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Conflicts of interest about where to go and what to do are a primary challenge of group living. However, it remains unclear how consensus is achieved in stable groups with stratified social relationships. Tracking wild baboons with a high-resolution global positioning system and analyzing their movements relative to one another reveals that a process of shared decision-making governs baboon movement. Rather than preferentially following dominant individuals, baboons are more likely to follow when multiple initiators agree. When conflicts arise over the direction of movement, baboons choose one direction over the other when the angle between them is large, but they compromise if it is not. These results are consistent with models of collective motion, suggesting that democratic collective action emerging from simple rules is widespread, even in complex, socially stratified societies.

The evolution of eusociality is one of the major transitions in evolution, but the underlying genomic changes are unknown. We compared the genomes of 10 bee species that vary in social complexity, representing multiple independent transitions in social evolution, and report three major findings. First, many important genes show evidence of neutral evolution as a consequence of relaxed selection with increasing social complexity. Second, there is no single road map to eusociality; independent evolutionary transitions in sociality have independent genetic underpinnings. Third, though clearly independent in detail, these transitions do have similar general features, including an increase in constrained protein evolution accompanied by increases in the potential for gene regulation and decreases in diversity and abundance of transposable elements. Eusociality may arise through different mechanisms each time, but would likely always involve an increase in the complexity of gene networks.

The capacity for groups to exhibit collective intelligence is an often-cited advantage of group living. Previous studies have shown that social organisms frequently benefit from pooling imperfect individual estimates. However, in principle, collective intelligence may also emerge from interactions between individuals, rather than from the enhancement of personal estimates. Here, we reveal that this emergent problem solving is the predominant mechanism by which a mobile animal group responds to complex environmental gradients. Robust collective sensing arises at the group level from individuals modulating their speed in response to local, scalar, measurements of light and through social interaction with others. This distributed sensing requires only rudimentary cognition and thus could be widespread across biological taxa, in addition to being appropriate and cost-effective for robotic agents.

Carrion is a highly ephemeral and nutrient rich resource, characterized by extreme biotic and abiotic stressors. We hypothesized that specific constraints of the carrion ecosystem, and especially its nutrient richness, ephemerality, and competition with microbes, have promoted the evolution of social behaviors in necrophagous insects. We show that group living is prevalent among early succession carrion breeding insects, suggesting that this trait has emerged as an adaptation to facilitate survival in the highly competitive environment of fresh carrion. We then highlight how developmental niche construction allows larvae to compete with microbes, efficiently feed on fresh cadavers, and rapidly reach maturity. We observed that larval societies and parental care are two different strategies responding to similar competitive and environmental constraints. We conclude that intra and interspecific competition on carrion are mitigated by social behavior.

Purpose: This study explored group experiences and individual differences in the behaviors, thoughts, and feelings perceived by adults who stutter. Respondents' goals when speaking and prior participation in self-help/support groups were used to predict individual differences in reported behaviors, thoughts, and feelings. Method: In this study, 502 adults who stutter completed a survey examining their behaviors, thoughts, and feelings in and around moments of stuttering. Data were analyzed to determine distributions of group and individual experiences. Results: Speakers reported experiencing a wide range of both overt behaviors (e.g., repetitions) and covert behaviors (e.g., remaining silent, choosing not to speak). Having the goal of \"not stuttering when speaking\" was significantly associated with more covert behaviors and more negative cognitive and affective states, whereas a history of self-help/support group participation was significantly associated with a decreased probability of these behaviors and states. Conclusion: Data from this survey suggest that participating in self-help/support groups and having a goal of communicating freely (as opposed to trying not to stutter) are associated with less negative life outcomes due to stuttering. Results further indicate that the behaviors, thoughts, and experiences most commonly reported by speakers may not be those that are most readily observed by listeners.

Collaborative learning is a widely used instructional technique, but factors determining its effectiveness still are unclear. Cognitive load theory was used to examine the effects of prior collaborative experience and density of distribution of information amongst learners on short-term retention and delayed retention tests, as well as cognitive efficiency of collaborative learning and its outcomes. Data obtained with 240 secondary school students showed that groups with experience in collaboration outperformed and were more cognitively efficient than inexperienced groups, and low information density increased performance during the learning process. Also, when tasks required processing high information density, experienced groups were more cognitively efficient than inexperienced groups. For tasks with low information density no difference was found. These results provide instructional implications for designing effective collaborative learning environments.

