth. Infants being born between 20 and 37 weeks before completion of pregnancy are considered preterm. Infants who are born preterm are at risk for an abundance of acute and long-term complications related to health and development. Some of these include necrotizing enterocolitis, lack of lung surfactant, feeding intolerance, and infection. Since preterm infants are more prone to contract infections due to their underdeveloped immune systems, there has long been a debate whether mother’s breast milk versus formula milk is more beneficial in the growth and development of the preterm infant. The purpose of this project was to explore the health and development outcomes in breastfed babies versus formula fed babies. Purpose: The purpose of this systematic literature review is to determine the benefits of breastfeeding on a preterm infant’s development and health compared to formula feeding. Methodology: Studies have been systematically reviewed using the John Hopkins Evidence-Based Practice Model. Databases used include MEDLINE Complete, PubMed, CINAHL, and Complementary Index. Keywords used to facilitate our search include preterm infants, breastfeeding, breast milk, formula feeding, development, and growth. A PRISMA Flow Diagram summarizes our systematic research screening process based on specific inclusion and exclusion criteria. Twenty articles were appraised for evidence and quality levels before analysis of results. Results: Preliminary results suggest that breastfeeding supplies infants with the most benefits for their development and their health. Final analysis will be shared at the Symposium