Ego Development,Ego Strengths,and Ethnic Identity Among First Nation Adolescents

Three conceptualizations of psychosocial development were investigated among Canadian First Nation adolescents. Loevinger's social cognitive model of ego development reflects the way in which an individual views the self and social reality. From Eriksonian theory, ego strengths refer to the emergent values or outcomes that represent resolution of the eight psychosocial stages of development, and ethnic identity is a domain of personal identity with special relevance for minorities. As expected, age and biological gender differences were found for ego development. Associations between ego development and ego strengths were supported as were age differences in ethnic identity status. Traditional students (strongly identified with indigenous culture) demonstrated greater ego strengths than bicultural (identified with both their own and mainstream cultures) adolescents.     

Foreign Wars and Domestic Prejudice: How Media Exposure to the Israeli‐Palestinian Conflict Predicts Ethnic Stereotyping by Jewish and Arab American Adolescents

This study was based on the theory that adolescents view scenes of violent ethnic conflicts in the mass media through the lens of their own ethnicity, and that the resulting social‐cognitive reactions influence their negative stereotypes about similar ethnic groups in their own country. We interviewed 89 Jewish and 180 Arab American high school students about their exposure to the Israeli‐Palestinian conflict, their social cognitive reactions to it, and their stereotypes toward ethnic groups. Beyond the effects of ethnic identity, the degree to which adolescents identified with Israelis and Palestinians in the media was a key variable linking exposure to media depictions of the conflict and the implicit ethnic stereotypes they displayed about Jewish Americans and Arab Americans.     

Triadic balance in the brain: Seeking brain evidence for Heider’s structural balance theory

Structural balance theory is a foundational theory of social network research. Despite enduring interest in seeking network evidence for the theory, the fundamental question of why people care about structural (im)balance has received relatively little attention. The original answer to the question, dating back to Heider’s work six decades ago, is that structural imbalance causes a person to experience cognitive dissonance and sentimental disturbance. In this paper, we used a state-of-the-art neuroimaging technique to test the argument. Our study shows that individuals’ psychological states, evidenced by the activation of brain areas, are different when they are situated in unbalanced rather than balanced triads. More specifically, the differences in the brain activation between triadic imbalance and balance were found in brain regions known for processing cognitive dissonance, as discovered by previous research. Our study provides novel brain evidence in support of Heider’s original account for the psychological and biological foundations of structural balance theory in the formation of social networks.     

Multiethnic Parentage

Abstract

Given increasing inter-ethnic contact resulting from migration and refugee movements as well as global economic and political activities, this paper explores the potential for bridging cultural, ethnic and racial divides by people who are not confined to a single ethnicity. Based on a piece of exploratory qualitative research, the paper describes the personal ethnic identity of 13 people of multi-cultural/ethnic/racial parentage, and then draws out links between their identity resolution and their social relationships. From the findings, hypotheses are formulated concerning the relationship between identity resolution and ease of bridging ethnic divides in social contexts. Implications of the findings for social work practice and the challenge of enhancing social cohesion are considered in the concluding section of the paper.     

Schema via Structure? Personal Network Density and the Moral Evaluation of Infidelity

This article considers whether the density of a person's social network is related to his/her moral attitudes toward infidelity. Integrating recent sociological thinking on moral schemas with network theory's insights about deviance and structural independence, I employ data from a representative sample of American men aged 57–85. Findings indicate that men with the densest personal networks are least likely to condone infidelity. This association, moreover, was independent of men's education, their beliefs about religion and sex, and attitudes about their partners, among other factors. The findings imply an affinity between micro‐social structure and moral judgment, suggesting that network density can help constrain even the expression of moral attitudes.     

Omission and commission errors in network cognition and network estimation using ROC curve

Network studies on cognitive social structures collect relational data on respondents’ direct ties and their perception of ties among all other individuals in the network. When reporting their perception networks, respondents commit two types of errors, namely, omission (false negatives) and commission (false positives) errors. We first assess the relationship between these two error types, and their contributions on overall respondent accuracy. Next we propose a method for estimating networks based on perceptions of a random sample of respondents from a bounded social network, which utilizes the receiver operator characteristic curve for balancing the tradeoffs between omission and commission errors.     

