Emotional Strategies as Catalysts for Cooperation in Signed Networks

The evolution of unconditional cooperation is one of the fundamental problems in science. A new solution is proposed to solve this puzzle. We treat this issue with an evolutionary model in which agents play the Prisoner's Dilemma on signed networks. The topology is allowed to co-evolve with relational signs as well as with agent strategies. We introduce a strategy that is conditional on the emotional content embedded in network signs. We show that this strategy acts as a catalyst and creates favorable conditions for the spread of unconditional cooperation. In line with the literature, we found evidence that the evolution of cooperation most likely occurs in networks with relatively high chances of rewiring and with low likelihood of strategy adoption. While a low likelihood of rewiring enhances cooperation, a very high likelihood seems to limit its diffusion. Furthermore, unlike in non-signed networks, cooperation becomes more prevalent in denser topologies.Comment: 24 pages, Accepted for publication in Advances in Complex System

Adding Student Video Projects to Physics Courses

Physics students have traditionally prepared many kinds of reports—laboratory, activity, project, and even book or article reports. Smartphones and YouTube videos are familiar cultural objects to current students, and our students use smartphone cameras to include photographs of apparatus, phenomena, hand-sketched figures, graphs, and mathematical equations in their physics reports. Here we present basic techniques for physics students to use smartphones and tablets to create short (\u3c 5 min) end-of-semester video projects. Our students mainly use Apple Computer’s iPad1 tablets, but also other tablets and various smartphones. Finally we discuss appropriate instructor expectations and grading. Similar non-physics student video reporting efforts were reported using video cameras by Kearney,2 and Hechter and Guy.

Home-ownership as a social norm and positional good: subjective well-being evidence from panel data

Much attention has been devoted to examining the absolute benefits of home-ownership (e.g. security and autonomy). This paper by contrast is concerned with conceptualising and testing the relative benefits of homeownership; those benefits that depend on an individual’s status in society. Home-ownership has previously been analysed as a social norm, implying that the relative benefits (costs) associated with being an owner (renter) are positively related to relevant others’ home-ownership values. The theoretical contribution of this paper is to additionally conceptualise home-ownership as a positional good, implying that the status of both home-owners and renters is negatively related to relevant others’ home-ownership consumption. The empirical contribution of this paper is to quantitatively test for these relative benefits in terms of subjective well-being. We run fixed effects regressions on three waves of the British Household Panel Study. We find that i) a strengthening of relevant others’ home-ownership values is associated with increases (decreases) in the subjective well-being of home-owners (renters), and ii) an increase in relevant others’ home-ownership consumption decreases the life satisfaction of owners but has no effect for renters. Overall our findings suggest that i) the relative benefit of home-ownership are both statistically significant and of a meaningful magnitude, and ii) homeownership is likely to be both a social norm and a positional good. Without explicitly recognising these relative benefits, policymakers risk overestimating the contribution of home-ownership to societal well-being

From theory to 'measurement' in complex interventions: methodological lessons from the development of an e-health normalisation instrument

<b>Background</b> Although empirical and theoretical understanding of processes of implementation in health care is advancing, translation of theory into structured measures that capture the complex interplay between interventions, individuals and context remain limited. This paper aimed to (1) describe the process and outcome of a project to develop a theory-based instrument for measuring implementation processes relating to e-health interventions; and (2) identify key issues and methodological challenges for advancing work in this field.<p></p> <b>Methods</b> A 30-item instrument (Technology Adoption Readiness Scale (TARS)) for measuring normalisation processes in the context of e-health service interventions was developed on the basis on Normalization Process Theory (NPT). NPT focuses on how new practices become routinely embedded within social contexts. The instrument was pre-tested in two health care settings in which e-health (electronic facilitation of healthcare decision-making and practice) was used by health care professionals.<p></p> <b>Results</b> The developed instrument was pre-tested in two professional samples (N = 46; N = 231). Ratings of items representing normalisation 'processes' were significantly related to staff members' perceptions of whether or not e-health had become 'routine'. Key methodological challenges are discussed in relation to: translating multi-component theoretical constructs into simple questions; developing and choosing appropriate outcome measures; conducting multiple-stakeholder assessments; instrument and question framing; and more general issues for instrument development in practice contexts.<p></p> <b>Conclusions</b> To develop theory-derived measures of implementation process for progressing research in this field, four key recommendations are made relating to (1) greater attention to underlying theoretical assumptions and extent of translation work required; (2) the need for appropriate but flexible approaches to outcomes measurement; (3) representation of multiple perspectives and collaborative nature of work; and (4) emphasis on generic measurement approaches that can be flexibly tailored to particular contexts of study

