PubMed Health⌕ Search

SEARCH · PubMed Health

Results for “Social Behavior”

Explore indexed PubMed citations for clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health research. Read source abstracts and follow each citation to its original PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 235 records · Page 13Linked to original sources
PubMed1984

A comparison of the social status and social behavior of aggressive and aggressive/withdrawn boys.

The purpose of this study was to clarify contradictory findings concerning the social status of aggressive youngsters. This was undertaken by dividing kindergarten boys into either Aggressive [A] or Aggressive/Withdrawn [A/W] groups, as proposed by Ledingham [1981]. Both groups were found to be high on peer-nominated rejection, but the A group was also high on peer-nominated popularity while the A/W group was low. Similarly, both groups were observed to be high in negative peer interactions, but the A group was also high in positive interactions. It was noted that valuable information regarding the social status and social behavior of aggressive youngsters would be lost if such subgrouping is not undertaken. The relationship between Ledingham 's categorizations and others reported in the literature was discussed.

Aggression↗
PubMed1988

The effect of breakfast on social behavior and brain amine metabolism in vervet monkeys.

Two groups of vervet monkeys were fed, on alternate days, either before or after a morning observation period. This enabled us to determine changes in behavior when the animals were fed a nutritionally balanced breakfast of monkey chow. Feeding did not alter the proportion of behaviors that were social or non-social, but had a marked effect on individual behaviors. Feeding increased active behaviors among the adult animals except for the vervets who were lowest in the social hierarchy in each cage. For some of the individual behaviors that were altered by feeding, the changes were most marked early on in the observation period, when the animals were still feeding. Other behavioral changes were seen only later in the observation period, a time course consistent with a food-mediated change in brain biochemistry. A parallel biochemical experiment showed that feeding decreased the levels of tryptophan and 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid in the CSF. Our data indicate that feeding can influence both brain biochemistry and behavior. The behavioral changes may be influenced by social and psychological factors as well as changes in brain biochemistry.

Aging↗
PubMed2004

Towards a balanced social psychology: causes, consequences, and cures for the problem-seeking approach to social behavior and cognition.

Mainstream social psychology focuses on how people characteristically violate norms of action through social misbehaviors such as conformity with false majority judgments, destructive obedience, and failures to help those in need. Likewise, they are seen to violate norms of reasoning through cognitive errors such as misuse of social information, self-enhancement, and an over-readiness to attribute dispositional characteristics. The causes of this negative research emphasis include the apparent informativeness of norm violation, the status of good behavior and judgment as unconfirmable null hypotheses, and the allure of counter-intuitive findings. The shortcomings of this orientation include frequently erroneous imputations of error, findings of mutually contradictory errors, incoherent interpretations of error, an inability to explain the sources of behavioral or cognitive achievement, and the inhibition of generalized theory. Possible remedies include increased attention to the complete range of behavior and judgmental accomplishment, analytic reforms emphasizing effect sizes and Bayesian inference, and a theoretical paradigm able to account for both the sources of accomplishment and of error. A more balanced social psychology would yield not only a more positive view of human nature, but also an improved understanding of the bases of good behavior and accurate judgment, coherent explanations of occasional lapses, and theoretically grounded suggestions for improvement.

Cognition↗
PubMed1995

Potential stock differences in the social behavior of rats in a situation of restricted access to food.

The social behavior of outbred Long-Evans (LE) and Wistar (WI) rats was compared in a situation where access to food was particularly difficult (clearing an aquatic barrier, plus the necessity of carrying the food back to the home cage). In groups of either six WI or LE rats, only about 50% of individuals carried the food, and the others survived by attacking those that did. However, behavioral profiles associated with these acts were different in the two cases: LE carriers, contrary to WI carriers, restole some food, and LE noncarriers expressed more agonistic behavior and were more often attacked than were the WI noncarriers. Food flow and all associated, interactive behaviors were more complex in the LE than in the WI rats, indicating the likelihood of potential genetic differences in this testing situation.

