Navigating uncertainty in human social decision-making: Consequences and coping strategies

Uncertainty is a fundamental aspect of human social life. Based on fruitful findings, the current review aims to establish a schema that outlines the relationship between uncertainty and human social decision-making: the influences of uncertainty on social decision-making (mainly prosocial behaviors) and the strategies commonly employed to reduce social uncertainty. Human prosocial behaviors are modulated by both social and nonsocial uncertainty. Specifically, uncertainty decreases prosocial behaviors by providing moral wiggling room or promoting loss aversion but also helps maintain relationships by mitigating negative interactions. Moreover, impression formation, impression updating, and compliance with social norms are crucial strategies for coping with social uncertainty, but they are subject to various biases. Finally, we highlight some important issues that need to be addressed in future studies. In summary, the current review deepens our understanding of the role of uncertainty in social behaviors.     

Does disseminating (mis)information restore social connection during a global pandemic?

The COVID-19 pandemic impeded social interaction, negatively affecting well-being worldwide. To slow virus spread, practices were enacted to minimize face-to-face contact, leading to increased social disconnection. As people turned increasingly to online environments (e.g., social media) to fulfill needs for inclusion and belonging, misinformation regarding COVID-19 simultaneously ran rampant. The purpose of the current study was to examine whether impeded social inclusion may have contributed to the spread of misinformation. We recruited a sample of adult social media users in the United States (N = 431) and randomly assigned them to be either included, ostracized (i.e., ignored), or rejected (i.e., to receive explicitly negative attention). Participants subsequently rated their willingness to share COVID-19 claims via social media (in fact, all claims were false). Participants learned that sharing some claims would likely lead to high expected engagement from others on social media (e.g., “likes”), whereas some claims would likely lead to little expected engagement. While information sharing was low in our sample, participants were more willing to share claims that they believed would lead to higher levels of engagement—consistent with the idea that sharing information is motivated not only by the desire to educate others but also to elicit social connection. However, this behavioral intention was no more common among participants who had been momentarily ostracized or rejected online than among participants who had been included. Future research should continue to explore the link between social exclusion and the motivation to disseminate (mis)information beyond a pandemic-related context.     

Predictors of champion behaviors in an evidence-based parenting program: A structural equation modeling approach

The importance of champions in the implementation of evidence-based public health programs has been well established. Champions perform a range of behaviors which can have significant influence on the adoption and sustainability of interventions. This study investigates champion behaviors in parenting practitioners with the aim to provide insight into the range and extent that practitioners engage in champion behaviors and to examine predictors of practitioners' champion behaviors using structural equation modeling. Data were collected during a large international implementation survey of 1606 practitioners trained to deliver an evidence-based parenting program, the triple P—Positive Parenting Program. We developed a 13-item Champion Behaviors Scale which was administered alongside other measures of predictors of implementation outcomes. Perceived usefulness of the program was the most important facilitator of both public and personal champion behaviors. Certain desirable features of the program tended to not only be positively associated with the perceived usefulness of the program, but also had a unique impact on practitioners' personal champion behaviors. Higher positions within organizations were linked with more public champion behaviors. Although organizational support was found to be unrelated to champion behaviors in the structural model, it facilitated other predictors of champion behaviors.     

C. S. Lewis’ mythopoeia of heaven and earth: implications for the ethical and spiritual formation of multicultural young learners

This paper examines C. S. Lewis’ perspective of myth or fantasy literature which has mesmerized, and exerted great impact on, young learners’ hearts. In a society entrenched in postmodern ideologies, the understanding of what principles govern the construction of ethical and spiritual identity of young learners is often lost. In this context, well-written children’s literature can be a wonderful avenue where they can restore the value of the ordinary world, escape from the bondage of sinister world and enhance their sense of supernatural world. This paper argues that these are the major values Lewis held dear in the work of mythopoeia such as The Chronicles of Narnia. It also argues that Lewis’ fantasy novels for children were primarily his attempt to allow them to experience the mythic quality of good stories, i.e., to savour a more ultimate reality and divine truth through the myriad fantastic images and supernatural imagination.     

Is hostile attributional bias associated with negative urgency and impulsive behaviors? A social-cognitive conceptualization of impulsivity

The aim of this study was to verify the relevance of social information-processing (SIP) models in the study of impulsivity. 170 undergraduates completed the UPPS Impulsive Behavior Scale relevant to negative urgency, the SIP–AEQ and control measures. The SIP–AEQ consists of eight vignettes featuring a social situation measuring hostile attributional bias (HAB), emotional responses and impulsive behaviors in response to an ambiguous social provocation. Regression analyses showed negative urgency’s unique contribution to indirect HAB after controlling for the effects of aggressiveness, negative emotions and lack of perseverance, another UPPS dimension of impulsivity. Analyses also revealed that indirect HAB mediates the relationship between negative urgency and impulsive behaviors, after controlling for the effects of aggressiveness and negative emotions. Results suggest that SIP models are relevant to study the active social cognitive processes in impulsive behaviors of high-urgency individuals.     

Evaluation of a lag schedule of reinforcement in a group contingency to promote varied naming of categories items with children

We compared the effects of Lag 0 and Lag 1 schedules of reinforcement on children's responses naming category items in a group context and subsequent responses emitted during individual testing in which the schedule of reinforcement remained Lag 0. Specifically, we measured response variability and novel responses to categories for 3 children who demonstrated the lowest level of variability during an initial individual Lag 0 testing session. An additional 3 children who emitted a high level of variability during initial individual Lag 0 testing sessions served as peers during group sessions. Results showed that participants conformed to the Lag 1 schedule and were more likely to repeat peer responses in the group and during individual testing in the Lag 1 condition. Furthermore, the reinforcement schedule in effect during group sessions affected participants’ varied responses during individual testing, during which the reinforcement schedule remained unchanged.