Social networks constitute a major channel for the diffusion of information and the formation of attitudes in a society. Introducing a dynamic model of social learning, the first part of this thesis studies the emergence of socially influential individuals and groups, and identifies the characteristics that make them influential. The second part uses a Bayesian network game to analyse the role of social interaction and conformism in the making of decisions whose returns or costs are ex ante uncertain.

Background: Despite progress made in the last decades, malaria persists as a pressing health issue in sub-Saharan Africa. Pregnant women are particularly vulnerable to infection and serious health outcomes for themselves and their unborn child. Risk can be mitigated through appropriate use of control measures such as insecticide-treated bed nets. Although social networks can influence uptake of preventive strategies, the role of social influence on bed net ownership has not been explored. During an evaluation of a bed net distribution programme, the influence of non-health care advisors on ownership and use of bed nets by pregnant women in Kumasi, Ghana was examined. Methods: Data were collected through in-person interviews with 300 pregnant women seeking antenatal care in an urban hospital in Kumasi, Ghana. Participants were asked about their bed net ownership, bed net use, and information about three personal contacts that they go to for pregnancy advice. Information about these advisors was combined into an influence score. Logistic regression models were used to determine the association between the score and bed net ownership. Those who owned a bed net were further assessed to determine if interpersonal influence was associated with self-reported sleeping under the bed net the previous night. Results: Of the 294 women in the analysis, 229 (78%) reported owning bed nets. Of these bed net owners, 139 (61%) reported using a bed net the previous night. A dose response relationship was observed between the interpersonal influence score and bed net ownership and use. Compared to the lowest influence score, those with the highest influence score (> 1 SD above the mean) were marginally more likely to own a bed net [OR = 2.37, 95% CI (0.87, 6.39)] and much more likely to use their bed net [5.38, 95% CI (1.89, 15.25)] after adjusting for other factors. Conclusions: Interpersonal influence appears to have modest impact on ownership and use of bed nets by pregnant women in an urban area of Ghana. Further investigations would need to be conducted to determine if the relationship is causal or if individuals who associate are simply more likely to have similar practices.

Magister Artium - MA / Hookah-pipe smoking escalated from being a cultural phenomenon to being a social phenomenon. Studies suggest that the hookah-pipe is a high-risk phenomenon which has become a highly acceptable social practice influenced by social factors such as smoking initiations among peers. What is unknown is whether peer pressure and social acceptance have an influence on the use of the hookah-pipe. The aim of this study is therefore to compare the relationship between peer pressure and social acceptance among adolescent hookah-pipe users and non-users. The objectives of the study are to determine the prevalence of peer pressure, social acceptability and smoking tobacco using the hookah-pipe among adolescents; establish the relationship between peer pressure and social acceptability of adolescent hookah-pipe users and non-users and to compare the relationship between peer pressure and social acceptability among adolescent hookah-pipe users and non-users. A cross-sectional comparative correlation study was conducted with a sample of Grade 9 adolescents attending secondary schools in the Metro East Education District in Cape Town. Structured questionnaires constructed from the NationalASH 10 Year Snapshot Survey, the 10-year in-depth survey, the health and lifestyle survey and peer pressure, as well as an NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development questionnaire were completed by the participants. The Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS) software was used to analyse the data. The results show that no relationship was found between peer pressure and social acceptance, but a relationship was found between parental rules and monitoring around tobacco use for hookah-pipe users. A significant difference was also found in the attitudes towards hookah use between users and non-users. The ethics for this study included voluntary participation, informed consent and anonymity.

The purposes of the present research were to investigate the potential relationships between ego identity development, personality characteristics and social influence styles in college women. It was hypothesized that advanced identity development would be associated with more complex personality functioning and effective social influence behavior. Research subjects were classified according to identity status using The Objective Measure of Ego Identity Status. They responded to the Test of Attentional and Interpersonal Styleand engaged in a social influence task with a male or female confederate. The advanced statuses generally demonstrated more complex social-cognitive styles that allowed them to both process large amounts of stimulus information and maintain periods of private reflection of their thoughts and feelings. Conversely, the foreclosure women reported a cognitive style characterized by reduced attentional focus. In their social influence behavior, the advanced statuses employed more direct strategies and a wider repertoire of influence skills. When paired with a male confederate, the use of feminine sex-role stereotypic behavior, such as self-abasement, pleading and whining, increased with advanced identity status. The lower statuses utilized less desirable influence styles that were both placating and authoritarian. No relationship between personality characteristics and social influence style was observed in the present investigation. These findings provide tentative evidence for the relationship between advanced identity development and more complex cognitive and interpersonal styles. The potential effects of sex-role expectations in male-female influence situations were also explored.

The nature of the popular allegation that President John F. Kennedy was the victim of a conspiracy is addressed in this thesis. An answer is sought to the question, "What qualities of the Kennedy assassination conspiracy theory account for its relatively widespread popular appeal?" The author seeks to demonstrate that the Kennedy conspiracy theory has attained the status of myth in contemporary culture. First, a theoretical framework based upon previous research in the area of myth and rhetoric is constructed. This framework is designed to aid the researcher in identifying mythic discourse by establishing both formal and functional criteria. Next the framework is applied to the Kennedy conspiracy theory as manifested in various articles of popular culture including the Oliver Stone film, JFK. Finally, the ascendancy of the Kennedy assassination to the status of myth is explained through a demonstration of its consistency with both contemporary and ancient mythic themes.

