scholarly journals Social buffering of human fear is shaped by gender, social concern, and the presence of real vs virtual agents

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yanyan Qi ◽  
Dorothée Bruch ◽  
Philipp Krop ◽  
Martin J. Herrmann ◽  
Marc E. Latoschik ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Virtual Agents ◽  
Social Concern ◽  
Virtual Agent ◽  
Social Buffering ◽  
Social Modulation ◽  
Skin Conductance Responses ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Treatment ◽  
Real Person

AbstractThe presence of a partner can attenuate physiological fear responses, a phenomenon known as social buffering. However, not all individuals are equally sociable. Here we investigated whether social buffering of fear is shaped by sensitivity to social anxiety (social concern) and whether these effects are different in females and males. We collected skin conductance responses (SCRs) and affect ratings of female and male participants when they experienced aversive and neutral sounds alone (alone treatment) or in the presence of an unknown person of the same gender (social treatment). Individual differences in social concern were assessed based on a well-established questionnaire. Our results showed that social concern had a stronger effect on social buffering in females than in males. The lower females scored on social concern, the stronger the SCRs reduction in the social compared to the alone treatment. The effect of social concern on social buffering of fear in females disappeared if participants were paired with a virtual agent instead of a real person. Together, these results showed that social buffering of human fear is shaped by gender and social concern. In females, the presence of virtual agents can buffer fear, irrespective of individual differences in social concern. These findings specify factors that shape the social modulation of human fear, and thus might be relevant for the treatment of anxiety disorders.

scholarly journals Social buffering of human fear is shaped by gender, social concern and the presence of real vs virtual agents

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yanyan Qi ◽  
Dorothée Bruch ◽  
Philipp Krop ◽  
Martin J. Herrmann ◽  
Marc E. Latoschik ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Virtual Agents ◽  
Social Concern ◽  
Virtual Agent ◽  
Social Buffering ◽  
Social Modulation ◽  
Skin Conductance Responses ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Treatment ◽  
Real Person

The presence of a partner can attenuate physiological fear responses, a phenomenon known as social buffering. However, not all individuals are equally sociable. Here we investigated whether social buffering of fear is shaped by sensitivity to social anxiety (social concern) and whether these effects are different in females and males. We collected skin conductance responses (SCRs) and affect ratings of female and male participants when they experienced aversive and neutral sounds alone (alone treatment) or in the presence of an unknown person of the same gender (social treatment). Individual differences in social concern were assessed based on a well-established questionnaire. Our results showed that social concern had a stronger effect on social buffering in females than in males. The lower females scored on social concern, the stronger the SCRs reduction in the social compared to the alone treatment. The effect of social concern on social buffering of fear in females disappeared if participants were paired with a virtual agent instead of a real person. Together, these results showed that social buffering of human fear is shaped by gender and social concern. In females, the presence of virtual agents can buffer fear, irrespective of individual differences in social concern. These findings specify factors that shape the social modulation of human fear, and thus might be relevant for the treatment of anxiety disorders.

scholarly journals Towards Culturally-Aware Virtual Agent Systems

2011 ◽  
pp. 412-430 ◽  
Author(s):  
Birgit Endrass ◽  
Elisabeth André ◽  
Matthias Rehm
Keyword(s):  
Multiagent Systems ◽  
Cultural Awareness ◽  
Computational Models ◽  
Virtual Agents ◽  
Virtual Agent ◽  
Great Opportunity ◽  
Agent Systems ◽  
The Social ◽  
Intercultural Encounters ◽  
Patterns Of Behavior

Globalization leads to an increase in intercultural encounters with a risk of misunderstandings due to different patterns of behavior and understanding. Learning applications have been proposed that employ virtual agents as their primary tool. Through their embodiment, learning can be done in a game-like environment in a more interesting way than for example learning with a textbook. The authors support the idea that virtual agents are a great opportunity for teaching cultural awareness. Realizing this, the concept of culture needs to be translated into computational models and the advantages of different systems using virtual agents need to be considered. Therefore, the authors reflect in this chapter on how virtual agents can help to learn about culture, scan definitions of culture from the social sciences, give an overview on how multiagent systems developed over time and classify the state of the art that integrates culture in multiagent systems. In addition, an approach of simulating culture-specific behavior using such a multiagent system is introduced and future trends in enculturating virtual agent systems are outlined.

