Interaction rituals and ‘social distancing’: New haptic trajectories and touching from a distance in the time of COVID-19

2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 418-440
Author(s):  
Julia Katila ◽  
Yumei Gan ◽  
Marjorie H Goodwin

Previous research in the social sciences has shown that haptic interaction rituals are critical for maintaining social relationships. However, during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, ‘social distancing’ was encouraged in order to avoid the spread of disease. Drawing on data from self-ethnography as well as publicly available resources, in this study we explore some new, locally negotiated haptic trajectories to accomplish interaction rituals in the time of coronavirus. First, we present self-ethnographic observations of distancing in face-to-face encounters from our everyday lives. Second, utilizing methods of microanalysis of naturally occurring interaction, we investigate video recordings of the embodied negotiation of space and touch among politicians. We analyze three different ways in which politicians negotiate transitional moves in this haptic ritual when one party initiates a handshake: repairing, declining and apologizing. Our analysis shows that politicians adapt their entire bodies in conjunction with talk, gestures and laughter not only to accomplish the greeting but also to remedy the potentially face-threatening situation of not getting the greeting right. This research has implications for better understanding the spontaneous ability of human beings to invent new ways of engaging with each other. Moreover, it adds to our knowledge of how the materiality of human bodies can impact forms of sociality.

Author(s):  
Mariek Vanden Abeele

Recent empirical work suggests that phubbing, a term used to describe the practice of snubbing someone with a phone during a face-to-face social interaction, harms the quality of social relationships. Based on a comprehensive literature review, this chapter presents a framework that integrates three concurrent mechanisms that explain the relational impact of phubbing: expectancy violations, ostracism, and attentional conflict. Based on this framework, theoretically grounded propositions are formulated that may serve as guidelines for future research on these mechanisms, the conditions under which they operate, and a number of potential issues that need to be considered to further validate and extend the framework.


2012 ◽  
Vol 38 (5) ◽  
pp. 489-497 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pam Read ◽  
Chirag Shah ◽  
Lupita S-O’Brien ◽  
Jaqueline Woolcott

Exploring ways in which new technology impacts adolescents’ information behaviours and creates a social space requires holistic investigation. A qualitative study of 21 seniors in an upper-middle-class suburban high school revealed highly individualized use of Facebook and its features. These included: (i) Friends groups of 50—3700 members, with even the largest groups representative primarily of face-to-face connections, and (ii) a clear articulation within those groups of various categories, each with its own distinct communicative channel and style. A meaningful connection was found between the social value of various social network (SN)-mediated relationships and the communicative modes used to maintain and enhance them. Through a comprehensive literature review and clearly grounded analysis of rich data, this work supports the contention that adolescent social groups in which SNs are embedded form a distinct domain, and establishes a rationale for further investigation of adolescents’ contextualized use of SNs within social relationships.


Human Studies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hanna Svensson ◽  
Burak S. Tekin

AbstractThis study examines the situated use of rules and the social practices people deploy to correct projectable rule violations in pétanque playing activities. Drawing on Ethnomethodology and Conversation Analysis, and using naturally occurring video recordings, this article investigates socially organized occasions of rule use, and more particularly how rules for turn-taking at play are reflexively established in and through interaction. The alternation of players in pétanque is dependent on and consequential for the progressivity of the game and it is a practical problem for the players when a participant projects to break a rule of “who plays next”. The empirical analysis shows that formulating rules is a practice for indicating and correcting incipient violations of who plays next, which retrospectively invoke and establish the situated expectations that constitute the game as that particular game. Focusing on the anticipative corrections of projectable violations of turn-taking rules, this study revisits the concept of rules, as they are played into being, from a social and interactional perspective. We argue and demonstrate that rules are not prescriptions of game conduct, but resources that reflexively render the players’ conducts intelligible as playing the game they are engaging in.


Author(s):  
Fiona Coward

The cognitive, psychological and sociological mechanisms underpinning complex social relationships among small groups are a part of our primate heritage. However, among human groups, relationships persist over much greater temporal and spatial scales, often in the physical absence of one or other of the individuals themselves. This chapter examines how such individual face-to-face social interactions were ‘scaled up’ during human evolution to the regional and global networks characteristic of modern societies. One recent suggestion has been that a radical change in human sociality occurred with the shift to sedentary and agricultural societies in the early Neolithic. The discussion presents the results of a focused study of the long-term development of regional social networks in the Near East, using the distribution of different forms of material culture as a proxy for the social relationships that underpinned processes of trade, exchange and the dissemination of material culture practices.


2020 ◽  
pp. 1556-1572
Author(s):  
Jordi Vallverdú ◽  
Toyoaki Nishida ◽  
Yoshisama Ohmoto ◽  
Stuart Moran ◽  
Sarah Lázare

Empathy is a basic emotion trigger for human beings, especially while regulating social relationships and behaviour. The main challenge of this paper is study whether people's empathic reactions towards robots change depending on previous information given to human about the robot before the interaction. The use of false data about robot skills creates different levels of what we call ‘fake empathy'. This study performs an experiment in WOZ environment in which different subjects (n=17) interacting with the same robot while they believe that the robot is a different robot, up to three versions. Each robot scenario provides a different ‘humanoid' description, and out hypothesis is that the more human-like looks the robot, the more empathically can be the human responses. Results were obtained from questionnaires and multi- angle video recordings. Positive results reinforce the strength of our hypothesis, although we recommend a new and bigger and then more robust experiment.