Aggression↗
PubMed1994

Aggregating social behavior into person models: perceiver-induced consistency.

Two experiments explored the role of perceivers (judges) in aggregating social behavior into impressions. In Experiment 1, it was predicted and found that judges influence impressions (i.e., eye-of-the-beholder effects) not only because they disagree on how to interpret single acts but because they aggregate multiple acts in unique ways to arrive at idiosyncratic impressions. Using D. A. Kenny's (1991) general model of accuracy and consensus, it was found that judges perceived much greater consistency in the behavior of targets across situations when they were asked to aggregate the behavior than when they were not. Differential interpretation of single acts did not change as a function of aggregating behavior. This aggregation process was characterized as the construction of models of persons. In Experiment 2, the concept of person models was explored further, and it was argued that perceivers develop these models on the basis of what is viewed as the central concept of a target. For any given target, a limited number of models can be identified, and different perceivers develop different models. The particular model formed has implications for the perceiver's underlying memory representation and the perceived personality profile of the target.

Adult↗
PubMed2001

Social behavior functions and related anatomical characteristics of vasotocin/vasopressin systems in vertebrates.

The neuropeptide arginine vasotocin (AVT; non-mammals) and its mammalian homologue, arginine vasopressin (AVP) influence a variety of sex-typical and species-specific behaviors, and provide an integrational neural substrate for the dynamic modulation of those behaviors by endocrine and sensory stimuli. Although AVT/AVP behavioral functions and related anatomical features are increasingly well-known for individual species, ubiquitous species-specificity presents ever increasing challenges for identifying consistent structure-function patterns that are broadly meaningful. Towards this end, we provide a comprehensive review of the available literature on social behavior functions of AVT/AVP and related anatomical characteristics, inclusive of seasonal plasticity, sexual dimorphism, and steroid sensitivity. Based on this foundation, we then advance three major questions which are fundamental to a broad conceptualization of AVT/AVP social behavior functions: (1) Are there sufficient data to suggest that certain peptide functions or anatomical characteristics (neuron, fiber, and receptor distributions) are conserved across the vertebrate classes? (2) Are independently-evolved but similar behavior patterns (e.g. similar social structures) supported by convergent modifications of neuropeptide mechanisms, and if so, what mechanisms? (3) How does AVT/AVP influence behavior - by modulation of sensorimotor processes, motivational processes, or both? Hypotheses based upon these questions, rather than those based on individual organisms, should generate comparative data that will foster cross-class comparisons which are at present underrepresented in the available literature.

Animals↗
PubMed1990

Ontogeny of social behavior of pups of laboratory rats genetically selected for activity level.

In pups of Wistar laboratory rats genetically selected for high (+A) and low (-A) locomotor activity in an open field social behavior was tested in a situation of paired interactions in a novel environment. Tests were performed on postnatal Days 16, 19, 23, and 27. They consisted of four five-minute trials with 50 min, intertrial intervals. Duration of active contacts, passive contacts, mutual grooming, following (chasing), and playful fighting was recorded. In pups of the +A line total duration of all social interactions increased between Days 16 and 23, while in the -A pairs preweaning maximum in most types of social activities was achieved already on Day 16, after this day the time spent in mutual contacts decreased. Analysis of dynamics of social behavior over trials in the -A line showed the tendency to habituate, maximum duration of paired interactions appeared in the first trial contrary to +A groups, in which duration of social contacts tended to increase with repeated trials. In both lines, duration of following responses increased from Day 16 to Day 27. In +A pairs following often led to playful fighting, while in -A pairs fighting was practically absent. The experiment demonstrated that differences between lines +A and -A appeared in those social contacts which required higher energy expenditure and which realized themselves in the larger space of the testing box.

Animals↗
PubMed2001

Emotion knowledge as a predictor of social behavior and academic competence in children at risk.

