Social Psychology,Consumer Culture and Neoliberal Political Economy

Consumer culture and neoliberal political economy are often viewed by social psychologists as topics reserved for anthropologists, economists, political scientists and sociologists. This paper takes an alternative view arguing that social psychology needs to better understand these two intertwined institutions as they can both challenge and provide a number of important insights into social psychological theories of self‐identity and their related concepts. These include personality traits, self‐esteem, social comparisons, self‐enhancement, impression management, self‐regulation and social identity. To illustrate, we examine how elements of consumer culture and neoliberal political economy intersect with social psychological concepts of self‐identity through three main topics: ‘the commodification of self‐identity’, ‘social categories, culture and power relations’ and the ‘governing of self‐regulating consumers’. In conclusion, we recommend a decommodified approach to research with the aim of producing social psychological knowledge that avoids becoming enmeshed with consumer culture and neoliberalism.     

Optimal representative sample weighting

Statistics and Computing - To overcome the inherent limitations of axis-aligned base learners in ensemble learning, several methods of rotating the feature space have been discussed in the...     

An Examination of the Communication Styles Associated with Psychopathy and Their Influence on Observer Impressions

Psychopathic individuals are characterized as “intra-species predators”—callous, impulsive, aggressive, and proficient at interpersonal manipulation. For example, despite their high risk for re-offending, psychopathic offenders often receive early release on parole. While reputed to be social chameleons, research suggests that even naive observers can accurately infer high levels of psychopathic traits in others with very brief exposures to behavior, but accuracy degrades with extended observation. We utilized a lens model approach to examine the communication styles (emotional facial expressions, body language, and verbal content) of offenders varying in levels of psychopathic traits using “thin slice” video clips of psychological assessment interviews and to reveal which cues observers use to inform their evaluations of psychopathy. Psychopathic traits were associated with more (a) Duchenne smiles, (b) negative (angry) emotional language, and (c) hand gestures (illustrators). Further, psychopathy was associated with a marked behavioral incongruence; when individuals scoring high in psychopathic traits engaged in Duchenne smiles they were also more likely to use angry language. Naïve observers relied on each of these valid behavioral signals to quickly and accurately detect psychopathic traits. These findings provide insight into psychopathic communication styles, opportunities for improving the detection of psychopathic personality traits, and may provide an avenue for understanding successful psychopathic manipulation.     

On the mathematics of the Jeffreys–Lindley paradox

This paper is concerned with the well known Jeffreys–Lindley paradox. In a Bayesian set up, the so-called paradox arises when a point null hypothesis is tested and an objective prior is sought for the alternative hypothesis. In particular, the posterior for the null hypothesis tends to one when the uncertainty, i.e., the variance, for the parameter value goes to infinity. We argue that the appropriate way to deal with the paradox is to use simple mathematics, and that any philosophical argument is to be regarded as irrelevant.     

A new estimator of proportion with a linear function using data from two-decks randomized response model

A new estimator for estimating the proportion of a potentially sensitive attribute in survey sampling has been introduced by solving a linear equation. The proposed estimator has been compared with the estimator proposed by Odumade and Singh (2009) with equal protection to all of the respondents. The asymptotic properties of the proposed estimator are investigated through exact numerical illustrations for different choices of parameters. A non randomized response approach has been suggested. A scope for further research has also been pointed out.     

Screens in bed: visual art,sleep and handheld screen devices

This article seeks an understanding of sleeping and waking life in bed in relation to the use of handheld screen devices. The bedtime use of these devices has come to public attention through the involvement of this practice in the construction of two contemporary crises of sleep: Sleep science’s crisis of chronic sleep deprivation and the wider cultural crisis of the invasion of sleep by fast capitalism, as proposed by Jonathan Crary. Visual art is employed to gain insights into the two related understandings of sleep: one concerned with individual sleep self-regulation and the other with the corporeal commonality of sleep. The sociology of sleep, based on Michele Foucault’s concept of ‘biopower’, is augmented by philosophical insights from Jean-Luc Nancy and Gilles Deleuze to reconfigure the sleeping body beyond the bounds of disciplinary regimes and permit a reassessment of the affective potential of sleep. Works of digital media art, together with ethnographic and cultural studies on the use of mobile devices, are employed to tease out the entanglement of these screen devices with waking and sleeping bedroom life. An ontology of sleep as a pre-individual affective state is proposed as an alternative basis for resisting the appropriation of sleep by the always-waking world accessed through the use of smartphones and tablets.     

Market economies and pro-social behavior: Experimental evidence from Central Asia

This study seeks to extend the body of knowledge of pro-social behavior in comparative market settings by reporting on a high-stakes ultimatum game and revelation game experiments in two transition economies: Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. While controlling for cultural differences and framing effects, we find statistically significant differences in fairness and honesty behavior between the two countries. Specifically, subjects in Uzbekistan (in an earlier stage of transition to a market economy) are fairer and more honest than their later-stage Kazakh counterparts. Our experimental findings have implications for the literature on pro-social behavior and market economies, and more generally, on the transmission process between formal and informal institutions.     

Improving Weight of Evidence Approaches to Chemical Evaluations

Federal and other regulatory agencies often use or claim to use a weight of evidence (WoE) approach in chemical evaluation. Their approaches to the use of WoE, however, differ significantly, rely heavily on subjective professional judgment, and merit improvement. We review uses of WoE approaches in key articles in the peer‐reviewed scientific literature, and find significant variations. We find that a hypothesis‐based WoE approach, developed by Lorenz Rhomberg et al., can provide a stronger scientific basis for chemical assessment while improving transparency and preserving the appropriate scope of professional judgment. Their approach, while still evolving, relies on the explicit specification of the hypothesized basis for using the information at hand to infer the ability of an agent to cause human health impacts or, more broadly, affect other endpoints of concern. We describe and endorse such a hypothesis‐based WoE approach to chemical evaluation.