Implicit Social Influence

Thesis (PhD) - Indiana University, Psychology, 2007Previous research has shown that people hold two kinds of attitudes, explicit attitudes, which are voluntary evaluations of things, and implicit attitudes, which are automatic evaluations that occur spontaneously and are difficult or impossible to control. Prior work has shown that social influence, whether it is intentional persuasion or incidental influence, usually leads the recipient of the influence to change his or her attitudes to be closer to the attitudes of the source of the influence. This work has focused on the effect of the explicit attitudes of the source of influence but ignored the possible effect of the source's implicit attitudes. Three studies examine the independent effect of the source's implicit attitude on a recipient in different social influence settings. In the first study, the implicit and explicit attitudes of a source towards a target were measured, and in the second two studies the implicit and explicit attitudes of the source were manipulated. In the first study, the recipient watched the source give a persuasive message about the target, in the second study the source described the target directly to the recipient, and in the third study, the recipient watched the source interacting with the target. Results revealed that implicit attitudes have an influence on a recipient, but in unexpected ways. In the first study, the sources' implicit attitudes led to a contrast effect on the recipients' explicit attitudes. In the second and third study the manipulation of the sources' attitudes did not work as expected, and the influence of the sources' implicit attitudes on the recipient was not detected. Thus, a person's implicit attitudes can influence another person's attitudes, but they must be strong and possibly naturally occurring. The conditions in which implicit attitudes lead to influence deserve further research

UCAC3 pixel processing

The third US Naval Observatory (USNO) CCD Astrograph Catalog, UCAC3 was released at the IAU General Assembly on 2009 August 10. It is a highly accurate, all-sky astrometric catalog of about 100 million stars in the R = 8 to 16 magnitude range. Recent epoch observations are based on over 270,000 CCD exposures, which have been re-processed for the UCAC3 release applying traditional and new techniques. Challenges in the data have been high dark current and asymmetric image profiles due to the poor charge transfer efficiency of the detector. Non-Gaussian image profile functions were explored and correlations are found for profile fit parameters with properties of the CCD frames. These were utilized to constrain the image profile fit models and adequately describe the observed point-spread function of stellar images with a minimum number of free parameters. Using an appropriate model function, blended images of double stars could be fit successfully. UCAC3 positions are derived from 2-dimensional image profile fits with a 5-parameter, symmetric Lorentz profile model. Internal precisions of about 5 mas per coordinate and single exposure are found, which are degraded by the atmosphere to about 10 mas. However, systematic errors exceeding 100 mas are present in the x,y-data which have been corrected in the astrometric reductions following the x,y-data reduction step described here.Comment: 16 pages, 10 figures, 1 table, accepted by A

The Radicalization of Brexit Activists

© 2021 Mason, Winter, Schmeer and Berrington. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Brexit activists demonstrating outside the British Houses of Parliament were studied in situ to examine their potential for pro-group extreme behavior. This involved activists of two polarized, opposing views; those of Leave and Remain. The research engaged concepts linking the different theoretical perspectives of identity fusion and personal construct psychology. The study measured participants' degree of fusion to their group using a verbal measure. Willingness to undertake extreme acts was assessed in several ways: a measure of willingness to fight for the group, adaptations of the trolley dilemma and questions regarding political violence. Individual construing was examined using repertory grid technique and a semi-structured interview. Results were similar for both Leave and Remain participants. The majority of activists identified as “fused” to their group and, if so, were more likely to undertake hypothetical extreme behavior compared to those who did not identify as “fused.” Repertory grid technique indicated that becoming an activist provided individuals with a clearer and more positive view of themselves. Opposition activists were construed more negatively and extremely than fellow activists, and this construal was associated with an increased willingness to undertake extreme pro-group behavior. This was consistent with the personal construct model of radicalization and was heightened in those who were “fused.” Interview data provided support for the constructivist model and revealed characteristics and concerns of the two groups. Overall, the findings indicate that campaigning organizations contain fused individuals, who are more likely to undertake hypothetical pro-group violence including self-sacrifice. This has broader implications which may be particularly pertinent, given the violent impact of extremist activists around the globe.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

Detecting Friendship Within Dynamic Online Interaction Networks

In many complex social systems, the timing and frequency of interactions between individuals are observable but friendship ties are hidden. Recovering these hidden ties, particularly for casual users who are relatively less active, would enable a wide variety of friendship-aware applications in domains where labeled data are often unavailable, including online advertising and national security. Here, we investigate the accuracy of multiple statistical features, based either purely on temporal interaction patterns or on the cooperative nature of the interactions, for automatically extracting latent social ties. Using self-reported friendship and non-friendship labels derived from an anonymous online survey, we learn highly accurate predictors for recovering hidden friendships within a massive online data set encompassing 18 billion interactions among 17 million individuals of the popular online game Halo: Reach. We find that the accuracy of many features improves as more data accumulates, and cooperative features are generally reliable. However, periodicities in interaction time series are sufficient to correctly classify 95% of ties, even for casual users. These results clarify the nature of friendship in online social environments and suggest new opportunities and new privacy concerns for friendship-aware applications that do not require the disclosure of private friendship information.Comment: To Appear at the 7th International AAAI Conference on Weblogs and Social Media (ICWSM '13), 11 pages, 1 table, 6 figure

Behaviour-Based Husbandry-A Holistic Approach to the Management of Abnormal Repetitive Behaviors