Following leads from differential emotions theory and empirical research, we evaluated an index of emotion knowledge as a long-term predictor of positive and negative social behavior and academic competence in a sample of children from economically disadvantaged families (N = 72). The index of emotion knowledge represents the child's ability to recognize and label emotion expressions. We administered control and predictor measures when the children were 5 years old and obtained criterion data at age 9. After controlling for verbal ability and temperament, our index of emotion knowledge predicted aggregate indices of positive and negative social behavior and academic competence. Path analysis showed that emotion knowledge mediated the effect of verbal ability on academic competence. We argue that the ability to detect and label emotion cues facilitates positive social interactions and that a deficit in this ability contributes to behavioral and learning problems. Our findings have implications for primary prevention.

Achievement↗
PubMed1989

The effects of pet therapy on the social behavior of institutionalized Alzheimer's clients.

Twelve (N = 12) Alzheimer's (AD) residents of a Special Care Unit in a large midwest Veterans' Home were observed for the effects of the presence of a pet dog on eight social behaviors: smiles, laughs, looks, leans, touches, verbalizations, name-calling, and others. Observations took place on three separate occasions (absence of dog, temporary presence of the dog, and permanent placement of the dog) in both group and individual settings. The results showed that the presence of the dog increased the number of total social behaviors of the AD clients, but no differences were found in behaviors between the temporary and permanent placement of the dog.

Aged↗
PubMed2003

Tryptophan, serotonin and human social behavior.

Animals research suggests that increasing serotonin can decrease aggression, increase affiliative behaviors and increase dominant behaviors. We tested the relevance of these data to humans by giving 100 healthy people tryptophan (1 g after each meal) and placebo, each for 12 days in a double-blind cross-over study. Social behaviors were studied using an event sampling method in which subjects filled in a one page questionnaire about their behaviors after each social interaction lasting at least 5 minutes. Tryptophan caused a significant decrease in quarrelsome behaviors and a significant increase in dominant behaviors.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Effects of thioridazine and visual screening on stereotypy and social behavior in individuals with mental retardation.

Thioridazine and visual screening procedures are effective in reducing the stereotypic behaviors of individuals with mental retardation. A double-blind, placebo-controlled study, using alternating treatments within a multiple-baseline across subjects design, was conducted to assess the effects of two doses of thioridazine (1.25 and 2.5 mg/kg/day) and visual screening, alone and combined, on stereotypy and social behavior of three individuals with profound mental retardation. Functional analyses did not show demand, alone, social attention, or differential reinforcement conditions to maintain the subjects' stereotypy. Thioridazine was effective in producing modest reductions in stereotypy and minor increases in social behavior across subjects. The higher dose of thioridazine (2.5 mg/kg/day) was slightly more effective than the lower dose (1.25 mg/kg/day), and thioridazine plus visual screening was more effective than thioridazine alone. The most effective treatment was visual screening when used in the absence of thioridazine. This study demonstrates a method for assessing the impact of psychopharmacological and behavioral interventions in individuals for whom a behavioral treatment cannot be easily derived from a functional analysis of the maintaining conditions of the target behavior.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1992

Effects of a 30 kV/m, 60 Hz electric field on the social behavior of baboons: a crossover experiment.

Using a crossover experimental design, we evaluated our earlier findings that exposure to a 30 kV/m, 60 Hz electric field for 12 hours per day, 7 days per week for 6 weeks produced significant changes in the performance rates of social behaviors among young adult male baboons. In the crossover experiment, the former control group was exposed to a 30 kV/m, 60 Hz electric field for 3 weeks. Only an extremely small, incidental magnetic field was generated by the exposure apparatus. We found that electric-field exposure again produced increases in the performance rates that index Passive Affinity, Tension, and Stereotypy. These findings, combined with results from our other electric-field experiments, indicate that exposure to strong electric fields, in the absence of associated magnetic fields, consistently produces effects that are expressed as increases in rates of performance of social behaviors in young adult male baboons.

Animals↗
PubMed2002

The social behaviors and peer expectation of girls with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and comparison girls.