Constructing border ethnic identities along the frontier of Central and Eastern Europe

The analysis is based on an empirical sociological study (interplay of European, National and Regional Identities: nations between states along the new eastern borders of the European Union Project) aimed at exploring the various aspects of people’s diaspora affiliations and their ethnic and national identity on the Eastern borderland of Europe. We surveyed ethnic minority groups in eight countries along the frontier of Central Eastern Europe. With the ethnic minorities having a similar ethnic status along the border, we demonstrated how ethnic minorities ‘deal’ with their minority status in their ‘host’ country. The analysis reconstructs the image of the ethnic minority at the societal level. We model personal and collective ethnic identities as a stock of knowledge based on cognitive and affective components, and test them along the different ethnic dyads. The paper shows how successive generations are able to transfer the pattern of ethnic identity within the family, and also how language use practices and personal networks play a role in preserving personal ethnic identity.     

Organizations,coalitions, and movements

This article uses empirical evidence on networks of voluntary organizations mobilizing on ethnic minority, environmental, and social exclusion issues in two British cities, to differentiate between social movement processes and other, cognate collective action dynamics. Social movement processes are identified as the building and reproducing of dense informal networks between a multiplicity of actors, sharing a collective identity, and engaged in social and/or political conflict. They are contrasted to coalitional processes, where alliances to achieve specific goals are not backed by significant identity links, and organizational processes, where collective action takes place mostly in reference to specific organizations rather than broader, looser networks.     

Spatial distance and mobile business social network density

Following the increasing adoption of mobile communication, scholars have shown interest in the role of place on the structure of mobile social networks. The purpose of this study is to investigate the association between spatial distance and the closure and diversity of businesses mobile social networks. We used a database that aggregates actual mobile communication patterns of business users of a large Israeli cell phone company (n?= 16,199). Our findings, among a large sample of businesses, provide support for the place and mobile communication perspective. The results reveal a negative association between spatial distance and mobile business communication networks. As spatial distance between business network members increases, business social ties through mobile communication decreases. Furthermore, the results also revealed a negative association between spatial distance and mobile network density. As the spatial distance between business users increases, the density of the mobile communication network diminishes. Physical proximity promotes the development of dense business networks. The implications of the findings are discussed.     

The influence of dual‐identity development on the psychosocial functioning of African‐American gay and bisexual men

To examine the influence of racial‐ethnic and sexual identity development on the psychosocial functioning of African‐American gay and bisexual men (AAGBM), 174 AAGBM completed questionnaire packets designed to assess their levels of racial‐ethnic and sexual identity development, self‐esteem, social support, male gender role stress, HIV prevention self‐efficacy, psychological distress, and life satisfaction. The results indicate that AAGBM who possess more positive (i.e., integrated) seif‐identification as being African American and gay reported higher levels of self‐esteem, HIV prevention self‐efficacy, stronger social support networks, greater levels of life satisfaction, and lower levels of male gender role and psychological distress than their counterparts who reported less positive (i.e., less well integrated) African‐American and gay identity development. Although higher levels of racial‐ethnic identity development were associated with greater levels of life satisfaction, sexual identity development was not.     

Identity Patterns among Immigrants from the Former Soviet Union in Israel: Assimilation vs. Ethnic Formation

This paper deals with identity patterns among the 1990s immigrants from the former Soviet Union (FSU) in Israel. It presents the complex set of identity types among immigrants in the context of their cultural and socio-demographic characteristics and their dynamic relationships with the Israeli host society.
The findings show that immigrants from the FSU in Israel form a distinct ethnic group within the Israeli social and cultural fabric. This is reflected in their closed social networks, ethnic information sources, strong desire to maintain ethnic-cultural continuity, and the fact that the ethnic component (Jew from the FSU or immigrant from the FSU) is central for self-identification. However, ethnic formation among these immigrants is not a reactive-oriented identity, which is mainly generated by alienation from the host society, it is rather an instrumentalized ethnicity, which is the outcome of ethnic-cultural pride and pragmatic considerations.     