Sense of belonging is a fundamental human motivation and, in higher education settings, has been associated with students' motivation and academic outcomes. However, less is known about the nuances of how students define belonging within a university context, and how their gendered and socio-economic identity-based experiences inform these definitions. Using a qualitative approach, we interviewed 36 UK university students to better understand (1) students' definitions of belonging to university, and (2) how these conceptualizations are shaped by their experiences in terms of their gender, their socioeconomic status, and the intersection of these two identities. Interviews showed that students defined belonging in terms of social belonging. These definitions were shaped by their (a) cultural capital about university, (b) socioeconomic or gender identity experiences and (c) perceived similarity with other students. Indeed, despite the fact that students' definitions of belonging were associated with how they have experienced belonging to university, identity-based experiences were mostly mentioned when they perceived they did not belong, which was framed as a \"sense of anti-belonging\". Otherwise, students defined belonging as (a) being authentic, considering - for example - gender identity-based experiences of acceptance in university, or (b) sharing similar experiences with others, considering the importance of perceiving similarity with other students to feel they belong and, in some cases, being necessary to learn about university culture to perceive similarity with others. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed in terms of how belonging conceptualisations are bound up in identity and context, opening questions about the consequences of inclusion and diversity policies in higher education. [Author abstract]

The move to online learning during COVID-19 deprived first-year students of friendships and other sources of social support that could buffer against stress during their transition to university. These effects may have been worse for international students than domestic students as many were subjected to travel restrictions or quarantine in addition to the usual stressors. This study examined the impact of COVID-19 on social connectedness and mental health of first-year students enrolled in a metropolitan university in Australia. The study involved 1239 students (30.4% international) and used a 3 (cohorts: 2019, 2020, 2021) × 2 (enrolment status: domestic and international) between-group design. Results showed that both loneliness and university belonging were significantly worse during the first year of COVID-19 compared to the year before or after. Contrary to expectation, domestic students were lonelier than international students across all cohorts. Multiple-group memberships did not change. As predicted, loneliness was moderately to highly correlated with the number of stressors, psychological distress, and (lower) well-being, whereas university belonging and multiple-group memberships were related to positive mental health outcomes. These findings highlight the need for initiatives that promote student connectedness and mental health as the university sector recovers from COVID-19.

Belonging is critical to first-year student success and persistence in higher education. However, differing definitions make it challenging to fully understand why belonging is significant. Foregrounding student voice, this research explored how first-year Australian university students talked about their belonging. Using Kahu and Nelson's (2018) framework of student engagement as a lens, 18 students were interviewed weekly throughout the year. Students talked about belonging in three distinct but interrelated ways: familiarity, interpersonal belonging, and academic belonging. While all were important for student wellbeing and engagement, academic belonging, students' sense that university, their discipline, and courses were \"right\" for them, was critical for perseverance. Unlike interpersonal belonging which tended to build through the year, academic belonging fluctuated for many students. The findings suggest framing belonging merely as about relationships limits understanding of this important construct. Contributing to scholarship by bringing a refreshed perspective to the nuances and complexity of belonging, the research suggests higher education providers need to monitor and foster academic belonging in first-year students. [Author abstract]

As countless regional, national, and international accrediting bodies continue to employ student engagement measures as mechanisms for quality assurance, universities become more intent on achieving this important gauge of student success. Specifically, the growth in enrollment in distance learning programs adds a unique level of complexity leading researchers to search for ways to increase engagement in the online course environment. Organizations continue to value teamwork and many instructors have incorporated group work into their online courses to teach students this important skill. The present study examines the impact of student engagement on group satisfaction. Furthermore, this research places student engagement at the center of a structural equation model to determine both predictors and outcomes of this important element of student learning. Specifically, this analysis examines whether students’ perceptions of computer self‑efficacy impact student engagement and group satisfaction in online business courses. Our findings indicate that computer self‑efficacy leads to student engagement and, further, that student engagement influences group satisfaction. Importantly, the relationship between student engagement and group satisfaction is mediated by group expectations. Discussions of findings can be utilized to understand the factors that lead to student engagement and its outcomes in online courses.