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In this paper, I argue that recent sociological theory has become increasingly bifurcated into two mutually incompatible styles of theorizing that I label formalist and behavioral-realist. Formalism favors mathematization and proposes an instrumentalist ontology of abstract processes while behavioral-realist theory takes at its basis the “real” physical individual endowed with concrete biological, cognitive and neurophysiological capacities and constraints and attempts to derive the proper conceptualization of social behavior from that basis. Formalism tends to lead toward a conceptually independent sociology that in principle requires only minimal reference to the empirical and ontological storehouse of other disciplines, while behavioral-realist theory leads to an interdisciplinary sociology that can be located within a hierarchy of behavioral sciences, leading to questions regarding the relationship between sociology and other disciplines as well as issues of transdisciplinary unification and possible interdisciplinary reduction. I explore the consequences of this split for the project of explanatory sociological theory within the context of how it has manifested itself in sociological network theory and social psychology. I close with a critique and assessment of formalist tendencies in sociological theorizing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports a study of public order policing during a major ‘anti-capitalist’ riot. Officers were observed in the control room at New Scotland Yard throughout the event, and the two senior commanders were interviewed. The analysis demonstrates both the importance and the complexity of accountability concerns in determining police decisions. Officers are simultaneously accountable to multiple audiences who place different and sometimes contradictory demands upon them. Moreover officers in different positions may be subject to different accountability concerns. These lead to different action preferences that can create intra-organizational conflict. For instance, senior commanders were reluctant to use tactics that the general public and other external audiences might view as escalating the conflict or endangering the safety of protestors. In contrast, junior officers were less concerned with external audiences and supported these tactics as necessary to protect police safety. The theoretical significance of these findings is framed in terms of the SIDE model. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hospitality in central highland Sardinia is a key cultural idiom that structures community life and accompanies daily interactions among all social actors. Its meaning varies according to the relationship between the parties involved in the exchange, with social distance a primary variable. Based on field work conducted over a period of thirteen months in 2002 and 2003, this paper examines practices of hospitality in the village of Orgosolo in light of some characteristics that Eric Wolf (1957, 1986) attributes to the “closed corporate community.” A reworking of Wolf's classic formulation permits insight into how practices of hospitality maintain the exclusiveness of the moral community vis-à-vis the outside world, and incorporate outsiders into a special category which neutralizes the danger they initially present, thus exempting them from local standards of interaction that are driven by an egalitarian and competitive ethos. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines two methods of modeling binary choice with social interactions: models assuming homogeneous rational expectations and models using subjective data on expectations. Exploiting a unique survey conducted during the 1996 US presidential election that was designed to study voting behavior under social context, we find that in various model specifications using subjective expectations consistently improves models' goodness-of-fit; and that subjective expectations are not rational as formulated by Brock and Durlauf. Specifically, members' characteristics are individually important in forming expectations. We also include correlated effect in the rational expectation model. This extension provides a remedy to the selection issues that often arise in social interaction models. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neuroimmunomodulation describes the field focused on understanding the mechanisms by which the central nervous system interacts with the immune system, potentially leading to changes in animal behavior. Nonetheless, not many articles dealing with neuroimmunomodulation employ behavior as an analytical endpoint. Even fewer papers deal with social status as a possible modifier of neuroimmune phenomena. In the described sets of experiments, we tackle both, using a paradigm of social dominance and subordination. We first review data on the effects of different ranks within a stable hierarchical relationship. Submissive mice in this condition display more anxiety-like behaviors, have decreased innate immunity, and show a decreased resistance to implantation and development of melanoma metastases in their lungs. This suggests that even in a stable, social, hierarchical rank, submissive animals may be subjected to higher levels of stress, with putative biological relevance to host susceptibility to disease. Second, we review data on how dominant and submissive mice respond differentially to lipopolysaccharide (LPS), employing a motivational perspective to sickness behavior. Dominant animals display decreased number and frequency in several aspects of behavior, particularly agonistic social interaction, that is, directed toward the submissive cage mate. This was not observed in submissive mice that maintained the required behavior expected by its dominant mate. Expression of sickness behavior relies on motivational reorganization of priorities, which are different along different social ranks, leading to diverse outcomes. We suggest that in vitro assessment of neuroimmune phenomena can only be understood based on the behavioral context in which they occur. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) emerged as a popular concept in the water sector in the 20th century. From a highly techno-centric approach in the past, it has taken a new turn embracing Habermasian communicative rationality as a place-based nexus for multiple actors to consensually and communicatively integrate decisions in a hydrological unit. The ‘how to integrate’ approach had remarkable appeal worldwide in promoting authentic participation of all stakeholders. However, critics argue that the domain of water resource management is a political process of contestation and negotiation; the emphasis is on complexities, contextuality, power dynamics and the importance of analysing real world situations. They demonstrate ‘how integration cannot be achieved’ given the power dynamics in social interactions. These apparently contradictory discourses draw on different theoretical paradigms and polarise the discourse on IWRM, without offering constructive alternatives. To this end, this paper offers an option to complement this polarised discourse by examining ‘how integration actually does take place’ in a strategic