Primordialists and Constructionists: a typology of theories of religion

This article adopts categories from nationalism theory to classify theories of religion. Primordialist explanations are grounded in evolutionary psychology and emphasize the innate human demand for religion. Primordialists predict that religion does not decline in the modern era but will endure in perpetuity. Constructionist theories argue that religious demand is a human construct. Modernity initially energizes religion, but subsequently undermines it. Unpacking these ideal types is necessary in order to describe actual theorists of religion. Three distinctions within primordialism and constructionism are relevant. Namely those distinguishing: a) materialist from symbolist forms of constructionism; b) theories of origins from those pertaining to the reproduction of religion; and c) within reproduction, between theories of religious persistence and secularization. This typology helps to make sense of theories of religion by classifying them on the basis of their causal mechanisms, chronology and effects. In so doing, it opens up new sightlines for theory and research

The Diffusion of Inclusion: An Open Polity Model of Ethnic Power Sharing

While there is a growing consensus that ethnic inclusion produces peace, less is known about what causes transitions to power sharing between ethnic groups in central governments in multiethnic states. The few studies that have addressed this question have proposed explanations stressing exclusively domestic factors. Yet, power sharing is spatially clustered, which suggests that diffusion may be at play. Inspired by studies of democratic diffusion, we study the spread of inclusive policies with an “open polity model” that explicitly traces diffusion from inclusion in other states. Our findings indicate that the relevant diffusion processes operate primarily at the level of world regions rather than globally or between territorial neighbors. Thus, the more inclusive the region, the more likely a shift to power sharing becomes. Shifts away from inclusion to dominance are less common since World War II, but they are more likely in regional settings characterized by ethnic exclusion

Mechanisms of international influence on domestic elite sport policy

In the analysis of sport policy the permeability of domestic policy processes and the significance of non-domestic policy influences is increasingly acknowledged. There is also a growing awareness of the role of domestic institutional arrangements in mediating influences external to the domestic policy system. Taking the interaction between non-domestic influences and domestic policy processes as its starting point the article evaluates, in relation to elite sport, the variety of mechanisms that have been identified as linking the domestic and non-domestic policy spheres. It is argued that the mechanisms vary in relation to the locus of initiative, the basis of engagement, the key relationships and the nature of power relationships. It is also argued that in many countries in relation to elite sport policy there is a dual process in operation of domestically initiated policy learning and non-domestically initiated policy harmonisation through policy regimes

Glasgow 2014, the media and Scottish politics – the (post)imperial symbolism of the Commonwealth Games

This article critically examines print media discourses regarding the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games. The forthcoming analysis considers the political symbolism of the Commonwealth Games with regards to the interlinkages between the British Empire, sport and the global political status of the UK, with specific consideration given to the UK’s declining global power as well as the interconnections between the 2014 Games and the Scottish independence referendum. Hechter’s (1975) ‘internal colonialism’ thesis, which portrays Scotland’s marginalised status within the UK, is drawn upon to critically explore the political symbolism of sport for Scottish nationalism, before discussion focuses upon the extent to which the modern Commonwealth is symptomatic of the UK’s declining status as a global power. Finally, the existence of these narrative tropes in print media coverage of the Commonwealth Games is examined, allowing for critical reflections on the continuing interconnections between the media, sport, nationalism and post-imperial global politics

Taking it personally: the effect of ethnic attachment on preferences for regionalism

This article presents three related findings on regional decentralization. We use an original dataset collected in Uganda to establish, for the first time in a developing country context, that individuals have meaningful preferences over the degree of regional decentralization they desire, ranging from centralism to secessionism. Second, multilevel models suggest that a small share of this variation is explained at the district and ethnic group levels. The preference for regional decentralization monotonically increases with an ethnic group or a district’s average ethnic attachment. However, the relationship with an ethnic group or district’s income is U-shaped: both the richest and the poorest groups desire more regionalism, reconciling interest-based and identity-based explanations for regionalism. Finally, we show that higher individual ethnic attachment increases preferences for regionalism using fixed effects and a new matching method