Social Interaction

Meetings: A cultural perspective

by David Boromisza-Habashi

Co-authored with Leah Sprain. Published in the Journal of Multicultural Discourses (2012).

We draw on Helen Schwartzman’s seminal work on meetings to make the case for studying meetings and studying them from... more We draw on Helen Schwartzman’s seminal work on meetings to make the case for studying meetings and studying them from a cultural perspective. In a global context marked by the increasing interdependence of social groups of all sizes, scholars need ways to study and interpret local phenomena; a cultural approach to meetings provides a means for discovering local practices and theories of communication, and for enabling cross-cultural comparison to generate empirically grounded multi-cultural perspectives. After reviewing how scholars have used Schwartzman’s work, we revisit her scheme for studying meetings and demonstrate how it orients researchers to local cultural practices and processes. To illustrate the kind of theoretical innovation that can follow from the application of her scheme, we reformulate her work on the relationship between meetings and social order to argue that egalitarianism and hierarchy should be theorized as strategic communicative accomplishments that serve the locally relevant social ends of some or all meeting participants.

Wright, G., Berry, C. J,. Bird, G. (2012). “You can’t kid a kidder”: Association between production and detection of deception in an interactive deception task. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience (6) 87.

by Chris Berry

http://bit.ly/HPV5Z2

Both the ability to deceive others, and the ability to detect deception, has long been proposed to confer an... more Both the ability to deceive others, and the ability to detect deception, has long been proposed to confer an evolutionary advantage. Deception detection has been studied extensively, and the finding that typical individuals fare little better than chance in detecting deception is one of the more robust in the behavioral sciences. Surprisingly, little research has examined individual differences in lie production ability. As a consequence, as far as we are aware, no previous study has investigated whether there exists an association between the ability to lie successfully and the ability to detect lies. Furthermore, only a minority of studies have examined deception as it naturally occurs; in a social, interactive setting. The present study, therefore, explored the relationship between these two facets of deceptive behavior by employing a novel competitive interactive deception task (DeceIT). For the first time, signal detection theory (SDT) was used to measure performance in both the detection and production of deception. A significant relationship was found between the deception-related abilities; those who could accurately detect a lie were able to produce statements that others found difficult to classify as deceptive or truthful. Furthermore, neither ability was related to measures of intelligence or emotional ability. We, therefore, suggest the existence of an underlying deception-general ability that varies across individuals.

A prelinguistic gestural universal of human communication

by Connie de Vos

Liszkowski, U., Brown, P., Callaghan, T., Takada, A., & De Vos, C. (2012). A prelinguistic gestural universal of human communication. Cognitive Science, 36, 698-713.

Several cognitive accounts of human communication argue for a language-independent, prelinguistic basis of human... more Several cognitive accounts of human communication argue for a language-independent, prelinguistic basis of human communication and language. The current study provides evidence for the universality of a prelinguistic gestural basis for human communication. We used a standardized, semi-natural elicitation procedure in seven very different cultures around the world to test for the existence of preverbal pointing in infants and their caregivers. Results were that by 10–14 months of age, infants and their caregivers pointed in all cultures in the same basic situation with similar frequencies and the same proto-typical morphology of the extended index finger. Infants’ pointing was best predicted by age and caregiver pointing, but not by cultural group. Further analyses revealed a strong relation between the temporal unfolding of caregivers’ and infants’ pointing events, uncovering a structure of early prelinguistic gestural conversation. Findings support the existence of a gestural, language-independent universal of human communication that forms a culturally shared, prelinguistic basis for diversified linguistic communication.

Anatomical Connectivity Influences both Intra- and Inter-Brain Synchronizations

by Guillaume Dumas

Dumas G, Chavez M, Nadel J, Martinerie J (2012) PLoS ONE 7(5): e36414. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0036414

Recent development in diffusion spectrum brain imaging combined to functional simulation has the potential to further... more Recent development in diffusion spectrum brain imaging combined to functional simulation has the potential to further our understanding of how structure and dynamics are intertwined in the human brain. At the intra-individual scale, neurocomputational models have already started to uncover how the human connectome constrains the coordination of brain activity across distributed brain regions. In parallel, at the inter-individual scale, nascent social neuroscience provides a new dynamical vista of the coupling between two embodied cognitive agents. Using EEG hyperscanning to record simultaneously the brain activities of subjects during their ongoing interaction, we have previously demonstrated that behavioral synchrony correlates with the emergence of inter-brain synchronization. However, the functional meaning of such synchronization remains to be specified. Here, we use a biophysical model to quantify to what extent inter-brain synchronizations are related to the anatomical and functional similarity of the two brains in interaction. Pairs of interacting brains were numerically simulated and compared to real data. Results show a potential dynamical property of the human connectome to facilitate inter-individual synchronizations and thus may partly account for our propensity to generate dynamical couplings with others.

