In this thesis, I explore sex differences in adult human social learning, and how these sex differences might be underpinned by differences in risk-taking and confidence. The capacity for high-fidelity social learning is fundamental to the complex culture observed in humans. Examining when we choose to learn socially rather than asocially and the factors that influence these choices is valuable for understanding broader patterns of cultural evolution. In Chapter 1, I give an overview of the literature on sex differences in social learning, particularly how individual differences in risk-taking and confidence impact upon social information use. I introduce stereotype threat as a possible factor affecting women's confidence. I then use the stereotype threat literature as an example of the replication crisis in psychology, and discuss how improved methods of statistical analysis could help to elucidate the ambiguity in this literature. Chapter 2 provides an experimental investigation into when adult humans choose to use social or asocial information to solve a virtual construction task. I found that when the asocial information was made to be risky, women, but not men, preferred to learn socially. In Chapter 3, I present experimental data exploring the links between confidence and conformity. I found that lower confidence led to a greater likelihood of conforming, although I was unable to reliably alter confidence levels experimentally. In Chapter 4, I present a model of the stereotype threat literature by simulating numerous datasets and analysing them using four different statistical methods. I found that using informative priors in a Bayesian framework provided greater certainty about the presence or absence of an effect in a population. Finally, in Chapter 5 I conclude that studying the factors that lead to sex differences in social learning provides researchers with a greater understanding of the dynamics of cultural evolution.

The present study aimed at describing and analysing stakeholders' perception of the role of the school in providing moral education in a multicultural society. The relevance of moral education today in the context of the Mauritian society cannot be underscored given the widespread concern about the collapse of family structures and the demise of family role models as agents of moral education. The adoption of a materialistic philosophy of life and the increasingly influential role of the media have contributed to the disintegration of the moral fibre of society. Using a qualitative approach, the understanding of various categories of stakeholders, namely teachers, students, parents and school administrators, regarding the issue of morality, moral education and the role of the school have been investigated through a survey. The sample consisted of 33 teachers, 30 students and 9 school administrators and 10 parents. The data was collected through four focus group discussions with students and teachers respectively and a series of individual in depth interviews with parents and school administrators. The data collection period extended over eight months. The conceptual framework used in the study was based on the social learning model developed by Bandura (1991:91). The notion of modelling or vicarious learning as a form of social learning is particularly relevant in the case of moral learning and moral socialisation in the context of the school. The findings reveal a general consensus among adults of the need for schools to seriously reconsider its function as a moral educator. Their perceptions of the ways in which it ought to take place focus primarily on the use of role modelling and dialogue within the school set up. Adults also seem to believe that some form of direct moral instruction could be considered if the strategy used is more student-centred and based on discussions about case studies. The students, however, perceive indirect moral instruction through the hidden curriculum to be more effective in helping them to understand and internalise moral values. Chief among their concern is the role of the teacher and his or her professionalism as well as communication skills. In the light of the findings, guidelines have been developed to implement a moral education programme at secondary school level. / Educational Studies / D.Ed.(Psychology of Education)

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Psychological Sciences / Jerome Frieman / Spotted hyenas (Crocuta crocuta) live in highly-complex, female-dominated groups called “clans.” Due to their social arrangement, spotted hyenas were a logical species on which to test the social complexity hypothesis. In the present study, they were presented with a series of puzzle boxes designed to test problem-solving behavior. The five puzzles varied in difficulty. All spotted hyenas solved the puzzle with the lowest difficulty level, five out of six solved the medium puzzles at least once, and one out of six solved the high difficulty puzzle. Some decreases in behavior diversity and time working on the puzzles were observed over successful trials; however, the decreases were only significant for successful trials of one medium-level puzzle. Decreases in work time were observed for some unsuccessful trials and the decrease was statistically significant for the highest difficulty puzzle. Overall, spotted hyenas were proficient at problem solving in the present study. Social learning is an important component of a lengthy juvenile period for spotted hyenas, and they have also been shown to influence one another’s feeding behavior. Furthermore, spotted hyenas participate in scramble competition when feeding and forage for and hoard food. In light of these behaviors, social learning was examined using the social transmission of a flavor preference (STFP) procedure. STFP was not observed overall. The sex of the subjects did not significantly influence the results; however, subjects that interacted with each other longer were significantly more likely to show STFP. The STFP procedure may not be sensitive enough to detect social learning in spotted hyenas. Perhaps spotted hyenas have no need to learn STFP due to their digestive and/or immune systems. The results of the current experiments make important contributions to existing knowledge. Data from other species like spotted hyenas are vital for evaluating the generality of the social complexity hypothesis since support thus far has come from data on primates. This study was the first to investigate STFP in a species from the Feliformia suborder. Additionally, finding more evidence that spotted hyenas have advanced cognitive abilities is essential for researchers and zoo personnel who work with spotted hyenas in captivity.

