Predators attacking virtual prey reveal the costs and benefits of leadership.

A long-standing assumption in social behavior is that leadership incurs costs as well as benefits, and this tradeoff can result in diversified social roles in groups. The major cost of leadership in moving animal groups is assumed to be predation, with individuals leading from the front of groups being targeted more often by predators. Nevertheless, empirical evidence for this is limited, and experimental tests are entirely lacking. To avoid confounding effects associated with observational studies, we presented a simulation of virtual prey to real fish predators to directly assess the predation cost of leadership. Prey leading others are at greater risk than those in the middle of groups, confirming that any benefits of leading may be offset by predation costs. Importantly, however, followers confer a net safety benefit to leaders, as prey leading others were less likely to be attacked compared with solitary prey. We also find that the predators preferentially attacked when solitary individuals were more frequent, but this effect was relatively weak compared with the preference for attacking solitary prey during an attack. Using virtual prey, where the appearance and behavior of the prey can be manipulated and controlled exactly, we reveal a hierarchy of risk from solitary to leading to following social strategies. Our results suggest that goal-orientated individuals (i.e., potential leaders) are under selective pressure to maintain group cohesion, favoring effective leadership rather than group fragmentation. Our results have significant implications for understanding the evolution and maintenance of different social roles in groups.

Current state of social media utilization in neurosurgery amongst European Association of Neurosurgical Societies (EANS) member countries.

BACKGROUND: Social Media (SoMe) is becoming increasingly used in the medical community, and its use has been related with academic productivity. However, utilization of SoMe in the European neurosurgical community has not been assessed systematically. METHODS: An online search was undertaken to discover SoMe accounts of (1) national and related neurosurgical societies listed on the EANS website, (2) neurosurgical journals present on EANS website, (3) neurosurgery centers within EANS member countries, as listed on their website. SoMe accounts of Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram were searched for journals and societies, and Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook for neurosurgery departments. The number of likes/followers/subscribers was recorded. RESULTS: Five (31%) neurosurgery journals had a SoMe presence. The highest number of followers, likes, and tweets was found for JNNP, and Journal of Neurological Surgery Part B had the most subscribers and video views. SoMe usage was identified for 11 national (28.2%) and 2 multi-national neurosurgical societies. From these, the French Society of Neurosurgery had the largest number of Facebook followers (> 2800) and Likes (> 2700), the Society of British Neurological Surgeons had the largest number of Twitter followers (> 2850), whereas EANS overall had the most followers on Twitter > 5100 and Facebook > 5450. A total of 87 SoMe neurosurgery center accounts were found on either Facebook, Instagram or Twitter, for 64 of 1000 centers (6.4%) in 22 of 40 different countries (55%). Of these 67% (n = 43/64) arose from 6 countries (England, Germany, Italy, Romania, Turkey, Ukraine). There were more Facebook accounts (n = 42) than Instagram accounts (n = 23) or Twitter accounts (n = 22). CONCLUSION: SoMe use amongst neurosurgical societies and departments in Europe is very limited. From our perspective, explanations are lacking for the correlated numbers to the market shares of SoMe in the respective countries. Further research, including a survey, to follow up on this important topic should be undertaken among EANS members.

Who is more violent in extremist groups? A comparison of leaders and followers.

Few prior studies have examined the extent to which the behavior and characteristics of political extremists are related to their position within radical groups. In this paper we concentrate on one of the most fundamental distinctions in groups: That between leaders and followers. Our main goal is to investigate the comparative propensity of leaders and followers to engage in political violence. In a sample of individuals who have committed ideologically motivated political crimes in the United States (N = 1,331). we found that even though leaders were more ideologically committed to the group's goals and ideologies, they were at the same time less likely to engage in violent acts. Moreover, we found that leaders in radical criminal organizations shared many characteristics with leaders in noncriminal organizations. Specifically, in comparison to followers, they were more often male, older, and they were more likely to belong to an ethnic majority. We consider implications for future research and policy of the fundamental conclusion that compared to leaders, followers in terrorist organizations are more likely to engage in violent acts.

The lonely passion of the "people".

