Cycle commuting intention: A model based on theory of planned behaviour and social identity

Although cycling as a mode of transport can provide various important benefits to cities and their transport systems, it accounts for only a small proportion of commuter trips in southern Europe. The aim of this study was to develop a new model based on Ajzen’s (1991) theory of planned behaviour (TPB), but including social identity as an additional predictor variable to improve the explanatory capability of the TPB. We conducted a telephone survey of a representative sample of 595 non-cycle commuters in the Spanish city of Vitoria-Gasteiz, which has a moderate proportion of bicycle users (6.9%). Confirmatory factor analysis to test the model showed satisfactory overall measurement fit, and all sub-scales had high reliability and validity coefficients. The findings demonstrated the value of incorporating social identity into the TPB to capture motivational factors relevant to cycle commuting. The relationships between the factors in the model indicated that there is a strong link between identifying as ‘a cyclist’ and perceived self-efficacy with respect to cycling. Furthermore, the results suggest that a more specific measure of perceived self-efficacy, targeting concrete behaviours could be used to inform development of initiatives to promote urban cycling. Our data also revealed that, excluding control variables such as journey time, economic cost and distance, the psychosocial variables included in the model predicted 32% of the variance in car users’ intention to start commuting by bicycle.     

Social representations associated with men and women drivers among French adolescents and adults. Effects of the perceiver’s age,sex, and socioeconomic status

The aim of this study was to investigate the specific contents of the social representations (SR) associated with men and women drivers and examine the effects of the social insertions of individuals (i.e., age, sex and socio-economic status) on the content and structure of these SR. A preliminary study with 414 French participants identified thematic content associated with men and women drivers using the verbal association method. Based on these themes, 833 French participants, equally distributed by age group (from 12 to 50 years-old and over), sex and socioeconomic status (SES), were asked to answer a questionnaire on men (N = 422) or women (N = 411) drivers. The results show that each of these SR is organized around three factors: incompetence, prudence and lack of self-control for women drivers; carelessness, skills and self-control for men drivers. In-group favoritism bias can be noted in both groups as male participants, more than female ones, rated men drivers as having self-control and women drivers as lacking self-control, whereas female participants, more than male ones, perceived men drivers as careless and women drivers as prudent. Despite this phenomenon, more male respondents than female ones in all age groups seemed to believe that women are not competent at driving, whereas both sexes seem to agree that men have good driving skills. Among most age groups, three characteristics associated with men drivers (confidence, speed and pleasure of driving) and four characteristics associated with female drivers (caution, civil, compliance with rules and vigilance) emerged as central in the SR. The SR associated with men drivers appeared to be stable and shared across age groups, whereas the SR associated with women drivers appeared more mixed, heterogeneous and unstable with age. Female participants with higher SES consider women drivers as more incompetent, less prudent and more lacking self-control than female participants with lower SES.     

Extraversion and job performance: How context relevance and bandwidth specificity create a non-linear,positive, and asymptotic relationship

The personality factor of extraversion has been associated with performance in some occupations (e.g., sales), and it has been one of the most consistent personality predictors of leadership. Recent research indicates that extraversion could have a non-linear relation with performance. At the same time, many researchers have contended that scholars should utilize measures of personality narrower than factors and that the bandwidth and relevance of personality should fit both the criterion and the context of a study. We argue and find that by examining an aspect of extraversion (i.e., social potency) in a particular vocational context (i.e., enterprising job demands), non-linear, asymptotic (diminishing marginal benefits) effects will be demonstrated on a relevant type of performance (i.e., enterprising job performance). We review implications, limitations, and avenues for future research.     

Feedback Informed Treatment: Evidence‐Based Practice Meets Social Construction

This article explores the challenges presented by the mandate for evidence‐based practice for family therapists who identify with the philosophical stance of social construction. The history of psychotherapy outcome research is reviewed, as are current findings that provide empirical evidence for an engaged, dialogic practice. The authors suggest that the binary between empiricism and social construction may be unhinged by understanding empiricism as a particular discursive frame (i.e., a particular way of talking, acting, and being in the world), one of many available as a way of understanding and talking about our work. Through a case vignette, the authors introduce the evidence‐based practice of Feedback Informed Treatment as an elaboration of social construction, and as an example of bridging the gap between the discursive frames of empiricism and social construction.     

