Diffusion Of Responsibility And Level Of Risk Taking In Groups 1

This study reports evidence supporting the following propositions: (1) Group discussion and consensus concerning decisions that involve actual risk ana payoffs lead to greater risk taking than occurs in the absence of such discussion and consensus. (2) The mechanism that underlies this group‐induced shift toward greater risk taking consists of a diffusion or spreading of responsibility. Using risks and payoffs based on monetary gain and loss for problem‐solving performance, the above propositions received strong confirmation for male college subjects. The results of various experimental manipulations provided positive support for viewing diffusion of responsibility as the causal factor at work.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/108279/1/ets200956.pd

Group Influence On Individual Risk Taking 1

Does group interaction lead to greater conservatism or to greater risk taking in decisions than would obtain were the decisions arrived at individually.–or is there an averaging effect? This question was investigated with a procedure in which the protagonist in each of 12 everyday life situations must choose between two courses of action, one of which involves considerably more risk than the other but also is much more rewarding if successful. The S must decide on the lowest level of probability for the success of the risky alternative that he would deem sufficient to warrant its choice. A total of 218 liberal arts university students participated in the study. In the experimental condition, the S s first arrived at individual decisions concerning each of the 12 situations; then, they were brought together in discussion groups of six with the request that they reach a group consensus on each decision; and afterward, they were asked to make all their decisions privately once again. Some S s also made private decisions yet another time two to six weeks later. The group members' judgments of one another's relative degrees of influence and of popularity within the group also were obtained. There were 14 all‐male and 14 all‐female groups. In the control condition, S s made their decisions individually each of two times with one week intervening, under instructions the second time that encouraged them to change rather than simply to recall their earlier decisions. It was found that (1) group decisions exhibit greater risk taking than appears in pre‐discussion individual decisions; (2) post‐discussion private decisions exhibit the same increase in risk taking as occurs in the group decisions; (3) the increase in risk taking resulting from the discussion process is still maintained after a subsequent period of two to six weeks has elapsed; (4) no shift in risk taking level occurs over time in the absence of the discussion process; and (5) degree of risk taking in pre‐discussion individual decisions and degree of judged influence within the group are positively related. Two interpretations of these findings were suggested, either or both of which may apply: (1) the knowledge that one's decisions are being made jointly with others leads to a diffusion of personal responsiblity, the outcome of which is an increased willingness to take risks; (2) high risk takers are more likely to take the initiative in social situations, with the result that they become more influential in the group.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/108371/1/ets200112.pd

Induced QCD and Hidden Local ZN Symmetry

We show that a lattice model for induced lattice QCD which was recently proposed by Kazakov and Migdal has a $Z_N$ gauge symmetry which, in the strong coupling phase, results in a local confinement where only color singlets are allowed to propagate along links and all Wilson loops for non-singlets average to zero. We argue that, if this model is to give QCD in its continuum limit, it must have a phase transition. We give arguments to support presence of such a phase transition

Active Pin1 is a key target of all-trans retinoic acid in acute promyelocytic leukemia and breast cancer

A common key regulator of oncogenic signaling pathways in multiple tumor types is the unique isomerase Pin1. However, available Pin1 inhibitors lack the required specificity and potency. Using mechanism-based screening, here we find that all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA)--a therapy for acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) that is considered the first example of targeted therapy in cancer, but its drug target remains elusive--inhibits and degrades active Pin1 selectively in cancer cells by directly binding to the substrate phosphate- and proline-binding pockets in the Pin1 active site. ATRA-induced Pin1 ablation degrades the fusion oncogene PML-RARα and treats APL in cell and animal models and human patients. ATRA-induced Pin1 ablation also inhibits triple negative breast cancer cell growth in human cells and in animal models by acting on many Pin1 substrate oncogenes and tumor suppressors. Thus, ATRA simultaneously blocks multiple Pin1-regulated cancer-driving pathways, an attractive property for treating aggressive and drug-resistant tumors

Diffusion Of Responsibility And Level Of Risk Taking In Groups 1

This study reports evidence supporting the following propositions: (1) Group discussion and consensus concerning decisions that involve actual risk ana payoffs lead to greater risk taking than occurs in the absence of such discussion and consensus. (2) The mechanism that underlies this group‐induced shift toward greater risk taking consists of a diffusion or spreading of responsibility. Using risks and payoffs based on monetary gain and loss for problem‐solving performance, the above propositions received strong confirmation for male college subjects. The results of various experimental manipulations provided positive support for viewing diffusion of responsibility as the causal factor at work.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/108279/1/ets200956.pd