Browsing by Subject "cooperation"

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  • Nichols, Hazel J.; Arbuckle, Kevin; Sanderson, Jennifer L.; Vitikainen, Emma I. K.; Marshall, Harry H.; Thompson, Faye J.; Cant, Michael A.; Wells, David A. (2021)
    Personality traits, such as the propensity to cooperate, are often inherited from parents to offspring, but the pathway of inheritance is unclear. Traits could be inherited via genetic or parental effects, or culturally via social learning from role models. However, these pathways are difficult to disentangle in natural systems as parents are usually the source of all of these effects. Here, we exploit natural 'cross fostering' in wild banded mongooses to investigate the inheritance of cooperative behaviour. Our analysis of 800 adult helpers over 21 years showed low but significant genetic heritability of cooperative personalities in males but not females. Cross fostering revealed little evidence of cultural heritability: offspring reared by particularly cooperative helpers did not become more cooperative themselves. Our results demonstrate that cooperative personalities are not always highly heritable in wild, and that the basis of behavioural traits can vary within a species (here, by sex).
  • Hagberg-Andersson, Åsa (Svenska handelshögskolan, 2007)
    Economics and Society
    In today’s business one can say that competition does not take place inside the network, but between networks. Change and dynamics are central issues in network studies, and a company, due its changing environment, can identify opportunities and threats and respond to them accordingly. These opportunities are vital, but also complex and demanding for the management. Earlier research has identified a shortcoming in explanations of how the micro-level interactions to macro-level patterns are connected. The IMP-group has been trying to fill this research gap with research on interactions within business networks. In this area of research lies the focus of research on relationships between organizations. Adaptation in cooperation is a central concept within business network research. Adaptation has been dealt with in previous literature, but the focus of the studies has mainly been outside this phenomenon, and it has mostly had a supporting role. Most literature has also described the buyers' point of view in studied supply networks, whereas much less attention has been paid to the suppliers' view on them. This study focuses on this research gap. The results of the study stress that adaptation should be included to a greater extent in the strategy work of companies. The adaptations should be carefully planned and, as far as possible, made consciously. Conscious, well-planned adaptations can be seen as investments into present and future relationships, and resources should be invested into something that does not increase the company’s dependence, but divides the power in the relationship between the companies. Adaptations should be planned so that they result in a more offensive way of responding to the demands that are placed upon the companies. In this way, the actions can be viewed and analyzed in accordance with whether the actions make the company weaker or stronger.
  • Raulo, Aura; Dantzer, Ben (2018)
    The causes and consequences of individual differences in animal behavior and stress physiology are increasingly studied in wild animals, yet the possibility that stress physiology underlies individual variation in social behavior has received less attention. In this review, we bring together these study areas and focus on understanding how the activity of the vertebrate neuroendocrine stress axis (HPA-axis) may underlie individual differences in social behavior in wild animals. We first describe a continuum of vertebrate social behaviors spanning from initial social tendencies (proactive behavior) to social behavior occurring in reproductive contexts (parental care, sexual pair-bonding) and lastly to social behavior occurring in nonreproductive contexts (nonsexual bonding, group-level cooperation). We then perform a qualitative review of existing literature to address the correlative and causal association between measures of HPA-axis activity (glucocorticoid levels or GCs) and each of these types of social behavior. As expected, elevated HPA-axis activity can inhibit social behavior associated with initial social tendencies (approaching conspecifics) and reproduction. However, elevated HPA-axis activity may also enhance more elaborate social behavior outside of reproductive contexts, such as alloparental care behavior. In addition, the effect of GCs on social behavior can depend upon the sociality of the stressor (cause of increase in GCs) and the severity of stress (extent of increase in GCs). Our review shows that the while the associations between stress responses and sociality are diverse, the role of HPA-axis activity behind social behavior may shift toward more facilitating and less inhibiting in more social species, providing insight into how stress physiology and social systems may co-evolve.
