Behavioural Sciences
Decision making under uncertainty: Ambiguity preferences
We all face daily decision making under uncertainty. Everyone has a different tolerance for the level of risk that they are comfortable accepting and the amount of uncertainty they are happy to make decisions within, which is also known as their ambiguity preference. Traditionally, ambiguity preferences have been measured in economic laboratory environments using complicated and time consuming tasks. As […]
Regional revitalization: How the RESAS is overturning a downward trend
Japan is the tenth largest country in the world by population size, but it is on track to become the globe’s first ‘hyper-aged’ society. General depopulation as a result of a low birth and death rate, as well as the relocation of young people from rural to urban areas has led the Japanese government to act to prevent an economic […]
What team communication can tell us about team effectiveness
Meetings. Love them or hate them, they’re a regular feature of working life and there are countless studies on how to plan, run and make the most of them. Few studies, however, take a detailed view of the nature of the communication, interaction and collaboration that take place within meetings, especially team meetings. The research of Marcella Hoogeboom and Celeste […]
Homelessness and language difficulties
Dr Graham Pluck of Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Ecuador, is a psychologist with an interest in cognitive research and neuroscience. His most recent research has focused on the relationship between homelessness and language in Quito, Ecuador. Here, we take a closer look at his findings, suggesting that homeless adults in Quito perform well below the levels that would be […]
Understanding farmers’ behaviour to better control avian influenza
Dr Alexis Delabouglise, based at the International Center of Agricultural Research for Development (CIRAD), France, and Dr Maciej Boni, at the Center for Infectious Disease Dynamics of the Pennsylvania State University, USA, want to understand how small-scale poultry farmers make management decisions involving their birds’ health. In case of an outbreak of avian influenza, for example, understanding the farmer’s views […]
Brand governance in National Sport Organizations
How can non-profit National Sport Organizations in Canada create effective brands, especially on social media, from which they can co-create value with stakeholders such as athletes, fans, sponsors, and the media? In a three-phase project funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, Marijke Taks, Benoit Séguin (University of Ottawa) and colleagues examined the challenges faced in […]
Globalization and the erosion of geo-ethnic checkpoints
Understanding the ecology of complex adaptive systems, such as organisms, societies, and languages, poses many challenges. Dr Chris Girard, Associate Professor of Sociology with the Department of Global and Sociocultural Studies at Florida International University, has developed an evolutionary model, known as coevolving informatics, that offers a transdisciplinary approach to understanding complex adaptive systems. Coevolving informatics employs complexity and evolutionary […]
Emerging enterprises: Transformational leadership and customer-centric approaches
Micro enterprises and start-up enterprises (SUEs) are a critical part of the commercial environment and global business models in emerging markets. These enterprises have high growth potential by effectively administering their competitive advantages in a short period of time as compared to more established and bureaucratic organisations. However, many emerging organisations do not realise their full potential due to leader-centred […]
How sleep may be key to antisocial behaviour in young people
Sleep is vital to our health and yet remains understudied in young people and especially in its links to behaviours. Professor Alexander Vazsonyi at the University of Kentucky is focused on highlighting the role of sleep in problem behaviours in adolescents. His work on sleep unearths some important influences on deviant behaviour but also points to ways that young people […]
Phones down, eyes up: Tackling media misbehaviour in the classroom
In the age of smartphones, teachers must compete for the attention of students against a world they possess in their pockets. And the stakes are high for educational outcomes. When pupils are glued to their phones in class, they disrupt their own learning as well as that of others, while increasing the teacher’s stress and risk of burnout. So how […]