Deception in Group Contexts

Unethical behavior is often viewed as an individual-level phenomenon. However, group membership can influence individuals’ choices to behave ethically or not (Messick, 2006). This chapter discusses whether and when groups will be more likely than individuals to use deception. We focus on three areas of research. The first involves comparing individuals and groups in mixed-motive situations, and the discontinuity between individual and group responses to economic games: individuals tend to cooperate while groups tend to compete (Wildschut, Pinter, Veva, Insko, & Schopler, 2003). In terms of deception, this is interesting as both individuals and groups initially cooperate. We discuss explanations for the effect and their relation to why groups use deception. Second, we focus on general differences between individual and group deception. Deception can be beneficial when negotiating, and groups tend to use deception to their benefit (Cohen, Gunia, Kim-Jun, & Murnighan, 2009; Sutter, 2009). We discuss explanations for these effects and provide a framework for understanding when and why groups use deception

Investment Decisions by Individuals and Groups in \u27Sunk Cost\u27 Situations: The Potential Impact of Shared Representations

Past research has shown that individuals prefer to continue investing resources into a failing endeavor once a considerable investment has been made, even when abandoning the project would be more rational economically. This phenomenon has been labeled the sunk cost effect (Arkes & Blumer, 1985). Since investment decisions are often made by groups, we compared individual and group propensities for falling prey to the sunk cost effect. we also varied whether or not individuals and groups needed to justify their investment decision to a superior. Both individuals and groups showed the sunk cost effect. Group process analyses showed that error-prone majorities were more powerful than more rational minorities. In addition, group decisions seemed to be a function of two competing task representations--one favoring the sunk cost interpretation and the other favoring economic rationality

The dependence of solar wind burst size on burst duration and its invariance across solar cycles 23 and 24

Time series of solar wind variables are “bursty” in nature. Bursts, or excursions, in the time series of solar wind parameters are associated with various transient structures in the solar wind plasma, and are often the drivers of increased space weather activity in Earth's magnetosphere. We define bursts by setting a threshold value of the time series and identifying how often, and for how long, it is exceeded. This allows us to study how the statistical distributions and scaling properties of burst parameters vary over solar cycles 23 and 24. We find the distributions of burst duration and integrated burst size vary over the solar cycle, and between the equivalent phases of consecutive cycles. However, there exists a single power law scaling relation between burst size and duration, with a joint area‐duration scaling exponent α that is independent of the solar cycle. This provides a solar cycle invariant constraint between possible sizes and durations of solar wind bursts that can occur

How robust are recommended waiting times to pacing after cardiac surgery that are derived from observational data?

AIMS: For bradycardic patients after cardiac surgery, it is unknown how long to wait before implanting a permanent pacemaker (PPM). Current recommendations vary and are based on observational studies. This study aims to examine why this variation may exist. METHODS AND RESULTS: We conducted first a study of patients in our institution and second a systematic review of studies examining conduction disturbance and pacing after cardiac surgery. Of 5849 operations over a 6-year period, 103 (1.8%) patients required PPM implantation. Only pacing dependence at implant and time from surgery to implant were associated with 30-day pacing dependence. The only predictor of regression of pacing dependence was time from surgery to implant. We then applied the conventional procedure of receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis, seeking an optimal time point for decision-making. This suggested the optimal waiting time was 12.5 days for predicting pacing dependence at 30 days for all patients (area under the ROC curve (AUC) 0.620, P = 0.031) and for predicting regression of pacing dependence in patients who were pacing-dependent at implant (AUC 0.769, P < 0.001). However, our systematic review showed that recommended optimal decision-making time points were strongly correlated with the average implant time point of those individual studies (R = 0.96, P < 0.001). We further conducted modelling which revealed that in any such study, the ROC method is strongly biased to indicate a value near to the median time to implant as optimal. CONCLUSION: When commonly used automated statistical methods are applied to observational data with the aim of defining the optimal time to pacing after cardiac surgery, the suggested answer is likely to be similar to the average time to pacing in that cohort

Observations of red-giant variable stars by Aboriginal Australians

Aboriginal Australians carefully observe the properties and positions of stars, including both overt and subtle changes in their brightness, for subsistence and social application. These observations are encoded in oral tradition. I examine two Aboriginal oral traditions from South Australia that describe the periodic changing brightness in three pulsating, red-giant variable stars: Betelgeuse (Alpha Orionis), Aldebaran (Alpha Tauri), and Antares (Alpha Scorpii). The Australian Aboriginal accounts stand as the only known descriptions of pulsating variable stars in any Indigenous oral tradition in the world. Researchers examining these oral traditions over the last century, including anthropologists and astronomers, missed the description of these stars as being variable in nature as the ethnographic record contained several misidentifications of stars and celestial objects. Arguably, ethnographers working on Indigenous Knowledge Systems should have academic training in both the natural and social sciences.Comment: The Australian Journal of Anthropology (2018