This paper explores the psychological sources of support for a leader, and unwavering belief in the illusions he promotes, which persists despite confrontation with reality. Lonely passion is an oxymoron. It is passion because of the intensity of the supporters' longing which is partially shaped by fear and loss. Their passion is lonely because they appear to be left empty with their love unrequited, having given their selves up and only having an illusion in return. It explores the effects of socio-economic disruption in creating or contributing to the development of a "social character" and threatening the integrity of the self. It explores the characteristics of the leader, including methods of manipulation, in eliciting passionate devotion. It uses Ferenczi's Confusion of Tongues situation as a model for understanding the relationship between leader and follower. The idealization of the leader as a power to be feared and a savior from the imagined threats he has created, and the dynamics of identification, masochism and victimization are invoked. The only remedy for the toxicity of the situation is empathy, which is understood in a historical as well as psychological context.

Symmetrical and asymmetrical outcomes of leader anger expression: A qualitative study of army personnel.

Recent studies have highlighted the utility of anger at work, suggesting that anger can have positive outcomes. Using the Dual Threshold Model, we assess the positive and negative consequences of anger expressions at work and focus on the conditions under which expressions of anger crossing the impropriety threshold are perceived as productive or counterproductive by observers or targets of that anger. To explore this phenomenon, we conducted a phenomenological study (n = 20) to probe the lived experiences of followers (as observers and targets) associated with anger expressions by military leaders. The nature of task (e.g. the display rules prescribed for combat situations) emerged as one condition under which the crossing of the impropriety threshold leads to positive outcomes of anger expressions. Our data reveal tensions between emotional display rules and emotional display norms in the military, thereby fostering paradoxical attitudes toward anger expression and its consequences among followers. Within this paradoxical space, anger expressions have both positive (asymmetrical) and negative (symmetrical) consequences. We place our findings in the context of the Dual Threshold Model, discuss the practical implications of our research and offer avenues for future studies.

Leaders benefit followers in the collective movement of a social sawfly.

The challenges of maintaining cohesion while making collective decisions in social or aggregating insects can result in the emergence of a leader or leaders. Larval aggregations of the steel-blue sawfly Perga affinis forage nocturnally, and some larvae lead the aggregation on foraging trips more often than expected by chance. We investigated the relationship between these leader and follower roles by comparing the weight and growth of individual larvae with different roles. Our observations reveal no significant difference between the growth of leaders and followers, suggesting that the role of leadership may not provide direct foraging benefits. However, by experimentally manipulating the social structure of larval aggregations, we found that individuals within aggregations that comprise a mixture of leaders and followers enjoy higher growth rates than those in aggregations comprising a single behavioural type. These data demonstrate, for the first time, individual benefits to maintaining a balance of leader and follower roles within larval aggregations, and highlight the importance of considering the perspectives of both leaders and followers when investigating the evolutionary significance of this behavioural variation within animal groups.

Leadership amongst pigs when faced with a novel situation.

Leadership is a risky behaviour that can impact individuals and groups. Leaders, i.e. individuals who perform or initiate a task while other individuals in the group follow, have been studied in different contexts, but there is still a lack of understanding on the role of individual characteristics that may predispose them to become leaders, such as dominance and personality. In particular, the characteristics of leaders in domestic animal populations has been poorly examined. We studied leadership within 32 groups of young pigs (Sus scrofa domesticus, n = 366 individuals). Leadership was assessed during a group-based fear test (Human Approach Test) which was repeated three times. The first individual per group to touch the person was identified as leader. We assessed repeatability of leadership and characteristics of leaders as compared to followers. Leadership was marginally repeatable, with 6 out of 26 groups having a consistent single leader across all tests. Females had odds 4.13 times greater than males of being a leader, while there was no effect of body weight (a proxy of dominance) or coping style on leadership. The results indicate a similarity with wild populations, in which females lead the herd even though the males, which are superior in body weight, are often dominant.

Motivation to Avoid Uncertainty, Implicit Person Theories about the Malleability of Human Attributes and Attitudes toward Women as Leaders vs. Followers: A Mediational Analysis.

