"I'm OK but You're Not" and Other Peer-Relational Schemas: Explaining Individual Differences in Children's Social Goals.

This study examined the links among 5th and 6th graders' (279 girls and 310 boys) self- and peer perceptions, social goals, and social behavior. Social goals mediated the effects of self- and peer perceptions on 3 types of behavior: proactive aggression, prosocial behavior, and withdrawal. In addition to their main effects (self-perception predicting variance in agentic goals, peer perception being related to communal goals), self- and peer perception interacted in influencing social goals; for instance, the effects of a positive view of oneself were different in the contexts of a positive versus a negative perception of peers. It is suggested that in order to predict children's social behavior more accurately, researchers should investigate children's dual perceptions of themselves and of their peers--that is, their peer-relational schemas--instead of assessing self-perception and peer perception in isolation from each other. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attitudes in the Social Context: The Impact of Social Network Composition on Individual-Level Attitude Strength.

Four studies, using both experimental and correlational designs, explored the implications of being embedded within attitudinally congruent versus attitudinally heterogeneous social networks for individual-level attitude strength. Individuals embedded within congruent social networks (i.e., made up of others with similar views) were more resistant to attitude change than were individuals embedded within heterogeneous social networks (i.e., made up of others with a range of views). Mediational evidence suggests that attitudinally congruous social networks may increase attitude strength by decreasing attitudinal ambivalence and perhaps by increasing the certainty with which people hold their attitudes. These results suggest that features of the social context in which an attitude is held have important implications for individual-level attitude strength. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Substitution and Compensation in the Social Networks of Older Widowed Women.

The death of a spouse often requires widows to derive support from other people, but little is known about the adaptive significance of such substitute sources of support. Older women (N = 322) widowed 3-30 months were interviewed 7 times over 1 year to investigate social network substitution (derivation of support from alternative social ties) and compensation (derivation of psychological benefits from these alternative ties). Three forms of substitution (formation of new social ties, rekindling of dormant ties, and intensification of existing ties) varied with the duration of widowhood. Regardless of the duration of widowhood, however, greater substitution was related to worse psychological health. Social network substitution appears to occur in widowhood, but the compensatory benefits of substitute ties are more elusive. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social Networks, Structural Interdependence, and Marital Quality Over the Transition to Marriage: A Prospective Analysis.

This study examined the relationship between couples' network interdependence and marital quality in a sample of 347 couples that were recruited at the time of their first marriage. Husbands and wives completed separate, self-administered questionnaires at home. Analyses are based on data collected at the time of marriage, at the first anniversary, and at the second anniversary. Results indicated that after marriage, husbands' and wives' friend and family networks became increasingly interdependent. Moreover, the interdependence of the friend and family networks at marriage predicted wives' marital quality at the first anniversary, whereas wives' marital quality at the first anniversary predicted the interdependence of the friend network at the second anniversary. No significant longitudinal relations were observed for husbands. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Social Networks And Social Support.

Reviews the book, Social Networks and Social Support edited by Benjamin H. Gottlieb (1981). For this volume, Gottlieb has brought together contributors from various disciplines thus providing a variety of perspectives. The main goal is to summarize current knowledge about the health-enhancing potential of social networks so as to improve the design of programmes of preventive intervention. Gottlieb has provided a necessary and useful integration and assessment of the topic with cautious optimism and objectivity in a well-edited book. This book is organized into three parts. Part I is on social support and life stress and focuses on the consequences of support in coping with stressful events, in the adjustment of pregnant adolescents, marital disruptions and serious illness. Part II explores the utility and practical application of network analysis. Part III probes the prospects for creating a mutually benficial partnership between lay and professional helping resources in the human services. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive constraints on the structure and dynamics of social networks.

Everyday social activities take place within an environment peopled by a specific set of individuals (our social network). The author reviews the evidence that our social world is both limited in size and highly structured. This structuring consists of a series of circles of acquaintanceship, the successive layers of which progressively include more individuals with whom we have less intense relationships. Although these layers have very consistent typical sizes, there is considerable individual variation because of individual differences in gender, personality, and social-cognitive abilities. The author considers some of the implications of these structural components for the way in which we organize our social lives. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

宝钢通信网络与三网融合的设想

介绍了三网融合的含义及其发展趋势,并分析了宝钢分公司的电话网络、电视网络及计算机网络的现状,最后结合宝钢通信网络的改造实践,阐述了建设宝钢下一代网络方案的设想.在宝钢通信网络向三网融合的演变过程中,提出以信息主干网络为基础,逐步融入电视网络和电话交换网络的演变理念,同时提出企业网络的改造与发展应以需求为导向,最终实现网络资源利用最大化.     

