‘Viral’ hunts? A cultural Darwinian analysis of witch persecutions

The theory of Darwinian cultural evolution is gaining currency in many parts of the socio-cultural sciences, but it remains contentious. Critics claim that the theory is either fundamentally mistaken or boils down to a fancy re-description of things we knew all along. We will argue that cultural Darwinism can indeed resolve long-standing socio-cultural puzzles; this is demonstrated through a cultural Darwinian analysis of the European witch persecutions. Two central and unresolved questions concerning witch-hunts will be addressed. From the fifteenth to the seventeenth centuries, a remarkable and highly specific concept of witchcraft was taking shape in Europe. The first question is: who constructed it? With hindsight, we can see that the concept contains many elements that appear to be intelligently designed to ensure the continuation of witch persecutions, such as the witches’ sabbat, the diabolical pact, nightly flight, and torture as a means of interrogation. The second question is: why did beliefs in witchcraft and witch-hunts persist and disseminate, despite the fact that, as many historians have concluded, no one appears to have substantially benefited from them? Historians have convincingly argued that witch-hunts were not inspired by some hidden agenda; persecutors genuinely believed in the threat of witchcraft to their communities. We propose that the apparent ‘design’ exhibited by concepts of witchcraft resulted from a Darwinian process of evolution, in which cultural variants that accidentally enhanced the reproduction of the witch-hunts were selected and accumulated. We argue that witch persecutions form a prime example of a ‘viral’ socio-cultural phenomenon that reproduces ‘selfishly’, even harming the interests of its human hosts

Clinical applications of infant lung function testing

The studies in this thesis show that research in the field of lung function testing in infants has moved from methodological issues towards clinical applications. This development is mainly the result of publications of guidelines for infant lung function testing and standardization of the equipment used, by the European Respiratory Society en de American Thoracic Society (ERS/ATS) (7-10). As a result, normative data have become available for different lung function methods, allowing comparison of data from different centers. In addition, several biomedical engineering companies have marketed equipment with specifications according to the guidelines given by the ERS/ATS. These developments are a necessity for wide applications of infant lung function testing in a clinical setting, such as collaborative studies and multicenter drug trials in infants with airway disease (II). On the other hand, there are high costs for buying complete recording systems and training the staff. In addition, most methods require sedation of the infant. Therefore, infant lung function measurements will probably be established primarily in larger, mostly academic, centers. The forthcoming challenges for those involved in this field will be to develop methods that are cheap to buy and simple to use, still providing essential information. These methods should be applicable in infants without sedation. When this has been achieved, infant lung function testing may even move out of the clinic (II)

What does it mean to be a “citizen of the world”: A prototype approach

The superordinate social category “citizen of the world” is used by laypeople and scholars to embody several constructs (e.g., cosmopolitanism; global identity and citizenship), and prior research suggests that the concept is better represented as a prototype rather than having a clear-cut definition. This research aims to systematically examine the prototypical meaning of this social category, and how it is cognitively processed. Relying on a prototype approach, six studies (n = 448) showed that certain attributes of this category were communicated more frequently and were regarded as more central (e.g., multiculturalism), and that central (vs. peripheral) attributes were more quickly identified, more often remembered, and more appropriate to identify a group member, as well as the self, as a “citizen of the world.” These results systematically demonstrated that this category has a prototypical structure and there is a differentiated cognitive automatic processing for central and peripheral attributes. We propose that the specific content activated by the attributes regarded as central to the prototype of “citizens of the world” (e.g., intercultural contact; diversity), and the fact that these are more accessible in memory to form a mental representation, are important aspects to understand identity processes and their impact on intergroup outcomes.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Intrinsic chiral field as vector potential of the magnetic current in the zig-zag lattice of magnetic dipoles