context thereby facilitating consensual decisions to integrate water management for a sustainable future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we develop the theory of ontologization: Social representations that prevent members of minority and majority groups who are living in contact with each other to mingle. The process of ontologization consists of separating some humans from their own species, and anchoring them in another environment, that of an animal, for example. We propose that underlying the famous slogan “equal but separate” is the social representation of interracial mixing as a “counter-nature” phenomenon. It is predicted that a sexual relationship between people of different “races” leads to a greater degree of ontologization, and, as such, this miscegenation will be explained in terms of biologistic thinking, like an instinctive nature or atavistic animal impulse. An experiment (N = 360) features the case of a woman who, though already in a stable relationship, is unfaithful to her partner. In a 2×3 factor design, the ethnic-national identity of this woman (in-group: Spanish/Italian vs out-group: Senegalese) and the ethnic-national identity of her lovers (in-group: Spanish/Italian vs out-group: Rumanian vs out-group: Senegalese) were manipulated. In general, results fit the hypothesis of ontologization in interracial conditions better, rather than the customary in-group favouritism and/or out-group discrimination bias... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that technology is no longer merely a tool for man's use but has become the environment in which man undergoes modifications. The author traces the role of technology from the Greeks to the present day. For the Greeks, Nature was governed by necessity and therefore unchangeable whereas in the Judeo-Christian tradition, nature was entrusted to man for him to dominate. Modern science studies the world in order to manipulate and dominate nature through the use of technology which has now become an end in itself, governing the solution of political problems and confronting us with problems beyond our competence to resolve. The ethical impact of technology has been to create a change from ‘acting’ which assumes responsibility for one's actions to ‘doing’ which is concerned only with the effective execution of a ‘job’ without concern for the wider consequences. It can no longer be argued that technology is good or bad according to the use we make of it since technology now makes use of us and thus transforms our ethics, social relationships and psychological being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the relationship between travel behaviour, ICT use and social networks. Specifically, we outline a theory of social action that can inform how ICTs relates to social activity travel and explore the efficacy of this theory in an empirical setting. We begin by outlining two factors that influence the propensity to travel: an individual's will to initiate events with members of one's social network, referred to as agency, and the social accessibility of network members themselves. Social accessibility defines a series of practical constraints for social-activity travel and agency defines the extent to which an individual will actively work within these constraints to maintain their social network. The theoretical section first unpacks these concepts while embedding them in the research literature, finishing with an operationalisation of agency and social accessibility. Using this theory, the empirical section investigates the relationship between agency, social accessibility, and factors associated with both the respondents and their personal networks. More specifically, we examine how agency levels of interaction are related to differences in demographics, global measures of network structure and composition, and measures of media use, particularly of Internet and telephone. We conclude that individuals who are proximate or more active are more likely to maintain reciprocal relationships, and that more distant or infrequent ties require greater maintenance on the individual's part. We believe that studies of activity-travel and ICTs will benefit from a theoretical lens that articulates some of the transformative effects of ICTs on travel vis-à-vis its effects on social life. Social accessibility and agency can help focus that lens thereby enabling researchers to make potentially more elaborate and realistic models that move beyond the spatial and temporal dimensions into social dimensions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Humans use their bodies in a highly expressive way during conversation, and animated characters that lack this form of non-verbal expression can seem stiff and unemotional. An important aspect of non-verbal expression is that people respond to each other's behavior and are highly attuned to picking up this type of response. This is particularly important for the feedback given while listening to some one speak. However, automatically generating this type of behavior is difficult as it is highly complex and subtle. This paper takes a data driven approach to generating interactive social behavior. Listening behavior is motion captured, together with the audio being listened to. These data are used to learn an animation model of the responses of one person to the other. This allows us to create characters that respond in real-time during a conversation with a real human. Copyright ? 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper examines the discourse functions of intensity in the context of narrative direct speech quotations. We argue that differentiation in intensity functions as a contextualization cue signalling involvement as well as power negotiation. Intensity, therefore, seems to be an ambivalent signal acquiring its meaning in interaction with other contextual parameters. More specifically, we argue that a louder voice is preferred in in-group talk representations as a contextualization cue of a high involvement style in conversations between intimate young peers. Lower intensity, on the other hand, is used by young female narrators in the representation of talk with authority-out-group figures, as a means of reducing the authority of the adult voices represented in their narratives. The qualitative analysis of our data is further supported by quantitative analysis. We conclude that intensity differentiation in the direct speech quotations of young female narrators functions as a contextualization cue signalling, on the one hand, their independence from adult authority and, on the other, their in-group bonds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Losada observed management teams develop their annual strategic plans in a lab designed for studying team behaviour. Based on these findings he developed a dynamical model of team interaction and introduced the concept of meta learning (ML) which represents the ability of a team to avoid undesirable attractors. This paper analyses the dynamic model in more detail and discusses the relationship between ML and the new concept of systems intelligence (SI) introduced by Saarinen and Hämäläinen. We propose that the ML ability of a team clearly represents a systems intelligent competence. Losada's mathematical model predicts interesting dynamic phenomena in team interaction. However, our analysis shows how the model also produces strange and previously unreported behaviour under certain conditions. Thus, the predictive validity of the model also becomes problematic. It remains unclear whether the model behaviour can be said to be in satisfactory accordance with the observations of team interaction. