Why do groups cooperate more than individuals to reduce risks?

Previous research has discovered a curious phenomenon: groups cooperate less than individuals in a deterministic prisoner’s dilemma game, but cooperate more than individuals when uncertainty is introduced into the game. We conducted two studies to examine three possible processes that might drive groups to be more cooperative than individuals in reducing risks: group risk concern, group cooperation expectation, and pressure to conform to social norms. We found that ex post guilt aversion and ex-post blame avoidance cause group members to be more risk concerned than individuals under uncertainty. These concerns drive groups to choose the cooperation (and risk-reduction) strategy more frequently than individuals. Groups also have higher cooperation expectations for their corresponding groups than individuals have for their corresponding individuals. We found no evidence of pressure to conform to social norms driving groups to be more cooperative than individuals.     

The Conceptual Contours of Sex in the Chinese Life Sciences: Zhu Xi (1899–1962), Hermaphroditism, and the Biological Discourse of Ci and Xiong, 1920–1950

This paper “maps” a number of trajectories through which the conceptual contours of sex could be traced in the bioscientific discourse of Republican China. Focusing on the writings of the embryologist Zhu Xi (1899–1962), I analyze the epistemic functionality of such biological terms as ci (“biological femaleness”) and xiong (“biological maleness”) that acquired an unprecedented scope of cultural discursiveness in China only alongside the arrival of Western biology, which replaced classical learning and natural studies as the authoritative field of inquiry about life. I first show that when Chinese scientists used these terms to describe the sex of biological species, they relied on an epistemological framework of visual knowledge that granted some foundational operative power to a signifying order in which one could know by seeing the differences between ci and xiong (and, ultimately, sexual differences). These two terms’ lexicality and indexicality thus mutually reinforced one another in the production of their semiotic possibilities and epistemo-logicality. I then show that while they adopted ci and xiong as the bioscientific synonyms of the more culturally anthropocentric words such as nü (woman) and nan (man), Chinese biologists also incorporated sophisticated biological theories of sex from Europe and North America, including the theories of “gynandromorphism” and “intersexuality.” The implicit and explicit figurations of hermaphroditism reveal the ways in which at the heart of the entire bioscientific discourse of ci and xiong resides its key conceptual anchor: the human–non-human divide.

Real Limits in the Virtual World: Self-Limiting Behavior of Internet Gamblers

The recent expansion of Internet gambling has stimulated debate, policy, and research on this relatively new phenomenon and its potential consequences. The current study focuses on bettors experiencing problems by sampling Internet gamblers who imposed limits on the amount they were allowed to deposit to a betting site. We analyzed the betting transactions over 18 months of all gamblers who subscribed to an online betting site in February, 2005 (N = 47,134), 567 of whom utilized the site’s self-limit feature. Self-limiting gamblers played a wider variety of games and placed more bets than others prior to imposing limits. After imposing limits, self-limiters reduced their activity, but did not reduce the amount they wagered per bet. Time spent gambling, not just money spent, appears to be an important indicator of gambling problems. Self-limit programs appear to be promising options for Internet gamblers at-risk for gambling problems.

Policy tenure under the U.S. National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP)

In the United States, insurance against flood hazard (inland flooding or storm surge from hurricanes) has been provided mainly through the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) since 1968. The NFIP covers $1.23 trillion of assets today. This article provides the first analysis of flood insurance tenure ever undertaken: that is, the number of years that people keep their flood insurance policy before letting it lapse. Our analysis of the entire portfolio of the NFIP over the period 2001-2009 reveals that the median tenure of new policies during that time is between two and four years; it is also relatively stable over time and levels of flood hazard. Prior flood experience can affect tenure: people who have experienced small flood claims tend to hold onto their insurance longer; people who have experienced large flood claims tend to let their insurance lapse sooner. To overcome the policy and governance challenges posed by homeowners' inadequate insurance coverage, we discuss policy recommendations that include for banks and government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) strengthening their requirements and the introduction of multiyear flood insurance contracts attached to the property, both of which are likely to provide more coverage stability and encourage investments in risk-reduction measures.     

Infants’ Visual Attention to Baby DVDs as a Function of Program Pacing

This study examined the effects of program pacing, defined as the rate of scene and character change per minute, on infants’ visual attention to video presentations. Seventy‐two infants (twenty‐four 6‐month‐olds, twenty‐four 9‐month‐olds, twenty‐four 12‐month‐olds) were exposed to one of two sets of high‐ and low‐paced commercial infant DVDs. Each DVD was approximately 5‐min long, and the order the DVDs were viewed was counterbalanced for pace. Attention was higher during rapidly than slowly paced DVDs, particularly for the 6‐ and 9‐month‐old infants. These results support previous research documenting that attention is initially controlled by exogenous qualities (e.g., rapid pace), but with development and experience becomes more influenced by endogenous factors.     

Illegitimate tasks are not created equal: Examining the effects of attributions on unreasonable and unnecessary tasks

ABSTRACT

Illegitimate tasks are tasks that violate norms for what the employee should do as part of the job, and have been found to harm employees’ well-being. The current research uses a mixed methods design to examine the role of attributions on the two types of illegitimate tasks: unreasonable and unnecessary tasks. A sample of 432 engineers described a specific illegitimate task that was assigned to them, the attributions they made and their response. They also completed a quantitative questionnaire. Results from both the qualitative (event level) and quantitative (person level) portions of our study portray differences in the attributions made to unreasonable and unnecessary tasks, as well as differential negative effects on employees’ emotions. In addition, hostile attribution bias was found to moderate the relationship between illegitimate tasks and negative emotions, particularly for unreasonable tasks. This supports the theoretical basis for illegitimate tasks because unreasonable tasks pose a potentially greater risk to the employee’s self-worth than unnecessary tasks that are more often assigned at random.     

Social Protest and Self-Enhancement: A Conditional Relationship

Data from a panel study are used to test the theoretically informed hypothesis that participation in social protest activities in the seventh grade has self-enhancing outcomes in the ninth grade and in young adulthood where the subjects in the seventh grade express alienation from the conventional social order. However, participation in social protest activities in the seventh grade is expected to have self-devaluing consequences in the ninth grade and young adulthood where the subjects in the seventh grade do not express alienation from the conventional social order. The results of OLS multiple regression analyses with interaction terms were consistent with the hypothesis. As predicted, among subjects who rejected the idea that one can get ahead by working hard, seventh grade social protest was inversely related to self-derogation; and, among subjects who affirm the idea that one can get ahead by working hard, social protest activities were related to higher subsequent levels of self-derogation.     

Adolescent Self-Rejection and Adult Social Action: A Conditional Relationship

Objective . Theoretically informed models of the relationship between stigmatized personal identities and participation in collective social action are tested. Methods . Data from a longitudinal study of participants ( N = 4,169) followed between adolescence and the fourth decade of life are used to estimate structural equation models. Results . The data support hypotheses that perceived rejection during adolescence anticipates participation in social action under conditions when respondents reported during adolescence (1) that many of the kids at school participated in social movements ( p < .10) and (2) that they perceived themselves as having personal control over adverse outcomes ( p < .05), but not under mutually exclusive conditions. In all models, gender, mother's education, and minority status were specified as control variables. Conclusions . Early experiences of rejection and failure dispose people to engage in collective social action if they perceive social support for such action and anticipate that action will be effective.