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Social Motivation (social + motivation)
Selected AbstractsRats selectively bred for low levels of 50 kHz ultrasonic vocalizations exhibit alterations in early social motivationDEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOBIOLOGY, Issue 4 2008K.M. Harmon Abstract In rats, the rates of 50 kHz ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) can be used as a selective breeding phenotype and variations in this phenotype can be an indicator of affective states. The 50 kHz USV is elicited by rewarding stimuli (e.g., food, sexual behavior) and therefore can express a positive affective state. Conversely, the 22 kHz USV is elicited by aversive stimuli (e.g., presence of a predator, social defeat) indicating a negative affective state. In the present study, we tested the effect of selectively breeding for 50 kHz USVs on a variety of maternal social/emotional behaviors in young rat pups (PND 10-12). These measures consisted of an assessment of isolation calls and conditioned odor preference paradigm. Results indicate that animals selected for low levels of 50 kHz USVs show the greatest alterations in social behaviors compared to the control animals. The low line animals had an increase in isolation calls tested during place preference conditioning and a decrease in 50 kHz ultrasonic calls in all conditions. These same low line animals failed to show a typical preference for a maternally-associated odor during the place preference test. The different social behaviors of the high line animals did not consistently vary from those of the control group. These results have important implications for the study of genetic and epigenetic mechanisms underlying emotional states, and possibly contribute to the research underlying the emotional changes in developmental disorders such as autistic spectrum disorder by providing a novel animal model that displays communication deficits that are interdependent with significant social behavioral impairments. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Dev Psychobiol 50: 322,331, 2008. [source] Helping Following Natural Disasters: A Social-Motivational Analysis,JOURNAL OF APPLIED SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 11 2009Zdravko Marjanovic The present investigation explores how judgments of responsibility influence affective and helping reactions toward natural-disaster victims. Guided by Weiner's (1995, 2006) theory of social motivation, we hypothesized that judging victims responsible for a disaster would indirectly lead to low rates of helping. Two studies tested this hypothesis. In Study 1, a bogus earthquake was used to test experimentally the effects of responsibility judgments (low, high). In Study 2, we surveyed attitudes about the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Our results showed that Weiner's model was supported across studies. Responsibility judgments led to anger and sympathy, and sympathy led to helping intentions, which in turn led to helping behavior. Comparisons across studies and the relationship between helping intentions and behavior are discussed. [source] Reading motivation, perceptions of reading instruction and reading amount: a comparison of junior and senior secondary students in Hong KongJOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN READING, Issue 4 2009Kit-Ling Lau This study examined the relations between students' reading motivation, perceptions of reading instruction and reading amount, together with grade differences, in a Chinese educational context. A total of 1,146 students from 19 secondary schools in Hong Kong voluntarily responded to a questionnaire that measured these three sets of variables. The study's findings indicated that students' intrinsic motivation was most strongly related to their reading amount. Students' perceptions of the reading instruction they received in their Chinese language class were significantly related to their reading motivation, but were only indirectly related to their reading amount, being mediated through reading motivation. Consistent with previous studies, significant grade differences were found in all types of reading motivation, students' perceptions of reading instruction and students' reading amount. The findings indicated that junior secondary students had better self-efficacy, intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation and social motivation than senior secondary students. The largest grade difference was in students' self-efficacy. Junior secondary students also perceived the reading instruction in their Chinese language class as more mastery-oriented and read more frequently than senior secondary students. The implications of these findings for understanding Chinese students' reading motivation and for planning effective reading instruction to enhance their motivation are discussed. [source] Adult Children's Supportive Behaviors and Older Parents' Subjective Well,Being,A Developmental Perspective on Intergenerational RelationshipsJOURNAL OF SOCIAL ISSUES, Issue 4 2002Frieder R. Lang Adult children's supportive behaviors were examined with respect to children's autonomy and social motivation towards parents, and with respect to longitudinal changes of parents' subjective well,being. In total, 115 adult children from 83 German families completed a questionnaire on supportive behaviors and social motivation. The children also reported what pleased or irritated their parents most. Findings suggest that filial autonomy was associated with resistance to strain. Older parents' satisfaction improved when children expressed affection or gave emotional support. However, informational support from children was associated with decreased satisfaction among parents. Findings suggest that filial autonomy may facilitate supportive behaviors that correspond to older parents' socioemotional needs. [source] Acute Effects of Ethanol on Behavior of Adolescent Rats: Role of Social ContextALCOHOLISM, Issue 3 2001Elena I. Varlinskaya Background: First experiences with alcohol in humans occur predominantly in adolescence, and to a large extent the attractiveness of alcohol at this age is based on its ability to facilitate certain forms of social behavior (social facilitation). Adolescence is strongly marked by a focus on peer relationships, and the social nature of the situation plays an important role in responsiveness