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent years have witnessed a renewal of interest in intergroup contact theory. A meta-analysis of more than 500 studies established the theory's basic contention that intergroup contact typically reduces prejudices of many types. This paper addresses the issue of process: just how does contact diminish prejudice? We test meta-analytically the three most studied mediators: contact reduces prejudice by (1) enhancing knowledge about the outgroup, (2) reducing anxiety about intergroup contact, and (3) increasing empathy and perspective taking. Our tests reveal mediational effects for all three of these mediators. However, the mediational value of increased knowledge appears less strong than anxiety reduction and empathy. Limitations of the study and implications of the results are discussed. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The extent to which a set of people is perceived as a meaningful group, as one entity, is called entitativity. In this paper, we propose that there are two qualitatively different group construals, or ways of thinking, about groups: as dynamic groups or as categorical groups. Two experiments investigated this distinction. An analogy was used to induce these construals by having participants think of the same group (the group “bees”) either dynamically (as the interacting members of a hive) or categorically (as the members of the species). We then gave participants information about a social group and assessed the impact of the construal manipulation on how that information was processed. Study 1 showed that perceivers recall and report different perceptual cues (similarity and interaction characteristics, respectively) when groups are thought of in these different ways. Study 2 showed that judgments of entitativity are differentially based on a group's similarity versus interaction under these different group construals. The results suggest that group construals change the properties on which entitativity is based. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is a critical exploration of the discursive and socio-historical practice of 'dyadic-containment' as a principle index for how we know, experience, and authenticate romantic relationships. Making intelligible an 'authentic' relationship as something which is fixed, enclosed and exclusive, the pervasive principle of dyadiccontainment has considerable implications for what it means to live out 'authentic' but ostensibly liberated relationships. Using post-structuralist discourse analysis to explore ways in which people can account for their consensual non-monogamous relationships (same and cross-sex, dyadic and non-dyadic), we critique the liberal-humanist framework from which such relationships can be played out. In that dyadic-containment as an aspect of an ontology of interiorized and contained 'realness' can be viewed as serving to characterize and authorize monogamous relationships (as we illustrate), practices of consensual non-monogamy that reproduce dyadic-containment as an organizing and authenticating principle are problematized. Limits to understandings and practices of some 'alternative' romantic relationships are therefore expounded and consideration is given to how relational difference might be otherwise premised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to study the diffusion and transformation of scientific information in everyday discussions. Based on rumour models and social representations theory, the impact of interpersonal communication and pre-existing beliefs on transmission of the content of a scientific discovery was analysed. In three experiments, a communication chain was simulated to investigate how laypeople make sense of a genetic discovery first published in a scientific outlet, then reported in a mainstream newspaper and finally discussed in groups. Study 1 (N = 40) demonstrated a transformation of information when the scientific discovery moved along the communication chain. During successive narratives, scientific expert terminology disappeared while scientific information associated with lay terminology persisted. Moreover, the idea of a discovery of a faithfulness gene emerged. Study 2 (N = 70) revealed that transmission of the scientific message varied as a function of attitudes towards genetic explanations of behaviour (pro-genetics vs. anti-genetics). Pro-genetics employed more scientific terminology than anti-genetics. Study 3 (N = 75) showed that endorsement of genetic explanations was related to descriptive accounts of the scientific information, whereas rejection of genetic explanations was related to evaluative accounts of the information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Others have investigated the role that DNA profiling could play as a method for identifying the perpetrator of manual strangulation. These studies have demonstrated that it is possible to collect offender DNA from the skin surface of a victim following physical contact. It is not known whether nonself biological material is normally present on the skin surface due to adventitious transfer occurring during innocent everyday interactions. To test the hypothesis that detectable amounts of nonself DNA are normally present on the skin surface of healthy adult individuals due to the adventitious transfer of DNA occurring during normal day-to-day social interactions, we designed an experiment in three phases. Phase 1 was used to deduce which DNA collection, extraction, and amplification methods were suited to investigating this question. During phase 2, the neck surface of 24 healthy adult volunteers was swabbed. DNA was extracted using the QIAamp DNA mini kit and amplified using the SGM Plus PCR amplification kit, using 28 PCR cycles. The work carried out during phase 3 involved a simulated assault to investigate primary and secondary transfer of DNA during physical contact. It was found that 23% of neck areas swabbed during phase 2 of this investigation showed nondonor alleles in the resulting DNA profile, with 5% of areas showing six or more nondonor alleles. The results of phase 3 showed that primary, secondary, and zero transfer of victim and/or offender DNA could be observed after physical contact and that alleles from an unknown source could still be detected in this more controlled experiment. The data presented in this paper demonstrate that DNA profiles generated after swabbing the skin surface of healthy adults can include components of an unknown source, present due to adventitious transfer. These components, if present in large quantities, have the potential to interfere with DNA profile interpretation of swabs taken for the investigation of physical assault by DNA profiling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A distinction has recently been proposed between