Prosocial Motivation as a Driver of Social Innovation in the UAE

One important domain of nonmarket-driven innovation is social innovation. Defined as “new ideas that have the potential to improve either the quality or the quantity of life,” social innovation stands in stark contrast to business innovation that focuses on creativity with the intention of making a profit. Drawing on research on motivation, creativity, rentier mentality, and Islamic work ethics, this article takes a motivational approach to social innovation and advances a proposition that prosocial motivation is of particular importance in fostering social innovation in the context of the UAE. We argue that due to policies that grant nationals high financial stability and affluence, UAE locals are less likely to be driven by extrinsic motivation, but rather by intrinsic motivation. We propose that enhancing their prosocial motivation will have a synergetic effect with their intrinsic motivation and therefore lead to higher social innovation. This article extends the literature on prosocial motivation, social innovation, and social entrepreneurship by identifying a geographical/cultural region where the motivational basis for social innovation is amplified. Significantly, this article questions common assumptions about a rentier mentality and proposes a path to leverage social innovation. Implications for policymakers and practitioners are discussed.     

Quantifying the similarity of 2D images using edge pixels: an application to the forensic comparison of footwear impressions

We propose a novel method to quantify the similarity between an impression (Q) from an unknown source and a test impression (K) from a known source. Using the property of geometrical congruence in the impressions, the degree of correspondence is quantified using ideas from graph theory and maximum clique (MC). The algorithm uses the x and y coordinates of the edges in the images as the data. We focus on local areas in Q and the corresponding regions in K and extract features for comparison. Using pairs of images with known origin, we train a random forest to classify pairs into mates and non-mates. We collected impressions from 60 pairs of shoes of the same brand and model, worn over six months. Using a different set of very similar shoes, we evaluated the performance of the algorithm in terms of the accuracy with which it correctly classified images into source classes. Using classification error rates and ROC curves, we compare the proposed method to other algorithms in the literature and show that for these data, our method shows good classification performance relative to other methods. The algorithm can be implemented with the R package shoeprintr.     

Gatekeeper's response: A rejoinder

Gender, marital status, age, and race were considered in relation to the amount and assessment of social ties among 1,124 unmarried men and women aged 40 and over. When there were significant effects of marital status, widowed people tended to be advantaged in amount and supportiveness of their informal ties, although the influence of marital status was affected by age and race. Contrary to some literature, gender differences in social relationships favoring women were not consistently observed. The oldest never married may have the greatest potential needs for affective and instrumental support.     

Methods for estimating relative risk in studies of common binary outcomes

Studying the effect of exposure or intervention on a dichotomous outcome is very common in medical research. Logistic regression (LR) is often used to determine such association which provides odds ratio (OR). OR often overestimates the effect size for prevalent outcome data. In such situations, use of relative risk (RR) has been suggested. We propose modifications in Zhang and Yu and Diaz-Quijano methods. These methods were compared with stratified Mantel Haenszel method, LR, log binomial regression (LBR), Zhang and Yu method, Poisson/Cox regression, modified Poisson/Cox regression, marginal probability method, COPY method, inverse probability of treatment weighted LBR, and Diaz-Quijano method. Our proposed modified Diaz-Quijano (MDQ) method provides RR and its confidence interval similar to those estimated by modified Poisson/Cox and LBRs. The proposed modifications in Zhang and Yu method provides better estimate of RR and its standard error as compared to Zhang and Yu method in a variety of situations with prevalent outcome. The MDQ method can be used easily to estimate the RR and its confidence interval in the studies which require reporting of RRs. Regression models which directly provide the estimate of RR without convergence problems such as the MDQ method and modified Poisson/Cox regression should be preferred.     

Political opinion leadership and advertisement attitude: The moderating roles of cognitive and affective responses to political messages

Political opinion leadership is a type of viewer involvement measure that may be relevant to predicting the viewer's attitude toward an advertisement with political content. This study was designed to investigate if cognitive and affective responses to political messages in fashion advertisements play any moderating roles in the relationship between political opinion leadership and advertisement attitude. The results suggest that effectiveness of political content in the advertisement for politically involved consumers may be determined by how clearly the message is communicated to the viewers. Discussions were also made as to the distinction between textual and pictorial messages and to how the viewer's recognition of a pictorial message can be a factor affecting the impact of political opinion leadership on attitude toward advertisement with political content.     

Market Transition,Social Stratification,and Health Disparities in China: Longitudinal Analysis 1991 to 2006

Although a large body of literature has documented that China’s market transition from state socialism led to substantial changes in the social stratification order, little is known about the transition’s implications for health disparities. Integrating the fundamental cause perspective with market transition theory, this article examines the changing association of education and cadre status with self-rated health during the market transition, 1991 through 2006. Analyzing multiple waves of the China Health and Nutrition Survey data (N = 28,227), ordinal logistic mixed effects regression reveals the emerging and increasing role of education in shaping health disparities, while the role of cadre status stayed constant over time. Bringing a health outcome into market transition theory and institutional contexts to fundamental cause theory expands both theories and provides insights into the implication of market transition for health disparities.     

U.S. Adults’ Pornography Consumption and Attitudes Toward Adolescents’ Access to Birth Control: A National Panel Study

Objectives: The conditions under which adolescents should have access to birth control has been debated by U.S. policy makers and health officials for some time. Given the variability and fluidity of law and policy in this area and the high stakes described by advocates for and against access, identifying predictors of electorate opinion is important. Methods: This study utilized national panel data gathered in 2008 (T1) and 2010 (T2) to examine associations between U.S. adults' pornography consumption and attitudes toward adolescents' access to birth control. Results: Consistent with a social learning perspective on media, pornography consumption at T1 was associated with more positive attitudes toward adolescents' access to birth control at T2, even after accounting for T1 birth control attitudes and multiple potential third-variables. Consistent with Wright's (2011 Wright, P. J. (2011). Mass media effects on youth sexual behavior: Assessing the claim for causality. Communication Yearbook, 35, 343–386. [Google Scholar]) acquisition, activation, application model (3AM) of media sexual socialization, this association was stronger for more morally individualistic adults. Contrary to a selective exposure perspective on media, birth control attitudes at T1 did not predict pornography consumption at T2. Conclusions: These findings have implications for the prediction of birth control attitudes specifically and the socializing influence of pornography more generally.     

Stimulus-Stimulus Pairing and Subsequent Mand Acquisition of Children with Various Levels of Verbal Repertoires

Effects of a stimulus-stimulus pairing procedure on the subsequent acquisition of mand operants were investigated. An attempt was made to shape novel sounds that emerged through the pairing procedure into a mand. Six children, aged two to five years, with moderate to severe language and communication delays, participated. Two conditions were used following the pairing condition: postpairing and direct reinforcement. The emergence of mands was compared across these conditions. An additional analysis was made of the relation between participants'' baseline verbal repertoires and the effects of the pairing and the emergence of mands. Results indicate the possibility of stimulus control from a stimulus-stimulus pairing to mand as shown in two of the participants who had demonstrated high rates of vocal play and low to no verbal repertoire prior to this study. Target vocal sounds during postpairing and direct reinforcement condition remained at zero to low levels for participants with high verbal repertoire and little vocal play, warranting future studies on relations between the pre-existing verbal repertoire and the effectiveness of stimulus-stimulus pairing.