  • Halmesvaara, Otto (Helsingin yliopisto, 2017)
    Socio-functional approach to shame suggests that displaying shame after norm violation communicates that a person is ready to conform to the group’s standards, which in turn prevents social isolation and punishments. Previous research gives support for this theory, showing that a perpetrator’s verbal expressions of shame increase forgiveness and reduce observers’ punitive intentions. However, only one experimental study has investigated the hypothesized effects of nonverbal shame displays, manipulating solely the transgressor’s head orientation. This is a serious shortcoming given the functional approach assumption that human shame is evolutionarily rooted in submissive behavior established in shrunken body posture. In addition, so far no comparison has been made between shame and other closely related emotions, making it premature to conclude that shame would have an unique social function not possessed by other emotions. Two experimental studies were conducted to investigate the communicative and social effects of shame displays. In Study 1, participants read vignettes of mild norm violations, after which they were asked to select a picture of emotional expression most suitable to convey the transgressor’s understanding of her/his transgression. Bodily displays of shame were selected as the most suitable for this communicative task, but expressions of sadness were also found appropriate. In Study 2, the social functions of shame and sadness were compared to further investigate the social consequences and mediating socio-cognitive mechanisms underlying the consolidating influence of shame displays. Again, a vignette approach was used, but now the expressions were systematically manipulated while measuring the perceiver’s moral judgements, empathy, and cooperative and punitive intentions. Both shame and sadness expressions increased observers’ empathy and willingness to cooperate with the transgressor compared to a neutral expression condition. However, contrary to the uniqueness assumption, the effects of shame on empathy and cooperative intentions were identical to those of sadness. Also, none of the expressions reduced the perceiver’s punitive intentions. The presented results partially support the functional account, showing that bodily shame induces empathy and prevent from social isolation. The similarity of shame and sadness suggests, however, that general empathy driven mechanism may underlie the obtained consolidating influence of submissive bodily displays.
  • Iho, Satu (2010)
    This thesis studies the evolution of conditional cooperation in a population where social norms are present. The model of Spichtig and Traxler (2007) is based in a public good setting where the members can choose to cooperate, contribute to the public good and adhere to the social norm or free-ride, not contribute towards the public good and thus break the social norm. Norm breaking sanctions imposed on any individual who chooses to behave in the latter manner. The exact degree of these norm sanctions on an individual's utility is determined by her individual norm sensitivity level, due to which some agents with a high norm sensitivity experience a higher utility loss from the norm sanctions in comparison with agents a lower degree of norm sensitivity. The model predicts for the population to evolve towards two equilibrium states which are characterised by a differing fraction of free-riders of the entire population. Two distinct models on learning are used to analyse further the learning mechanisms that might take place in such a population on an individual level. The model of Ellison and Fudenberg (1993) and the model of Banerjee and Fudenberg (2004) are similar in that they study a learning process of an individual in terms of new technology adoption. The former concentrates on horizontal learning which takes place within one generation and is based on mere observational clues whereas the latter analyses vertical learning taking place between generations and is based on more comlex word-of-mouth clues that are exchanged between members in the population and new entrants. Both of these models thereby us external clues as the means of learning of agents but differ in terms of what kind of learning is studied, intra-generational or inter-generational. The circumstances in and assumptions under which learning takes place in these two models are found to fit the model of the evolution of cooperation rather well and they could predict the learning mechanisms of this model in an individual level rather well.
  • Dai, Xiaofeng; Li, Lu; Liu, Xiuxia; Hu, Weiguo; Yang, Yankun; Bai, Zhonghu (2015)
  • Laukka, Vuokko; Katko, Tapio S.; Peltonen, Lasse; Rajala, Riikka (Springer Nature, 2021)
    Hydrogeology Journal 29: 4 (2021), 1369–1378
    In Finland, community water supply has increasingly relied on natural groundwater and artificially recharged groundwater as the raw water source. Several managed aquifer recharge (MAR) projects have been co-created with involved parties and have proceeded well, while some cases have raised considerable resistance among the stakeholders. It seems that success or failure in MAR cooperation is related to management cultures and the ways in which various interests are taken into account, from the very beginning and throughout the process. Empirically, this paper builds on comparison between two conflictual case studies in Finland: one in the Tampere region and the other in the Turku region. The study analyses the major constraints of these projects through the lens of collaborative rationality, also drawing upon discourse analysis and negotiation theory. The material is gathered through thematic interviews of stakeholders, newspaper articles and a stakeholder workshop. The results indicate that conventional management approaches, drawing from expert-based instrumental rationality, were insufficient in both cases. The collaborative rationality framework suggests that legitimacy for the groundwater projects should be gained through joint knowledge production and inclusive multiparty interaction for creating options for collaboration. Both cases lacked the tools and know-how for authentic dialogue and collaboration. The emerging paradigm emphasizes more collaborative approaches for natural resources management and urban planning. While MAR projects operate inside these areas and are highly complex in nature, it is essential to embrace the emerging paradigm in order to promote MAR systems along with their huge potential.
