scholarly journals Social Impact: Social Good, Social Neutrality, Social Bad, and Social Disaster: When Is Doing What You Have A “Right” To Do He “Right” Thing To Do?

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. p39
Author(s):  
John Tropman
Keyword(s):  
Social Action ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Social Impact ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Decision Making Process ◽  
Lonely Crowd ◽  
Social Good ◽  
Social Disaster ◽  
Party Id ◽  
Over Time

Social good has been defined as “services or products that promote human well-being on a large scale.” While there seems to be agreement about the definitional “space” of social good, concepts of social action, social justice, and social impact require further attention.Producing social good does not require injustice: improvements can be made even when there is no injustice. Social good might be considered the first step in a triad containing social better (ment) and social best (good, better, best), with impactful results produced by social actors.There may be large cultural “umbrellas,” widely held value bundles, which define whole societies at points in time and over time. We discuss two: “the lonely crowd,” and “party ID.”We use a portfolio analysis to look at the elements of social good and social bad: social very good, social good, social neutrality, social bad, and social disaster, and then consider three examples of positive social impacts, and five examples of negative social impacts.We suggest a guide to social action to help us make better decisions aimed toward the A or B outcomes (Social Very Good and Social Good), using three steps: awareness of hidden bias, regular decision refurbishment, and using decision rules.The goal of this paper is to share ideas to help avoid social bad, and to help achieve social good. Ideally, social good considerations will become a regular part of the decision-making process. 

scholarly journals The cultural evolutionary trade-off of ritualistic synchrony

2020 ◽  
Vol 375 (1805) ◽  
pp. 20190432 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michele J. Gelfand ◽  
Nava Caluori ◽  
Joshua Conrad Jackson ◽  
Morgan K. Taylor
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Group Cohesion ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Group Conflict ◽  
Theme Issue ◽  
Group Creativity ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
Cultural Evolutionary ◽  
Over Time

From Australia to the Arctic, human groups engage in synchronous behaviour during communal rituals. Because ritualistic synchrony is widespread, many argue that it is functional for human groups, encouraging large-scale cooperation and group cohesion. Here, we offer a more nuanced perspective on synchrony's function. We review research on synchrony's prosocial effects, but also discuss synchrony's antisocial effects such as encouraging group conflict, decreasing group creativity and increasing harmful obedience. We further argue that a tightness–looseness (TL) framework helps to explain this trade-off and generates new predictions for how ritualistic synchrony should evolve over time, where it should be most prevalent, and how it should affect group well-being. We close by arguing that synthesizing the literature on TL with the literature on synchrony has promise for understanding synchrony's role in a broader cultural evolutionary framework. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Ritual renaissance: new insights into the most human of behaviours'.

scholarly journals An Agent that Facilitates Crowd Discussion

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Takayuki Ito ◽  
Rafik Hadfi ◽  
Shota Suzuki
Keyword(s):  
User Satisfaction ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Social Impact ◽  
Online Discussion ◽  
Online Discussions ◽  
Social Good ◽  
Social Experiments ◽  
The Social

AbstractOnline discussion platforms are perceived as the next-generation method of citizen involvement. Such platforms can collect, integrate, and synthesize opinions to achieve social good. Crowd-scale platforms are being developed and deployed in social experiments that involve citizens and local governments. In such platforms, human facilitation is often used to preserve the quality of the discussions. Human facilitators often face difficulties when the discussions grow in size. In this paper, we present “D-agree,” a crowd-scale discussion support system based on an automated facilitation agent. The agent extracts discussion structures from online discussions, analyzes them, and posts facilitation messages. We conducted small- and large-scale social experiments in Japan to assess the social impact of the platform. The results showcase the success of our automated facilitation agents in gathering valuable opinions from citizens. In addition, our experiments highlight the effect of an automated facilitation agent on online discussions. In particular, we find that combining the agent facilitator with human facilitators leads to higher user satisfaction.