Affect Networks: A Structural Analysis of the Relationship Between Work Ties and Job-Related Affect.

The relationship between organizational networks and employees' affect was examined in 2 organizations. In Study 1, social network analysis of work ties and job-related affect for 259 employees showed that affect converged within work interaction groups. Similarity of affect between employees depended on the presence of work ties and structural equivalence. Affect was also related to the size and density of employees' work networks. Study 2 used a 10-week diary study of 31 employees to examine a merger of 2 organizational divisions and found that negative changes in employees' affect were related to having fewer cross-divisional ties and to experiencing greater reductions in network density. The findings suggest that affect permeates through and is shaped by organizational networks. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Engaging student diversity through a Social Justice Learning Community.

Liberal arts institutions are unique in their emphasis on learning and social environments that value diverse interpersonal and intergroup relationships. This case study examines the institutionalization of a faculty-initiated program—the Social Justice Learning Community (SJLC)—at an historically White liberal arts college for women that recently experienced significant change in the race, class, and sexual orientation of its student body. The SJLC served as a curricular response to the tensions surrounding diversity and as a tool for crafting an inclusive institutional identity through its use of a critical multicultural framework grounded in dialogue and social engagement and its strategy of linking institutional mission to programmatic goals to insure sustainability and viability within the institutional structure. We use a framework of phased institutionalization to explore how the SJLC changed and challenged institutional responses to and engagement of diversity on campus. The study poses the following research questions: (1) What were the structures and processes used by the SJLC to respond to student diversity? and (2) How has the implementation of these structures and processes influenced a phased institutionalization of the SJLC as an effective diversity initiative? Our work is supported with the insights of two study participants who served as founding members and as past directors for the SJLC and offers a model of how committed attention to diversity by faculty, staff, and students utilizing a critical multicultural framework as an organizing principle supports the building of a multicultural campus community. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Schematic Influences on Category Learning and Recognition Memory.

The results from 3 category learning experiments suggest that items are better remembered when they violate a salient knowledge structure such as a rule. The more salient the knowledge structure, the stronger the memory for deviant items. The effect of learning errors on subsequent recognition appears to be mediated through the imposed knowledge structure. The recognition advantage for deviant items extends to unsupervised learning situations. Exemplar-based and hypothesis-testing models cannot account for these results. The authors propose a clustering account in which deviant items are better remembered because they are differentiated from clusters that capture regularities. The function of clusters is akin to that of schemas. Their results and analyses expose connections among research in category learning, schemas, stereotypes, and analogy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

SUSTAIN: A Network Model of Category Learning.

SUSTAIN (Supervised and Unsupervised STratified Adaptive Incremental Network) is a model of how humans learn categories from examples. SUSTAIN initially assumes a simple category structure. If simple solutions prove inadequate and SUSTAIN is confronted with a surprising event (e.g., it is told that a bat is a mammal instead of a bird), SUSTAIN recruits an additional cluster to represent the surprising event. Newly recruited clusters are available to explain future events and can themselves evolve into prototypes-attractors-rules. SUSTAIN's discovery of category substructure is affected not only by the structure of the world but by the nature of the learning task and the learner's goals. SUSTAIN successfully extends category learning models to studies of inference learning, unsupervised learning, category construction, and contexts in which identification learning is faster than classification learning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Understanding Responses to Political Conflict: Interactive Effects of the Need for Closure and Salient Conflict Schemas.

Two studies examined the relationship between the need for cognitive closure and preferences for conflict-resolution strategies in 2 different samples of elite political actors. Although research has suggested that high need for closure should be associated with competitiveness, the authors argue that this relationship should be strongest among political actors with a hostile conflict schema, or representation of what a conflict is and how it should be dealt with. The authors provide evidence for this hypothesis using archival survey data on American foreign-policy officials' attitudes toward international conflict at the height of the Cold War (Study 1) and their own data on the relationship between the need for closure and conflict-strategy preferences among samples of activists from 2 political parties in Poland: a centrist party with a reputation for cooperativeness and an extremist party with a reputation for confrontation (Study 2). The broader implications of these findings are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

The presumption of sociality: Social learning in diverse contexts in brown-headed cowbirds (Molothrus ater).