  • Malabusini, Serena; Hardy, Ian C. W.; Jucker, Costanza; Savoldelli, Sara; Lupi, Daniela (2022)
    In the parasitoid genus Sclerodermus, multiple foundresses produce and care for communal broods on large hosts, which can lead to greater reproductive success for group members than attempting to reproduce alone. We explore the consequences of foundress group size on the benefits of cooperative brooding and on brood sex ratios by providing groups of 10-55 foundresses with a single host and no alternative reproductive options. Within this range, increasing foundress group size leads to increasingly common failure in brood production and diminished per capita success. Group production of adult offspring declines once foundress number reaches around 25. Brood failure is usually at the early developmental stages, and current evidence suggests that there may be competition among foundresses for oviposition sites, possibly involving reproductive dominance and ovicide, which also delays initial brood production. Once broods become established, their rate of development is enhanced by large foundress numbers. The sex ratios of broods are very strongly female biased, irrespective of the foundress number. As this bias is not easily explained by standard models of local mate competition or by a recent model of local resource enhancement, we suggest an explanation based on control of sex allocation by a minority of dominant foundresses, which monopolise the production of adult males.
  • Vainonen, Lena-Kajsa (Helsingin yliopisto, 2019)
    Metsä on kautta aikojen ollut tärkeä suomalaisille, joten jokaisella suomalaisella on jonkinlainen suhde metsään. Metsäsuhde voi perustua erilaisiin asenteisiin tai kokemuksiin ja se voi muuttua ajan kuluessa. Ympärillä olevien aikuisten sekä lapsille tarjottavien kokemusten on todettu vaikuttavan vahvasti lasten metsäsuhteeseen. Kouluilla on siis suuri rooli lasten metsäsuhteen rakentumisessa. Nykylasten moniarvoinen metsäsuhde on tärkeä tulevaisuuden kannalta, sillä metsään kohdistuu nykyaikana suuri käyttöpaine, joka herättää kysymyksiä metsän käytöstä. Lapset päättävät tulevaisuudessa, miten metsää käytetään ja miksi, joten heillä tulisi olla perustietoa metsästä ja yleisesti luonnonvarojen kestävästä käytöstä. Näiden seikkojen takia tämä tutkimus keskittyy kuvaamaan metsäopetuksen toteutusta peruskoulun luokilla 7-9 biologian opettajien näkökulmasta. Tutkimuksessa haastateltiin neljää yläkoulun biologian opettajaa, joiden vastausten pohjalta laadittiin kyselylomake. Kyselylomake jaettiin opettajien suosimissa ryhmissä sosiaalisessa mediassa sekä sähköpostitse muutamille opettajille. Haastatteluiden tuloksia analysoitiin tekstianalyysillä ja kyselyn tuloksia jakaumien sekä taulukoiden avulla. Kyselyn tuloksia ei analysoitu tilastollisin menetelmin, koska vastauksia tuli niin pieni määrä. Tutkimuksen haastatteluiden ja kyselyn tulokset mukailivat toisiaan. Metsäopetus tapahtuu lähinnä kahdeksannen luokan biologian oppiaineessa. Metsäaiheita opetetaan metsässä joskus, mutta opetusta haluttaisiin järjestää enemmän metsässä. Ulkona opettamiseen vaikuttaa ainakin koulun etäisyys metsästä, aikarajoitteet, lukujärjestyksen joustamattomuus sekä rahoituksen puute. Samat rajoittavat tekijät nousivat esille myös metsätapahtumiin osallistumisessa sekä oman metsäpäivän järjestämisessä. Mikäli metsätapahtumiin pystyy osallistumaan, niiltä toivottiin elämyksellisyyttä ja toiminnallisuutta. Tulokset osoittavat, että metsäopetuksen keskeisiä teemoja ovat lajintunnistus, metsän ekosysteemi, metsätyypit sekä kasvupaikkatekijät. Metsäteollisuuden