We can relate
Intelligence, Personality, and Gains from Cooperation in Repeated Interactions
Eugenio Proto, Aldo Rustichini & Andis Sofianos
Journal of Political Economy, forthcoming
Abstract:
We study how intelligence and personality affect the outcomes of groups, focusing on repeated interactions that provide the opportunity for profitable cooperation. Our experimental method creates two groups of subjects who have different levels of certain traits, such as higher or lower levels of Intelligence, Conscientiousness, and Agreeableness, but who are very similar otherwise. Intelligence has a large and positive long-run effect on cooperative behavior. The effect is strong when at the equilibrium of the repeated game there is a trade-off between short-run gains and long-run losses. Conscientiousness and Agreeableness have a natural, significant but transitory effect on cooperation rates.
Two signals of social rank: Prestige and dominance are associated with distinct nonverbal displays
Zachary Witkower et al.
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
Converging evidence suggests that high rank is communicated through various nonverbal behaviors (e.g., expansiveness), but prior studies have not examined whether 2 distinct forms of high rank — known as prestige and dominance — are communicated through distinct nonverbal displays. Given the divergent messages that prestigious and dominant leaders need to send in order to attain and retain their place in the social hierarchy, theoretical accounts would suggest that individuals use distinct sets of nonverbal behaviors to communicate these 2 forms of high rank. In the present research, we tested this hypothesis in 7 studies, using carefully controlled experimental designs (Studies 1, 2, 3, 4a, and 4b) and the assessment of spontaneously displayed nonverbal behaviors that occurred during a lab-based group interaction (Study 5) and a real-world political contest (Study 6). Results converged across studies to show that prestige and dominance strategies are associated with distinct sets of nonverbal behaviors, which are largely consistent with theoretical predictions. Specifically, prestige, or the attainment of rank through earned respect, and dominance, or the use of intimidation and force to obtain power, are communicated from different head positions (i.e., tilted upward vs. downward), smiling behaviors (i.e., presence vs. absence of a symmetrical smile), and different forms of bodily expansion (i.e., subtle chest expansion vs. more grandiose space-taking). These findings provide the first evidence for 2 distinct signals of high rank, which spontaneously emerge in social interactions and guide social perceptions and the conferral of power.
Preventing harassment and increasing group participation through social norms in 2,190 online science discussions
Nathan Matias
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, forthcoming
Abstract:
Theories of human behavior suggest that people’s decisions to join a group and their subsequent behavior are influenced by perceptions of what is socially normative. In online discussions, where unruly, harassing behavior is common, displaying community rules could reduce concerns about harassment that prevent people from joining while also influencing the behavior of those who do participate. An experiment tested these theories by randomizing announcements of community rules to large-scale online conversations in a science-discussion community with 13 million subscribers. Compared with discussions with no mention of community expectations, displaying the rules increased newcomer rule compliance by >8 percentage points and increased the participation rate of newcomers in discussions by 70% on average. Making community norms visible prevented unruly and harassing conversations by influencing how people behaved within the conversation and also by influencing who chose to join.
No laughing matter: Latinas’ high quality of conversations relate to behavioral laughter
Nairán Ramírez-Esparza et al.
PLoS ONE, April 2019
Abstract:
Latinx in the United States have greater life expectancy than other groups, in spite of their socioeconomic and psychosocial disadvantage. This phenomenon has been described as the Latinx health paradox. This investigation observed the interplay of cultural processes and social networks to shed light on this paradox. Latina (N = 26) and White-European (N = 24) mothers wore a digital recorder as they went about their daily lives. Four conversation styles were characterized from the recordings to measure the mothers’ quality of their conversations (small talk and substantive conversations) within different social networks (with the father vs. other adults). As a positive indicator of well-being, laughter was assessed during the conversations. Results demonstrated that Latina mothers tend to laugh more than White-European mothers; and that this relation is mediated by substantive conversations with others. This suggests that Latinas’ cultural processes afford meaningful conversations, which relates to more behavioral laughter, a process that may have positive implications on well-being.
Wired to be Connected? Links Between Mobile Technology Engagement, Intertemporal Preference, and Frontostriatal White Matter Connectivity
Henry Wilmer et al.
Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, forthcoming
Abstract:
Youth around the world are increasingly dependent on social media and mobile smartphones. This phenomenon has generated considerable speculation regarding the impacts of extensive technology engagement on cognitive development, and how these habits might be ‘rewiring’ the brains of those growing up in a heavily digital era. In an initial study conducted with healthy young adults, we utilized behavioral and self-report measures to demonstrate associations between smartphone usage habits (assessed both subjectively and objectively) and individual differences in intertemporal preference and reward sensitivity. In a follow-up neuroimaging study, we used probabilistic tractography of diffusion weighted images to determine how these individual difference characteristics might relate to variation in white matter connectivity, focusing on two dissociable pathways — one connecting the ventral striatum (vSTR) with the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), and the other connecting the vSTR with the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC). Regression analyses revealed opposing patterns of association, with stronger vSTR-vmPFC connectivity corresponding to increased mobile technology engagement, but stronger vSTR-dlPFC connectivity corresponding to decreased engagement. Taken together, the results of these two studies provide important foundational evidence for both neural and cognitive factors that can be linked to how individuals engage with mobile technology.
Who Belongs? How Status Influences the Experience of Gemeinschaft
Cary Beckwith
Social Psychology Quarterly, March 2019, Pages 31-50
Abstract:
Belonging is a central human aspiration, one that has drawn attention from sociologists and social psychologists alike. Who is likely to realize this aspiration? This paper addresses that question by examining how “we-feeling” — the experience of gemeinschaft — is distributed within small groups. Previous research has argued that the feeling of belonging is positively related to a person’s social status through a cumulative advantage process. But high status can recast the responsibilities of group life as burdens if a person regards them as incongruent with his or her rank, and this can dim one’s feelings toward the group. This paper proposes that a “high-status penalty” diminishes we-feeling for high-ranking individuals, thereby concentrating we-feeling in the middle of a status hierarchy. It tests this theory using data from the Urban Communes Project, a survey of 60 naturally occurring communities. The findings suggest that status-incongruent responsibilities can suppress the benefits of status at the top of a hierarchy.
Getting ahead, getting along, and getting prosocial: Examining extraversion facets, peer reactions, and leadership emergence
Jia Hu et al.
Journal of Applied Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
Drawing upon socioanalytic theory of personality, we hypothesize and test inverted U-shaped relationships between team members’ assertiveness and warmth (labeled as the “getting ahead” and “getting along” facets of extraversion) and peers’ reactions (i.e., advice seeking by peers and peer liking, respectively) that, in turn, predict members’ emergence as informal leaders in self-managed teams. Integrating research on prosocial motivation, we also examine whether prosocially motivated members have more enhanced positive curvilinear influences of assertiveness and warmth on peer reactions. Based on 223 members in 69 student project teams (Study 1) and 337 employees in 79 self-managed work teams (Study 2), we found support for the inverted U-shaped relationships between assertiveness and advice seeking by peers, and between warmth and peer liking. Further, prosocial motivation enhances the inverted U-shaped effect of assertiveness in Study 2 and those effects of warmth in both studies. Advice seeking by peers and peer liking, in turn, were positively related to leadership emergence in both studies. Our findings have important theoretical and practical implications for dispositional and motivational factors that shape peer reactions and facilitate leadership emergence in teams.