Individual differences, social attention, and the history of the social motivation hypotheses of autism

2019 ◽  
Vol 42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter C. Mundy
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Early Development ◽  
Emotional Development ◽  
Social Motivation ◽  
Social Attention ◽  
Social Emotional Development ◽  
Social Emotional ◽  
Precise Understanding ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of

Abstract The stereotype of people with autism as unresponsive or uninterested in other people was prominent in the 1980s. However, this view of autism has steadily given way to recognition of important individual differences in the social-emotional development of affected people and a more precise understanding of the possible role social motivation has in their early development.

Reality Negotiation

2009 ◽  
pp. 474-482
Author(s):  
Raymond L. Higgins ◽  
Matthew W. Gallagher
Keyword(s):  
Social Support ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Positive Psychology ◽  
Social Constructionist ◽  
Positive Outcomes ◽  
Negative Outcomes ◽  
Negotiation Research ◽  
The Social ◽  
Coping Processes

This chapter presents an overview of the development and status of the reality negotiation construct and relates it to a variety of coping processes. The reality negotiation construct follows from the social constructionist tradition and first appeared in discussions of how excuses protect self-images by decreasing the causal linkage to negative outcomes. The reality negotiation construct was later expanded to include a discussion of how the process of hoping may be used to increase perceived linkage to positive outcomes. In the two decades since these constructs were first introduced, four individual differences measures have been developed, and the effects of these reality negotiation techniques have been studied extensively. Reality negotiation techniques can be both maladaptive and adaptive and have been shown to be associated with coping and social support in a variety of populations. The chapter concludes by highlighting a few areas in which reality negotiation research could expand to further its relevance and applicability to the field of positive psychology.

scholarly journals Studying individual differences in the social environment to better understand language learning and processing

2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (s1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shiri Lev-Ari
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Social Environment ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Linguistic Performance ◽  
The Social

AbstractPeople learn language from their social environment. Therefore, individual differences in the input that their social environment provides could influence their linguistic performance. Nevertheless, investigation of the role of individual differences in input on performance has been mostly restricted to first and second language acquisition. In this paper I argue that individual differences in input can influence linguistic performance even in adult native speakers. Specifically, differences in input can affect performance by influencing people’s knowledgebase, by modulating their processing manner, and by shaping expectations. Therefore, studying the role that individual differences in input play can improve our understanding of how language is learned, processed and represented.

scholarly journals Social environment influences the relationship between genotype and gene expression in wild baboons

2013 ◽  
Vol 368 (1618) ◽  
pp. 20120345 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel E. Runcie ◽  
Ralph T. Wiedmann ◽  
Elizabeth A. Archie ◽  
Jeanne Altmann ◽  
Gregory A. Wray ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gene Expression ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Social Environment ◽  
Group Size ◽  
Early Life ◽  
Social Connectedness ◽  
Dominance Rank ◽  
Social Stressors ◽  
The Social ◽  
Wild Baboons

Variation in the social environment can have profound effects on survival and reproduction in wild social mammals. However, we know little about the degree to which these effects are influenced by genetic differences among individuals, and conversely, the degree to which social environmental variation mediates genetic reaction norms. To better understand these relationships, we investigated the potential for dominance rank, social connectedness and group size to modify the effects of genetic variation on gene expression in the wild baboons of the Amboseli basin. We found evidence for a number of gene–environment interactions (GEIs) associated with variation in the social environment, encompassing social environments experienced in adulthood as well as persistent effects of early life social environment. Social connectedness, maternal dominance rank and group size all interacted with genotype to influence gene expression in at least one sex, and either in early life or in adulthood. These results suggest that social and behavioural variation, akin to other factors such as age and sex, can impact the genotype–phenotype relationship. We conclude that GEIs mediated by the social environment are important in the evolution and maintenance of individual differences in wild social mammals, including individual differences in responses to social stressors.