bridging (or encompassing) and bonding (or inward-looking) social networks. However, existing theoretical contributions remain vague as to the fundamental meaning of both concepts. As a consequence, two distinct interpretations have developed alongside each other. In the present paper, we employ data on voluntary association membership in Flanders to empirically illustrate that both approaches can lead to substantially different outcomes and therefore appear to tap into different dimensions of bridging versus bonding. These findings underline the problematic nature of the current conceptual ambiguity. We conclude that should the bridging/bonding distinction add meaningfully to our understanding of the external effects of social networks, it is essential to resolve the conceptual and methodological imprecision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the case of H5N1 bird flu in Southeast Asia, and develops a basic model of simulation using agent-based modelling to study the dynamic interaction between human activities in Bandung City, West Java province, Indonesia. It evaluates the effectiveness of several policies for Bandung City based on the infection process model for pandemic, depending on social and culture simulation using Spot Oriented Agent Role Simulator or SOARS. The results of these simulations suggest that the government should take action not only from a medical perspective, but also from the perspective of social interactions and their influences on the spread of H5N1 in Bandung City. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores how rural and urban adolescents use the Internet as a tool for communication in their social environment. It aims to analyse the differences in the use of the Internet to overcome environmental constraints between urban and rural adolescents. In this paper, environmental constraints are defined in two ways: (1) The lack of contacts that a person may have in his/her local environment and (2) The distance between the contacts that prevents him/her from having face-to-face social interaction. The empirical part of the research is a questionnaire-based survey of two samples of pre-university high school pupils in Den Bosch and Winterswijk in the Netherlands. The outcomes of the research show that pupils in the urban area find more emotional support in their physical environment than pupils from the rural area and that they also receive more emotional support via the Internet than their rural counterparts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analysis of social interactions has recently become an important area of economic research, and the focus of researchers in this area has increasingly shifted toward dynamic models. In one recent contribution, Brueckner and Smirnov (2007) analyze the evolution of population attributes in an exceedingly simple model, where an agent's attributes at time t are equal to the average attribute value among his acquaintances. The pattern of acquaintances in the population is determined by the social network, and Brueckner and Smirnov (BS) explore the effect of network characteristics on the convergence of population attributes over time. They show that some simple sufficient conditions on the network structure ensure convergence to a “melting-pot” equilibrium where attributes are uniform across agents. The present paper provides a generalization of BS's analysis, allowing for a more general form of the rule governing the evolution of population attributes. The analysis shows that BS's previous conclusions continue to hold under this generalization, while also providing a result that can be applied more generally to other models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the extent to which widowhood affects changes in (a) the availability of a confidant, (b) emotional support from children, and (c) emotional support from friends/relatives both 6 and 18 months after spousal loss. Analyses are based on data from the Changing Lives of Older Couples, a prospective study of 1,532 married individuals aged 65 and older. Compared to married persons, widowed persons are less likely to have a confidant, yet they receive greater support from children, friends, and relatives, controlling for support prior to widowhood. The findings suggest that, although close social relationships may remain stable in the course of normal aging, stressful events such as widowhood may bring forth both losses and gains in social support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the notion of the genuine as it relates to conversation is explored based on the work of H. G. Gadamer in his major work, Truth and Method (1989). The application of the genuine to human interaction and understanding in the context of qualitative research is examined. In addition, possible outcomes of the researcher's philosophical hermeneutic position, as exemplified through the use of the genuine conversation in her work, are discussed. Both the problem as well as the productivity of self-application and prejudice are addressed through the lens of the genuine conversation. We then illustrate the character of interviewing and interpretation of text as research practices that can be informed by Gadamer's philosophical hermeneutics while resisting methodology as a necessary feature of research inquiry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Frames theory has been widely used to explain the dynamics of group processes and decision-making. Some researchers have applied frames theory to policy adoption and implementation. Following from this, my research applies frames analysis to a regulatory program in coastal Louisiana. The data derive from a pre-Hurricane Katrina study of the effectiveness of Louisiana's Coastal Resources Program in building coastal zone management (CZM) capacity among local decision-makers. In this paper, I examine the potential influence of three independent variables (Local Coastal Program development, type of respondent, and frequency of coastal zone management interaction) on the level of agreement with regulator frame ideology. The frames analysis shows that parishes with Local Coastal Programs (LCPs) have a significantly stronger presence of regulator framing than do parishes without LCPs. Among the three types of decision-makers (CZM administrators/staff, CZM advisory panel members and parish council or police jury) regulator frame agreement is particularly strong among advisory panel members, while agreement with regulator frames is lowest among parish council or police jury officials. Respondents reporting more CZM interaction exhibit higher levels of regulator frame agreement. OLS regression shows that the conditions of having an LCP, or being a panel member and having greater frequency of CZM interactions significantly increase the likelihood of regulator framing. These findings demonstrate the importance of the LCP process in the shaping of frames congruent with lead agency ideology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social psychology and social network research are both centrally concerned with human sociality. Despite some historically significant interactions between the two, these areas of investigation have not been usefully deployed together in recent research