The influence of ethnic identity on drug use among ethnic minority adolescents

Ethnic identity is a significant factor related to self-concept and psychological development and similar to other aspects of identity, is of particular importance during the adolescent years when there is increased vulnerability to drug involvement. However, much of the research relative to adolescent drug use has focused on the annual and current prevalence rates among particular ethnic groups with little attention to ethnic or group identity issues. However, it is important to study and compare ethnic and group identity and its correlates to drug use. This article presents face-to-face interview questionnaire measures of ethnic identity as measured by affirmation and belongingness, ethnic identity achievement, ethnic behavior, and other group orientation [1], and drug use as measured by misuse, abuse, and chemical dependency diagnoses [2]. The questionnaires were administered to 127 (60 Ethnic, 67 White) adolescents from ethnically diverse schools in a large urban school district in the Pacific Northwest. The relationship of ethnic identity to drug use was examined. This study indicates that the questionnaire measures can be used to examine similarities and differences in ethnic identity and drug use among adolescents from different ethnic groups. A key finding of this study was that white adolescents scored lower in ethnic identity than did members of the four ethnic minority groups and the mixed racial group. However, the most significant key finding was that in the ethnic minority sample high levels of cultural identity were associated with heavy drug use. The results of this study suggest that social influences may play a larger role in the development of heavy drug use irrespective of the nature and origins of these social influences.     

The Effects of Ethnic Minority Adolescents' Ethnic Self‐Identification on Friendship Selection

This study investigated the effects of ethnic minority adolescents' ethnic self‐identification (host country, dual, or heritage country) on friendship choices among ethnic majority and minority peers. Hypotheses were derived from similarity–attraction and social identity theory and tested using longitudinal social network data from 1,004 middle school students (five schools) in Germany. Results showed that ethnic minority adolescents' ethnic self‐identification affected friendship selection beyond ethnic homophily. While host country and dual identification was beneficial with respect to friendships with both ethnic majority and minority peers, heritage country identification was detrimental to relations with both of them.     

Integrated or isolated? The impact of public housing redevelopment on social network homophily

Do mixed income housing programs increase the poor's social network diversity? Using unique, longitudinal, egocentric social network data, this research investigates changes in social network homophily for both Vietnamese and English-speaking original residents of a public housing redevelopment site. Changes in mixing occur for both those who return and those who moved away, but only increases in ethnic mixing were associated with returning to the new site. Thus, changes in social networks may be associated with disruption rather moving to a mixed-income site. Vietnamese residents also experienced increases in ethnic diversity compared to English-speaking respondents. The results raise questions about the social mixing intent of such programs. The high expectations for social network benefits of income mixing housing programs should be tempered.     

Latino Faces,Corporate Ties: Latino Advocacy Organizations and Their Board Membership

Although they have increased exponentially since the 1960s, social scientists know little about ethnic advocacy organizations. These nonprofits are important bridges between underresourced communities and mainstream funding organizations and their directors are established ethnic leaders. Sociologists study interlocking directorates—or shared board membership—to understand how organizations fit together within broader social networks. Network concepts, particularly the theory of institutional isomorphism, suggest that organizations are likely to be similar to the extent they are connected and operate within a common organizational field. We apply this logic to Latino advocacy organizations to examine the underlying source of cohesion across this ethnic field. We ask whether the organizations are tied by interlocking directorates of ethnic elites who sit on their boards of directors or if board members' common affiliation with other elite institutions creates the structural conditions that facilitate potential ideological or behavioral similarity. A social network analysis of five prominent Latino advocacy organizations reveals support for both hypotheses: Latino board members are both embedded in ethnic‐based networks and entrenched within elite organizational webs. This suggests that ethnic elites who sit on the boards of Latino advocacy organizations are also corporate elites, selected for the social capital they bring to these nonprofits.     

Network Composition,Social Integration,and Sense of Coherence in Chinese American Young Adults

Summary

This investigation examined the network composition, social integration, and sense of coherence in a group of 353 Chinese American students at a public university. About half (55.5%) of the sample had a Chinese-only (ethnically same) network while the remainder had either ethnically and/or racially mixed networks. Late immigrants (arriving after age 12) were more likely to have close relationships with other Chinese only, and American-borns and early immigrants (arriving before or at age 12) were more likely to have non-Chinese Asian and non-Asian members in their network. Greater racial/ ethnic similarity among network members was associated with greater network integration. Individuals with a racially/ethnically mixed network enjoyed the highest sense of coherence, followed by those with an ethnically same network, and those with either a racially-same or mixed network reported the lowest sense of coherence. Altogether, the findings suggest ethnically/racially similar networks afford a sense of comfort, but more diverse networks offer the reward of increased competence and better person-environment fit.     