A Transparent and Decentralized Model of Perception and Action for Intelligent Virtual Agents

2014 ◽  
Vol 23 (04) ◽  
pp. 1460020 ◽  
Author(s):  
George Anastassakis ◽  
Themis Panayiotopoulos
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Representation ◽  
Virtual Environment ◽  
Virtual World ◽  
Perception And Action ◽  
Virtual Agents ◽  
Virtual Agent ◽  
Complex Interactions ◽  
Intelligent Virtual Agents ◽  
Decentralized Model ◽  
Over Time

Intelligent virtual agent behaviour is a crucial element of any virtual environment application as it essentially brings the environment to life, introduces believability and realism and enables complex interactions and evolution over time. However, the development of mechanisms for virtual agent perception and action is neither a trivial nor a straight-forward task. In this paper we present a model of perception and action for intelligent virtual agents that meets specific requirements and can as such be systematically implemented, can seamlessly and transparently integrate with knowledge representation and intelligent reasoning mechanisms, is highly independent of virtual world implementation specifics, and enables virtual agent portability and reuse.

Dynamic roles of social presence and individual differences in social TV platforms

2021 ◽  
pp. 135485652110575
Author(s):  
Jihyun Kim ◽  
Kelly Merrill
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Social Presence ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Unique Form ◽  
Tv Viewing ◽  
Television Content ◽  
Social Tv ◽  
The Social ◽  
Private And Public ◽  
The Individual

These days, many individuals engage in a unique form of TV viewing that includes a simultaneous act of watching television content and talking about it with others in a mediated environment. This phenomenon is commonly referred to as social TV viewing. Responding to the popularity of this form of TV viewing behavior, the present study examines the individual differences of the social TV viewing experience, particularly with regard to different communication platforms (e.g. private vs. public). Based on the data collected from an online survey, primary findings indicate that extroverted and lonely individuals have different social TV viewing experiences such as preferences for a particular type of platforms for social TV viewing. Further, social presence plays an important role in the understanding of social TV enjoyment in private and public platforms.

scholarly journals An Avian Basal Ganglia-Forebrain Circuit Contributes Differentially to Syllable Versus Sequence Variability of Adult Bengalese Finch Song

2009 ◽  
Vol 101 (6) ◽  
pp. 3235-3245 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cara M. Hampton ◽  
Jon T. Sakata ◽  
Michael S. Brainard
Keyword(s):  
Basal Ganglia ◽  
Syllable Structure ◽  
Skill Learning ◽  
Behavioral Variability ◽  
Neural Pathways ◽  
Sequence Variability ◽  
Social Modulation ◽  
The Social ◽  
Learned Behaviors ◽  
Magnocellular Nucleus

Behavioral variability is important for motor skill learning but continues to be present and actively regulated even in well-learned behaviors. In adult songbirds, two types of song variability can persist and are modulated by social context: variability in syllable structure and variability in syllable sequencing. The degree to which the control of both types of adult variability is shared or distinct remains unknown. The output of a basal ganglia-forebrain circuit, LMAN (the lateral magnocellular nucleus of the anterior nidopallium), has been implicated in song variability. For example, in adult zebra finches, neurons in LMAN actively control the variability of syllable structure. It is unclear, however, whether LMAN contributes to variability in adult syllable sequencing because sequence variability in adult zebra finch song is minimal. In contrast, Bengalese finches retain variability in both syllable structure and syllable sequencing into adulthood. We analyzed the effects of LMAN lesions on the variability of syllable structure and sequencing and on the social modulation of these forms of variability in adult Bengalese finches. We found that lesions of LMAN significantly reduced the variability of syllable structure but not of syllable sequencing. We also found that LMAN lesions eliminated the social modulation of the variability of syllable structure but did not detect significant effects on the modulation of sequence variability. These results show that LMAN contributes differentially to syllable versus sequence variability of adult song and suggest that these forms of variability are regulated by distinct neural pathways.

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