endeavours. The present paper attempts to bring out some points of both theoretical and methodological contentions, to characterize the gap between them, to traverse briefly the trajectories of their historical development, and to provide some concrete instances of these differences. Intellectual resources available to Asian social psychology are reviewed, which may help bridge the gap between the two areas of research. We conclude by calling for a greater integration of social psychology and social network perspectives in future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a longitudinal study of an Enterprise System (ES) implementation by critically examining the discursive context in which an ES implementation unfolds. The findings show that users strongly supported the ES in the earlier stage of implementation when the technology was an imaginary phenomenon. However, in later stages, when the technology is in use, user support was not consistent. In this phase, the ES produces loss of control and an inability to function as an arbiter of fairness (in allocating resources associated with the system), thereby directly challenging existing professional identities and roles. These outcomes, in turn, generate acts of resistance on the part of workers. Users reach inside the technology and reshape it by devising creative workarounds that produce a sense of reskilling to counter the deskilling produced by the loss of control and power. The analysis also shows that an ES is a complex social phenomenon that is intricately linked to and complicit in shaping organizational structure and identity. In particular, this study shows how technology, structure and identity are in a mutually constitutive relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper stresses the importance of understanding the connections across self, others (including sentient beings), the environment and technological applications, in order to ensure sustainable futures. It makes a case for ethical dialogue as a process to engage and co-create shared meanings, in order to enhance democracy and rescue the enlightenment from its failings. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The complexity and rapid pace of social life stress our ability to make sound and timely group decisions. The cult of the all-wise absolute manager is a relic of the feudal and mechanical ages that works only in routine and not-too-complicated situations. The organizational pyramid was satisfactory for the linear pace of the mechanical age, but moves too slowly today. Efforts to get everyone involved and hear all points of view can take so much exertion and time—and produce so little result that managers hesitate to try them and workers/citizens grow weary of them. A rational solution to this bleak situation is a dialogue process that efficiently enlists broad participation and produces timely results. This paper describes methods for facilitating dialogic decisions as employed in Structured Dialogic Design. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes economic–social interaction in China in connection with the country's change of economic system. I define an economic system in terms of a multi-dimensional vector of broad institutional characteristics, and I emphasize that important features of the social development are closely related to specific changes in these various dimensions. I classify China's options for future social improvements into three broad categories: (i) policies that improve the stability and distribution of factor income; (ii) government-created wedges between factor income and disposable income; and (iii) improvements in the quantity, quality and distribution of human services, such as education and healthcare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper compares the experiences of a group of marginalized young women with two groups that remained socially engaged. Drawing from a qualitative study of young women aged between 13 and 15 years, we identify four areas (understandings and experiences of well-being, use of space, making wishes, and emotional and household labour) that illuminated the ways in which marginalized young women articulated their experiences differently from those young women who were still engaged in mainstream social life. Drawing on Ungar's work we consider the ways in which marginalized behaviours, which are typically interpreted as socially disruptive and troubled, can also be read as efforts by young women to create a consistent set of social meanings in their lives and to cement reliable relationships around them. Rather than wholly negative, we suggest that these socially disruptive and troubled behaviours should be understood as having health-enhancing qualities, given the wider contextual challenges the young women faced, and as being the best choices they could make given their circumstances. Social work and support that assists young women on the margins needs to actively engage with these health-enhancing qualities and to come to a sensitized understanding of the way in which these young women understand their interpersonal worlds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of challenging targets for renewable energy generation, this paper draws out social implications of moves towards low carbon energy systems. As renewable energy develops as a heterogeneous category, many potential forms of social relation between ‘publics’ and technologies are emerging. Utilising perspectives from science and technology studies, we outline five modes in which renewable energy has been implemented in the UK and how these involve different configurations of technology and social organisation. We argue that a multiplicity of roles for ‘the public’ are implicated across this increasingly complex landscape, cutting across established categories and raising questions of meaning, differentiation, interrelation and access. Policy assumptions and conceptions are questioned, highlighting that dominant characterisations of public roles have been part of a concentration on particular socio-technical pathways to the exclusion of others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In North America, prenatal testing and genetic terminations are becoming clinically normalized. Yet despite this implied social acceptance, open discussions surrounding genetic terminations remain taboo and silenced. Women are socially isolated, their experiences kept secret, and their grief disenfranchised. The lack of social consensus regarding genetic terminations, the valorization of scientific knowledge, and the bioethical framing of the issue as a matter of personal choice and autonomy collectively serve to reify this silence. In many respects genetic screening offers a form of technological surveillance procuring security from the unwanted kind of child. Yet the manner in which ‘the unwanted kind of child’ is understood varies from context to context. While we carry with us the consequences of decisions made elsewhere, the institutionalized discourses upon which these decisions are made are not always so readily transportable. One must somehow reconcile ‘the unwanted kind of child’ of the biomedical model with ‘the unwanted kind of child’ who was to be a member of one's