Grooming and cultural socialization: A mixed method study of caregiving practices in Burma (Myanmar) and the United States

Grooming behaviours are thought to be a crucial aspect of parenting and integral to the sociality of non‐human mammals, but there have been few empirical studies on how grooming might be relevant to parenting and socialization processes in humans. Study 1 is a quantitative cross‐cultural comparison of grooming practices in two cultural settings: an urban centre in Burma (Myanmar) and an urban centre in the United States. The study uses naturalistic video data of 57 families to analyse grooming behaviours directed at children. A broad range of ages was sampled in each culture to examine the developmental trajectory of grooming behaviours. Results indicate that significant cultural differences exist between Burma and the United States, with Burmese children being groomed by their caregivers more often than U.S. children. Results also indicate that cultural differences in grooming practices begin early and remain constant across age. An unexpected finding was that Burmese families were more variable in their behaviour than U.S. families. Study 2 attempts to explain this variability by using ethnography to describe how sociodemographic changes in Burma are leading to changes in parental values and socialization practices in the schools, but how embodied primary care in the homes appear resistant to change.     

Developmental effects of economic and educational change: Cognitive representation in three generations across 43 years in a Maya community

We studied the implications of social change for cognitive development in a Maya community in Chiapas, Mexico, over 43 years. The same procedures were used to collect data in 1969–1970, 1991, and 2012—once in each generation. The goal was to understand the implications of weaving, schooling and participation in a commercial economy for the development of visual pattern representation. In 2012, our participants consisted of 133 boys and girls descended from participants in the prior two generations. Procedures consisted of placing colored sticks in a wooden frame to make striped patterns, some familiar (Zinacantec woven patterns) and some novel (created by the investigators). Following Greenfield (2009), we hypothesised that the development of commerce and the expansion of formal schooling would influence children's representations. Her theory postulates that these factors move human development towards cognitive abstraction and skill in dealing with novelty. Furthermore, the theory posits that whatever sociodemographic variable is changing most rapidly functions as the primary motor for developmental change. From 1969 to 1991, the rapid development of a commercial economy drove visual representation in the hypothesised directions. From 1991 to 2012, the rapid expansion of schooling drove visual representation in the hypothesised directions.     

Subjective well‐being and human welfare around the world as reflected in the Gallup World Poll

We present data on well‐being and quality of life in the world, including material quality of life such as not going hungry, physical health quality of life such as longevity, social quality of life such as social support, environmental health such as clean water, equality in income and life satisfaction, and levels of subjective well‐being (SWB). There are large differences between nations in SWB, and these are predicted not only by economic development, but also by environmental health, equality and freedom in nations. Improving trends in SWB are seen in many countries, but declining SWB is evident in a few. Besides average differences in SWB between nations, there are also large disparities within many countries. We discuss the policy opportunities provided by national accounts of SWB, which are increasingly being adopted by many societies. They provide the opportunity to inform policy deliberations with well‐being information that reflects not only economic development, but also other facets of quality of life as well. National accounts of SWB reflect the quality of life in areas such as health, social relationships and the natural environment, and therefore capture a broader view of societal well‐being than afforded by measures of economic progress alone.     

Suddenly included: Cultural differences in experiencing re‐inclusion

In the current research, we examined whether re‐inclusion (i.e. the change from a previous state of exclusion to a new state of inclusion) was perceived differently by people with individualistic and collectivistic cultural backgrounds. Individualists (German and Austrian participants) but not collectivists (Chinese participants) experienced re‐inclusion differently than continued inclusion: While collectivistic participants did not differentiate between both kinds of inclusion, individualistic participants showed reduced fulfilment of their psychological needs under re‐inclusion compared to continued inclusion. The results moreover revealed that only participants from individualistic cultures expressed more feelings of exclusion when re‐included than when continually included. These exclusionary feelings partially mediated the relationship between the different states of inclusion and basic need fulfilment.     

Imitation: definitions, evidence, and mechanisms

Imitation can be defined as the copying of behavior. To a biologist, interest in imitation is focused on its adaptive value for the survival of the organism, but to a psychologist, the mechanisms responsible for imitation are the most interesting. For psychologists, the most important cases of imitation are those that involve demonstrated behavior that the imitator cannot see when it performs the behavior (e.g., scratching one's head). Such examples of imitation are sometimes referred to as opaque imitation because they are difficult to account for without positing cognitive mechanisms, such as perspective taking, that most animals have not been acknowledged to have. The present review first identifies various forms of social influence and social learning that do not qualify as opaque imitation, including species-typical mechanisms (e.g., mimicry and contagion), motivational mechanisms (e.g., social facilitation, incentive motivation, transfer of fear), attentional mechanisms (e.g., local enhancement, stimulus enhancement), imprinting, following, observational conditioning, and learning how the environment works (affordance learning). It then presents evidence for different forms of opaque imitation in animals, and identifies characteristics of human imitation that have been proposed to distinguish it from animal imitation. Finally, it examines the role played in opaque imitation by demonstrator reinforcement and observer motivation. Although accounts of imitation have been proposed that vary in their level of analysis from neural to cognitive, at present no theory of imitation appears to be adequate to account for the varied results that have been found.