844 research outputs found
Perception, Action and the Social Dynamics of the Variable Self
PostprintPeer reviewe
Eating well in care homes:Testing the feasibility of a staff training programme aimed at improving social interaction and choice at mealtimes
Background: The health and well-being of care home residents are influenced by their experience of mealtimes, which provide an opportunity for residents to socialise and exercise control over their lives, as well as providing essential sustenance. Care home staff are pivotal to this experience, responsible for the provision of meals and eating assistance, but also for establishing a positive mealtime culture valued by residents. Despite this, mealtimes can be task-focussed, as the pressure on staff to perform multiple duties in limited time, or a lack of knowledge and awareness, means that resident needs and preferences risk being neglected. Methods: A staff-focussed training programme aimed at improving social interaction, and resident choice was developed and delivered in a workshop. Intervention feasibility was assessed using a qualitative survey and workshop observations. A combination of descriptive and content analyses was conducted on the data. Results: Thirteen women and one man took part in the workshops, representing multiple roles within two homes in the South West UK. The workshops were found to be deliverable and practicable. Participants responded positively to the workshops, anticipating that improvements to the mealtime experience would result from their workshop outputs. Conclusion: This study suggests that staff training workshops based on improving the mealtime experience are feasible to deliver within the day-to-day running of a care home and are acceptable to staff. Positive changes resulting from these workshops could improve the health and well-being of residents. Implications for practice: Mealtimes in care homes may be improved by increasing social interaction and by providing residents with greater choice. Management-faciltated staff training may be a useful tool to encourage staff to reflect on current practice and develop their own strategies to improve the mealtime experience for residents.</p
Collective narcissism as a framework for understanding populism
Research on national collective narcissism, the belief and resentment that a nation's exceptionality is not sufficiently recognized by others, provides a theoretical framework for understanding the psychological motivations behind the support for right-wing populism. It bridges the findings regarding the economic and sociocultural conditions implicated in the rise of right-wing populism and the findings regarding leadership processes necessary for it to find its political expression. The conditions are interpreted as producing violations to established expectations regarding self-importance via the gradual repeal of the traditional criteria by which members of hegemonic groups evaluated their self-worth. Populist leaders propagate a social identity organized around the collective narcissistic resentment, enhance it, and propose external explanations for frustration of self and in-group-importance. This garners them a committed followership. Research on collective narcissism indicates that distress resulting from violated expectations regarding self-importance stands behind collective narcissism and its narrow vision of âtrueâ national identity (the people), rejection and hostility toward stigmatized in-group members and out-groups as well as the association between collective narcissism and conspiratorial thinking
Measurement of pion, kaon and proton production in proton-proton collisions at TeV
The measurement of primary , K, p and
production at mid-rapidity ( 0.5) in proton-proton collisions at
TeV performed with ALICE (A Large Ion Collider Experiment) at
the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is reported. Particle identification is
performed using the specific ionization energy loss and time-of-flight
information, the ring-imaging Cherenkov technique and the kink-topology
identification of weak decays of charged kaons. Transverse momentum spectra are
measured from 0.1 up to 3 GeV/ for pions, from 0.2 up to 6 GeV/ for kaons
and from 0.3 up to 6 GeV/ for protons. The measured spectra and particle
ratios are compared with QCD-inspired models, tuned to reproduce also the
earlier measurements performed at the LHC. Furthermore, the integrated particle
yields and ratios as well as the average transverse momenta are compared with
results at lower collision energies.Comment: 33 pages, 19 captioned figures, 3 tables, authors from page 28,
published version, figures at
http://aliceinfo.cern.ch/ArtSubmission/node/156
The nation in context: how intergroup relations shape the discursive construction of identity continuity and discontinuity
The perceived collective continuity (PCC) of a national identity serves as a crucial source of stability and selfâesteem for group members. Recent work has explored the consequences of perceived continuity when the meaning of a nationâs past is seen in a negative light, and the challenges this brings for the negotiation of a positive identity in the present, signalling the potential value of perceived discontinuity The current paper extends this literature by examining the role of intergroup relations in the construction of both collective continuities and discontinuities. Through analysing the discursive management of national identity in nine focus groups in a postâconflict context (Serbia, N = 67), we reveal how the tensions between continuity and discontinuity are embedded within a broader discussion of the nationâs relationship with relevant national outgroups across its history. The findings contribute to theoretical knowledge on the interlinking of national identity and PCC by illustrating the ways in which intergroup relations of the past shape the extent to which continuity is seen as desirable or undesirable. We argue that despite the psychological merits of collective continuity, discontinuity can become attractive and useful when there is limited space to challenge how a nationâs history is remembered and the valence given to the past. The paper concludes by offering an account of how social and political contexts can influence the nature, functions, and valence of PCC within national identities
Heroes and villains of world history across cultures
© 2015 Hanke et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are creditedEmergent properties of global political culture were examined using data from the World History Survey (WHS) involving 6,902 university students in 37 countries evaluating 40 figures from world history. Multidimensional scaling and factor analysis techniques found only limited forms of universality in evaluations across Western, Catholic/Orthodox, Muslim, and Asian country clusters. The highest consensus across cultures involved scientific innovators, with Einstein having the most positive evaluation overall. Peaceful humanitarians like Mother Theresa and Gandhi followed. There was much less cross-cultural consistency in the evaluation of negative figures, led by Hitler, Osama bin Laden, and Saddam Hussein. After more traditional empirical methods (e.g., factor analysis) failed to identify meaningful cross-cultural patterns, Latent Profile Analysis (LPA) was used to identify four global representational profiles: Secular and Religious Idealists were overwhelmingly prevalent in Christian countries, and Political Realists were common in Muslim and Asian countries. We discuss possible consequences and interpretations of these different representational profiles.This research was supported by grant RG016-P-10 from the Chiang Ching-Kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange (http://www.cckf.org.tw/).