This research investigated the relation between motivation to avoid uncertainty, as reflected in the need for cognitive closure, implicit theories about the malleability of human attributes, and attitudes toward women as leaders vs. followers. In a cross-sectional study (N = 470) conducted in Italy, we hypothesized and found that the need for cognitive closure directly enhanced the belief that women are compatible with followership roles rather than leadership roles. Furthermore, the results from a mediational analysis revealed that the relation between the need for cognitive closure and the belief that women are compatible with followership roles rather than leadership was mediated by implicit person theories (i.e., the conviction that people features are malleable vs. unchangeable). Notably, we obtained these results while controlling for participants' gender, educational level, and age. The theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Navigating virtual selves: validation of the German version of the presentation of online self scale.

The Presentation of Online Self Scale for Adults (POSSA), originally developed by Strimbu et al. is a well-regarded instrument for assessing online self-presentation. This study evaluated the factorial structure, reliability, and validity of the German adaptation of POSSA. A CFA analysis confirmed a satisfactory fit for the proposed three-factor model, as evidenced by a CFI of 0.919, a TLI of 0.902 and a RSMEA of 0.075. The subscales of the German POSSA demonstrated high internal consistency. Additionally, convergent validity was established through significant correlations with the Impostor-Profile 30 (IPP), affirming the interpretive accuracy of the subscale scores. Specifically, the Adaptable Self and Freedom of Self Online subscales positively correlated with IPP measures of Alienation and Other-Self-Divergence, whereas the Authentic Self subscale inversely correlated with these measures. Moreover, the German POSSA scores accounted for variance in the number of Instagram followers, surpassing the predictive power of self-esteem alone. Notably, the Adaptable Self factor was positively associated with the follower count, while the Freedom of Self Online factor displayed a negative association. Collectively, these findings underscore the DE-POSSA as a robust tool for assessing self-presentation behaviors in German-speaking populations and highlight its potential for cross-cultural research in online interpersonal interactions.

Adaptive cooperative guidance with seeker-less followers: A position coordination-based framework.

This paper addresses the problem of cooperative guidance for multiple flight vehicles, comprising a leader and seeker-less followers. All the flight vehicles are required to hit the target simultaneously at a desired impact time, even though the target information is unavailable to the followers. To achieve this, a fixed-time convergent guidance law is proposed for the leader, incorporating impact time control. We introduce an adaptive cooperative guidance strategy for the seeker-less followers through coordinated position location relative to the leader. The simulation results validate the effectiveness satisfactorily coinciding with the theoretical analysis.

The Relationship between Social Media and the Increase in Mental Health Problems.

Social media has become an indispensable aspect of young people's digital interactions, as they use it mostly for entertainment and communication purposes. Consequently, it has the potential to have both positive and negative effects on them. Deterioration in mental health is one of the side effects stemming from social media overuse. This study investigates the relationship between social media and the increase in mental health problems in Saudi Arabia. The population considered for analysis includes young people from Saudi Arabia, with a sample size of 385. A closed-ended survey questionnaire was used to collect data on different social media features and criteria. Using the Analytical Hierarchical Process (AHP), the researcher analyzed data to compare the effect of different social media features on mental health. The social media features included in this paper are private chats and calls, group chats and calls, browsing posts, games, media sharing, adverts, likes/comments/followers, and pages. The researcher adopted entertainment, information, social interaction, privacy, esteem, and communication as the criteria in the AHP process. Among these criteria, the study found that entertainment was the most significant, while privacy was the least significant. Findings suggested that likes, comments, and followers were the biggest contributors to poor mental health (total utility = 56.24). The least effective feature was 'games' (total utility = 2.56). The researcher recommends that social media users be cautious when interacting with social media features, especially likes, comments, followers, media, and posts, because of their significant effect on mental health.

Leading, but are there followers? Exploring the influence of heads of departments on staff and students in Ghanaian higher education institutions.

This research investigated followers' expectations of their heads of departments (HoDs) and how they felt about the fulfilment of the expectations within the context of Ghanaian higher education. It further explored the nature of the challenges the HoDs faced as they tried to meet followers' expectations. The research used a phenomenological design and engaged 36 participants selected from three large Ghanaian universities to participate in individual interviews. Data were analysed using the interpretative phenomenological analytical technique. The research revealed that while the subordinate staff expected a more supportive work environment, the students wanted a more conducive learning environment. The HoDs were, however, constrained to do much because of the ethos of the Ghanaian HE sector. The study concluded with recommendations informing policy and practice, both locally and internationally.