Different methods of providing automatic external defibrillators to out-of-hospital cardiac arrests to prevent sudden cardiac death

OBJECTIVES: This is a protocol for a Cochrane Review (intervention). The objectives are as follows:. To establish the effectiveness of different methods of early AED application (non-dispatched layperson, dispatched layperson, dispatched professional, drone delivery - all interventions) versus standard care (comparator) in adults who suffer a witnessed out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in a public setting (population) upon outcomes of survival and neurological function

Segmenting consumers of meat and dairy products from five European countries: Implications for promoting sustainable food choices

Accelerating the transition of agri-food systems towards higher sustainability requires greater understanding of consumers’ decision-making related to sustainable food choices, together with competing drivers which may result in unsustainable food choice demand. Meat and dairy production systems negatively contribute to greenhouse gas targets, unless sustainable production methods are applied, and these are understood by consumers and used in food choices. The psychological factors determining consumers’ attitudes towards sustainably produced meat and dairy products were assessed. Data were collected through an online survey across five European countries (Czechia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom) (n = 2,490) in November 2021. The results showed consumers perceived food sustainability to be less important than sensory and healthiness attributes. UK consumers showed the strongest intentions to increase consumption of sustainably produced meat and dairy products. In contrast, Swiss consumers demonstrated the weakest intentions. A two&#x2;stage cluster analysis based on consumers’ perceived attribute importance identified four distinct segments: low food involvement (19.6%), high food involvement (31.9%), price-sensitive (23.2%), and health- and sustainability-involved (25.3%) consumer segments. Respondents in low food involvement and price-sensitive consumer segments tended to be younger and have lower environmental preservation attitudes and were more prevalent in Switzerland and Czechia. Those in high food involvement and health- and sustainability-involved consumer segments perceived higher importance of food sustainability and were more prevalent in Spain and Sweden. These respondents expressed greater intentions to increase consumption of sustainably produced meat and dairy products, at the same time being more likely to recognise the utility of sustainability labelling information. Animal welfare information was perceived to be most important for respondents in all the segments with the exception of those in the price-sensitive consumer segment. Building on the results, recommendations for promoting consumer sustainable food choices are propose

European Permanent Grasslands: A Systematic Review of Economic Drivers of Change, Including a Detailed Analysis of the Czech Republic, Spain, Sweden, and UK

\ua9 2024 by the authors. Permanent grasslands (PG) feature in the European rural landscape and represent a major agricultural production resource. They support multiple non-provisioning ecosystem services (ES), including climate regulation, flood control, biodiversity, and pollination. PG are at risk of loss or degradation due to agricultural land use and land management changes. The objective of this systematic review is to identify the main economic influences shaping management and maintenance of PG, and the risks and opportunities for delivery of a range of ES. A total of 51 papers were included. Relevant policy interventions and economic drivers are identified in relation to how they shape the management of EU grasslands over time and across farming systems, countries, or biogeographic zones. A high reliance on public payments from the EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), with uneven impact on mitigating PG losses and associated ES provisions, was identified, which needs to be considered in relation to ongoing CAP reform. There is a gap in the literature regarding economic tipping points for change. Future research needs to identify and map ES provisions by PG along with trade-offs and synergies, and link this to policy. There are substantive challenges to maintaining Europe’s PG area and management, which must be addressed through EU-wide instruments

Consumers across five European countries prioritise animal welfare above environmental sustainability when buying meat and dairy products

Food production systems, especially meat and dairy supply chains, contribute to greenhouse gas emissions. An important question emerges as to whether consumers care about environmental sustainability when buying food products, as this can determine their consumption practices. Further, if sustainability labels are available, identifying information that is relevant to consumers is important. This research therefore aimed to identify the attributes that are most important for consumers when buying meat or dairy products and the perceived helpfulness of sustainability labels for meat and dairy products and important label properties. An online survey was conducted in five European countries (i.e. Czechia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the UK). Consumers valued similar attributes when buying meat and dairy products across all countries. Freshness, quality/taste and animal welfare emerged as the most important attributes, while environmental attributes such as food miles, carbon footprint, and organic production were the least important. Sustainability labels for meat and dairy products were perceived as helpful. Regression analysis identified similar patterns within all five countries regarding the predictors of the perceived helpfulness of sustainability labels. Attitudes towards sustainable food consumption, environmental attitudes, and food production and policies emerged as significant positive predictors in most models. Most importantly, information regarding animal welfare, food safety, and health and nutrition was perceived as being more important than environmental sustainability. This suggests that food choice decisions are unlikely to be made based on the environmental sustainability of a food product’s production alone