Chiral magnetic insulators manifest novel phases of matter where the sense of rotation of the magnetization is associated with exotic transport phenomena. Effective control of such phases and their dynamical evolution points to the search and study of chiral fields like the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction. Here we combine experiments, numerics, and theory to study a zig-zag dipolar lattice as a model of an interface between magnetic in-plane layers with perpendicular magnetization. The zig-zag lattice comprises two parallel sublattices of dipoles with perpendicular easy plane of rotation. The dipolar energy of the system is exactly separable into a sum of symmetric and antisymmetric long-range exchange interactions between dipoles, where the antisymmetric coupling generates a nonlocal Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya field which stabilizes winding textures with the form of chiral solitons. The Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction acts as a vector potential or gauge field of the magnetic current and gives rise to emergent magnetic and electric fields that allow the manifestation of the magnetoelectric effect in the system.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figure

Qualitative Darwinism: An evolutionary history of witch-hunting

Why did early modern Europeans hunt for witches? Were witch hunts a shrewd tool to oppress women or the poor, or were they just a way of making money? Or were witch-hunters primarily driven by a genuine belief in witchcraft? The witches’ sabbath, the diabolical pact and the nightly flight were elements in the early modern concept of witchcraft that seem to have been intelligently designed to trigger persistent witch persecutions. But in contrast to many explanations adduced by historians, witch hunts were not based on intelligent design. So how to explain them? Steije Hofhuis suggests a new theory: Darwinian cultural evolution. He contends that the apparent design underlying the witch hunts emerged from a hidden evolutionary process. That process fostered the preservation of cultural variants which over time accidentally unleashed larger and larger persecutions. Witch-hunts did not so much evolve to serve human interests, but ensured their own “selfish” reproduction. Historians have often compared witch persecutions to the outbreaks of contagious disease, but only as figure of speech. But shouldn’t we take the similarities more seriously? Were witch-hunts perhaps a cultural ‘virus’ that spread at the expense of its human hosts? This study bridges the gap between qualitative history and the upcoming field of Darwinian cultural evolution. The aim is to contribute to a new research program, based on the qualitative application of Darwinian theory to the humanitie

Recognizing the Similarities and Appreciating the Differences?:Content Choices and Perceived (Dis)similarity With TV Show Characters Among Youth

Original content on video-on-demand platforms is often globally available but reflects the diversity of the American population in terms of ethnicities, races, and sexual identities. According to previous research, exposure to media with diverse characters can improve viewers’ attitudes toward minorities. However, are the audiences in racially homogenous countries or in countries that are less accepting of homosexuality interested in shows with diverse characters? Moreover, how do people select content from the diverse offerings on global video-on-demand platforms? To explore these issues, we study the entertainment media diets of Polish teenagers, aged 15–18. Specifically, we examine three research questions. First, what kind of content does the Polish youth select on streaming platforms? Second, what is the role of (dis)similarity between the characters and the viewers for Polish youth in selecting their entertainment TV shows on streaming platforms? Third, how do Polish youth understand the possible effects of their streamed TV content on their attitudes toward others? Based on 20 one-hour-long semi-structured interviews, we found that viewers sought psychologically complex and attractive characters, irrespective of race or sexual orientation. Recognizing the similarities of life experiences with TV characters mattered in youth’s decision about streaming content. Viewers also appreciated characters different from themselves because they were able to learn about them. The results are discussed with the implications for media selection and effects studies.</p

Instant Messaging and Relationship Satisfaction Across Different Ages and Cultures

Research suggests that using IM is generally beneficial for maintaining personalrelationships, yet well-being benefits are likely to be conditional on micro- and macrolevel variables. This study investigates the link between IM use and relationship satisfaction across age groups using survey data collected from 19 countries (N = 20,358, age range 18–94, Mage = 41.0, SD = 14.6). The multilevel regression results revealed that (1) overall IM use with strong ties is positively related to individuals' satisfaction with their relationships across all countries and (2) this link is weaker among older people compared to younger ones. The hypothesized cross-level interactions were not statistically significant overall, yet comparing individual countries (e.g., Germany and Indonesia), which are on the opposite ends of the autonomyembeddedness value dimension, suggests that the use of IM might indeed be more important for relationship satisfaction in more embeddedness-oriented cultures and relationship benefits may be more similar across age groups than in autonomyoriented cultures. More large-scale cross-cultural studies and multilevel theories are needed to arrive at a more contextualized understanding of IM as a global communication phenomenon