Intraregional Social Interaction in Late Prehistory: Paste Compositional Analysis of Oneota Pottery Vessels in the Lake Koshkonong Region

by Field Notes: A Journal of Collegiate Anthropology

By Seth A. Schneider, Eric J. Schuetz and Robert E. Ahlrichs

Published in Field Notes: A Journal of Collegiate Anthropology 4(1): 192-215. (May 2012)
Copyright ©2012 by Field Notes: A Journal of Collegiate Anthropology

At least six large Oneota sites are distributed along the northwestern shore of Lake Koshkonong, which is more than 50... more At least six large Oneota sites are distributed along the northwestern shore of Lake Koshkonong, which is more than 50 kilometers from other known Oneota settlements. Temporal and material cultural relationships among these sites have been unclear. Pottery production and acquisition of raw materials are significant unresolved questions. Did the occupants of Oneota sites on Lake Koshkonong utilize the same raw material resources? Did they follow the same paste recipes in pottery production? The close proximity of sites suggests strong social interaction and sharing of knowledge, but these connections have yet to be demonstrated. Paste compositional analysis of 226 pottery sherds from three sites—the Crescent Bay Hunt Club, Schmeling, and Koshkonong Creek Village—using ceramic petrography and energy dispersive x-ray fluorescence (ED-XRF) methods is conducted to determine the degree of connection and autonomy among occupants of Oneota sites in the region.

Cigarettes and Domination in Chinese Business Networks: Institutional Change in Market Transition

by David Wank

In The Consumer Revolution in Urban China. Edited by Deborah S. Davis, pp. 268-286. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999.

An Inter-Enactive Approach to Agency: Participatory Sense-Making, Dynamics, and Sociality

by Tom Froese

Childs Im not X I just want Y 2012

by Carrie Childs

My Dissertation: An Investigation into the Effects of Pushchair Orientation on the Stress Levels of Infants

by Hannah Young

The current study was conducted as a preliminary investigation into the effects of pushchair orientation on the stress... more The current study was conducted as a preliminary investigation into the effects of pushchair orientation on the stress levels of infants.  A total of 2722 observations, carried out in city centres across the United Kingdom, investigated infant and parental behaviours during pushchair journeys.  Results showed a relationship between pushchair orientation and parent-infant interaction, crying and sleeping patterns.  Experimental research involved a total of 26 mothers and infants, from 6 to 24 months old, in a 30 minute pushchair journey during which heart rate was measured and crying and sleeping patterns were recorded.  Heart rate measures and sleeping patterns were in the predicted direction.  Crying patterns were not in the predicted direction, although differences between conditions were not significant.  These pilot findings point to the value of follow-up work, as the possibility that pushchair orientation affects infant’s stress levels is an important outcome for parents and professionals to be aware of.

Multi‐sensory storytelling as an aid to assisting people with profound intellectual disabilities to cope with sensitive issues: a multiple research methods analysis of engagement and outcomes

by Hannah Young

The importance of storytelling in social, cultural and educational contexts is well established and documented. The... more The importance of storytelling in social, cultural and educational contexts is well established and documented. The extension of storytelling to people with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities (PIMD) has in recent years been undertaken with an emphasis on the value of sensory experience and the context
storytelling provides for social interaction. The present study builds on earlier curriculum orientated research with a view to describe patterns of social and storyoriented interaction during storytelling. The stories dealt with sensitive topics raised by family carers who wished the young person with PIMD to understand. Behavioural observation during storytelling sessions explored changes in engagement while semi-structured interviews with parents and professionals explored the extent to which the experience had benefitted the young person with
respect to the sensitive topic. Positive changes in engagement with the story were shown for seven of the eight participants. For six of the seven, a parent and a professional agreed that the outcome of the experience positively enabled the participant to cope better with the sensitive topic. The specific multi-sensory
storytelling factors leading to these outcomes are discussed, as is the issue of proxy reporting and determining the nature of understanding in people with PIMD.

