Social influence matters: We follow pandemic guidelines most when our close circle does

Why do we adopt new rules, such as social distancing? Although human sciences research stresses the key role of social influence in behaviour change, most COVID-19 campaigns emphasize the disease’s medical threat. In a global data set (n = 6,675), we investigated how social influences predict people’s adherence to distancing rules during the pandemic. Bayesian regression analyses controlling for stringency of local measures showed that people distanced most when they thought their close social circle did. Such social influence mattered more than people thinking distancing was the right thing to do. People’s adherence also aligned with their fellow citizens, but only if they felt deeply bonded with their country. Self-vulnerability to the disease predicted distancing more for people with larger social circles. Collective efficacy and collectivism also significantly predicted distancing. To achieve behavioural change during crises, policymakers must emphasize shared values and harness the social influence of close friends and family.     

Pathways to prejudice and outgroup hostility: Group alignment and intergroup conflict among football fans

How do different forms of group alignment influence our attitudes toward outgroups? To answer this, the current fieldwork study explored how identification and identity fusion differentially impact outgroup anxiety, prejudice, and hostility toward rival football fan supporter groups in Australia. The community participants (N = 100) were members of two active fan groups who had experienced a history of intergroup tensions. The findings from the full path model confirmed that the predictor group alignment variables of identification and fusion were correlated, and the two outcome variables of outgroup prejudice and hostility were correlated, as predicted. The findings also revealed that fusion with one's club predicted outgroup hostility, but not prejudice, whereas identification with one's club predicted outgroup prejudice, but not hostility. Additionally, outgroup anxiety was found to significantly mediate the relationship between ingroup identification and outgroup prejudice, whereas a similar relationship was not found for fusion. These findings highlight the differential impact of group alignment (i.e., identification and identity fusion) on social constructs of outgroup anxiety, prejudice, and hostility. Empirically, this is the first study to demonstrate the workings of these distinct group alignment pathways in an applied setting involving hard-core football fans. We discuss the broader implications of these findings for a fuller understanding of the drivers of intergroup tensions and conflict.     

Effect of chronic intermittent immobilization stress on Fos-like immunoreactivity in rat brain and adrenal medulla

The present study examined the influence of short- and long-term chronic intermittent immobilization stress throughout the brain and on the adrenal medulla of intact rats using Fos-like immunoreactivity (Fos-LI) as a marker of cellular activation. The effect of adreno-medullectomy on the central nervous system (CNS) response to chronic immobilization stress was also examined. It was found that control unoperated, unstressed rats had no Fos-LI cells in the brain or in the adrenal medulla. In intact rats, neither short term (1 week) nor long term (4 weeks) chronic intermittent immobilization stress produced significant increases in Fos-LI in the CNS compared with control animals. However, marked increase in the number of Fos-LI cells was observed in the adrenal medulla of animals stressed for 4 weeks compared with control, unstressed animals or those stressed for 1 or 2 weeks. In adreno-medullectomised rats, 4 weeks, but not 1 week, chronic immobilization stress produced significant increases in numbers of Fos-LI neurons in the paraventricular hypothalamic and supraoptic nuclei and the medial amygdala compared with intact animals stressed for a similar period of time. It is concluded that long term stress produces chronic Fos-LI in the adrenal medulla and that adreno-medullectomy increases the Fos response of the PVN, supraoptic nucleus and medial amygdala to long term stress.     

The Nature and Significance of Behavioural Genetic Information

In light of the human genome project, establishing the genetic aetiology of complex human diseases has become a research priority within Western medicine. However, in addition to the identification of disease genes, numerous research projects are also being undertaken to identify genes contributing to the development of human behavioural characteristics, such as cognitive ability and criminal tendency. The permissibility of this research is obviously controversial: will society benefit from this research, or will it adversely affect our conceptions of ourselves and each other? When assessing the permissibility of this research, it is important to consider the nature and deterministic significance of behavioural genetic information. Whilst todate there has been much discussion and debate about the properties of genetic information per se and genetic determinism, this has not been applied to behavioural genetic research and its ethical implications. Therefore, this paper elucidates how behavioural genetic information can be distinguished from other types of genetic and non-genetic information and also synthesises the determinative significance of genetic factors for the development of human behavioural traits. Undertaking this analysis enables the ethical issues raised by this research to be debated in an appropriate context and indicates that separate policy considerations are warranted.