Summaries in Afrikaans and English / A primary school child finds him or herself in the middle childhood years and it is considered to be a rich phase of life, since children have already reached important milestones. These children have the ability not only to act with empathy but also to maintain independent behaviour. As a result of the development in the cognitive and moral stage of development, these children can also distinguish between right and wrong and they show insight that social rules can be changed. As a result of this development, it is believed that this child will accept learners with different skills more confidently when the required awareness is provided. One group of learners with special skills, which I focused on during this research, are those who have been deformed by burn wounds. Statistics show that a growing number of children in South Africa are deformed by burn wounds. As a result of the changing policy on inclusive education, these children cannot be denied into the mainstream education system because of deformity or disability anymore. It is therefore believed that an increasing number of deformed or disabled children will be entering the mainstream education system. Information is gathered through various methods by using triangulation. The literature study, semi-structured interviews with children as well as teachers for experimental subjects, who completed an incomplete sentence test and open questions, added valuable information. Research indicated that children in this phase of life are indeed equipped with certain life skills, which place them in a privileged position to handle interaction with the deformed child, if they receive the required awareness. The information also indicated that the gestalt approach could be used as theoretical perspective for the compilation of the guideline. This approach recognises that play is the child's natural communication medium but also recognises that awareness is created through means of experimentation. To my knowledge, there is no program or guideline from the gestalt approach that enables education staff to address children's awareness in respect of their inherent skills in the middle childhood years. The researcher made a breakthrough in the integration of the gestalt approach with the education environment by constructing a practical guideline from the gestalt approach for education staff. Education staff should, however, receive training with regards to the gestalt approach in order to use this guideline effectively. / Laerskoolkind bevind hom- of haarself in die middelkinderjare en dit word as ryk lewensfase beskou, aangesien kinders reeds belangrike mylpale bereik het. Hierdie kinders beskik oor die vermoe om nie slegs empaties op te tree nie, maar om ook selfstandige gedrag te handhaaf. As gevolg van die ontwikkeling in die kognitiewe en morele ontwikkelingsterrein, kan hulle ook tussen reg en verkeerd onderskei en toon hulle insig dat sosiale reels verander kan word. As gevolg van hierdie ontwikkeling word daar verwag dat hierdie kind met die nodige bewusmaking, leerders wat oor verskillende bekwaamhede beskik, met meer selfvertroue sal kan aanvaar. Een groep leerders, waarop daar tydens hierdie navorsing gefokus sal word, wat oor spesiale bekwaamheid beskik, is diegene wat deur brandwonde geskend is. Statistieke toon dat toenemende aantal kinders jaarliks in Suid-Afrika, weens brandwonde geskend word. As gevolg van die veranderende beleid op insluitende onderwys, kan kinders weens geskend- of gestremdheid nie meer tot die hoofstroomonderwysstelsel geweier word nie. Die verwagting is dus dat toenemende aantal geskende of gestremde kinders die hoofstroomonderwysstelsel sal betree. Inligting is deur verskeie metodes ingesamel deur die benutting van triangulering. Die literatuurstudie, semi-gestruktureerde onderhoude met kinders asook onderwysers as proefpersone wat 'n onvoltooide sinnetoets en oop vrae voltooi het, het bruikbare inligting tot gevolg gehad. Daar is gevind dat kinders in hierdie lewensfase wei oor bepaalde lewensvaardighede beskik, wat hulle in 'n bevoorregte posisie plaas om, indien hulle die nodige bewusmaking ontvang, interaksie met die geskende kind sal kan behartig. Die inligting het verder ook daarop gedui dat die gestaltspelbenadering as teoretiese perspektief vir die samestelling van die riglyn benut kan word. Hierdie benadering erken dat spel die kind se natuurlike kommunikasiemedium is, maar ook dat bewuswording geskied deur middel van eksperimentasie. Sover bekend is daar geen program of riglyn vanuit die gestaltbenadering, wat opvoedkundige personeel in staat stel om kinders in die middelkinderjare se bewustheid ten opsigte van hulle inherente vaardighede aan te spreek nie. Die navorser het 'n deurbraak in die integrering van die gestaltbenadering met die opvoedkundige omgewing gemaak deurdat 'n praktiese riglyn vanuit die gestaltspelbenadering vir opvoedkundige personeel saamgestel is. Opvoedkundige personeel behoort egter opleiding met betrekking tot die gestaltspelbenadering te ontvang ten einde hierdie riglyn effektief te kan benut. / Social Work / M. Diac. (Play Therapy)

