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Abstract: Understanding human behaviour in decision problems and strategicinteractions has wide-ranging applications in economics, psychology andartificial intelligence. Game theory offers a robust foundation for this under-standing, based on the idea that individuals aim to maximize a utilityfunction. However, the exact factors influencing strategy choices remainelusive. While traditional models try to explain human behaviour as a func-tion of the outcomes of available actions, recent experimental researchreveals that linguistic content significantly impacts decision-making, thusprompting a paradigm shift from outcome-based to language-based utilityfunctions. This shift is more urgent than ever, given the advancement ofgenerative AI, which has the potential to support humans in making criticaldecisions through language-based interactions. We propose sentiment analy-sis as a fundamental tool for this shift and take an initial step by analysing61 experimental instructions from the dictator game, an economic gamecapturing the balance between self-interest and the interest of others,which is at the core of many social interactions. Our meta-analysis showsthat sentiment analysis can explain human behaviour beyond economicoutcomes. We discuss future research directions. We hope this worksets the stage for a novel game-theoretical approach that emphasizes theimportance of language in human decisions.
Keywords: game theory, artificial intelligence, social preferences, language-based preferences, social physics, moral behavior, trust
Published in DKUM: 27.11.2024; Views: 0; Downloads: 6
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Abstract: While the problem of vaccine hesitancy is not new, it has become more pronounced with the new COVID-19 vaccines and represents an obstacle to resolving the crisis. Even people who would usually trust vaccines and experts now prefer to wait for more information. A cross-sectional online survey was conducted in Slovenia in December 2020 to find out the attitudes of the population regarding COVID-19 vaccination and the factors that affect these attitudes. Based on 12,042 fully completed questionnaires, we find that higher intention to get vaccinated is associated with men, older respondents, physicians and medical students, respondents who got the influenza vaccination, those who knew someone who had gotten hospitalised or died from COVID-19 and those who have more trust in experts, institutions and vaccines. Nurses and technicians were less likely to get vaccinated. In answers to an open question, sceptics were split into those doubting the quality due to the rapid development of the vaccine and those that reported personal experiences with side effects of prior vaccinations. Although the Slovenian population is diverse in its attitudes towards vaccination, the results are comparable to those found in other countries. However, there are potential limitations to the generalizability of the findings that should be addressed in future studies.
Keywords: cross-sectional studies, intention, public opinion, trust, ordinal regression, COVID-19, vaccination, surveys and questionnaires, Europe, immune system, SARS-CoV-2
Published in DKUM: 10.10.2024; Views: 0; Downloads: 7
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Abstract: Vaccine hesitancy and its determinants have been previously widely researched. Vaccine hesitancy has been defined as a continuum of attitudes, ranging from accepting vaccines with doubts to rejecting them. The present study aims to explore the heterogeneity of a childhood-vaccine-hesitant group by using a person-oriented approach-latent profile analysis. A non-representative cross-sectional sample of vaccine-hesitant Slovenians (N = 421, Mage = 35.21, 82.9% women) was used to identify differences based on their reliance on personal research (“self” researching instead of relying on science), overconfidence in knowledge, endorsement of conspiracy theories, complementary and alternative medicine, and trust in the healthcare system. The analysis revealed three profiles of vaccine-hesitant individuals. The most hesitant profile-vaccine rejecting-expressed the greatest reliance on personal research, expressed the highest endorsement of conspiracy theories and complementary and alternative medicine, showed moderate overconfidence in their knowledge, and expressed the highest levels of distrust in the healthcare system. We further found differences in sociodemographic structure and that the identified profiles differed in their attitudes regarding MMR, HPV, and Seasonal Influenza vaccinations. The present study demonstrates the heterogeneity of the vaccine-hesitant community and offers insights into some of the traits, which are crucial for designing pro-vaccine campaigns.
Keywords: vaccine hesitancy, heterogeneity, latent profile analysis, complementary and alternative medicine, CAM, conspiracy theories, trust in healthcare system
Published in DKUM: 21.08.2024; Views: 101; Downloads: 15
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Abstract: Introduction: Social reappraisal, during which one person deliberately tries to regulate another’s emotions, is a powerful cognitive form of social emotion regulation, crucial for both daily life and psychotherapy. The neural underpinnings of social reappraisal include activity in the default mode network (DMN), but it is unclear how social processes influence the DMN and thereby social reappraisal functioning. We tested whether the mere presence of a supportive social regulator had an effect on the DMN during rest, and whether this effect in the DMN was linked with social reappraisal-related neural activations and effectiveness during negative emotions. Methods: A two-part fMRI experiment was performed, with a psychotherapist as the social regulator, involving two resting state (social, non-social) and two task-related (social reappraisal, social no-reappraisal) conditions. Results: The psychotherapist’s presence enhanced intrinsic functional connectivity of the dorsal anterior cingulate (dACC) within the anterior medial DMN, with the effect positively related to participants’ trust in psychotherapists. Secondly, the social presence-induced change in the dACC was related with (a) the social reappraisal-related activation in the bilateral dorsomedial/dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the right temporoparietal junction and (b) social reappraisal success, with the latter relationship moderated by trust in psychotherapists. Conclusion: Results demonstrate that a psychotherapist’s supportive presence can change anterior medial DMN’s intrinsic connectivity even in the absence of stimuli and that this DMN change during rest is linked with social reappraisal functioning during negative emotions. Data suggest that trust-dependent social presence effects on DMN states are relevant for social reappraisal—an idea important for daily-life and psychotherapy-related emotion regulation.
Keywords: social reappraisal, social support, social emotion regulation, social presence, default mode network, interpersonal trust, anterior cingulate
Published in DKUM: 18.04.2024; Views: 357; Downloads: 248
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Abstract: Trust in science and scientists, satisfaction with the national government, and endorsement of conspiracy theories are important factors in the decision to be vaccinated. In this study, we investigated whether there are different profiles of individuals depending on the above factors and whether they differ in their sociodemographic composition. We used data from Round 10 of the European Social Survey for Slovenia, employing a nationally representative sample of 1252 participants. Based on latent profile analysis, three distinct profiles emerged: Profile 1 expressed moderate trust in science, satisfaction with government, and high endorsement of conspiracies; Profile 2 expressed low trust and satisfaction and moderate endorsement of conspiracies; Profile 3 expressed high trust and satisfaction and low beliefs in conspiracy theories. In addition, Profile 3 expressed the strongest support for vaccination and Profile 2 the lowest. Our results suggest that distrust, dissatisfaction, and the presence of conspiracy theories are the “perfect storm” for vaccination rejection. In contrast, despite conspiracy theories, a certain level of trust and satisfaction may reduce vaccination rejection.
Keywords: trust, science, government, COVID-19 vaccination, latent profile analysis
Published in DKUM: 12.04.2024; Views: 204; Downloads: 24
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