ja metsätalouden aiheet jätetään vähemmälle huomiolle, mikäli kohdataan aikarajoitteita. Koulun ulkopuolisia asiantuntijoita sekä metsäalan asiantuntijoita hyödynnetään harvoin, mutta monipuolista asiantuntijuutta kuitenkin kaivattiin, erityisesti metsätalouden ja metsien kestävän käytön, metsäteollisuuden ja sen tuotteiden, riistanhoidon, biotalouden ja kiertotalouden osa-alueisiin. Asiantuntijoita ei käytetä, koska aikaa ei ole tarpeeksi, koska ammattilaisia ei löydetä tai koska hyöty on koettu liian pieneksi. Yhteistyö metsäalan toimijoiden kanssa on lähinnä yhdistys- ja järjestöpainotteista, mutta myös metsäalan yrityksiä käytetään jonkin verran. Yhteistyö keskittyi lähinnä Metsävisaan, vierailijaluentoihin sekä erilaisiin metsäpäiviin tai tapahtumiin. Koulun ulkopuoliselta yhteistyöltä toivottiin pääasiassa vierailuja yrityksiin sekä metsään. Opettajat pitivät yleisesti metsäopetusta tärkeänä, mutta nykyisen metsäopetuksen ei koettu tukevan moniarvoisen metsäsuhteen rakentamista kovinkaan hyvin. Uuden opetussuunnitelman mukaisia monialaisia oppimiskokonaisuuksia koettiin kuitenkin voivan hyödyntää metsäopetuksessa hyvin. Ainerajoja ylittävää opetusta ei kuitenkaan ole hyödynnetty kovinkaan paljon, vaikka suurin osa haluaisi hyödyntää sitä enemmän. Tutkimustuloksia ei voida pitää tilastollisesti merkitsevinä johtuen pienestä otoskoosta. Tutkimustulosten perusteella voidaan kuitenkin olettaa, että nykyisessä metsäopetuksessa on puutteita, joita korjaamalla monipuolisemman metsäsuhteen rakentaminen yläkoulussa voisi olla mahdollista.
  • Snellman, Veera (Helsingin yliopisto, 2021)
    Objectives: Children are often the only witnesses in cases of sexual or physical abuse against them, which is why the quality of child forensic interviews used in abuse investigations is of paramount importance. The present study examined the quality of child forensic interviews conducted by Finnish police officers. In addition, the effect of interview training participation and cooperation with forensic psychiatric investigative units was examined. Methods: The National Police Board of Finland granted a research permit for the present study. Transcribed child forensic interviews were requested from all police officers investigating alleged sexual or physical abuse against children. In addition, an online questionnaire was sent to each participating police officer. The total sample (n=27) consisted of 4,662 utterances that were coded into question types based on a research-based coding system. The association between interview quality and interview training participation, and cooperation with specialized units and interview training was examined using multilevel modeling. Results: A majority of the police officers had participated in child forensic interview training. Police officers who had not attended child forensic interview training used significantly less facilitators. Police officers who reported cooperating with the forensic psychiatric investigative units used significantly more facilitators and directive utterances. Conclusions: This study shed light on the effectiveness of interview training and on the reported cooperation between police officers and forensic psychiatric investigative units. The results of this study indicate that both interview training participation and the cooperation with forensic psychiatric investigative units promotes the ability of police officers of being present for the child through facilitating the child’s narrative. The results can be utilized to motivate broader collaboration between authorities.