Investigated self-described social goals, self-generated actions, and perceived peer responses to hypothetical vignettes, as well as observed social behavior and peer sociometric status, in an ethnically and socioeconomically diverse sample of girls with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD; n = 49) and comparison girls (n = 30). Although we found no differences between the social goals of girls with ADHD and comparison participants, girls with ADHD generated higher rates of aggressive responses to the hypothetical vignettes than did comparison girls, whereas comparison girls generated a larger number of negotiating behaviors than did the ADHD sample. The ADHD participants anticipated negative peer responses, whereas comparison girls predicted positive reactions from peers. Importantly, these perceived peer responses showed associations with girls' naturalistic social behaviors and peer sociometric status. Several pertinent predictions held with control of ADHD versus comparison status. Social cognitions appear to be relevant in the investigation of ADHD in girls.

Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity↗
PubMed2006

Evolution of the Yellow/Major Royal Jelly Protein family and the emergence of social behavior in honey bees.

The genomic architecture underlying the evolution of insect social behavior is largely a mystery. Eusociality, defined by overlapping generations, parental brood care, and reproductive division of labor, has most commonly evolved in the Hymenopteran insects, including the honey bee Apis mellifera. In this species, the Major Royal Jelly Protein (MRJP) family is required for all major aspects of eusocial behavior. Here, using data obtained from the A. mellifera genome sequencing project, we demonstrate that the MRJP family is encoded by nine genes arranged in an approximately 60-kb tandem array. Furthermore, the MRJP protein family appears to have evolved from a single progenitor gene that encodes a member of the ancient Yellow protein family. Five genes encoding Yellow-family proteins flank the genomic region containing the genes encoding MRJPs. We describe the molecular evolution of these protein families. We then characterize developmental-stage-specific, sex-specific, and caste-specific expression patterns of the mrjp and yellow genes in the honey bee. We review empirical evidence concerning the functions of Yellow proteins in fruit flies and social ants, in order to shed light on the roles of both Yellow and MRJP proteins in A. mellifera. In total, the available evidence suggests that Yellows and MRJPs are multifunctional proteins with diverse, context-dependent physiological and developmental roles. However, many members of the Yellow/MRJP family act as facilitators of reproductive maturation. Finally, it appears that MRJP protein subfamily evolution from the Yellow protein family may have coincided with the evolution of honey bee eusociality.

Animals↗
PubMed1981

Social ecology of supervised communal facilities for mentally disabled adults: IV. Characteristics of social behavior.

Behavior categories for observations of 304 mentally disabled adults were analyzed in relation to settings (sheltered workshops and residential facility), personal characteristics (age, sex, IQ, diagnosis, and desire for affiliation) and characteristics of partners. Both settings and personal characteristics predicted individual behavior rates for the 10 most frequently observed behavior categories. As many as 14 dimensions were extracted from behavior observed in more intense dyadic relationships; these dimensions were strongly related to characteristics of the individuals in the relationships. Although more intelligent individuals exhibited higher rates of verbal behavior, they were not more verbal in their intense social relationships. Furthermore, individuals at all levels of intelligence were sensitive to the intellectual characteristics of their partners. The results suggest that the social behavior of mentally disabled people is complex and sensitive to the presence and characteristics of others; peer-group composition seems to be critical to social adaptation in communal settings for this population.

Adult↗
PubMed2003

Executive and social behaviors under nicotinic receptor regulation.

Nicotine enhances several cognitive and psychomotor behaviors, and nicotinic antagonists cause impairments in tasks requiring cognitive effort. To explore the contribution of nicotinic receptors to complex cognitive functions, we developed an automated method to investigate sequential locomotor behavior in the mouse and an analysis of social behavior. We show that, in the beta2-/- mutant, the high-order spatiotemporal organization of locomotor behavior, together with conflict resolution and social interaction, is selectively dissociated from low-level, more automatic motor behaviors. Such deficits in executive functions resemble the rigid and asocial behavior found in some psychopathological disorders such as autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Animals↗