An exploration of third parties’ preference for compensation over punishment: six experimental demonstrations

Research suggests that to restore equity, third parties prefer compensation of a victim over the punishment of a perpetrator. It remains unclear, however, whether this preference for compensation is stable or specific to certain situations. In six experimental studies, we find that adjustments in the characteristics of the situation or in the available behavioral options hardly modify the preference of compensation over punishment. This preference for compensation was found even in cases where punishment might refrain a perpetrator from acting unfairly again in the future, and even when punishment has a greater impact in restoring equity than compensation does. Thus, the preference of compensation over punishment appears to be quite robust. Implications and ideas for future research are discussed.     

Modeling Growth of Clostridium perfringens in Pea Soup During Cooling

Clostridium perfringens is a pathogen that mainly causes food poisoning outbreaks when large quantities of food are prepared. Therefore, a model was developed to predict the effect of different cooling procedures on the growth of this pathogen during cooling of food: Dutch pea soup. First, a growth rate model based on interpretable parameters was used to predict growth during linear cooling of pea soup. Second, a temperature model for cooling pea soup was constructed by fitting the model to experimental data published earlier. This cooling model was used to estimate the effect of various cooling environments on average cooling times, taking into account the effect of stirring and product volume. The growth model systematically overestimated growth of C. perfringens during cooling in air, but this effect was limited to less than 0.5 log N/ml and this was considered to be acceptable for practical purposes. It was demonstrated that the growth model for C. perfringens combined with the cooling model for pea soup could be used to sufficiently predict growth of C. perfringens in different volume sizes of pea soup during cooling in air as well as the effect of stirring, different cooling temperatures, and various cooling environments on the growth of C. perfringens in pea soup. Although fine-tuning may be needed to eliminate inaccuracies, it was concluded that the combined model could be a useful tool for designing good manufacturing practices (GMP) procedures.     

Young social milieus and multimodality: interrelations of travel behaviours and psychographic characteristics

ABSTRACT

In many countries of the global North, since the 2010s, there have been discussions about young adults turning away from the tendency exclusively to use cars and moving towards more multimodal behaviours, i.e. the flexible use of several transport modes. A more differentiated perspective on the young generation based on the sociostructural criteria of social milieus is presented in this paper with an empirically founded dataset from the city of Dortmund (Germany). Social milieus aim to reflect both horizontal and vertical differentiations and inequalities within society. Drawing on this assumption, multimodal travel behaviours and corresponding psychological assessments of transport modes are analysed with regard to three contrasting young social milieus: i. precariat, ii. middle class, and iii. cosmopolitan milieu. Based on our observations of the three social milieus, the prevailing conceptualisation of young adults as a supposedly ‘homogeneous group’ of key drivers towards a multimodal society must be negated: i) The precariat is exposed to socioeconomic restrictions and limited in its free mode choice. ii) The middle class demonstrates signs of a (conservative) reproduction of car-oriented behaviour patterns. iii) Only the cosmopolitan milieu indicates a less emotional attachment to the private car and favours ‘green’ multimodal behaviours instead.     

The value of employment for people living with spinal cord injury in Norway

The purpose of this article is to examine the value of employment for people living with spinal cord injury in Norway. The main focus in the 31 interviews dealt with general perceptions of integration and participation. The value of employment was a major theme, primarily described by the participants in terms of personal and social identity in interaction with others, as a hegemonic social norm and a sense of moral obligation to contribute to society. The value of meaningful regular jobs – in contrast to government projects jobs or routine jobs – was emphasized.     

THE LONG‐TERM EFFECTS OF CONDITIONAL CASH TRANSFERS ON CHILD LABOR AND SCHOOL ENROLLMENT

This paper investigates the long‐term effects of conditional cash transfers on school attainment and child labor. To this end, we construct a dynamic heterogeneous agent model, calibrate it with Brazilian data, and introduce a policy similar to the Brazilian Bolsa Família. Our results suggest that this type of policy has a very strong impact on educational outcomes, sharply increasing primary school completion. The conditional transfer is also able to reduce the share of working children from 22% to 17%. We then compute the transition to the new steady state and show that the program actually increases child labor over the short run, because the transfer is not enough to completely cover the schooling costs, so children have to work to be able to comply with the program's schooling eligibility requirement. We also evaluate the impacts on poverty, inequality, and welfare. (JEL O11, I25, J24)     

Quantifying Facial Expression Synchrony in Face-To-Face Dyadic Interactions: Temporal Dynamics of Simultaneously Recorded Facial EMG Signals

Human social interaction is enriched with synchronous movement which is said to be essential to establish interactional flow. One commonly investigated phenomenon in this regard is facial mimicry, the tendency of humans to mirror facial expressions. Because studies investigating facial mimicry in face-to-face interactions are lacking, the temporal dynamics of facial mimicry remain unclear. We therefore developed and tested the suitability of a novel approach to quantifying facial expression synchrony in face-to-face interactions: windowed cross-lagged correlation analysis (WCLC) for electromyography signals. We recorded muscle activations related to smiling (Zygomaticus Major) and frowning (Corrugator Supercilii) of two interaction partners simultaneously in 30 dyadic affiliative interactions. We expected WCLC to reliably detect facial expression synchrony above chance level and, based on previous research, expected the occurrence of rapid synchronization of smiles within 200 ms. WCLC significantly detected synchrony of smiling but not frowning compared to a control condition of chance level synchrony in six different interactional phases (smiling: d _z s = .85–1.11; frowning: d _z s = .01–.30). Synchronizations of smiles between interaction partners predominantly occurred within 1000 ms, with a significant amount occurring within 200 ms. This rapid synchronization of smiles supports the notion of the existence of an anticipated mimicry response for smiles. We conclude that WCLC is suited to quantify the temporal dynamics of facial expression synchrony in dyadic interactions and discuss implications for different psychological research areas.