'I am struggling to survive' - limited living conditions increase the burden of HIV: A qualitative study.

The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) continues to have life-limiting health consequences for many individuals and remains a significant threat to global public health. This qualitative study explores the experiences of people living with HIV in Sidama, Ethiopia. Interviews with 19 adults recruited from an HIV outpatient clinic were conducted using a semi-structured interview guide. The analysis method used was systematic text condensation. The results reveal that an HIV diagnosis triggered strong emotions. Economic concerns, stigma, and discrimination also increased the burden of a diagnosis, which could lead to a loss of income or housing. Consequently, informants' ability to maintain a regular life and receive social and psychological support was reduced. Religious faith provided strength to informants, though they stated that some religious leaders do not support antiretroviral therapy. Understanding the everyday challenges of people living with HIV is crucial for health professionals and health programme developers working to promote health and enable people to follow their recommended course of treatment. Person-centred care is recommended. In particular, the poorest should receive attention. It is also crucial to reduce stigma and discriminatory attitudes towards people living with HIV and to motivate faith leaders to prevent HIV stigma and support antiretroviral therapy.

Understanding Different Types of Followers' Engagement and the Transformation of Millennial Followers into Cosmetic Brand Evangelists.

Facebook pages of cosmetic products have substantially grown among millennial consumers. This study aims to explore the motivational factors that affect different types of millennial followers' engagement, including followers on Facebook pages of cosmetic products, and examine different types of millennial followers' engagement that influence brand evangelism. A quantitative method involving the technique of partial least square structural equation modeling was applied. An online questionnaire was designed to collect data from millennial followers. The results revealed that informational content stimulates active lurkers and passive participants, while entertaining content positively influences only active participants. Social interaction value is influential to active and passive participants. It was found that identification is the motivation factor that drives both active participants and lurkers. Confidence benefits and special treatment benefits were found to be the motivation factor that stimulates all participants. Social benefits substantially influence active participants and lurkers. Interestingly, the followers' passive participation has a great influence on brand evangelism. This study opposes the notion that active lurkers and passive participants are less important than active participants and supports the literature by revealing the importance of distinguishing between active participants, active lurkers, and passive participants in causing different impacts on brand evangelism.

Identifying distinct latent classes of pitch-shift response consistency: Evidence from manipulating the predictability of shift direction.

Auditory feedback plays an important role in regulating our vocal pitch. When pitch shifts suddenly appear in auditory feedback, the majority of the responses are opposing, correcting for the mismatch between perceived pitch and actual pitch. However, research has indicated that following responses to auditory perturbation could be common. This study attempts to explore the ways individual speakers would respond to pitch perturbation (using an opposing response or a following response) from trial to trial. Thirty-six native speakers of Mandarin produced the vowel /a/ while receiving perturbed pitch at a random time (500 ~ 700 ms) after vocal onset for a duration of 200 ms. Three blocks of 30 trials that differed in the pitch-shift stimulus direction were recorded in a randomized order: (a) the down-only condition where pitch was shifted downwards 250 cents; (b) the up-only condition where pitch was shifted upwards 250 cents; and (c) the random condition where downshifts and upshifts occurred randomly and were equally likely. The participants were instructed to ignore the pitch shifts. Results from the latent class analysis show that at the individual level across trials, 57% of participants were switchers, 28% were opposers, and 15% were followers. Our results support that speakers produce a mix of opposing and following responses when they respond to perturbed pitch. Specifically, the proportion of followers was conditional on the expectancy of pitch-shift stimulus direction: More followers were observed when the pitch-shift stimulus direction was predictable. Closer inspection of the levels of response consistency in different time phases shows that a particular mechanism (opposing or following) was initially implemented; the two mechanisms may alternate in the middle phase; and then finally, the pitch-shift response was featured as a particular mechanism near the end phase.

