Why we interact: On the functional role of the striatum in the subjective experience of social interaction

Semantics, conceptual role

Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy ◽

10.4324/9780415249126-w037-1 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Ned Block

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Social Interaction ◽

Cognitive Science ◽

Functional Role ◽

Good Health ◽

Procedural Semantics ◽

Functional Roles ◽

Conceptual Role Semantics ◽

Conceptual Role

According to conceptual role semantics (CRS), the meaning of a representation is the role of that representation in the cognitive life of the agent, for example, in perception, thought and decision-making. It is an extension of the well-known ‘use’ theory of meaning, according to which the meaning of a word is its use in communication and, more generally, in social interaction. CRS supplements external use by including the role of a symbol inside a computer or a brain. The uses appealed to are not just actual, but also counterfactual: not only what effects a thought does have, but what effects it would have had if stimuli or other states had differed. Of course, so defined, the functional role of a thought includes all sorts of causes and effects that are non-semantic, for example, perhaps happy thoughts can bolster one’s immunity, promoting good health. Conceptual roles are functional roles minus such non-semantic causes and effects. The view has arisen separately in philosophy (where it is sometimes called ‘inferential’ or ‘functional’ role semantics) and in cognitive science (where it is sometimes called ‘procedural semantics’).

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An exploration of streets as social spaces as informative for urban planning and design

Challenges of Modern Technology ◽

10.5604/01.3001.0010.8785 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 7 (4) ◽

pp. 11-27

Author(s):

Susan Human ◽

Karen Puren

Keyword(s):

Social Interaction ◽

Functional Role ◽

Social Dynamics ◽

Social Role ◽

Public Spaces ◽

Environment Interaction ◽

Social Spaces ◽

Structured Interviews ◽

The Social

Public open spaces can positively contribute to people’s quality of life. With the world’s growing urban population, especially in developing countries, quality public spaces are becoming increasingly important. Streets are considered important public spaces for people-environment interactions. Streets play an important social role in communities’ lives and can contribute to a sense of community. Using people-environment interaction as theoretical framework, the study used a qualitative approach to explore social dynamics in a multi-modal street (Helen Joseph Street) in a South Africa metropolitan city (Pretoria). Aspects of ethnography was applied using observations and semi-structured interviews to generate data from 32 participants about social dynamics in the street. Themes that emerged from the content analysis of the data include: the multi-functional role of the street, serving an economic, cultural, social, political and functional role; the generation of vigorous social interaction with multi-levels of contact/interaction; the interrelated nature of the social and spatial/built environment; the role of the street space in facilitating social interaction and being supportive of the social environment. The findings illustrate the interrelatedness and complexity of people and their environment in Helen Joseph Street. It is suggested that streets have the potential to positively impact on people’s social lives. Streets can act as platforms for social interaction by becoming self-reinforced social spaces that attract people and in return change urban spaces into vibrant public spaces.

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The Role of Distress Disclosure Tendencies in the Experience and Expression of Laboratory-Induced Sadness

Journal of Individual Differences ◽

10.1027/1614-0001/a000222 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 38 (1) ◽

pp. 55-62 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Jeffrey H. Kahn ◽

Daniel W. Cox ◽

A. Myfanwy Bakker ◽

Julia I. O’Loughlin ◽

Agnieszka M. Kotlarczyk

Keyword(s):

Individual Differences ◽

Emotional Reactivity ◽

Subjective Experience ◽

Negative Emotion ◽

Theoretical Models ◽

Laboratory Research ◽

Emotion Words ◽

Distress Disclosure ◽

Computerized Text Analysis

Abstract. The benefits of talking with others about unpleasant emotions have been thoroughly investigated, but individual differences in distress disclosure tendencies have not been adequately integrated within theoretical models of emotion. The purpose of this laboratory research was to determine whether distress disclosure tendencies stem from differences in emotional reactivity or differences in emotion regulation. After completing measures of distress disclosure tendencies, social desirability, and positive and negative affect, 84 participants (74% women) were video recorded while viewing a sadness-inducing film clip. Participants completed post-film measures of affect and were then interviewed about their reactions to the film; these interviews were audio recorded for later coding and computerized text analysis. Distress disclosure tendencies were not predictive of the subjective experience of emotion, but they were positively related to facial expressions of sadness and happiness. Distress disclosure tendencies also predicted judges’ ratings of the verbal disclosure of emotion during the interview, but self-reported disclosure and use of positive and negative emotion words were not associated with distress disclosure tendencies. The authors present implications of this research for integrating individual differences in distress disclosure with models of emotion.

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