Contextualizing ethnic educational inequality: the role of stability and quality of neighborhoods and ethnic density in second-generation attainment

This study examines the joint impact of neighborhood structure and ethnic density on the educational attainment of the second generation. Using second-generation samples and a majority reference sample from the Belgian Census, multi-level analysis yields the expected positive effects of neighborhood stability and quality and ethnic density on second-generation school completion. Reflecting the ethnic stratification of the Belgian housing market, majority residential concentration tends to coincide with high neighborhood stability and quality and high completion rates, whereas Moroccan concentrations overlap with low neighborhood quality, and low completion rates. For the Turkish and Italian second generation, neighborhood structure moderates ethnic density effects on school completion, in line with segmented assimilation. Our findings suggest distinct Moroccan, Turkish and Italian incorporation modes which reflect differential access to, and investments in ethnic versus mainstream social networks.     

Computing brains: learning algorithms and neurocomputation in the smart city

ABSTRACT

This article examines IBM’s ‘Smarter Education’ program, part of its wider ‘Smarter Cities’ agenda, focusing specifically on its learning analytics applications (based on machine learning algorithms) and cognitive computing developments for education (which take inspiration from neuroscience for the design of brain-like neural networks algorithms and neurocomputational devices). The article conceptualizes the relationship between learning algorithms, neuroscience, and the new learning spaces of the city by combining the notion of programmable ‘code/space’ with ideas about the ‘social life of the brain’ to suggest that new kinds of ‘brain/code/spaces’ are being developed where the environment itself is imagined to possess brain-like functions of learning and ‘human qualities’ of cognition performed by algorithmic processes. IBM’s ambitions for education constitute a sociotechnical imaginary of a ‘cognitive classroom’ where the practices associated with data analytics and cognitive computing in the smart city are being translated into the neuropedagogic brain/code/spaces of the school, with significant consequences for how learners are to be addressed and acted upon. The IBM imaginary of Smarter Education is one significant instantiation of emerging smart cities that are to be governed by neurocomputational processes modelled on neuroscientific insights into the brain’s plasticity for learning, and part of a ‘neurofuture’ in-the-making where nonconscious algorithmic ‘computing brains’ embedded in urban space are intended to interact with human cognition and brain functioning.     

Social creativity as a function of agent cognition and network properties: A computer model

Inventions – concepts, devices, procedures – are often created by networks of interacting agents in which the agents can be individuals (as in a scientific discipline) or they can themselves be collectives (as in firms interacting in a market). Different collectives create and invent at different rates. It is plausible that the rate of invention is jointly determined by properties of the agents (e.g., their cognitive capacity) and by properties of the network of interactions (e.g., the density of the communication links), but little is known about such two-level interactions. We present an agent-based model of social creativity in which the individual agent captures key features of the human cognitive architecture derived from cognitive psychology, and the interactions are modeled by agents exchanging partial results of their symbolic processing of task information. We investigated the effect of agent and network properties on rates of invention and diffusion in the network via systematic parameter variations. Simulation runs show, among other results, that (a) the simulation exhibits network effects, i.e., the model captures the beneficial effect of collaboration; (b) the density of connections produces diminishing returns in term of the benefits on the invention rate; and (c) limits on the cognitive capacity of the individual agents have the counterintuitive consequence of focusing their efforts. Limitations and relations to other computer simulation models of creative collectives are discussed.     

The role of ethnic identity in school engagement: perceptions of immigrant Tibetan adolescents in select US public schools

This purpose of the study was to ascertain the level of ethnic identity formation and its perceived role on school engagement for Tibetan adolescents enrolled in public schools in two Midwestern states in the USA. The journey of these students from culturally encapsulated schools from Nepal, Bhutan, and India to multiculturally diverse settings was one of the most fascinating facets of the Tibetan Diaspora. Subjects included 16 girls, 25 boys, and 2 who did not identify their gender. The multigroup ethnic identity measure was used to determine the level of ethnic identity formation of Tibetan students while a questionnaire gathered information on school engagement. The overall ethnic identity measure for this sample was high with a mean of 3.58, while the cognitive and affective aspect of the measure was also high with a mean of 3.56 and 3.74, respectively. The girls showed more emotional commitment to ethnic identity, as their mean score was 3.92, while boys scored 3.62. The results clearly corroborated findings and conclusions drawn by other scholars. School and community partnership contributed to the healthy ethnic identity development of adolescents who were thus encouraged to be more engaged in meaningful school activities.