Social Component (social + component)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


In-group reassurance in a pain setting produces lower levels of physiological arousal: direct support for a self-categorization analysis of social influence,

EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 4 2007
Michael J. Platow
A large body of research demonstrates a strong social component to people's pain experiences and pain-related behaviours. We investigate this by examining the impact of social-influence processes on laboratory-induced pain responses by manipulating the social-categorical relationship between the person experiencing pain and another who offers reassurance. We show that physiological arousal associated with laboratory-induced pain is significantly lower in normal, healthy participants following reassurance about the pain-inducing activity when that reassurance comes from an in-group member in contrast to reassurance from an out-group member and a no reassurance control. These data are consistent with predictions derived from self-categorization theory, providing convincing empirical support of its analysis of social influence using a non-reactive measure. These data also represent a clear advance within the pain literature by identifying a possible common process to the social-psychological component of pain responses. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Individual dispersal among colonies of Little Egrets Egretta garzetta

IBIS, Issue 2 2002
Mauro Fasola
Colonial waterbirds are unusual in that competition for nest-sites or mates may occur at a scale of a few metres, whereas thousands of birds may overlap in their foraging range at a larger scale. Dispersal has been evaluated for only a few such species, and its adaptive significance remains unclear. We studied Little Egret dispersal among all the colonies within the Camargue, southern France. The overall probability of dispersal between successive years was 0.45. The probability of dispersal was unaffected by a bird's age, or by any density-dependent effect of colony size. Juveniles dispersed at distances that would be expected if colony selection were random, while adults tended to remain within 10 km of their previous colony. We found no obvious environmental ,trigger' for an individual to disperse. Although our evidence is inconclusive, the short dispersal distances of adults are not consistent with foraging conditions as the primary trigger for dispersal. Little Egrets generally forage within 8 km of their colony, so birds dispersing less than 10 km would gain little advantage in response to unfavourable foraging conditions. Our data, with 75% of dispersing birds coming from decreasing colonies and 72% joining increasing colonies, suggest that individual dispersal depended on colony dynamics as a whole, i.e. (1) a social component of dispersal at the individual level, or (2) a simultaneous colony response to unfavourable environmental conditions or (3) both. Further investigation at a higher social level may be necessary to understand dispersal of this colonial nesting species. [source]


What Do You Know, Who Do You Know?: School as a Site for the Production of Social Capital and its Effects on Income Attainment in Poland and the Czech Republic

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS AND SOCIOLOGY, Issue 3 2002
Karen Buerkle
This paper criticizes traditional approaches to stratification, which suggest that education contributes to inequality solely by endowing people with different amounts of human capital (knowledge and skills) or credentials. What these approaches overlook is the social component of education,friends, acquaintances and other connections one accumulates while in school. These connections reduce the uncertainty inherently present in the hiring process by compensating for lack of information with trust. We argue that social capital gained while in school has an independent effect on individual income, and show how this effect varies by education and experience levels. Conceptualizing schooling as an important source of social capital and finding ways to disentangle the effects of human and social capital on individual income are a contribution that economic sociologists can make to the study of education and inequality. [source]


Autonomy, Interdependence, and Assisted Suicide: Respecting Boundaries/Crossing Lines

BIOETHICS, Issue 3 2000
Anne Donchin
Western philosophy has been powerfully influenced by a paradigm of personal agency that is linked to an individualistic conception of autonomy. This essay contrasts this conception with an alternative understanding that recognizes a social component built into the very meaning of autonomy. After reviewing feminist critiques of the dominant conception of autonomy, I develop the broad outlines of a relational view and apply this reconceptualization to a concrete situation in order to show how this altered view reconfigures understanding of the participants' relationships and each of their personal perspectives. The situation chosen, physician-assisted suicide, is intended principally to illustrate one respect in which a relational conception of autonomy reframes a controversial moral issue and reveals perspectives toward it that are likely to be obscured when autonomy is viewed through the lens of the dominant individualistic conception. My principal aim is to show that when autonomy is understood relationally, respecting others' autonomy is likely to be a far more complex issue than is apparent within the standard conception, both for those with professional responsibilities and often for personal intimates as well. [source]


A pilot examination of social context and everyday physical activity among adults receiving Community Mental Health Services

ACTA PSYCHIATRICA SCANDINAVICA, Issue 3 2009
B. P. McCormick
Objective:, Community mental health center (CMHC) clients include a variety of people with moderate to severe mental illnesses who also report a number of physical health problems. Physical activity (PA) has been identified as one intervention to improve health among this population; however, little is known about the role of social context in PA. The purpose of this study was to examine the role of social context in everyday PA among CMHC clients. Method:, Data were collected from CMHC clients in two cultures using accelerometery and experience sampling methods. Data were analyzed using hierarchical linear modeling. Results:, Independence in housing nor culture was significantly associated with levels of PA. Being alone was significantly negatively related to PA level. Conclusion:, Social isolation appears to be negatively related to PA at the level of everyday life. Physical activity interventions with this population should consider including social components as a part of PA. [source]


Farmer Initiatives and Livelihood Diversification: From the Collective to a Market Economy in Rural China

JOURNAL OF AGRARIAN CHANGE, Issue 2 2009
JINGZHONG YE
This paper explores how, despite relatively undifferentiated economic, cultural and land tenure conditions, some farmers in a rural area of Hebei Province, north-east China, have managed to devise innovative livelihood activities that provide them with better living standards than the majority of villagers. The research concludes that the dynamics of farmer innovations emerge from a variety of factors: the building of effective social networks and sources of information, ,enlightenment' deriving from small-group interactions, and the construction of trust relations, self-help and cooperation. These factors belong to the sphere of social resources rather than to those of natural, physical, human or financial assets. Hence it is social components that constitute the mobilizers of change in regard to farmers' livelihood development. [source]