Social interaction in video game play: Motivations, interaction homophily, and social capital.

by Qinfeng Zhu

Co-authored with Dr. Vivian Hsueh-Hua Chen. accepted by the annual conference of the International Communication Association (ICA), Phoenix, Arizona, U.S.A., May 24-28, 2012

This study considered social interaction in game worlds (game-mediated social interaction) as purposive actions that... more This study considered social interaction in game worlds (game-mediated social interaction) as purposive actions that activated social ties in order to access the embedded social resources. On this basis, this study aimed at exploring the production of social capital through game-mediated social interaction. Specifically, with the guidance of Lin’s (2001) approach to social capital from a social action perspective, this study investigated the relationships between video game players’ instrumental and expressive motivations for engaging in game-mediated social interaction, homophily of the interaction, and perceived bonding and bridging social capital accumulated from the interaction. Findings of this study provided insights into how game-mediated social interaction contributed to its impact on individual players’ social life. To address these issues, a Singapore national telephone survey was conducted. Findings of this study revealed two patterns of game-mediated social interaction producing social capital. That is, for players driven by expressive motivations (goals that focus on the interaction itself) to play games with others, game-mediated social interaction provided a channel or platform for them to express care, affection, and to build relationships with similar others. Expressive motivations propelled players to engage others who share background and attitude similarities in the interaction, through which both bonding and bridging social capital were built in the game worlds. For players driven by instrumental motivations (task-oriented goals) to play games with others, the game-mediated social interaction was a means to achieve and win. Such interaction tended to occur between players with gaming-related similarities (e.g., gaming experiences, skills, time spent for game play, etc.), which fostered their bridging social capital to grow in the game worlds.

Gestural Coupling and Social Cognition: Möbius Syndrome as a Case Study

by John Michael

Krueger J and Michael J (2012). Gestural Coupling and Social Cognition: Möbius Syndrome as a Case Study. Front. Hum. Neurosci. 6:81. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2012.00081

Social cognition researchers have become increasingly interested in the ways that behavioral, physiological and neural... more Social cognition researchers have become increasingly interested in the ways that behavioral, physiological and neural coupling facilitate social interaction and interpersonal
understanding. We distinguish two ways of conceptualizing the role of such coupling processes in social cognition: strong and moderate interactionism. According to strong interactionism (SI), low-level coupling processes are alternatives to higher-level individual cognitive processes; the former at least sometimes render the latter superfluous. Moderate interactionism (MI) on the other hand, is an integrative approach. Its guiding assumption is that higher-level cognitive processes are likely to have been shaped by the need to coordinate, modulate and extract information from low-level coupling processes. In this paper, we present a case study on Möbius Syndrome (MS) in order to contrast SI and MI. We show how MS—a form of congenital bilateral facial paralysis—can be a fruitful source of insight for research exploring the relation between high-level cognition and low-level coupling. Lacking a capacity for facial expression, individuals with MS are deprived of a primary channel for gestural coupling. According to SI, they lack an essential enabling feature for social interaction and interpersonal understanding more generally and thus ought to exhibit severe deficits in these areas. We challenge SI’s  prediction  and  show  how  MS  cases  offer  compelling  reasons  for  instead  adopting  MI’s 
pluralistic model of social interaction and interpersonal understanding. We conclude that investigations of coupling processes within social interaction should inform rather than
marginaliz e or eliminate investigation of higher-level individual cognition.

Social interactions, musical arrangement, and the production of digital audio in Istanbul recording studios

by Eliot Bates

PhD Dissertation, University of California, Berkeley, 2008

Social understanding through direct perception? Yes, by interacting

by Hanne De Jaegher

On the role of social interaction in individual agency

by Hanne De Jaegher

Is an individual agent constitutive of or constituted by its social interactions? This question is typically not asked... more Is an individual agent constitutive of or constituted by its social interactions? This question is typically not asked in the cognitive sciences, so strong is the consensus that only individual agents have constitutive efficacy. In this article we challenge this methodological solipsism and argue that interindividual relations and social context do not simply arise from the behavior of individual agents, but themselves enable and shape the individual agents on which they depend. For this, we define the notion of autonomy as both a characteristic of individual agents and of social interaction processes. We then propose a number of ways in which interactional autonomy can influence individuals. Then we discuss recent work in modeling on the one hand and psychological investigations on the other that support and illustrate this claim. Finally, we discuss some implications for research on social and individual agency.

