Brain Systems Underlying Fundamental Motivations of Human Social Conformity / 神经科学通报·英文版

From birth to adulthood, we often align our behaviors, attitudes, and opinions with a majority, a phenomenon known as social conformity. A seminal framework has proposed that conformity behaviors are mainly driven by three fundamental motives: a desire to gain more information to be accurate, to obtain social approval from others, and to maintain a favorable self-concept. Despite extensive interest in neuroimaging investigation of social conformity, the relationship between brain systems and these fundamental motivations has yet to be established. Here, we reviewed brain imaging findings of social conformity with a componential framework, aiming to reveal the neuropsychological substrates underlying different conformity motivations. First, information-seeking engages the evaluation of social information, information integration, and modification of task-related activity, corresponding to brain networks implicated in reward, cognitive control, and tasks at hand. Second, social acceptance involves the anticipation of social acceptance or rejection and mental state attribution, mediated by networks of reward, punishment, and mentalizing. Third, self-enhancement entails the excessive representation of positive self-related information and suppression of negative self-related information, ingroup favoritism and/or outgroup derogation, and elaborated mentalizing processes to the ingroup, supported by brain systems of reward, punishment, and mentalizing. Therefore, recent brain imaging studies have provided important insights into the fundamental motivations of social conformity in terms of component processes and brain mechanisms.

Aceptación y rechazo entre adolescentes en grupos de escolares cubanos / Acceptance and rejection among adolescents in groups of Cuban schoolchildren

RESUMEN Introducción: Las relaciones entre iguales constituyen un tema de gran importancia, especialmente durante la adolescencia. El objetivo del presente texto es identificar razones por las cuales se aceptan y se rechazan adolescentes en aulas de enseñanza media y media superior. Método: La muestra estuvo conformada por 645 estudiantes pertenecientes a 20 grupos escolares de 10 instituciones docentes de La Habana, durante el curso escolar 2018-2019. El instrumento empleado para la recogida de datos fue un cuestionario sociométrico de nominación directa e ilimitada. Este instrumento fue procesado a partir del análisis de contenido realizado a las razones emitidas por cada estudiante, para lo cual se empleó el análisis cualitativo. A partir de ellas fueron creadas categorías para su interpretación y análisis. Resultados: Se demuestra que los criterios, tanto en el ejercicio de la tarea como en los aspectos sociales se agrupan en siete categorías: cualidades para las relaciones sociales, rasgos físicos, cualidades intelectuales y/o para la tarea, beneficio de la relación (individual o mutuo hacia la tarea o los aspectos sociales), vínculo social y semejanzas. Discusión: En la literatura científica y en investigaciones recientes, se constata que estos motivos son condicionados por varios criterios; de manera particular, relacionados con el sexo y el momento de la adolescencia en la que se encuentran los estudiantes.

ABSTRACT Introduction: Relationships between equals are a topic of great importance, especially during adolescence. The objective of this text is to identify reasons why adolescents are accepted and rejected in high school classrooms. Method: The sample was made up of 645 students belonging to 20 school groups from 10 educational institutions in Havana, during the 2018-2019 school year. The instrument used for data collection was a sociometric questionnaire of direct and unlimited nomination. This instrument was processed from the content analysis carried out on the reasons given by each student, for which qualitative analysis was used. From them, categories were created for their interpretation and analysis. Results: It is shown that the criteria, both in the exercise of the task and in the social aspects, are grouped into seven categories: qualities for social relationships, physical traits, intellectual qualities and / or for the task, benefit of the relationship (individual or mutual towards the task or social aspects), social bond and similarities. Discussion: In the scientific literature and in recent research, it is found that these motives are conditioned by several criteria; in particular, related to sex and the moment of adolescence in which the students are.