     

A novel working memory task for preschoolers: sensitivity to age differences from 3-5 years

Working memory (WM) plays an important role in children’s learning and is linked to later academic and occupational success. Understanding the early development of WM can provide critical clues regarding the underlying structure of executive functions and how they change over the life span. The main objectives of the present study were to (1) investigate age differences in the development of three components of WM (retrieval, substitution, transformation) on a novel preschool WM measure and (2) explore whether findings are consistent with the hierarchical model of WM development by examining perseverative and non-perseverative WM errors. Perseverative errors were hypothesized to be more strongly associated with problems substituting and transforming a representation held in mind, whereas non-perseverative errors were hypothesized to be associated with problems maintaining a representation in mind. Participants were 64 children ranging in age from 3.0 to 5.6 years. The results provide evidence for the sensitivity of the WM task to age differences from 3 to 5 years and support for the hierarchical model of WM development.     

Ensemble coding of faces occurs in children and develops dissociably from coding of individual faces

Ensemble coding allows adults to access useful information about average properties of groups, sometimes even in the absence of detailed representations of individual group members. This form of coding may emerge early in development with initial reports of ensemble coding for simple properties (size, numerosity) in young children and even infants. Here we demonstrate that ensemble coding of faces, which provides information about average properties of social groups, is already present in 6–8‐year‐old children. This access to average information increases with age from 6 to 18 years and its development is dissociable from age‐related improvements in the coding of individual face identities. This dissociation provides the first direct evidence that distinct processes underlie ensemble and individual coding of face identity, evidence that has been lacking from adult studies. More generally, our results add to the emerging evidence for impressively mature sensitivity to statistical properties of the visual environment in children. They indicate that children have access to gist information about social groups that may facilitate adaptive social behaviour.     

In Defence of Kripkenstein: On Lewis’ Proposed Solution to the Sceptical Argument

Abstract

In Wittgenstein: On Rules and Private Language, Saul Kripke argues for an extreme form of meaning scepticism. One influential reply to Kripke’s arguments was developed by David Lewis. The reply developed by Lewis makes use of the notion of mind-independent relations of similarity and difference. The aim of the paper is to argue that Lewis’ reply is not satisfactory: the challenge to find a refutation of Kripke’s sceptical arguments remains unmet.     

Evidence for Free Radical-Mediated Reduction of Lymphocytic 5′-Ectonucleotidase During Stress

Previously we showed that stress and depression could result in a 50% lowering of lymphocytic 5-ectonucleotidase (NT) which could be resolved by a diet high in antioxidants. This study suggested that high levels of free radicals mediated by stress/depression may be involved in lowering NT activities. The aim of the present study was to assess whether oxygen radicals could directly affect NT and whether excess free radicals generated in stress/depression may affect tissue ascorbate stores. Exam-stressed students and depressed patients were compared respectively to these students at low stress and depressed patients on high antioxidant intakes. In this study, NT correlated positively with tissue ascorbate stores. A range of antioxidants were tested as possible inhibitors of oxy radical interaction with NT using nitroblue tetrazolium reduction to for-mazan with superoxide anion. At physiological plasma concentrations, ascorbate inhibited this reduction but dehydroascorbate, tocopherol, retinol, selenium, urate, and reduced glutathione were ineffective. Superoxide anion directly reduced lymphocytic NT activity and this effect was reversed by either 100 molar ascorbate in vitro or a high antioxidant intake in vivo. In conclusion, the low NT activities and ascorbate stores found in stressed/depressed people appear to be mediated by higher levels of free radicals reported in these subjects. These conclusions are consistent with published reports of (1) normal NT levels in melancholic patients on high antioxidant diets; (2) heightened inflammatory reponses during stress/depression; (3) low serum levels of zinc in depressed patients.     

Relationship between psychological stress and lymphocytic 5′-ectonucleotidase

The relationship between psychological stress and lymphocytic 5-ectonucleotidase, an enzyme marker for lymphocyte differentiation, was studied. Lymphocytic 5-ectonucleotidase was decreased significantly by about twofold in persons experiencing psychological stress, with a corresponding change in Total Mood Disturbance scores of the Profile of Mood States. Enzyme values were reversible in that they returned to normal once the stress had been reduced. Administration of high doses of ascorbate to severely depressed patients also normalized 5-ectonucleotidase activities, and implied that low enzyme values in stressed persons may be mediated by oxygen radical damage. This finding was consistent with previous reports of heightened inflammatory responses occurring in depressed patients. The primary cause of lowered 5-ectonucleotidase during stress may be the breakdown in the homeostatic mechanisms of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and immune system resulting in lymphoid tissue resistance to corticosteroids. It is suggested that this lowering of lymphocyte 5-ectonucleotidase may contribute to stress-mediated immune suppression by inhibiting lymphocyte maturation.