  • Martin, Jordan S.; Koski, Sonja; Bugnyar, Thomas; Jaeggi, Adrian V.; Massen, Jorg J. M. (2021)
    Prosocial motivation has been suggested to facilitate the initiation and maintenance of cooperative interactions, as well as the evolution of social systems reliant on helping behaviour and social coordination. Previous comparative research on the link between prosociality and cooperation has been limited, however, by the absence of directly comparable measures of these traits among the same individuals. In the present study, we therefore examined intraspecific variation in prosociality and cooperative behaviour within a captive colony of group-living, cooperatively breeding common marmosets to provide a direct experimental test of these hypothesized benefits. We measured prosociality using a group service food-provisioning paradigm, and we assessed mutually beneficial dyadic cooperation with the loose string coordinated pulling paradigm. In addition, we also investigated the effects of individual social tolerance and partner choice, which have previously been identified as key factors promoting prosociality and cooperation among primates. As predicted, successful cooperation in the loose string paradigm was positively associated with prosociality, as well as with social tolerance and partner choice. These effects were independent of age, sex, personality, food motivation and learning across experimental sessions. Our results therefore suggest that prosocial motivation, social tolerance and partner choice can each facilitate mutually beneficial cooperation and social coordination in marmosets, supporting the hypothesized role of these mechanisms in the evolution of cooperative behaviour among primates. (C) 2020 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour.
  • Havo, Marja (Helsingfors universitet, 2013)
    Hospital pharmacies and drug centers are responsible for pharmaceutical services for inpatient care in the public health care in Finland. Each of the 20 hospital districts have a central hospital pharmacy. Every hospital district is a member of one of the five regional hospital groups (called erva-alue). In each regional hospital group the area's university hospital is responsible for the specialized hospital care. Most of the regional hospital groups cooperate in drug purchasing. The drug purchasing policies need to be in line with the legislation regulating public sector's purchasing policies. Usually procurement and organizing a tender competition are coordinated by university hospitals. With centralization hospital pharmacies can get cost-benefits. This study deals with drug purchasing policies in hospitals and regional hospital group cooperation in Finland. The objective was to explore drug purchasing process in hospital pharmacies and related cooperation in regional groups. The study was carried out as a postal survey which was sent to the head pharmacists of all 20 hospital districts in spring 2012. The survey instrument was reviewed by selected experts and revised according to their comments before it was sent to the respondents. Most of the questions were open-ended enabling the respondents to reflect their opinions. The response rate was 90% (n=18). All respondents answered to the most of the questions. There were seven procurement groups. Most of the regional cooperation groups procured drugs together. Only Helsinki University Hospital's (HYKS) regional cooperation group did not procure and organize a tender competition together. Purchasing period was generally two years. Usually procurement was centralized to the university hospitals in the regional groups. The hospital pharmacies that had two years purchasing periods reasoned the duration of the period most commonly by cost savings. The pharmacies that had a three-year or longer period explained its length by drug safety. The areas also differed in the way they involved specialists in selecting pharmaceutical products and making final decisions. The expertise of the specialists involved varied widely. Some areas involved a very broad range of experts, while some others had few. The drugs were selected independently by or within groups. Procurement criteria varied a lot, but the main criterion in all the responses was price or total cost-effectiveness. The respondents reported that drug safety was considered in the procurement but its inclusion as a purchasing criterion was challenging. Few of the respondents reported having studied cost savings of using purchasing groups. However, cost savings were believed to be significant. Particularly, the respondents reported that workloads had decreased because of the cooperation in procurement. Some changes were reported to happen in the drug procurement processes of some purchasing groups. All these ideas concerning drug purchasing policies and cooperation are described in the research report. For example, some head pharmacists indicated their willingness to have national cooperation in establishing drug guidelines. Most of them were satisfied with the current cooperation and purchasing policies and were ready to continue and develop the cooperation. The study achieved its goal in exploring drug purchasing policies and cooperation between hospitals in Finland. The study can perform as a baseline evaluation for further studies in the field. It also provides useful information to those people working on drug procurement and purchasing policies.