family. In this paper, my intention is not to engage in the broader debate surrounding prenatal testing and genetic terminations. Rather, I employ my clinical encounters with these practices to illustrate the absence of an ethical language that might do justice to the experiences such practices construct. The limitations of a bioethical discourse that remains abstracted from lived experience are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we show that the role of diversity, local interactions and global endogenous change at the level of social standards might be crucial in understanding the evolution of consumption patterns in modern economies. We propose an evolutionary model from which consumption dynamics can be analyzed as global properties emerging from the endogenous transformation of a society inhabited by boundedly rational interactive consumers. This work aspires to take a modest step forward in the direction of an evolutionary theory of demand change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Title. Nurses’ views on the use, quality and user satisfaction with electronic medical records: questionnaire development Aim. This paper is a report of the development of an instrument to measure nurses’ views on the use, quality and user satisfaction with electronic medical records systems. Background. Use of electronic medical records systems in hospitals is steadily increasing, yet no validated instruments have assessed the effectiveness of these systems from the viewpoint of nurses. Method. Items were designed following a literature review based on three main constructs: use, quality and user satisfaction with electronic medical records. Reliability and validity were examined based on responses from 1666 nurses from 42 hospitals in Japan in February 2006. Exploratory factor analysis was conducted to determine the degree to which each item within a construct was associated. The reliability of each resultant factor was computed using Cronbach’s alpha coefficient. Content validity was addressed by basing the items on previous surveys and review of the instrument by a panel of nurses experienced in nursing informatics. Construct validity was examined through factor analysis and correlational analyses. Findings. Extent of ‘use’ of electronic medical records resulted into three factors with good factor loadings, but only two had acceptable reliability. ‘Quality’ of electronic medical records had two factors with good factor loadings and reliability. ‘User satisfaction’ with electronic medical records had three factors, but only one had acceptable reliability. ‘Use’ and ‘quality’ constructs were positively correlated with ‘user satisfaction’. Conclusion. The final instrument incorporates 34 items from the original 44-item pool. Initial validity results were positive and therefore the instrument can be used in evaluating electronic medical records in hospitals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research paper presents findings from an experimental investigation of the attitudes that people hold towards animals when they are reminded of the fact that humans and animals are creatures alike. We tested the hypothesis that mortality salience (MS) would lead participants reminded of human creatureliness to evaluate animals more negatively, especially when they reported lower self-esteem. Student participants were randomly assigned to conditions in which MS was made salient and thoughts about human creatureliness were manipulated. Participants then reported their attitudes towards animals. Lending support to the hypothesis of this study, MS led participants with lower self-esteem to rate animals more negatively, when they were reminded of human—animal similarity. The implications of these results for understanding people's attitudes towards animals were discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a widely recognized tendency for people to positively differentiate Self from Other. The present paper asks: What counter dynamic constrains this othering tendency? A phenomenon, termed identification through differentiation is presented in which the positive differentiation of Self from Other collapses in a moment of identification. This phenomenon is demonstrated and explored using quasi-naturalistic group discussions with tourists in India. Three excerpts are analysed. The first demonstrates a tourist's attempt to positively differentiate him from other tourists. The second demonstrates how such an effort can collapse in a moment of identification with the previously derogated ‘other’ tourists. The third is used to explore how issues of self-presentation complicate identification through differentiation. The discussion uses concepts from Mead (1934) and Ichheiser (1949) in order to theorize about the preconditions, interactional mechanisms and wider applicability of the phenomenon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we present an experimental study that examines the influence of work-goal differences and informational differences on the formation of a common identity in dyads. We show that when both kinds of differences are present within a dyad, these differences — just like similarities — come to be seen as defining dyadic features. Furthermore, mediational analysis shows that as the accumulation of differences results in a clearer conception of the dyad, it fosters dyadic identification. This is not the case when dyad members only differ from each other in one respect (i.e. either in work goals or information), while remaining similar in the other. The results are explained in the light of recent insights and developments in the social identity tradition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As undocumented migration becomes more difficult, migrants' journeys become longer and more fragmented. This is a response to new spatialities of migration control which are continually reconfigured in an effort to eliminate clandestine movement. In the trans-Saharan region, this pattern of fragmented journeys also arises from a network of transnational social organisations that depend upon newly available technologies. Migrants' social networks provide both the means and the motivation for continued movement, even as destinations become more elusive. This paper investigates the imbalanced conflict between the social organisation of Sahara transit migrants and the developing spatial logic of control. It is based on recent research with undocumented migrants in Morocco. