Foundations of the Socio-Physical Model of Activities (SOMA) for Autonomous Robotic Agents1

In this paper, we present foundations of the Socio-physical Model of Activities (SOMA). SOMA represents both the physical as well as the social context of everyday activities. Such tasks seem to be trivial for humans, however, they pose severe problems for artificial agents. For starters, a natural language command requesting something will leave many pieces of information necessary for performing the task unspecified. Humans can solve such problems fast as we reduce the search space by recourse to prior knowledge such as a connected collection of plans that describe how certain goals can be achieved at various levels of abstraction. Rather than enumerating fine-grained physical contexts SOMA sets out to include socially constructed knowledge about the functions of actions to achieve a variety of goals or the roles objects can play in a given situation. As the human cognition system is capable of generalizing experiences into abstract knowledge pieces applicable to novel situations, we argue that both physical and social context need be modeled to tackle these challenges in a general manner. The central contribution of this work, therefore, lies in a comprehensive model connecting physical and social entities, that enables flexibility of executions by the robotic agents via symbolic reasoning with the model. This is, by and large, facilitated by the link between the physical and social context in SOMA where relationships are established between occurrences and generalizations of them, which has been demonstrated in several use cases in the domain of everyday activites that validate SOMA.

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Social constructivism in mathematics? The promise and shortcomings of Julian Cole’s institutional account

Synthese ◽

10.1007/s11229-021-03300-7 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Jenni Rytilä

Keyword(s):

Social Constructivism ◽

Mathematical Practice ◽

Social Constructs ◽

Socially Constructed ◽

The Social ◽

Characteristic Features ◽

Core Idea ◽

Social Entities ◽

In Virtue Of ◽

Mathematical Reality

AbstractThe core idea of social constructivism in mathematics is that mathematical entities are social constructs that exist in virtue of social practices, similar to more familiar social entities like institutions and money. Julian C. Cole has presented an institutional version of social constructivism about mathematics based on John Searle’s theory of the construction of the social reality. In this paper, I consider what merits social constructivism has and examine how well Cole’s institutional account meets the challenge of accounting for the characteristic features of mathematics, especially objectivity and applicability. I propose that in general social constructivism shows promise as an ontology of mathematics, because the view can agree with mathematical practice and it offers a way of understanding how mathematical entities can be real without conflicting with a scientific picture of reality. However, I argue that Cole’s specific theory does not provide an adequate social constructivist account of mathematics. His institutional account fails to sufficiently explain the objectivity and applicability of mathematics, because the explanations are weakened and limited by the three-level theoretical model underlying Cole’s account of the construction of mathematical reality and by the use of the Searlean institutional framework. The shortcomings of Cole’s theory give reason to suspect that the Searlean framework is not an optimal way to defend the view that mathematical reality is socially constructed.

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Perceived organizational support: the interactive role of coworkers’ perceptions and employees’ voice

Employee Relations ◽

10.1108/er-05-2018-0137 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 42 (1) ◽

pp. 107-124 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Florence Stinglhamber ◽

Marc Ohana ◽

Gaëtane Caesens ◽

Maryline Meyer

Keyword(s):

Social Context ◽

Organizational Citizenship ◽

Organizational Support ◽

Perceived Support ◽

Content Type ◽

Individual Level ◽

Socially Constructed ◽

The Social ◽

Practical Implications

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether a focal employee’s perception of organizational support (POS) is shaped by the social context or, more specifically, by his/her coworkers’ POS. The authors further aim to identify the conditions under which coworkers’ POS may have more influence or, on the contrary, less or even no influence. Design/methodology/approach Data were obtained from questionnaires distributed among a sample of 195 employees and among their supervisors. Findings Coworkers’ levels of POS are positively related to the focal employee’s POS with positive consequences in terms of job satisfaction and, finally, organizational citizenship behaviors. This influence of coworkers’ POS is strengthened when the focal employee experiences low voice in the workplace. Research limitations/implications Overall, this research contributes to organizational support theory by showing that POS may also develop based on a socially constructed process and not only on an individual-level psychological process. Practical implications Our findings have practical implications for HR policies employed by practitioners to socialize newcomers and to manage perceived support in a context of organizational change. Originality/value Building on a few recent studies suggesting that the social context may influence employees’ perceptions of organizational support, the present study is the first to show that the influence of the social context is more likely to occur under specific conditions, i.e. when employees experience low voice.