scholarly journals Can large-scale land acquisition deals improve livelihoods and lift people out of poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa? Empirical evidence from Tanzania

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-22
Author(s):  
Ernest Nkansah-Dwamena
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Social Impact ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Sustainable Livelihood ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Quasi Experimental ◽  
Large Scale Land

The recent wave of large-scale land acquisitions or land deals, popularly called ‘land grabbing’ in subSaharan Africa, has provoked vigorous debate over the potential benefits and risks to local people, with results structured by complex policy and institu­tional context. Land deals present new develop­ment challenges and aggravate old vulnera­bilities, raising critical questions for investigation. Yet empirical evidence of impacts on local populations is limited, particularly regarding how land deals affect local people’s livelihood assets, strategies, and outcomes. Guided by the sustainable livelihood approach and a quasi-experimental design, I compare livelihoods before and after a land deal project and between an affected and a control community in southwestern Tanzania. I use household surveys, focused group discussions, and key informant interviews to collect data. The ANOVA analyses revealed that the project severely deterio­rated households’ natural, financial, and social capital and had far-reaching impacts on well-being in the affected community compared to the control village. The study recommends that African countries should consider (1) scrutinizing land deals and enforcing contracts, (2) conducting rigorous envi­ron­mental and social impact assess­ment, (3) strengthening customary land rights and reinforc­ing compensation policies, and (4) mean­ingfully involving locals in land deal negotiations. This contribution responds to the deficit in research on land deals’ impacts on livelihoods and well-being and lays the groundwork for future research.

scholarly journals Towards ecological and social impact through collaborative governance of a seascape of marine protected areas in Honduras

Oryx ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Daniel Steadman
Keyword(s):  
Protected Areas ◽  
Marine Protected Areas ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Social Impact ◽  
Sustainable Use ◽  
Species Abundance ◽  
Collaborative Governance ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Marine Biodiversity ◽  
Marine Management

Abstract Protecting marine biodiversity and ensuring sustainable use through a seascape approach is becoming increasingly widespread in response to the ecological, social and institutional challenges of scaling ocean management. A seascape approach means clustering spatial management measures (marine protected areas) based around the principles of ecological connectivity, and developing or enhancing collaborative governance networks of relevant stakeholders (managers, community groups, non-governmental organizations) based around the principles of social connectivity. As with other large-scale approaches to marine management, there is minimal evidence of long-term impact in seascapes. This study uses a theory-based, participatory impact evaluation to assess perceived changes attributed to the Atlántida seascape in Honduras (initiated in 2015), encompassing three well-established marine protected areas and the non-legally managed waters between them. Using an adapted most significant change method, 15 interviews with a representative subset of seascape stakeholders yielded 165 stories of change, the majority (88%) of which were positive. Enhanced social capital, associated with cross-sectoral collaboration, inter-site conflict resolution and shared learning, was the most consistently expressed thematic change (32% of stories). Although most stories were expressed as activity- or output-related changes, a small proportion (18%) were causally linked to broader outcomes or impact around increased fish and flagship species abundance as well as interconnected well-being benefits for people. Although minimal (and occasionally attributed to prior initiatives that were enhanced by the seascape approach), this impact evidence tentatively links seascapes to recent related research around the effectiveness of appropriately scaled, ecosystem-based and collaboratively governed marine management that balances strict protection with sustainable use.