REPORT TO ASMFC COMMITTEE ON ECONOMICS AND SOCIAL SCIENCES: COMMERCIAL SECTOR REFERENCE DOCUMENT ON IDENTIFICATION AND PRIORITIZATION OF ECONOMIC AND SOCIOCULTURAL DATA ELEMENTS

by Patricia Clay

Compiled by sub-committee members: Theophilus Brainerd, Demet Haksever, Madeleine Hall-Arber, Chris Kellog, Andrew Kitts, David McCarron. Contributions to the Sociocultural portions made by Patricia Clay

Toward a second-person neuroscience

by Bert Timmermans

Schilbach L and* Timmermans B, Reddy V, Costall A, Bente G, Schlicht T, & Vogeley K. Toward a second-person neuroscience. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, target article accepted for publication. *equal contributions

In spite of the remarkable progress made in the burgeoning field of social neuroscience, the neural mechanisms that... more In spite of the remarkable progress made in the burgeoning field of social neuroscience, the neural mechanisms that underlie social encounters are only beginning to be studied and could —paradoxically— be seen as representing the ‘dark matter’ of social neuroscience. Recent conceptual and empirical developments consistently indicate the need for investigations, which allow the study of real-time social encounters in a truly interactive manner. This suggestion is based on the premise that social cognition is fundamentally different when we are in interaction with others rather than merely observing them. In this article, we outline the theoretical conception of a second-person approach to other minds and review evidence from neuroimaging, psychophysiological studies and related fields to argue for the development of a second-person neuroscience, which will help neuroscience to really go social; this may also be relevant for our understanding of psychiatric disorders construed as disorders of social cognition.

Privacy in Interaction: Exploring Disclosure and Social Capital in Facebook

by Jessica Vitak

Citation: Stutzman, F., Vitak, J., Ellison, N., Gray, R., & Lampe, C. (accepted). Privacy in interaction: Exploring disclosure and social capital in Facebook. In Proceedings of the 6th annual International Conference on Weblogs and Social Media (ICWSM).

In this paper, we explore the relationship between Facebook users’ privacy concerns, relationship maintenance... more In this paper, we explore the relationship between Facebook users’ privacy concerns, relationship maintenance strategies and social capital outcomes. Previous research has found a positive relationship between various measures of Facebook use and perceptions of social capital, i.e., one’s access to social and information-based resources. Other research has found that social network site users with high privacy concerns modify their disclosures on the site. However, no research to date has empirically tested how privacy concerns and disclosure strategies interact to influence social capital outcomes. To address this gap in the literature, we explored these questions with survey data (N=230). Findings indicate that privacy concerns and behaviors predict disclosures on Facebook, but not perceptions of social capital. In addition, when looking at predictors of social capital, we identify interaction effects between users’network composition and their use of privacy features.

Using a Social Semiotic Approach to Multimodality: Researching Learning in Schools, Museums and Hospitals

by Jeff Bezemer

Jeff Bezemer, Sophia Diamantopoulou, Carey Jewitt, Gunther Kress and Diane Mavers.
MODE WORKING PAPER 1, MARCH 2012

The aim of this paper is to show how a substantive area of social research –learning– can be investigated using a... more The aim of this paper is to show how a substantive area of social research –learning– can be investigated using a multimodal social semiotic approach. We apply the approach to three different institutions – a school, a museum and a hospital, illustrating key concepts and addressing issues around pedagogy and technology in contemporary society. We sketch out a theoretical lens, a social semiotic ‘gaze’, introducing key concepts and using data excerpts taken from a number of different research projects. The paper illustrates how a social semiotic perspective on multimodality can illuminate learning by attending to multimodal designs for learning, to multimodal signs of learning, and to social and technological changes and their effects on pedagogy and curriculum.

Personal Pronouns as Indicators of Interpersonal Interaction in an Online Learning Environment

by Oguzhan Atabek

In C. Crawford et al. (Eds.), Proceedings of Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference 2010 (pp. 292-298). Chesapeake, VA: AACE.

The study focuses on interpersonal interaction in “CEIT 566 Telecommunication and Educational Applications” which is... more The study focuses on interpersonal interaction in “CEIT 566 Telecommunication and Educational Applications” which is an online course opened in METU in Turkey. A content analysis research was conducted on online discussion forum logs of the course. The use of personal pronouns and names as addressing pronouns were statistically measured as they are asserted to be strong indicators of interpersonal interactivity in the literature. Gender difference in the selection of personal pronouns was also considered.