Previous research has shown there to be a relationship between criminal peers and an individual's antisocial behavior and attitudes. Social literature lacks however empirical support for social identity theory, which suggests social identity serves as a mediator in the development of attitudes. Rather than a direct relationship where criminal peers influences the presence of criminal attitudes, this research suggests that criminal peers actually influences a mediator (i.e. an individual's social identity), which in turn influences their criminal attitudes. Thus, this mediation serves to clarify the nature of the seemingly apparent relationship between peers and attitudes. The current study, then, attempts to test the relationship between an individual's criminal associations and their criminal attitudes by introducing the individual's social identity as a mediator among individuals currently on probation or parole participating in a reentry program. This is done through the application of a survey constructed of three previously validated measures, and analyzed in two steps: firstly at the measurement level through confirmatory factor analysis; and secondly at the structural level through structural equation modeling.

We demonstrate social contagion in attitudes and show it is more pervasive than believed. While prior research has demonstrated that individuals are influenced by others when explicitly exposed to others' attitudes, we demonstrate they are influenced even for issues where they were never explicitly exposed to group attitudes. In first two studies we show that individuals have a remarkable ability to predict the attitudes of others in a social group from very scant information--a phenomenon that we term `Social Clairvoyance.' Across three other studies, we delineate the psychological mechanisms that permit the performance of this feat - specifically, empathic responding directed at group members in an effort to understand their underlying motivations. Further, the empathetic simulation of others attitudes results in reaction in oneself towards the attitude object resulting in a shift in one's own attitudes. In three other studies, we show that the accurate prediction of others' attitudes results in a shifting of an individual's own attitude--a phenomenon we term `Attitudinal Contagion.' From this perspective, many marketing phenomena such as word-of-mouth, diffusion of new products, neighborhood effects may have been insufficiently understood since it does not require explicit exposure to the attitudes of another.

<p>Ledarskapets utformning såväl som medarbetarens individuella förmåga till kompetensutvecklande insatser utgör centrala aspekter för organisationens konkurrensmöjligheter. Dessa externa och interna faktorers inverkan har kommit att belysas i allt högre grad i syfte att skapa förutsättningar för arbetsrelaterad motivation. Syftet med studien utgjorde att utforska samvariationen mellan medarbetarens uppfattning om ledarens förmåga till interaktion och socialt inflytande i kombination med den anställdes individuella upplevelse av self-efficacy och locus of control i syfte att därigenom studera den påverkan dessa faktorer medför för upplevelsen av arbetsmotivation. En enkätundersökning genomfördes med 127 individer som arbetar inom detaljhandel, vårdsektorn och skolväsendet. Resultatet visade att socialt inflytande och interaktion inom arbetet påvisade starkast signifikant samvariation. Även self-efficacy och locus of control uppvisade ett signifikant samband.</p>

Ledarskapets utformning såväl som medarbetarens individuella förmåga till kompetensutvecklande insatser utgör centrala aspekter för organisationens konkurrensmöjligheter. Dessa externa och interna faktorers inverkan har kommit att belysas i allt högre grad i syfte att skapa förutsättningar för arbetsrelaterad motivation. Syftet med studien utgjorde att utforska samvariationen mellan medarbetarens uppfattning om ledarens förmåga till interaktion och socialt inflytande i kombination med den anställdes individuella upplevelse av self-efficacy och locus of control i syfte att därigenom studera den påverkan dessa faktorer medför för upplevelsen av arbetsmotivation. En enkätundersökning genomfördes med 127 individer som arbetar inom detaljhandel, vårdsektorn och skolväsendet. Resultatet visade att socialt inflytande och interaktion inom arbetet påvisade starkast signifikant samvariation. Även self-efficacy och locus of control uppvisade ett signifikant samband.

While it has been long known that the behaviour of others can influence individual behaviour, norms (the views and behaviours of others) are not generally reported as strong motivators of physical activity. Using the theory of normative social behaviour as a guiding framework, the purpose of this research was to examine if descriptive norms (the perceived prevalence of others behaviour) would be more important in predicting activity than previously suspected. A secondary purpose was to extend this examination to another health behaviour, healthy eating. Three independent studies were conducted. The first two studies examined what individuals thought motivated their physical activity (Study 1) and eating (Study 2) as well as the relationship between descriptive norms and participants own activity behaviour and healthy eating intentions. Results revealed that, despite being rated by participants as less motivating, descriptive norms were stronger predictors of activity behaviour and healthy eating intentions than other well-established non-normative reasons. It also was found that descriptive norm perceptions about a group proposed to be high in group identity (i.e., friends) was most related to physical activity behaviour and healthy eating intentions. To extend these results, a third study manipulated normative and non-normative messages to examine effects on physical activity. Participants were grouped into one of four conditions (descriptive norm, health, appearance, and control) and received motivation-based email messages specific to their condition encouraging them to be active. It was hypothesized that participants in the descriptive norm condition would experience the greatest increase in physical activity but results did not support this hypothesis, as participants across all conditions significantly increased total physical activity after receiving the messages. A secondary hypothesis examining the focal nature of the targeted behaviours was supported in that responses to normative messages were greatest with the most focal behaviour (using the stairs). Taken together, the results of the first two studies provide preliminary evidence to suggest that the relationships between both descriptive norms and physical activity and descriptive norms and healthy eating may be going undetected. In light of the results of the third study, however, future studies are needed.