Topic Review
Social Psychological Determinants of Prejudice towards Immigrants
Immigration processes and the possible marginalization of ethnic minorities in the receiving countries are essential issues in contemporary societies. Prejudice and discrimination can be critical obstacles to immigrants’ integration into the host country and can severely affect their well-being and mental health. This contribution aims to highlight the critical social–psychological processes underlying attitudes toward immigrants. First, it tackles the social psychological roots of social prejudice by focusing on the role of individual (ideological, motivational, and cultural) factors and categorization processes. Second, it examines how contextual factors such as intergroup perceptions and structural relations can lead to high levels of prejudice and discrimination towards immigrants. 
  • 140
  • 22 Jan 2024
Topic Review
Social Proof
Social proof is a psychological and social phenomenon wherein people copy the actions of others in an attempt to undertake behavior in a given situation. The term was coined by Robert Cialdini in his 1984 book Influence: Science and Practice, and the concept is also known as informational social influence. Social proof is considered prominent in ambiguous social situations where people are unable to determine the appropriate mode of behavior, and is driven by the assumption that the surrounding people possess more knowledge about the current situation. The effects of social influence can be seen in the tendency of large groups to conform. This is referred to in some publications as the herd behavior. Although social proof reflects a rational motive to take into account the information possessed by others, formal analysis shows that it can cause people to converge too quickly upon a single distinct choice, so that decisions of even larger groups of individuals may be grounded in very little information (see information cascades). Social proof is one type of conformity. When a person is in a situation where they are unsure of the correct way to behave, they will often look to others for clues concerning the correct behavior. When "we conform because we believe that others' interpretation of an ambiguous situation is more accurate than ours and will help us choose an appropriate course of action", it is informational social influence. This is contrasted with normative social influence wherein a person conforms to be liked or accepted by others. Social proof often leads not only to public compliance (conforming to the behavior of others publicly without necessarily believing it is correct) but also private acceptance (conforming out of a genuine belief that others are correct). Social proof is more powerful when being accurate is more important and when others are perceived as especially knowledgeable. In 2020, a young scientist from Poland , Michal Klichowski, proved that this phenomenon also applies to interactions with artificial intelligence. His results show a new AI proof mechanism: AI that people have more and more contact with is becoming a new source of information about how to behave and what decisions to take.
  • 513
  • 11 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Social Prescribing, Health, and Well-being
Social prescribing programmes (SP) are person-centred coaching schemes meant to help participants improve individual circumstances, thereby to reduce demand on health and social care.
  • 618
  • 03 Jun 2021
Topic Review
Social Physique Anxiety Scale
Social physique anxiety (SPA) is the anxiety experienced when a person believes they are being observed or judged on their appearance; it is considered to be a subtype of social anxiety.
  • 1.8K
  • 21 Oct 2021
Topic Review
Social Order
Social order refers to the structured arrangement of norms, values, roles, and institutions within a society that guides individuals' behavior, maintains stability, and regulates interactions. It encompasses the established patterns of social organization and governance that provide cohesion, predictability, and coherence to social life, shaping the dynamics of social relations and collective behavior.
  • 2.1K
  • 02 Feb 2024
Topic Review
Social Norm
Social norms are societal expectations and guidelines regarding acceptable behavior, beliefs, and values within a given culture or community. These norms dictate appropriate conduct in various social contexts, shaping individuals' interactions, attitudes, and decisions. Social norms are enforced through informal mechanisms, such as social approval, peer pressure, and conformity, and serve to maintain social order, cohesion, and stability within societies.
  • 197
  • 26 Jan 2024
Topic Review
Social Networks in Health-Care Industry
The application of social networks in the health domain has become increasingly prevalent. They are web-based technologies which bring together a group of people and health-care providers having in common health-related interests, who share text, image, video and audio contents and interact with each other. This explains the increasing amount of attention paid to this topic by researchers who have investigated a variety of issues dealing with the specific applications in the health-care industry. The aim of this study is to systematize this fragmented body of literature, and provide a comprehensive and multi-level overview of the studies that has been carried out to date on social network uses in healthcare, taking into account the great level of diversity that characterizes this industry. To this end, we conduct a scoping review enabling to identify the major research streams, whose aggregate knowledge are discussed according to three levels of analysis that reflect the viewpoints of the major actors using social networks for health-care purposes, i.e., governments, health-care providers (including health-care organizations and professionals) and social networks’ users (including ill patients and general public). We conclude by proposing directions for future research. 
  • 2.2K
  • 14 Sep 2021
Topic Review Peer Reviewed
Social Networks in Crisis Management: A Literature Review to Address the Criticality of the Challenge
This review proposes a concise literature review aimed at identifying the current body of knowledge on the adoption of Social Networks in crisis management. The major input is a structured research question based on the initial reading about the topic. Before the recent pandemic, most literature focused on local crises, with relatively few exceptions. Additionally, self-organising systems are spontaneously established between people who are affected by a crisis. The fundamental assumption underlying this study is the huge potential of Social Networks in the field of crisis management. That is supported, directly or indirectly, by a number of previous studies, which emphasise how effective adoption leads to better decision-making for crisis managers and local communities. Among the identified challenges is the need to integrate official communication by emergency agencies with citizen-generated content in a contest for credibility and trustworthiness. In certain cases, it has been reported that there is a lack of specific competence, knowledge, and expertise, as well as a lack of sufficient policies and guidelines for the use of Social Networks. Those challenges need to be framed by considering the classic difficulties of providing timely and accurate information to deal with fake news, unverified or misleading information, and information overload. Bridging major gaps through advanced analytics and AI-based technology is expected to provide a key contribution to establishing and safely enabling the practice of effective and efficient communication. This technology can help contrast dissonant mental models, which are often fostered by Social Networks, and enable shared situational awareness. Future research may take a closer look at AI technology and its impact on the role of Social Networks in managing crises.
  • 889
  • 26 Sep 2023
Topic Review
Social Networks among University Youth
This article addresses the design and validation of an updated questionnaire that makes it possible to understand the use patterns and attitudes of university youth on social networks. The authors utilized a panel of 20 judges who were social media experts and a sample of 640 university students. The exploratory factor analysis (EFA) explained 66.523% of the total variance. The confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), carried out to verify the dimensional structure of the instrument, reflected the appropriate parameters. The reliability study showed a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.864. These data corroborated the development of a robust and reliable questionnaire. The resulting instrument did not contain items alluding to specific social networks (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or LinkedIn), but rather students’ usage patterns of them. The exclusion of items that referred to particular social networks during the research demonstrated a convergence in behavior on social media regardless of the nuances of each platform. This fact suggested that the platform was of secondary importance in the context of a new paradigm in which the type of use (viewing, posting, participating, or interacting) took precedence over the name of the network itself.
  • 812
  • 29 Oct 2020
Topic Review
Social Network Analysis (Criminology)
Social network analysis in criminology views social relationships in terms of network theory, consisting of nodes (representing individual actors within the network) and ties (which represent relationships between the individuals, such as offender movement, co-offenders, crime groups, etc.) These networks are often depicted in a social network diagram, where nodes are represented as points and ties are represented as lines.
  • 620
  • 21 Nov 2022
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