  • Kronbak, Lone Grønbæk; Lindroos, Marko (Helsingin yliopisto, taloustieteen laitos, 2005)
    University of Helsinki, Department of Economics and Management, Discussion Papers ; 7
  • Rantavuori, Juhana (Helsingfors universitet, 2010)
    Objectives. In this research I analyzed the learning process of teacher students in a planning meeting using the expansive learning cycle and types of interaction approaches. In activity theory framework the expansive learning cycle has been applied widely in analyzing learning processes taking several years. However, few studies exist utilizing expansive cycles in analyzing short single meetings. In the activity theory framework talk and interaction have been analyzed using following types of interaction: coordination, cooperation and communication. In these studies single interaction situations have been analyzed, in which the status and power positions of participants has been very different. Interactions of self-directed teams, in which the participants are equal, have been examined very little. I am not aware of any studies, in which both learning actions of the expansive cycle and types of interaction by analyzing the same data would have been utilized. The aim of my study was to describe the process of collaborative innovative learning in a situation where the student group tries to accomplish a broad and ill-defined learning task. I aim to describe, how this planning process proceeds through different phases of learning actions of the expansive cycle. My goal is to understand and describe the transformations in the quality of interaction and transitions which are related to it. Another goal of this study is to specify the possible similarities and differences between expansive learning and types of interactions. Methods. Data of this study consisted of videotaped meetings, which were part of the study module for class teacher degree. The first meeting of the study module was chosen to be the primary research material. Five students were present in the group meeting. Transcription of the conversation was analyzed by classifying the turns of conversation following phases of the expansive cycle. After that the material was categorized again by using types of interaction. Results and conclusions. As a result of this study I was able to trace all the phases of the expansive cycle except one. Also, I was able to identify all interaction types. When I compared the two modes of analysis side by side I was able to find connecting main phases. Thus I was able to identify the interdependence between the two ways of analysis on a higher level, although I was not able to notice correlation on the level of individual phases. Based on this, I conclude that learning of the group was simultaneously specification and formulation of the object at the different phases of expansive learning and transformation of the quality of the interaction while searching for the common object.
  • Hartama-Heinonen, Ritva; Holopainen, Tiina; Ketola, Anne; Koskinen, Kaisa; Saalin, Tutta; Tiittula, Liisa (2019)
  • Peltomaa, Juha; Tuominen, Anu (Routledge, Taylor & Francis, 2022)
    Journal of Environmental Planning and Management
    Service-based alternatives to private vehicles and public transport are increasing. These innovations are hoped to boost the transition to sustainable mobility, addressing challenges such as congestion, air quality and the large share of CO2 resulting from traffic. To achieve this transition, there is an urgent need for collaboration between private companies and public authorities, especially locally. We claim that insufficient attention is paid to the agencies of the practical actors, such as car sharing operators, which is the key to understanding what this collaboration requires. Orchestrating the collaboration successfully is also a prerequisite for the sustainability of the services. We use interview data from car sharing operators and public authorities in Finnish cities to analyze the local-level implementation of shared mobility services. Our results show how the local public authorities play a crucial role in allowing the services to flourish but also ensure the services’ environmental and social sustainability.
  • Hannula, Martina (Helsingin yliopisto, 2019)
    International research on collaboration between schools shows a number of positive effects for educational work. Previous research results also show that certain circumstances are necessary for collaboration to become effective and gain a depth. In Finnish research and debate co-located schools are highlighted as a strength, while it can be stated that it is a challenge to find and operate a collaborative model for two schools with different historical backgrounds and different operating cultures. The purpose of the thesis is to describe the collaboration of teachers and principals and the development of pedagogical work across the language boundary in co-located schools. The research questions focus on the teachers' experience of how brokering takes place in a co-located school as well as what positive effects, opportunities and challenges the teachers experience that the collaboration entails. This study utilises Wenger’s (1998) theory on communities of practice. This is a qualitative semi-structured interview study. All interviews were conducted in the spring of 2019. The informants consisted of 6 teachers who teach in Swedish co-located schools. 3 of the informants also serve as principals for a Swedish school. The interviews were transcribed and analyzed using qualitative content analysis. The results show that there is a great variation between schools and teachers in what extent brokering and exchange of knowledge and new ideas takes place. Willingness and interest, opportunities both to get to know each other and to draw up common guidelines are found to be factors that promote cross-language collaboration. A principal who supports collaboration turns out to be directly crucial for how cooperation is designed. The teachers felt that the main advantages of co-location and brokering were the opportunity for more colleagues and thus a broader perspective, a greater knowledge base and a greater exchange of each other's experiences and ideas.