Topic
Social change
About: Social change is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 61197 publications have been published within this topic receiving 1797013 citations.
Papers published on a yearly basis
Papers
More filters
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that social interaction creates opportunities for individuals to gather information about politics that allows them to live beyond personal resource constraints, thereby supporting the political activity of many people.
Abstract: The argument advanced in this article is that interaction in social networks has a strong, though often over-looked, influence on the propensity to participate in politics. Specifically, I argue that social interaction creates opportunities for individuals to gather information about politics that allows them to live beyond personal resource constraints, thereby supporting the political activity of many people. Using relational data from the South Bend Election Study, this article provides evidence that the effect of social interaction on participation is contingent on the amount of political discussion that occurs in social networks. Additional analysis shows the substantive and theoretical importance of such interaction by explaining how it is distinct from the effect of social group memberships and how it enhances the effect of individual education on the probability of participation. This key contribution of this article is to show that models of political participation that do not account for informa...
499 citations
Book•
01 Aug 1988
TL;DR: In this paper, the theory of "Afrocentricity" is discussed, which mandates that Africans be viewed as subjects rather than objects and is driven by the question: Is it in the best interest of African people?
Abstract: Discussed in this cross-disciplinary work is the theory of 'Afrocentricity', which mandates that Africans be viewed as subjects rather than objects and is driven by the question: Is it in the best interest of African people? This book looks at how this philosophy, ethos, and worldview gives Africans a better understanding of how to interpret issues affecting their communities. History, psychology, sociology, literature, economics, and education are explored, including discussions on Washingtonianism, Garveyism, Du Bois, Malcolm X, race and identity, Marxism, and breakthrough strategies.
498 citations
TL;DR: Findings suggest that the virtual reality platform is a promising tool for improving social skills, cognition, and functioning in autism.
Abstract: Few evidence-based social interventions exist for young adults with high-functioning autism, many of whom encounter significant challenges during the transition into adulthood. The current study investigated the feasibility of an engaging Virtual Reality Social Cognition Training intervention focused on enhancing social skills, social cognition, and social functioning. Eight young adults diagnosed with high-functioning autism completed 10 sessions across 5 weeks. Significant increases on social cognitive measures of theory of mind and emotion recognition, as well as in real life social and occupational functioning were found post-training. These findings suggest that the virtual reality platform is a promising tool for improving social skills, cognition, and functioning in autism.
497 citations
TL;DR: Children were more likely to initiate positive social interaction with peers after treatment; in particular, they improved eye contact and their ability to share experiences with peers and to show interest in peers.
Abstract: This study evaluated the effectiveness of a 7-month cognitive behavioral intervention for the facilitation of the social-emotional understanding and social interaction of 15 high-functioning children (8 to 17 years old) with autism. Intervention focused on teaching interpersonal problem solving, affective knowledge, and social interaction. Preintervention and postintervention measures included observations of social interaction, measures of problem solving and of emotion understanding, and teacher-rated social skills. Results demonstrated progress in three areas of intervention. Children were more likely to initiate positive social interaction with peers after treatment; in particular, they improved eye contact and their ability to share experiences with peers and to show interest in peers. In problem solving after treatment, children provided more relevant solutions and fewer nonsocial solutions to different social situations. In emotional knowledge, after treatment, children provided more examples of complex emotions, supplied more specific rather then general examples, and included an audience more often in the different emotions. Children also obtained higher teacher-rated social skills scores in assertion and cooperation after treatment. The implications of these findings are discussed in terms of the effectiveness of the current model of intervention for high-functioning children with autism.
497 citations
TL;DR: Three experiments tested the hypothesis that 5-year-old children's membership in randomly assigned "minimal" groups would be sufficient to induce intergroup bias, and found that in-group preferences were observed on explicit and implicit measures of attitude and resource allocation and behavioral attribution.
Abstract: Three experiments (total N= 140) tested the hypothesis that 5-year-old children’s membership in randomly assigned ‘‘minimal’’ groups would be sufficient to induce intergroup bias. Children were randomly assigned to groups and engaged in tasks involving judgments of unfamiliar in-group or out-group children. Despite an absence of information regarding the relative status of groups or any competitive context, in-group preferences were observed on explicit and implicit measures of attitude and resource allocation (Experiment 1), behavioral attribution, and expectations of reciprocity, with preferences persisting when groups were not described via a noun label (Experiment 2). In addition, children systematically distorted incoming information by preferentially encoding positive information about in-group members (Experiment 3). Implications for the developmental origins of intergroup bias are discussed. A primary goal of the developing child is the establishment of social identity, a meaningful way of placing him or herself within the fabric of modern society (Harter, 1999). It has long been noted that one way to accomplish this is through membership in socially recognized groups, such as gender, race, or nationality (Tajfel & Turner, 2004). Such social group memberships serve individual identity in several complementary ways. They describe a circle of relevantly similar others, fostering connection and interdependence, while at the same time contrasting that in-group with an out-group, picking out relevantly dissimilar others, and so providing for converse needs related to uniqueness and independence (Brewer, 1991). Even before they have been elaborated with detailed content regarding, for example, characteristic properties possessed by members, social categories remake social space, creating an inside and an outside, an in-group and an out-group. What are the psychological consequences of dividing social space in this way? At first blush, one might think they would be modest at best, that the inferential power of social groups resides in the richer dimensions of meaning and inductive potential they eventually acquire. If so, a mere categorical distinction, just one among many possibilities, would not have any particular consequences prior to its cultural elaboration. However, the ‘‘minimal group’’ phenomenon, one of the most striking bodies of work from adult social psychology over the last several decades, shows that this expectation is wrong.
497 citations