Mechanobiology of immune cells: Messengers, receivers and followers in leishmaniasis aiding synthetic devices.

Cytokines are influential molecules which can direct cells behavior. In this review, cytokines are referred as messengers, immune cells which respond to cytokine stimulus are referred as receivers and the immune cells which gets modulated due to their plasticity induced by infectious pathogen leishmania, are referred as followers. The advantage of plasticity of cells is taken by the parasite to switch them from parasite eliminating form to parasite survival favoring form through a process called as reciprocity which is undergone by cytokines, wherein pro-inflammatory to anti-inflammatory switch occur rendering immune cell population to switch their phenotype. Detailed study of this switch can help in identification of important targets which can help in restoring the phenotype to parasite eliminating form and this can be done through synthetic circuit, finding its wider applicability in therapeutics.

Female influencers: Analyzing the social media representation of female subjectivity in Italy.

The paper addresses the representation of female subjectivity on social media, highlighting how such women's images have a significant impact on the gendered narratives and discourses that populate the public sphere. The article analyzes specifically the pattern of femininity represented by female influencers and the bond they are able to establish with their followers. Starting from the notion of post-feminism sensitivity, it highlights how these celebrities embody its ideals in terms of self-realization, independence and empowerment. Finally, the figures of two of the most popular social media influencers in Italy, Chiara Ferragni and Benedetta Rossi, are analyzed, highlighting their ability to represent a successful model of female digital entrepreneurship. The analysis aims to point out how these media personae provide an ambivalent model of female subjectivity, because on one hand they emphasize women's ability to assert themselves as ambitious, professionally autonomous and free-choosing subjects (as postfeminist culture prescribes), but on the other hand they exploit the spur to female self-fulfillment for marketing aims, turning it into a self-branding tool.

Health Promotion on Instagram: Descriptive-Correlational Study and Predictive Factors of Influencers' Content.

The pandemic has accentuated the power that influencers have to influence their followers. Various scientific approaches highlight the lack of moral and ethical responsibility of these creators when disseminating content under highly sensitive tags such as health. This article presents a correlational statistical study of 443 Instagram accounts with more than one million followers belonging to health-related categories. This study aims to describe the content of these profiles and their authors and to determine whether they promote health as accounts that disseminate health-related content, identifying predictive factors of their content topics. In addition, it aims to portray their followers and establish correlations between the gender of the self-described health influencers, the characteristics of their audience and the messages that these prescribers share. Health promotion is not the predominant narrative among these influencers, who tend to promote beauty and normative bodies over health matters. A correlation is observed between posting health content, the gender of the influencers and the average age of their audiences. The study concludes with a discussion on the role of public media education and the improvement of ethical protocols on social networks to limit the impact of misleading and false content on sensitive topics, increasing the influence of real health prescribers.

A Multilevel Study of the Relationship between CSR Promotion Climate and Happiness at Work via Organizational Identification: Moderation Effect of Leader-Followers Value Congruence.

The purpose of the present study is to examine the effects of team level Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) promotion climate on work happiness of team members. Furthermore, we investigate the mediating role of organizational identification at individual level and the moderating role of leader-follower value congruence at the team level in the relationship between CSR promotion climate and work happiness, thus overcoming the limitations of previous studies which mainly focused on a unitary level of analysis. To this end, a multilevel analysis was used, dealing with team- and individual-level relationships; the sample comprises 70 teams and 336 employees from 23 Korean firms. Our empirical analysis revealed that a team CSR promotion climate positively influenced team members' happiness at work and organization identification. Furthermore, organization identification partially mediated the relationship between team CSR promotion climate and happiness at the workplace. By interacting with team CSR promotion climate, leader-followers value congruence positively regulated the influence of team CSR promotion climate on happiness at work. In this process, for a group with high leader-follower value congruence, the team CSR promotion climate strengthens team members' happiness at the workplace. The study utilizes a multilevel analysis method to simultaneously verify team- and individual-level elements positively affecting team members' happiness at work. Through this method, it confirmed that CSR promotion climate and team organization identification positively influence happiness at work. The theoretical and practical implications are presented, and directions for future research with limitations of the study are discussed.