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the social psychology of uncertainty management is used to explain reactions to socially deviating people. In Study 1, we examine how people react to a person communicating negative messages about their home country; in Study 2, how a representative sample of the Dutch society reacts to encounters with a homeless person; and in Study 3, what the behavioral and psychological reactions are of people in an anticipated interaction with a homeless individual. All 3 studies reveal that personal uncertainty—whether made salient in a subtle manner or measured by means of individual differences in the extent to which uncertainty is considered an emotionally threatening experience—is an important determinant of reactions to socially deviating persons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the results of an experimental study of the effects of surface texture on the interactions between human osteo‐sarcoma (HOS) cells and Ti‐6Al‐4V. These include the Ti‐6Al‐4V with polished (smooth); Al2O3 blasted (rough); and laser micro‐grooved geometries with controlled spacings and depths. Immuno‐fluorescence staining of adhesion proteins (actin and vinculin) was used to study the spreading and adhesion of HOS cells in 2 day culture experiments. Quantitative measures of adhesion were also obtained using an enzymatic detachment assay. The results are discussed within the context of existing theories of cell adhesion. The implications of the results are also examined for the design of textured surfaces in biomedical systems. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part B: Appl Biomater, 2007 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The talk of persons with autistic spectrum disorders (ASD) often features distinctive forms of repetition (echophenomena). Although often characterized as meaningless or inappropriate, there is evidence that such practices can sometimes have communicative functions. Aims: To investigate the interactional organization of repetition practices found in the talk of an adolescent girl with an ASD. Methods & Procedures: As part of a project examining the interactional practices of children with ASD, we video-recorded 6 hours of activity in a school classroom for severe learning difficulty (SLD) children. This paper considers instances of repeated talk produced by a class pupil, 'Helen'. The analysis involved assembling a collection of examples of the repeated talk which were then transcribed in detail. Conversation Analysis was used to explore the sequential contexts in which they occur and precisely how they are produced. Outcomes & Results: Two forms of repetition occur very frequently in Helen's talk: first, repeats of turn-final lexical items from another speaker's immediately before talk (prior-turn repeats, a form of immediate echolalia), and second, repeats of the first item within a turn such that a turn is produced consisting entirely of repeated items (within-turn repeats). The latter appears to be a form of palilalia (repeats of one's own prior talk) that has not been widely reported in ASD. The prior turn repeats follow other speaker's initiating actions (e.g. questions) that are addressed specifically to Helen and make a response from her relevant. Helen apparently uses these to demonstrate that she has nevertheless heard, and is orienting to, that prior turn. Within-turn repeats are tied to and bounded by the accomplishment of non-vocal activities, e.g. handing an object to a co-participant, such that the repetitions cease when the object has reached its recipient. The two forms of repetition frequently co-occur to display on-going engagement with a recipient's prior turn. Conclusions: Although Helen has limited verbal resources she is more interactionally competent than this may initially suggest. We propose that these repetition practices may constitute an adaptation to interacting with a limited lexicon. We discuss the relevance of Conversational Analysis for understanding autistic children's pragmatic competence, and the implications for remediation and further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The object of this paper was to study how the Baby Alarm Distress Scale (ADBB), developed as a simple screening tool for front line professionals working with infants, correlates with the more detailed assessment method of the Global Rating Scale (GRS) for Mother-Infant Interaction at two and four months. A sample of 127 eight- to eleven-week-old infants was videotaped in free interaction with their mothers, and infant interaction behavior was rated with both methods by independent researchers. Compared to the GRS infant scales the sensitivity of the ADBB, using the recommended cutoff point of 5 or more, was 0.77 and specificity 0.80. In further analyses it was found that deviant ratings of two items of the ADBB, the quality of eye contact between the infant and the caregiver and assessment of the sense of relationship between the infant and the caregiver, were the items most strongly associated with poor interaction skills of the infant on the GRS. Mothers of infants found deviant in the ADBB performed more poorly in the interaction with their infants when compared to mothers of infants found healthy in the ADBB. For the purpose of detecting deviations in infant interaction skills as signs of possible problems in early parent-infant interaction the ADBB seems to be a sufficiently sensitive and specific instrument. However, the results of this study still need to be tested with larger samples and against other observation methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

George Herbert Mead argues that human society is comprised of six basic institutions—language, family, economics, religion, polity, and science. I do not believe that he can be criticized for making institutions the cornerstones of a society, but he can definitely be criticized for his explanation of how our basic institutions originate, how these institutions operate in society after their inception, and how they later change, modifying society in the process. The problem with Mead's explanation of these three critical matters is that he based them on his principle of “sociality” rather than on the principle of “domination.” If Mead's principle of sociality is replaced by the principle of domination and his notion of the “generalized other” is replaced by the notion of the “phantom community,” then most of these problems can be largely solved. Thus, in this paper, I will not only point out the key problems in Mead's theory of society, but I will also offer solutions to them based on the notions of domination and the “phantom community.” The end product is a “radical interactionism” that surpasses Mead's original interactionism in identifying the part that both domination and the composite “other” play in every known human society—big and small, and past and present. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper focuses on the nurse–patient relationship in forensic psychiatric care. From research in the field six categories of nurse–patient interactions are identified: ‘building and sustaining relationships’, ‘supportive/encouraging interactions’, ‘social skills training’, ‘reality orientation’, ‘reflective interactions’ and ‘practical skills training’. The content of each category of interaction in the context of forensic psychiatric care is described. A conceptual model is presented together with an empirical, philosophical and theoretical foundation for the use of verbal and social interactions in nurse–patient interactions in forensic psychiatric nursing care. The implications and possible uses of the model in the practical field of forensic psychiatric care are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People communicate with each other about their ingroup and outgroup in a social context. These social communications may have profound effects in constructing intergroup relationships. In this paper, we outline how different combinations of