to alcohol. Peer-directed social activity of adolescent rats may be a valuable experimental model for the study of ethanol-induced changes in social behavior and assessment of the role of the social context in responsiveness to ethanol. Method: In the present study we used a modified dyad social interaction test to characterize acute effects of ethanol on different forms of social behavior (social investigation, contact behavior, and play) and social motivation (preference/avoidance of a peer) in adolescent rats. Ethanol effects on behavior directed toward a peer were compared with those induced by exposure to an inanimate novel object. Results: In the social context, the effects of ethanol were dose-dependent and biphasic. Low doses of ethanol (0.25,0.75 g/kg) produced apparent social facilitation (increased social activity and enhanced social preference), whereas higher doses (3 and 4 g/kg) caused social inhibition (decreased social activity and avoidance of a peer). This pattern was not observed for a nonsocial stimulus: Although overall activity in the nonsocial context was suppressed by 2 and 3 g/kg of ethanol, 0.5 g/kg of ethanol did not activate overall activity directed to the inanimate object. Conclusions: These findings demonstrate that the social nature of the testing situation plays an important role in responsiveness to alcohol in adolescence, especially to its activating effects. The results suggest also that the study of ethanol effects on social behavior of adolescent rats may be an effective tool for the study of adolescent alcohol use and abuse. [source] Motivation for Compliance with Environmental RegulationsJOURNAL OF POLICY ANALYSIS AND MANAGEMENT, Issue 4 2001Søren C. Winter A combination of calculated, normative, and social motivations as well as awareness of rules and capacity to comply are thought to foster compliance with regulations. Hypotheses about these factors were tested with data concerning Danish farmers' compliance with agro-environmental regulations. Three key findings emerge: that farmers' awareness of rules plays a critical role; that normative and social motivations are as influential as calculated motivations in enhancing compliance; and that inspectors' enforcement style affects compliance differently from that posited in much of the literature. It was also found that formalism in inspection can be helpful to a point, while coercion by inspectors can backfire. Taken together, these findings counter arguments concerning the harm of legalism and the benefits of flexible enforcement. This study contributes to the understanding of factors that shape compliance with social and environmental regulations. © 2001 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management. [source] Language Is a Complex Adaptive System: Position PaperLANGUAGE LEARNING, Issue 2009The "Five Graces Group" Language has a fundamentally social function. Processes of human interaction along with domain-general cognitive processes shape the structure and knowledge of language. Recent research in the cognitive sciences has demonstrated that patterns of use strongly affect how language is acquired, is used, and changes. These processes are not independent of one another but are facets of the same,complex adaptive system,(CAS). Language as a CAS involves the following key features: The system consists of multiple agents (the speakers in the speech community) interacting with one another. The system is adaptive; that is, speakers' behavior is based on their past interactions, and current and past interactions together feed forward into future behavior. A speaker's behavior is the consequence of competing factors ranging from perceptual constraints to social motivations. The structures of language emerge from interrelated patterns of experience, social interaction, and cognitive mechanisms. The CAS approach reveals commonalities in many areas of language research, including first and second language acquisition, historical linguistics, psycholinguistics, language evolution, and computational modeling. [source] On the Modernity of Traditional Contraception: Time and the Social Context of FertilityPOPULATION AND DEVELOPMENT REVIEW, Issue 2 2002Jennifer Johnson-Hanks Many studies of fertility implicitly equate temporal management, biomedical contraception, and "modernity" on the one hand, and "tradition," the lack of intentional timing, and uncontrolled fertility on the other. This article questions that equation, focusing on the widespread use of periodic abstinence in southern Cameroon. Drawing on field data and the Cameroon Demographic and Health Survey, the article investigates how local concepts of timing shape both contraceptive choice and the evaluation of methods as "modern" or "traditional." Cameroonian women prefer periodic abstinence because they perceive it as "modern," a modernity tied both to the social context in which it is taught and to its unique temporal form. By contrast, Depo-Provera, pills, and the IUD are seen as less-than-modern, because they are less exigent of temporal control. The reliance on a behavioral, rather than technological, contraceptive method parallels the experience of the European fertility transition. Cameroonian women draw on a complex social repertoire in making contraceptive choices; methods are preferred or rejected not only on the basis of their efficacy in averting pregnancy, but also because of their correspondence to models of legitimate social action. Reproductive practices may have social motivations that are unrelated to fertility per se. [source] Cooperation and Communication in the 2nd Year of LifeCHILD DEVELOPMENT PERSPECTIVES, Issue 1 2007Michael Tomasello ABSTRACT,Although primates have evolved complex cognitive skills and strategies for competing with others in their social group, only humans have developed complex cognitive skills and motivations for collaborating with one another in joint endeavors. This cooperative dimension of human cognition emerges most clearly around the first birthday as children begin to collaborate and communicate with joint intentions and joint attention. This collaboration is also grounded in social motivations for helping and sharing with others that are unique to humans. In using the skills of shared intentionality that underlie these cooperative interactions, 1-year-olds come to create perspectival cognitive representations. [source] | |||||||||||||