The Therapist’s Reaction to a Patient’s Suicide

Crisis ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 99-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Friedrich Martin Wurst ◽  
Isabella Kunz ◽  
Gregory Skipper ◽  
Manfred Wolfersdorf ◽  
Karl H. Beine ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Responses ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Emotional Reaction ◽  
Emotional Reactions ◽  
Analog Scale ◽  
General Hospitals ◽  
Item Questionnaire ◽  
Retrospective Nature ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Over Time

Background: A substantial proportion of therapists experience the loss of a patient to suicide at some point during their professional life. Aims: To assess (1) the impact of a patient’s suicide on therapists distress and well-being over time, (2) which factors contribute to the reaction, and (3) which subgroup might need special interventions in the aftermath of suicide. Methods: A 63-item questionnaire was sent to all 185 Psychiatric Clinics at General Hospitals in Germany. The emotional reaction of therapists to patient’s suicide was measured immediately, after 2 weeks, and after 6 months. Results: Three out of ten therapists suffer from severe distress after a patients’ suicide. The item “overall distress” immediately after the suicide predicts emotional reactions and changes in behavior. The emotional responses immediately after the suicide explained 43.5% of the variance of total distress in a regression analysis. Limitations: The retrospective nature of the study is its primary limitation. Conclusions: Our data suggest that identifying the severely distressed subgroup could be done using a visual analog scale for overall distress. As a consequence, more specific and intensified help could be provided to these professionals.

Immigrant Youth in Germany

2013 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 158-168 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily Frankenberg ◽  
Katharina Kupper ◽  
Ruth Wagner ◽  
Stephan Bongard
Keyword(s):  
School System ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Ethnic Discrimination ◽  
Emotional And Behavioral Problems ◽  
Sociocultural Adaptation ◽  
Age Related ◽  
German School ◽  
Transcultural Adaptation

This paper reviews research on young migrants in Germany. Particular attention is given to the question of how Germany’s history of migration, immigration policies, and public attitude toward migrants influence the transcultural adaptation of children and adolescents from different ethnic backgrounds. We combine past research with the results of new empirical studies in order to shed light on migrants’ psychological and sociocultural adaptation. Studies comparing young migrants and their German peers in terms of psychological well-being, life satisfaction, and mental health outcome suggest higher rates of emotional and behavioral problems among migrants of most age groups. With regard to adolescent populations between the ages of 14 and 17 years, however, the existence of differences between migrants and natives appears to be less clear. Research has also yielded inconsistent findings regarding the time trajectory of transcultural adaptation among adolescents. The coincidence of acculturation and age-related change is discussed as a possible source of these inconsistencies. Further, we provide an overview of risk and protective factors such as conflicting role expectations and ethnic discrimination, which may cause heightened vulnerability to adverse adaptation outcomes in some groups. Large-scale studies have repeatedly shown migrants of all age groups to be less successful within the German school system, indicating poor sociocultural adaptation. Possible explanations, such as the idiosyncrasies of the German school system, are presented. Our own studies contribute to the understanding of young migrants’ adaptation process by showing that it is their orientation to German culture, rather than the acculturation strategy of integration, that leads to the most positive psychological and sociocultural outcomes. The paper concludes by discussing implications for future cross-cultural research on young migrants and by suggesting recommendations for multicultural policies.

Emotional Impact Feedback Changes How We Remember Negative Autobiographical Experiences

2010 ◽  
Vol 57 (5) ◽  
pp. 354-359 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melanie K. T. Takarangi ◽  
Deryn Strange
Keyword(s):  
Well Being ◽  
The Other ◽  
Personal Perspective ◽  
Emotional Impact ◽  
Potential Mechanism ◽  
Negative Experiences ◽  
Negative Memory ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Negative Memories ◽  
Over Time

When people are told that their negative memories are worse than other people’s, do they later remember those events differently? We asked participants to recall a recent negative memory then, 24 h later, we gave some participants feedback about the emotional impact of their event – stating it was more or less negative compared to other people’s experiences. One week later, participants recalled the event again. We predicted that if feedback affected how participants remembered their negative experiences, their ratings of the memory’s characteristics should change over time. That is, when participants are told that their negative event is extremely negative, their memories should be more vivid, recollected strongly, and remembered from a personal perspective, compared to participants in the other conditions. Our results provide support for this hypothesis. We suggest that external feedback might be a potential mechanism in the relationship between negative memories and psychological well-being.

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