Social acceptance and job satisfaction of ASHA workers in the Garo Hills Division of Meghalaya: a cross-sectional study

Background: ASHAs were appointed by NRHM to provide preventive, promotive and curative healthcare services in the rural including tribal villages in Meghalaya. However, their social acceptance and job satisfaction remain less studied. Hence our study aimed at it.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 140 ASHAs from randomly sampled 142 villages across 15 PHCs in five districts. To collect data, we used a semi-structured back-translated and validated questionnaire consisting socio-demographic profile of ASHAs, level of perceived social acceptance and job satisfaction. Data were analysed using SPSS version 22.0.Results: Mean and median age of ASHAs were 33.29 and 32.00 years respectively. Over 63% belonged to Garo tribes, 67% studied high school, and 91% married. Village elders selected 76% of ASHAs, and 81% were as ASHAs for at least eight years. About 86% were trained in a minimum of three modules and all found their training effective. While 92% had the medical kit always filled, 100% had registers updated, and 94.3% facilitated VHND and FHD meetings. About 97% accompanied the pregnant women, 96.4% attended PHC meetings regularly and 83.6% organized VHSNC meeting. Though 93.5% reported a high acceptance of ASHAs' services, social acceptance of ASHAs was rather to some extent for 36.4%. Almost 52% of ASHAs were dissatisfied with job and 61% were unhappy with their performance-based remuneration.Conclusions: Community must be aware of ASHAs’ role, and their job satisfaction has to be increased with a corresponding increase in incentives while developing strategies to ease the process of payments.

Calidad de vida relacionada con la salud en escolares de 10 a 14 años con sobrepeso y obesidad en la ciudad de Medellín, Colombia / Health Related-quality of Life in Schoolchildren with Obesity and Overweight in Medellin, Colombia

El exceso de peso a tempranas edades afecta la salud física y mental de niños y niñas y puede repercutir en su calidad de vida. Objetivo: evaluar la calidad de vida relacionada con salud (CVRS) en escolares con y sin sobrepeso y obesidad de una institución educativa de Medellín (Colombia). Población y Métodos: Se realizó un estudio transversal de tipo descriptivo-comparativo. La muestra fue probabilística con 679 escolares participantes de ambos sexos, con edades entre los 10 y 14 años de edad. El instrumento usado para determinar el estado nutricional fue el ANTHRO-PLUS y para medir CVRS utilizó el KIDSCREEN-27. Resultados: el 24 % de los participantes tenían exceso de peso, 19.9 % de ellos con sobrepeso y el 4.1 % con obesidad. En relación con la CVRS, los escolares con sobrepeso y obesidad se perciben con más problemas de actividad física y salud (AF) y menos aceptación social (AS). Para los hombres, el exceso de peso afecta las posibilidades de realizar la misma actividad física que sus pares, convirtiéndose fácilmente en objeto de burla e intimidación. Para las mujeres, la percepción de su CVRS no varió significativamente tuvieran normo o sobrepeso. Conclusiones: la percepción de CVRS de los escolares no es homogénea, está afectada por la edad, el sexo y los condicionantes culturales alrededor de la construcción de la imagen corporal.

Excess weight affects the physical and mental health of children and can affect their quality of life. Objetive: Evaluate the quality of life related to health (HRQOL) in schoolchildren with and without overweight and obesity of an educational institution of Medellin (Colombia). Methods: A descriptive crosssectional study was conducted comparative type. The sample was probabilistic school with 679 participants of both sexes aged between 10 and 14 years old. The instrument used to determine the nutritional status was ANTHRO-PLUS and measure HRQOL used the KIDSCREEN-27. Results: Participants were overweight 24%; overweight children were 19% and 4% of them were obese. Regarding school HRQOL overweight and obesity are perceived more problems physical activity and health (AF) and less social acceptance (AS). For men being overweight it affects the chances of performing the same physical activity as their peers and becoming easily mocked and intimidation. For women, the perception of HRQOL did not differ significantly had normal or overweight. Conclusions: The perception of HRQOL of school is not homogeneous, is affected by age, sex and cultural conditions around the construction of body image.

Teoria da Mente e Desenvolvimento Social na Infância / Theory of Mind and Social Development in Childhood

A capacidade de compreender os estados mentais, que permite predizer e explicar as ações humanas por meio da linguagem desenvolve-se gradualmente na infância. A aquisição dessa capacidade tem um impacto direto sobre o desenvolvimento social das crianças, em especial nas relações com seus pares. Nesta direção, destacam-se aspectos como as relações de amizade, o comportamento pró-social, a empatia e a aceitação social. O presente artigo apresenta e discute estudos nacionais e internacionais que investigaram as possíveis relações entre o desenvolvimento social e a compreensão dos estados mentais, tais como desejos, crenças e emoções.