Data are presented on social and vocal learning in cowbirds (Molothrus ater) housed in large aviaries and given more degrees of freedom than in conventional experimental studies. The studies show that social and vocal outcomes are facultative responses to social contexts. Several findings are reviewed: First, cowbirds quickly self-organize into groups by age and sex; second, opportunities to interact across age and sex do exist and affect courtship competence; third, female cowbirds organize themselves differently in the presence and absence of male competition; and fourth, young, naive cowbirds show rapid and differential sensitivity to group dynamics. Taken as a whole, the data show that social Umwelten are dynamic, developmental ecologies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reveiw of Helping Couples Change: A Social Learning Approach to Marital Therapy.

Reviews the book, Helping Couples Change: A Social Learning Approach to Marital Therapy by Richard B. Stuart (1980). Helping Couples Change describes in detail a well thought out, structured, systematic, strategic therapy based on social learning theory. Dr. Stuart thoroughly outlines the development of this approach and documents where he has incorporated thoughts from other schools (notably the communication theory of Haley, Watzlawick, et al.). He then goes on to present a concise, scientific, and pragmatic rationale for his approach to marital treatment which includes what to do from the time that the clients first contact your office through to follow-up evaluation. The treatment approach is outlined in enough detail to allow for easy replication by the practitioner, with vignettes used to illustrate all of the methods and techniques discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social Relationships and Health.

The author discusses 3 variables that assess different aspects of social relationships-social support, social integration, and negative interaction. The author argues that all 3 are associated with health outcomes, that these variables each influence health through different mechanisms, and that associations between these variables and health are not spurious findings attributable to our personalities. This argument suggests a broader view of how to intervene in social networks to improve health. This includes facilitating both social integration and social support by creating and nurturing both close (strong) and peripheral (weak) ties within natural social networks and reducing opportunities for negative social interaction. Finally, the author emphasizes the necessity to understand more about who benefits most and least from social-connectedness interventions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Word Learning and Individual Differences in Word Learning Reflected in Event-Related Potentials.

Adults learned the meanings of rare words (e.g., gloaming) and then made meaning judgments on pairs of words. The 1st word was a trained rare word, an untrained rare word, or an untrained familiar word. Event-related potentials distinguished trained rare words from both untrained rare and familiar words, first at 140 ms and again at 400-600 ms after onset of the 1st word. These results may point to an episodic memory effect. The 2nd word produced an N400 that distinguished trained and familiar word pairs that were related in meaning from unrelated word pairs. Skilled comprehenders learned more words than less skilled comprehenders and showed a stronger episodic memory effect at 400-600 ms on the 1st word and a stronger N400 effect on the 2nd word. These results suggest that superior word learning among skilled comprehenders may arise from a stronger episodic trace that includes orthographic and meaning information and illustrate, how an episodic theory of word identification can explain reading skill. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Life History and Social Learning: Megapode Chicks Fail to Acquire Feeding Preferences From Conspecifics.

Australian brush-turkeys, Alectura lathami, are birds with an unusual life history: The young receive no parental care and first encounter conspecifics at an unpredictable age. Brush-turkey chicks that were 3-4 days old were presented with a robot model that appeared to feed from a distinctively colored dish. In control training trials, chicks saw a robot standing next to a different dish and scanning from side to side. Chicks expressed a strong tendency to feed from dishes of the type indicated by the pecking robot, but this effect proved ephemeral. Brush-turkeys hence appear to show no social learning under conditions that inculcate stable preferences in other galliforms such as chickens, suggesting that life history plays an important role in the evolution of learning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stability and Flexibility in Preschoolers' Social Networks: A Dynamic Analysis of Socially Directed Behavior Allocation.

The author studied preschoolers' social networks by investigating the allocation of children's social investment within and across time in a classroom of a French nursery school during an academic year. Observations of children's social exchanges during free play revealed that social behaviors were directed toward particular group members. After an important turnover in the peer group at the beginning of the school year, the social network became more structured. Children's strong associations were mostly same sex and small sized. Even if the stability of children's connections remained low, it increased over time. High-frequency partners as well as same-sex partners were more likely to be maintained over time. These findings as well as conceptual and methodological issues are discussed from a developmental perspective. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Individual differences and reliability of paired associates learning in younger and older adults.

The authors modeled individual nonlinear trajectories of learning using structured latent growth curves based on an exponential function with 3 parameters: initial performance, learning rate, and asymptotic performance. The 3 parameters showed reliable individual differences and the between-parameter correlations indicated that participants with high learning rates recalled more items initially. The asymptotic performance was unrelated to the learning rate and the initial performance. In addition, age and speed of information processing were included in the analyses. Age mainly affected negatively the asymptotic and the initial performance whereas speed of information processing affected the learning rate positively. Reliability estimates based on 2 similar learning conditions were moderate overall. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)