Many animals are social foragers. Foraging with others may confer a number of advantages, but is also likely to present a number of challenges that are not encountered by solitary foragers. For instance, whilst feeding in a group may interfere with an animal's ability to learn new foraging skills or the location of new foraging patches by itself, it may simultaneously provide it with the opportunity to acquire new skills or knowledge by means of social learning. This thesis addresses a number of questions relating to the interaction between social foraging and social learning using small groups of captive budgerigars, Melopsittacus undulatus, as a test species. In particular, it investigates the spread of novel foraging behaviour through groups of birds under conditions that either permit or restrict a high degree of ‘scrounging' (food stealing) by naïve birds from skilled ‘producers' in their group (Chapter Three). Scrounging is found to inhibit naïve budgerigars' performance of new foraging skills, but appears to facilitate their underlying acquisition, or motivation to acquire these skills, when the need arises – for instance, when producers are lost from their group. In addition, the thesis assesses the importance of a number of different individual-level characteristics, such as age, sex, and competitive rank, in predicting birds' propensity to behave as producers rather than scroungers when foraging in a group (Chapter Four). The thesis also examines budgerigars' relative use of social and personal information when selecting foraging locations (Chapter Five), and assesses the importance of group social networks in predicting individual birds' order and latency to arrive at foraging patches (Chapter Six). Budgerigars are found to rely on social information when they lack any personal information about foraging locations. When equipped with both social information and personal information, some, but not all birds appear still to utilise social information. Birds' social networks appear to have little bearing on individuals' foraging patch visitation times.

Social learning is a key element in the methodology used in the Mexican telenovela Ultimo año, and suggest that people can adopt behaviour from watching television. An important aspect of social learning are role models to identify with and/or learn their behaviour, hopefully changing their behaviour. Entertainment Education is a tool to educate through entertainment like TV shows, and are often used to teach about health issues. Mexico legalized same sex marriages in the first state only five years ago. The culture is characterized by the “macho” machisimo culture. Therefore the study aims to treat homosexual youth in Mexico. The study investigates the Mexican gay’s youth reception on the show “Ultimo año”. This show aims to reach behaviour changes concerning issues such as reproductive health, gender based violence, violence and other health related issues. The study finds that the respondents are unable to identify with the characters and events to a large extent in Ultimo año. However, they can recognize some events in the show, as well as some characteristics that are portrayed. Our study shows that homosexuality is poorly represented in the show and the characters are too wealthy to appeal to our respondents. According to our respondents the show does not reflect Mexican youth in the correct way. Respondents thought that homosexuality was portrayed in a negative way, which did not support being gay or “coming out”. The lack of identifying negative feelings of the heteronormative narrative, along with the representation of homosexuality, therefore affecting the respondents in a way the effect would be no participation in social learning. Therefor unable to achieve the behaviour change that the show is aiming towards. The study is based on one focus group and three personal interviews. The theoretical background for this study contains Stuart Halls encoding/decoding model, Albert Banduras theory about social learning, Miguel Sabido´s Methodology and previous research on reception studies by Martina Ladenorf, Thomas Tufte and Sonia Livingstone.