The ability to understand mental states that enables us to predict and explain human actions through language develops gradually during childhood. The acquisition of this ability has a direct impact on the social development of children, especially in their peer relations. In this sense, such aspects like friendship, pro-social behavior, empathy and social acceptance are discussed. This article presents and analyzes some national and international studies that have investigated the possible relationship between social development and the understanding of mental states such as desires, beliefs and emotions.

Estatus sociométrico y violencia escolar en adolescentes: implicaciones de la autoestima, la familia y la escuela / Sociometric status and school violence on adolescents: implications of self-esteem, family and school

El objetivo general del presente estudio es examinar si el vínculo entre los escenarios de socialización familiar y escolar y la violencia escolar difiere en alumnos aceptados y rechazados. Participaron 1068 adolescentes, de entre 11 y 16 años, pertenecientes a cuatro centros educativos de la Comunidad Valenciana (España). Se llevó a cabo un modelo de ecuaciones estructurales con el programa EQS y se efectuaron análisis multigrupo entre adolescentes rechazados y aceptados. Los resultados muestran que el apoyo parental se relaciona con la violencia escolar a través de la percepción de la escuela y la autoestima familiar y escolar. Así, la percepción negativa de la escuela se asocia positivamente con la violencia escolar, mientras que la autoestima escolar se encuentra negativamente asociada con la violencia. También se han encontrado diferencias entre adolescentes rechazados y aceptados en la relación entre el apoyo parental y la violencia escolar. La autoestima familiar se asocia con la violencia escolar únicamente en adolescentes rechazados mientras que el apoyo del padre se relaciona con la autoestima escolar únicamente en los alumnos aceptados. Finalmente, se discuten los resultados y sus posibles implicaciones.

The general aim of the present study is to examine whether the link between the family and school contexts, as well as school violence is different among peer accepted and peer rejected adolescents. Participants were 1068 adolescents, ages ranged from 11 to 16 years old, from four schools in Valencian Community (Spain). Structural equation modeling was carried out using the EQS program and multigroup analysis between peer accepted and peer rejected adolescents were conducted. Results show that parental support is related to school violence through perception of school, family and school self-esteem. So, perception of school is positive related to school-based violence, whereas academic and family self-esteem are negatively related. It is also found some differences between peer rejected and accepted adolescents on the relationship between parental support and school violence. Family self-esteem is negatively associated with school-based violence only on rejected adolescents, whereas parents support is related to academic self-esteem only on accepted adolescents. Finally, results and its possible implications are discussed.

Compreensão de emoções, aceitação social e avaliação de atributos comportamentais em crianças escolares / Emotion understanding, social acceptance and evaluation of behavioral attributes in school-age children

Diversos pesquisadores do campo de estudos sobre teoria da mente têm investigado a relação entre compreensão de emoções e interação social. Seguindo essa linha de investigação, o presente estudo explorou a relação entre compreensão emocional, aceitação social e avaliação de atributos comportamentais pelos pares. Cinquenta e duas crianças escolares responderam a um teste de inteligência emocional e a dois testes de avaliação sociométrica. Não foi encontrada uma correlação entre a compreensão emocional e a aceitação social, porém uma correlação negativa entre a compreensão emocional e a avaliação de atributos ligados à agressividade/disruptividade foi observada. Esses resultados sugerem que o conhecimento de diferentes emoções e de estratégias de regulação emocional podem tornar as crianças menos propensas à agressividade reativa.

Several researchers in the theory of mind field have been investigating the relation between emotion understanding and social interaction. Following this line of investigation, the present study explored the relation between emotion understanding, social acceptance and evaluation of behavioral attributes by peers. Fifty-two school-aged children were administered an emotional intelligence test and two instruments of sociometric evaluation. A correlation between emotion understanding and social acceptance was not found, however, a negative correlation between emotion understanding and the evaluation of behavioral attributes related to aggressiveness/disruptivity was observed. The results suggest that the knowledge of different emotions and of emotion regulation strategies may make children less prone to reactive aggressiveness.