The field of zoo animal welfare science has developed significantly over recent years. However despite this progress in terms of scientific research, globally, zoo animals still face many welfare challenges. Recently, animal welfare frameworks such as the five domains or five needs have been developed and suggested to improve the welfare of zoo animals, but without practical guidance, such tools may remain abstract from the daily experience of zoo animals. Similarly specific practical strategies such as those for enrichment development exist, but their lack of holistic integration with other aspects of animal husbandry and behavioral medicine means that overall, good zoo animal welfare may still be lacking. This paper outlines some of the barriers to implementing improved zoo animal welfare in practice, and proposes a new strategy for the development of behavioral husbandry routines focused on the management and mitigation of abnormal repetitive behaviors. Focusing on enhancing zoo animal welfare by integrating aspects of ecology, ethology and clinical animal behavior into a practical and comprehensive approach to behavior-based husbandry

Evaluation of the English version of the Fear of COVID-19 Scale and its relationship with behavior change and political beliefs

The COVID-19 pandemic has many individuals around the world fearing for their lives. The constant news coverage, rapid transmission, and relatively high mortality rate, make fearfulness a natural response. To assess the fear of COVID-19, the Fear of COVID-19 Scale (FCV-19S) was developed. The primary aim of the present study was to conduct the first psychometric assessment and validation of the English version of the FCV-19S. Two samples were collected in New Zealand. Sample 1 comprised 1624 participants of which 1397 completed all questions and were used in the analyses. Sample 2 comprised 1111 participants of which 1023 completed all questions and were used in the analyses. Several psychometric tests were conducted to ascertain the scale’s reliability and validity. Across both samples, the FCV-19S had high internal consistency. Consistent with the earlier validation studies, the FCV-19S displayed a moderately strong relationship with the perceived infectability and germ aversion subscales of the perceived vulnerability to disease scale (PVDS). Furthermore, FCV-19S scores were negatively correlated with the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale (WEMWBS) scores. With respect to the motivating role of fear, there was a significant relationship between FCV-19S scores and adherence to the lockdown rules that were implemented in New Zealand. Finally, consistent with recent reports on the politicization of the COVID-19 pandemic, an exploratory question found that participants who rated themselves as more conservative tended to report lower FCV-19S scores. The English version of the COVID-19S is a sound unidimensional scale with robust psychometric properties and can be used with confidence among English-speaking populations

Community Memories: A Glimpse of African American Life in Frankfort, Kentucky

Community Memories is a fascinating look into life recalled by African Americans who consider Frankfort their home. Featuring unique oral history recollections and over two hundred candid personal photographs collected from community residents, the book provides an enlightening expression of the black experience in Kentucky’s capital. The memories focus on the elusive concept of community—that which binds together individuals in the living of everyday life. A satisfying blend of public history and local accounts, Community Memories explores the neighborhood, familial, religious, occupational, social, and educational components of the daily community experience of twentieth-century African Americans in Frankfort. Published by the Kentucky Historical Society and distributed by the University Press of Kentucky Senior Editor Winona L. Fletcher is professor emerita of theater and drama at Indiana University. Associate Editor Sheila Mason Burton is assistant director for research coordination at the Kentucky Legislative Research Commission. Associate Editor James E. Wallace is assistant director of the Kentucky Historical Society. Photographs Editor Mary E. Winter is special collections branch manager and photographs archivist at the Kentucky Historical Society. Oral History Editor Douglas A. Boyd is oral history and folklife archivist at the Kentucky Historical Society.https://uknowledge.uky.edu/upk_african_american_studies/1024/thumbnail.jp

Evaluation of the English version of the Smartphone Application-Based Addiction Scale (SABAS) among an adolescent sample

The increased use of smartphones among adolescents has highlighted the need to distinguish between problematic and non-problematic smartphone use. To date, there are a lack of short, easy-to-use, and valid psychometric tools to assess smartphone addiction. The primary aim of the present study was to conduct the first psychometric assessment and evaluation of the Smartphone Application-Based Addiction Scale (SABAS) among English-speaking adolescents. Participants were 1175 students recruited from across four different high schools in New Zealand, of which 1031 completed all questions and were used in the final analyses. Several psychometric tests were conducted to ascertain reliability and validity. The SABAS had high internal consistency. Consistent with earlier validation studies, the SABAS displayed weak-moderate, positive relationships with symptoms of depression (PHQ-2), anxiety (GAD-2), and sleep quality. Overall, the SABAS is a sound, unidimensional scale with robust psychometric properties and is a short and easy-to-use measure that can be used confidently among English-speaking adolescents

The motivations and experiences of the on-demand mobile workforce

ABSTRACT On-demand mobile workforce applications match physical world tasks and willing workers. These systems offer to help conserve resources, streamline courses of action, and increase market efficiency for micro-and mid-level tasks, from verifying the existence of a pothole to walking a neighbor's dog. This study reports on the motivations and experiences of individuals who regularly complete physical world tasks posted in on-demand mobile workforce marketplaces. Data collection included semi-structured interviews with members (workers) of two different services. The analysis revealed the main drivers for participating in an on-demand mobile workforce, including desires for monetary compensation and control over schedules and task selection. We also reveal main reasons for task selection, which involve situational factors, convenient physical locations, and task requester profile information. Finally, we discuss the key characteristics of the most worthwhile tasks and offer implications for novel crowdsourcing systems for physical world tasks