2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 44-59 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jordi Vallverdú ◽  
Toyoaki Nishida ◽  
Yoshisama Ohmoto ◽  
Stuart Moran ◽  
Sarah Lázare

Empathy is a basic emotion trigger for human beings, especially while regulating social relationships and behaviour. The main challenge of this paper is study whether people's empathic reactions towards robots change depending on previous information given to human about the robot before the interaction. The use of false data about robot skills creates different levels of what we call ‘fake empathy'. This study performs an experiment in WOZ environment in which different subjects (n=17) interacting with the same robot while they believe that the robot is a different robot, up to three versions. Each robot scenario provides a different ‘humanoid' description, and out hypothesis is that the more human-like looks the robot, the more empathically can be the human responses. Results were obtained from questionnaires and multi- angle video recordings. Positive results reinforce the strength of our hypothesis, although we recommend a new and bigger and then more robust experiment.


2020 ◽  
pp. 002076402096663
Author(s):  
Abdallah Y Naser ◽  
Hadeel T Al-Hadithi ◽  
Eman Zmaily Dahmash ◽  
Hassan Alwafi ◽  
Salwan Salah Alwan ◽  
...  

Background: Social relationships refer to the existing associations between family members, friends, neighbours, co-workers, and other associates. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, social distancing has been imposed by the curfew program in Jordan. Aim: To evaluate the effects of social distancing on the social relationships of the Jordanian population. Methods: A cross-sectional study using an online survey was conducted in Jordan between the 6th and the 30th of May, 2020. Our questionnaire was constructed to explore the population’s perception of the quarantine period, how it is affecting their relationship with others, and the characteristics of their social relationships and communication with various population categories, including family members and work colleagues. Multiple linear regression was used to identify predictors of better social relationships and communication. Results: A total of 4,301 participants were involved in this study. The average score of the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on social relationships among the whole study population was 5.68 (SD: 2.33) out of 10 (equal to 56.8%), which indicates the marginal strength of the social relationships. Around 31.6% of the participants reported that their social relationships were affected to a high degree by the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants who were aged 36–45 were positively affected in terms of their social relationships during the COVID-19 pandemic. Conclusion: The COVID-19 pandemic is negatively affecting social relationships, which could ultimately lead to negative health implications. Decision-makers are advised to provide educational campaigns that improve the sociological health of the general population.


2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Afif Khoirul Hidayat

Policy for studying at home caused by the Covid-19 pandemic impacts the Physical Education learning in Schools. This research was held to identify the application of Project-Based Learning methods on Physical Education in enacting Social Distancing Pandemic Covid-19. The way applied in this research is a descriptive method with a quality approach by Creswell. This research is a Grade VIIa students of SMP N 2 Merauke that consists of 29 students. The instrument in this research is a motivation questionnaire, interview, and documentation. The results showed that the application of Project-Based Learning methods on Physical Education, which was conducted independently in each student's home, was done very well and provided a learning experience the same as face-to-face learning. This research concludes that Project Based Learning methods with a blended approach can be used as an example and guidelines of Physical Education teacher in teaching distance learning in the enactment of Social Distancing Pandemic Covid-19.


REGION ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 83-97
Author(s):  
Lise Bourdeau Lepage ◽  
Balázs Kotosz

In response to the Covid‑19 health crisis, the French government has imposed various measures, referred to as social-distancing measures, including a lockdown with the primary objective of reducing face-to-face interactions between people in order to limit the spread of the virus. This paper seeks to determine if the social-distancing measures and lockdown lead to social isolation for certain people and have an impact on French people’s well-being. First, it reveals that the feelings of social isolation have substantially increased in France during this lockdown.  Second, it explores the factors that help to explain these changes by developing a predictive model and reveals that living alone, being a woman, being young are factors that explain this increase in felling of social isolation. Third, the estimation of the effects of changes in feelings of social isolation on changes in the reported level of well-being of French respondents during lockdown shows that people who reported feeling more socially isolated than others has the lowest levels of well-being among the French population; and that the increase in people’s feelings of social isolation during lockdown is a factor that has a negative impact on their level of well-being.


2020 ◽  
Vol 60 (5) ◽  
pp. 593-603
Author(s):  
Nisha Gupta

This essay explores the abundance of art flourishing as a therapeutic antidote to the COVID-19 pandemic and panic arising across the world. Specifically, I discuss how the act of viewing, making, and sharing music, street art, paintings, graphic art, cinema, and digital videos can serve as a therapeutic vehicle for empowerment, solidarity, and collective action as most human beings strive to adopt practices of extreme social distancing as the recommended community mitigation strategy to help save lives before a vaccine is developed. This essay explores how therapeutic art-making can promote physical, mental, and social health at a time in history when all of these are under threat by COVID-19. I root these claims in theoretical literature from art therapy, as well as in inspiring and heart-warming examples of the beautiful coronavirus art that has already begun to fill our digital landscape with motivation, resiliency, and hope, though the crisis is still in its early stages.


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