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What Are We Looking For?
Published in Trena M. Paulus, Alyssa Friend Wise, Looking for Insight, Transformation, and Learning in Online Talk, 2019
Trena M. Paulus, Alyssa Friend Wise
What sparks our interest in online spaces and the talk that takes place there? What do we think (or hope) happens when people come together online, either spontaneously or by design? Whether it is developing ideas, creating community, engaging in social action, or experiencing transformation, as researchers of online talk we are driven by curiosity as to what exactly is happening in these spaces and how it occurs. To ensure that our findings are useful and answer our questions, we have to be clear about what it is we are examining. Defining an object of interest in a meaningful way helps ensure that our study design is coherent. Let’s say a non-profit organization wants to know more about how people respond to their calls for action on social media around particular causes. The object of interest might be defined as social contagion in Facebook comment streams. What is meant by “calls for action” and “social contagion” would need to be defined by the researcher, perhaps using an existing theoretical framework such as emotional contagion (Hatfield, Cacioppo, & Rapson, 1993). The researcher would need to decide what counts as evidence for the presence, absence, or change over time of social contagion in the comment streams.
DSM 5 SUD Criterion 6 Interpersonal Problems
Published in Joan Ifland, Marianne T. Marcus, Harry G. Preuss, Processed Food Addiction: Foundations, Assessment, and Recovery, 2017
A review article found that social networks have an impact on obesity through social contagion, social capital (sense of belonging), and social selection where people join networks based on weight (Oliveira et al., 2013). People who were obese in childhood were more sensitive to interpersonal relationships and had more psychotic symptoms (Mills, 1995). Petroni et al. found that weight cycling and physical comorbidities influenced psychological health in a population of treatment-seeking, morbidly obese people (Petroni et al., 2007). Having more casual friends who were overweight at baseline and being part of a social network with stronger social norms for unhealthy eating predicted poorer weight loss (Leahey, Doyle, Xu, Bihuniak, & Wing, 2015). The research supports listening for childhood problems of obesity, abuse, and bullying to provide a basis for understanding adult problems of weight cycling, physical comorbidities, and social networks.
The toxic environment
Published in Anna Bellisari, The Anthropology Of Obesity in the United States, 2016
Until recently, very little was known about the reasons for avoiding physical activity, but the growing obesity epidemic has encouraged scientists to investigate the problem. Large-scale surveys had previously explored individual perceptions of environmental facilitators and barriers to leisure-time physical activity. As might be expected, opportunity for activity and accessibility of safe places to engage in activity turned out to be very important incentives (Lumeng et al. 2006). But of surprising importance, even greater than weather and safety issues, was the aesthetic nature of the outdoor environment. Attractive scenery with hills and trees and friendly neighbors were seen as important stimulants for recreational activity (Owen et al. 2004). A study conducted in six European countries found that what mattered most in motivating people to become physically active was not only specific knowledge about facilities and options for activity and sport but also social support from family, friends, school, and the workplace (Stahl et al. 2001). Much as development of obesity can be traced through a social network, social contagion can promote physical activity through interpersonal cues that activity is considered normal and socially acceptable behavior.
Associations between social contagion, group conformity characteristics, and non-suicidal self-injury
Published in Journal of American College Health, 2023
Alyssa Conigliaro, Erin Ward-Ciesielski
Researchers have proposed that social contagion of NSSI may lead to engagement in self-injurious behavior.17 Social contagion involves the transmission of maladaptive behavior through social means. It is consistent with social learning theory,18 in which peer influence predicts many youth behaviors, values, attitudes, and symptoms through social learning and modeling.19 Adolescents often identify with similar peers20 who then influence their preferences in multiple adaptive and maladaptive areas, including dress, speech, substance use, sexual behavior, and violent behavior.21,22 Being a valued member of a peer group is especially crucial during adolescence, a developmental period defined by individuating from parents and making meaningful connections with peers. Schall et al23 found that feelings of low social connectedness were associated with perceiving conformity as necessary to belong in a social group. For college students specifically, social contagion has been associated with disordered eating behaviors in roommates24 and alcohol use in undergraduates.25
Infodemic, social contagion and the public health response to COVID-19: insights and lessons from Nigeria
Published in Journal of Communication in Healthcare, 2022
Bridget O. Alichie, Nelson Ediomo-Ubong, Blessing Nonye Onyima
Social contagions usage are being integrated into psychological and sociological perspectives to provide deeper insights into the workings of epidemics on social networks. A social epidemic is a phenomenon in which ideas, behaviors or products spread quickly and are said to ‘infect’ people like a virus is supposed to do. According to Magarey and Trexler [13] ‘A social epidemic is a behaviorally based non-communicable disease and they include suicide, violence, opioid addiction, and obesity'. Social epidemics seem to spread with similar rules and patterns as those that govern diseases. Also, scientists have assumptions about how people might ‘catch’ things like emotions and behaviors from another person. In this vein, these support the argument that social contagion is real. It samples how individual levels create the performance of a series of simulations which results in similar social transmission behaviors [12]. The link between pandemic and infodemic spread has therefore become most noticeable in the era of online platforms as is revealed in the subsequent sessions that maps similar zoonotic viral epidemics like Ebola Viral Disease (EVD), Monkeypox, Lassa Fever (LF) and the ongoing COVID-19 zoonotic outbreaks.
Social network theory—an underutilized opportunity to align innovative methods with the demands of the opioid epidemic
Published in The American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, 2021
Christina M. Cutter, Richard C. Larson, Mahshid Abir
Sociology attributes the clustering of behaviors in a social contagion model to three mechanisms: homophily, confounding, and induction (6). Homophily is the tendency for people to choose relationships with those who bear similar attributes (6). Confounding results from a shared exposure or experience (6). And, induction is the spread of a behavior from one person to another (6). The social contagion model suggests that the architecture of a social network may influence the behavior of individuals and implies that studying the individual alone may be inadequate when analyzing certain behaviors (7). Research across a range of behaviors has demonstrated the findings, applications, and importance of social contagion theory. Induction (person-to-person spread), in particular, looms important.