Religion
Culture
Entropy
China
Democracy
Economic histor
Exploring the role of Facebook in re-shaping backpackerâs social interactions
The recent Facebook launch of Timeline, Social Graph Search, and the increased use of the mobile Facebook apps has resulted in some important implications for the use of Facebook by backpackers. The purpose of this paper is to (re) explore how Facebook has impacted social relationships between backpackers and their personal, professional, and âfellow travellerâ networks, particularly in-light of these recent changes to Facebook and the increased reduction of anonymity while travelling. An exploratory survey was administered to 216 backpackers through social media. Descriptive analysis was conducted to explore the perceived social risks and benefits of Facebook in the context of the backpacking experience
And now for something completely different? The impact of group membership on perceptions of creativity
Authors' draft; final version published in Social influence; available online at http://www.informaworld.com/ Embargo until 1 July 2010A wealth of historical, cultural, and biographical evidence points to the fact that there is considerable variation in different people's judgments of creative products. What is creative to one person is deviant to another, and creative efforts often fail to be given the enthusiastic reception that their creators anticipate and think they deserve. Unpacking the roots of these discrepancies, this paper develops an analysis of creativity that is informed by the social identity approach. This analysis is supported by a review of previous research that points to the way in which perceptions of creativity are structured by both self-categorization and social norms (and their interaction). Further support for the analysis is provided by two experiments (Ns = 100, 125) which support the hypothesis that ingroup products are perceived to be more creative than those of outgroups independently of other factors with which group membership is typically correlated in the world at large (e.g., quality). The studies also indicate that this pattern is not simply a manifestation of generic ingroup bias since judgments of creativity diverge from those of both likeability (Experiment 1) and beauty (Experiment 2). The theoretical and practical significance of these findings is discussed with particular reference to innovation resistance and the ânot invented hereâ syndrome.This research was supported by a grant from the Economic and Social Research Council (RES-062-23-0135)
Multi-particle azimuthal correlations in p-Pb and Pb-Pb collisions at the CERN Large Hadron Collider
Measurements of multi-particle azimuthal correlations (cumulants) for charged
particles in p-Pb and Pb-Pb collisions are presented. They help address the
question of whether there is evidence for global, flow-like, azimuthal
correlations in the p-Pb system. Comparisons are made to measurements from the
larger Pb-Pb system, where such evidence is established. In particular, the
second harmonic two-particle cumulants are found to decrease with multiplicity,
characteristic of a dominance of few-particle correlations in p-Pb collisions.
However, when a gap is placed to suppress such correlations,
the two-particle cumulants begin to rise at high-multiplicity, indicating the
presence of global azimuthal correlations. The Pb-Pb values are higher than the
p-Pb values at similar multiplicities. In both systems, the second harmonic
four-particle cumulants exhibit a transition from positive to negative values
when the multiplicity increases. The negative values allow for a measurement of
to be made, which is found to be higher in Pb-Pb collisions at
similar multiplicities. The second harmonic six-particle cumulants are also
found to be higher in Pb-Pb collisions. In Pb-Pb collisions, we generally find
which is indicative of a Bessel-Gaussian
function for the distribution. For very high-multiplicity Pb-Pb
collisions, we observe that the four- and six-particle cumulants become
consistent with 0. Finally, third harmonic two-particle cumulants in p-Pb and
Pb-Pb are measured. These are found to be similar for overlapping
multiplicities, when a gap is placed.Comment: 25 pages, 11 captioned figures, 3 tables, authors from page 20,
published version, figures at http://aliceinfo.cern.ch/ArtSubmission/node/87
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