An important capacity that is still lacking in intelligent systems such as robots, is the ability to use concepts in a human-like manner. Indeed, the use of concepts has been recognised as being fundamental to a wide range of cognitive skills, including classification, reasoning and memory. Intricately intertwined with language, concepts are at the core of human cognition; but despite a large body or research, their functioning is as of yet not well understood. Nevertheless it remains clear that if intelligent systems are to achieve a level of cognition comparable to humans, they will have to posses the ability to deal with the fundamental role that concepts play in cognition. A promising manner in which conceptual knowledge can be acquired by an intelligent system is through ongoing, incremental development. In this view, a system is situated in the world and gradually acquires skills and knowledge through interaction with its social and physical environment. Important in this regard is the notion that cognition is embodied. As such, both the physical body and the environment shape the manner in which cognition, including the learning and use of concepts, operates. Through active partaking in the interaction, an intelligent system might influence its learning experience as to be more effective. This work presents experiments which illustrate how these notions of interaction and embodiment can influence the learning process of artificial systems. It shows how an artificial agent can benefit from interactive learning. Rather than passively absorbing knowledge, the system actively partakes in its learning experience, yielding improved learning. Next, the influence of embodiment on perception is further explored in a case study concerning colour perception, which results in an alternative explanation for the question of why human colour experience is very similar amongst individuals despite physiological differences. Finally experiments, in which an artificial agent is embodied in a novel robot that is tailored for human-robot interaction, illustrate how active strategies are also beneficial in an HRI setting in which the robot learns from a human teacher.

No description available.

This research examines the substance abuse severity problem of the male narcotics arrestees of Turkey within the framework of Akers' Social Structural and Social Learning (SSSL) model. The SSSL model is tested to understand the impact of social structural factors on drug abuse severity of narcotics offenders, in mediation of social learning process. The research design consists of secondary data analysis and modeling techniques to test the hypotheses pertaining to the SSSL model. The data, consisting of 1,647 male cases, have been obtained from the TUBIM Program. The U.S. ADAM Program year 2003 data including 6,730 cases have also been utilized with the purpose of observing the similarities and/or differences among substance abusers across the nations, as described in Chapter 5. Accordingly, the narcotics criminals of Turkey and the U.S. were compared in terms of demographic status, criminal background, substance abuse behavior and state of substance related treatment. Eventually, it was found that substance abusing populations across these two nations are significantly different. In the second phase of the study, Akers' SSSL model was developed and tested on the male narcotics offenders of Turkey. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) analysis was used to test the hypotheses of the study. A model for the drug offenders whose last charge is drug related (substance abuse or substance distribution) was developed and the model's robustness was tested on those narcotics offenders who have reported committing property and violent offenses before the last charge. It is found that the impact of the social factors on drug abuse and dependence behavior through social learning constructs is non-significant except for the age variable for the drug related offenders subset. Furthermore, the impact of all social structural factors on the seriousness of substance abuse in the mediation of social learning constructs is insignificant for the property and violent offenders subset. Also, the social learning construct of the property and violent offenders' subset does not significantly influence the seriousness of substance abuse.

This study aims to identify tactics used by the Turkish Hezbollah to recruit college students into joining their terrorist organization. This study based on the assumptions that social networks and institutional structures are two main tools that are used effectively by the Turkish Hezbollah to recruit college educated students. In this sense, the researcher claims that Social Learning theory and Social Control Theories can be used to provide theoretical explanation to the Hezbollah’s recruitment strategy. Parallel to these theories assumptions, while having militants within social networks increases the likelihood of being recruited through social learning theory assumptions, college students who are away from their families are more likely to be recruited through social control theory assumptions. The researcher uses individual level secondary data related to members of the Turkish Hezbollah. The data comprised of self reports that each member submitted to the Turkish Hezbollah as part of their recruitment process. The data are derived from the Turkish National Police’s database. Initially, frequency table is used to determine which structure and which theory best explain the Turkish Hezbollah’s recruitment strategies. Then, to decide which demographic factors increase or decrease the likelihood of being recruited through social networks (social learning theory) or institutional structures (social control theory), logistic regression is used. Eight independent variables are used to identify those factors such as having Hezbollah militants within social networks, pursuing college education while being away from family, family’s religious ideology, having online or campus education, family size, income level, college student’s religiosity level, and reason for attending Hezbollah. The findings indicated that social networks and institutional structures are two important tools that are used by the Turkish Hezbollah. Social networks are more effectively used structures comparing to institutional structures. According to the results, there are two important variables have more weight on dependent variable comparing to other variables. While having militants within the social networks increases the likelihood of being recruited through social learning theory assumptions, being away from families during college education increases the likelihood of being recruited through social control theory assumptions.