the social identities of the sender, receiver, and target of the social communication may give rise to differing face concerns of the ingroup and outgroup, and may result in different patterns of communications about them. People may enhance or protect their ingroup social identity, and derogate the outgroup social identity to their ingroup audiences; however, they are more likely to enhance and protect their outgroup's social identity when communicating with outgroup audiences. Two studies tested these predictions. Study 1 used real groups of Australian and Asian students communicating about an Asian student in an Australian university context. In Study 2, participants assigned to two fictitious groups communicated about their ingroup and outgroup. In both studies, the findings were interpreted within the framework of intergroup communication, although there were some notable deviations from the predictions. Future directions of the research were also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Whilst market research and academic studies by sociologists have identified the personal and socio-cultural factors that influence visits to galleries, there has been less attention to the area of motivational research. Understanding motivations is important as it reveals the underlying reasons why visitors choose to participate in specific leisure activities. This paper focuses on the motivations of two groups of visitors at events at an art gallery. A pre-tested motivational scale built around three factors, learning, social/family interaction and Escapism explained 71.5% of variance. Escapism explained 29.4% of that variance and was the core motivation. The findings of the research are important to both academics and practitioners as previously learning was thought to be the main motivation. This study should be replicated in other settings to evaluate whether gallery and museum managers need to re-consider the purpose, content and marketing of their programmes in a post-modern society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Schizophrenia can be a very disabling illness that affects between 0.5% and 1% of the population. This illness has a great personal impact on the individual sufferer, their family and friends. In addition, it makes significant demands on health services and the community in general. This paper reviews the literature on housing and supportive relationships for people with schizophrenia. The literature reports that people’s experience of their schizophrenia is that it not only causes symptoms, but often impacts on their ability to maintain the basic resources in life. These resources include the ability to maintain reasonable quality housing, which seems to further impact negatively on their illness and their ability to maintain supportive social relationships. People with schizophrenia (and people in general) rely on their social relationships and family to maintain their mental health. The loss of social relationships and inability to maintain quality housing seem to be related – if people cannot maintain quality housing, they find it difficult to maintain supportive social relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the productive role of social interaction between peers in promoting cognitive development has been clearly established, the communicative processes through which this is achieved is less clearly understood. Earlier work has established that different types of conversation become established between children as they work together on a problem, and that these types have different implications for the progress of a nonconserver. The paper focuses on the forms of recognition that emerge within these different conversation types. It reports further analyses of a study in which 226 6.5- to 7.5-year-old children were presented with a Piagetian task of conservation of liquid. Conservers and non-conservers were asked to discuss in pairs their conflicting answers and agree upon a joint response. Cognitive progress was assessed by pre- to post-test gains. Analyses of the conversational moves made by each of the participants to the conversation indicates that both non-conservers and conservers not only make characteristic contributions, but that these contributions vary across the conversation types, and hence also relate differentially to the non-conserver's progress. More detailed qualitative analyses of the different conversation types provide insights into the ways in which different forms of recognition emerge through these interactions. These results are discussed in relation to a socio-cognitive account of development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines some central themes about change in consumption behaviour through an empirical investigation of the practice of eating. It analyses patterns of food consumption in the UK using time diary data from 1975 and 2000. The practice of eating is decomposed into four component activities which are used to explore systematically the inter-relationships between social processes – such as commodification and temporal fragmentation – and ways of providing and consuming food. It charts the expansion of eating out, the degree to which it substitutes for other eating activities, and the implications of its development for social relations and the temporal organization of daily life. Analysis reveals that food consumption continues to be differentiated along established lines of social division, although the content of those divisions has changed and varies across components of the practice. Increasing commodification of the food chain is documented, but without appearing to have a corrosive impact on household organization or social relationships. While tendencies indicative of temporal fragmentation are revealed, counter-tendencies exist which suggest that the practice of eating is resilient to many forms of external pressure. Finally, the application of a practice-based analytical approach permits critical evaluation of theories of social transformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A scan of citation impact suggests that Asian social psychologists have made significant contributions in three areas: indigenous research, culture and social behaviour, and in several topics in social psychology. An analysis of the most cited articles published in Asian Journal of Social Psychology ( AJSP) in 1998–2002 in March 2005 reveals that most papers are concerned with culture, with a focus on either popular topics in the West or indigenous concepts. Asian social psychology seems to be closely associated with cultural issues, but it still lacks unique theoretical contributions, and the number of internationally visible scholars is limited and is mostly confined to East Asia. However, Asian cultures provide a fertile ground for identifying new constructs. Many Asian universities are now under pressure to internationalize, which will motivate more academics to participate in Asian conferences and publish in AJSP. To develop Asian social psychology, effort should be focused on nurturing the next generation of Asian social psychologists, who not only need an international perspective, but also ambition and creativity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]