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COGNITION AND COMMUNICATION: JUDGMENTAL BIASES, RESEARCH METHODS, AND THE LOGIC OF CONVERSATION.Norbert Schwarz. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum, 1996. Pp. vii + 112. $22.50 paper.

Studies in Second Language Acquisition ◽

10.1017/s0272263198353073 ◽

1998 ◽

Vol 20 (3) ◽

pp. 452-453

Author(s):

Carol Harding

Keyword(s):

Social Context ◽

Psychological Research ◽

Memorial Lecture ◽

Thought Processes ◽

Human Judgment ◽

Semantic Meaning ◽

Misleading Information ◽

Conversational Implicatures ◽

Abstract Knowledge ◽

The Social

Professor Schwarz is the most recent contributor to the John M. MacEachran Memorial Lecture Series. In this timely essay, Schwarz takes a position critical of traditional psychological research asserting that: “Our [psychologists'] focus on individual thought processes has fostered a neglect of the social context in which individuals do their thinking and this neglect has contributed to the less than flattering portrait that psychology has painted of human judgment” (p. 1). He posits that “fallacies of human judgment” reported in studies of cognition and communication are actually fallacies of the research—specifically, the researchers' failure to take into account the human mind's capacity to make sense of things, particularly through communication embedded in social context. His point is an important one. When involved in conversation (even in the research laboratory), humans may suspend their abstract knowledge of the logic of language and attend to irrelevant and misleading information—especially if they assume that the speaker's intentions are to convey information and to make sense. Schwarz reports that “ordinary kinds of talk” build on Gricean conversational implicatures, inferences that “go beyond the semantic meaning of what is being said by determining the pragmatic meaning of the utterance” (p. 11). Researchers underestimate the power of these inferences and, by presenting decontextualized, at times absurd, information, they fail to accurately measure their subjects' “human judgment,” but instead observe their subjects' diligent, and often expert, attempts to make sense of the message.

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The Social Context of Mental Health and Illness: Introduction to Part II

A Handbook for the Study of Mental Health ◽

10.1017/9781316471289.012 ◽

2018 ◽

pp. 173-179

Author(s):

Teresa L. Scheid ◽

Eric R. Wright

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Social Context ◽

Mental Health And Illness ◽

The Social ◽

Health And Illness

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Knowledge Contribution in Organizations via Social Media

Journal of Personnel Psychology ◽

10.1027/1866-5888/a000169 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 16 (1) ◽

pp. 12-24 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Nicole Behringer ◽

Kai Sassenberg ◽

Annika Scholl

Keyword(s):

Social Media ◽

Social Identity ◽

Social Identity Theory ◽

Knowledge Exchange ◽

Expectancy Theory ◽

Perceived Usefulness ◽

Abstract Knowledge ◽

The Social ◽

Willingness To Contribute ◽

Social Media Tool

Abstract. Knowledge exchange via social media is crucial for organizational success. Yet, many employees only read others’ contributions without actively contributing their knowledge. We thus examined predictors of the willingness to contribute knowledge. Applying social identity theory and expectancy theory to knowledge exchange, we investigated the interplay of users’ identification with their organization and perceived usefulness of a social media tool. In two studies, identification facilitated users’ willingness to contribute knowledge – provided that the social media tool seemed useful (vs. not-useful). Interestingly, identification also raised the importance of acquiring knowledge collectively, which could in turn compensate for low usefulness of the tool. Hence, considering both social and media factors is crucial to enhance employees’ willingness to share knowledge via social media.

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