Substance Use-Related Alterations of Social Decision Making in a Longitudinal Cohort of Young Adults.

Background: Substance use disorders are associated with severe negative social and health-related outcomes. Evidence has accumulated that long-term substance use is associated with alterations in social interaction behavior, which likely contributes to the vicious cycle of substance use disorder. However, little is known about whether these social problems originate from contextual factors only or also from the substance use itself-in other words, if they are predisposed or substance induced.

Mapping mental models of science communication: How academics in Germany, Austria and Switzerland understand and practice science communication.

The mental models that individual scholars have of science communication - how it works, what it is supposed to achieve and so on - shape the way these academics actually communicate to the public. But these mental models, and their prevalence among scholars, have rarely been analysed. Drawing on a large-scale, representative web survey of academics at universities in Germany, Austria and Switzerland ( = 15,778) from 2020, we identify three mental models that are prevalent among scholars, and that correspond to conceptual models found in science communication theory: 'Public Understanding of Science', 'Public Engagement with Science' and 'Strategic Science Communication'.

Correction: Satisfaction of scientists during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1057/s41599-020-00618-4.].

Human social preferences cluster and spread in the field.

While it is undeniable that the ability of humans to cooperate in large-scale societies is unique in animal life, it remains open how such a degree of prosociality is possible despite the risks of exploitation. Recent evidence suggests that social networks play a crucial role in the development of prosociality and large-scale cooperation by allowing cooperators to cluster; however, it is not well understood if and how this also applies to real-world social networks in the field. We study intrinsic social preferences alongside emerging friendship patterns in 57 freshly formed school classes ( = 1,217), using incentivized measures.

Is participation in high-status culture a signal of trustworthiness?

Trust is essential for social interactions, cooperation and social order. Research has shown that social status and common group memberships are important determinants of receiving and reciprocating trust. However, social status and group membership can coincide or diverge-with potentially different effects.

Conditions for the emergence of shared norms in populations with incompatible preferences.

Understanding norms is a key challenge in sociology. Nevertheless, there is a lack of dynamical models explaining how one of several possible behaviors is established as a norm and under what conditions. Analysing an agent-based model, we identify interesting parameter dependencies that imply when two behaviors will coexist or when a shared norm will emerge in a heterogeneous society, where different populations have incompatible preferences.

Beliefs about lying and spreading of dishonesty: undetected lies and their constructive and destructive social dynamics in dice experiments.

Field experiments have shown that observing other people littering, stealing or lying can trigger own misconduct, leading to a decay of social order. However, a large extent of norm violations goes undetected. Hence, the direction of the dynamics crucially depends on actors' beliefs regarding undetected transgressions.

Bargaining over waiting time in ultimatum game experiments.

While preference-based explanations play an increasing role in economics and sociology, the accurate measurement of social preferences deserves more attention. Most laboratory experiments measure social preferences by studying the division of "a cake that nobody had to bake" (Güth and Kliemt, 2003). This article reports results of the first ultimatum game experiment with bargaining over waiting time.

How social influence can undermine the wisdom of crowd effect.

Social groups can be remarkably smart and knowledgeable when their averaged judgements are compared with the judgements of individuals. Already Galton [Galton F (1907) Nature 75:7] found evidence that the median estimate of a group can be more accurate than estimates of experts. This wisdom of crowd effect was recently supported by examples from stock markets, political elections, and quiz shows [Surowiecki J (2004) The Wisdom of Crowds].