scholarly journals A Study of Dramatic Action and Emotion Using a Systematic Scan of Stick Figure Configurations

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Noa Raindel ◽  
Yuvalal Liron ◽  
Uri Alon
Keyword(s):  
Action Theory ◽  
Upper Body ◽  
Emotional States ◽  
Body Postures ◽  
Stick Figure ◽  
Human Interactions ◽  
Dramatic Action ◽  
Low Dimensional ◽  
Action Verbs

Comprehending the meaning of body postures is essential for social organisms such as humans. For example, it is important to understand at a glance whether two people seen at a distance are in a friendly or conflictual interaction. However, it is still unclear what fraction of the possible body configurations carry meaning, and what is the best way to characterize such meaning. Here, we address this by using stick figures as a low-dimensional, yet evocative, representation of body postures. We systematically scanned a set of 1,470 upper-body postures of stick figures in a dyad with a second stick figure with a neutral pose. We asked participants to rate the stick figure in terms of 20 emotion adjectives like sad or triumphant and in terms of eight active verbs that connote intent like to threaten and to comfort. The stick figure configuration space was dense with meaning: people strongly agreed on more than half of the configurations. The meaning was generally smooth in the sense that small changes in posture had a small effect on the meaning, but certain small changes had a large effect. Configurations carried meaning in both emotions and intent, but the intent verbs covered more configurations. The effectiveness of the intent verbs in describing body postures aligns with a theory, originating from the theater, called dramatic action theory. This suggests that, in addition to the well-studied role of emotional states in describing body language, much can be gained by using also dramatic action verbs which signal the effort to change the state of others. We provide a dictionary of stick figure configurations and their perceived meaning. This systematic scan of body configurations might be useful to teaching people and machines to decipher body postures in human interactions.

scholarly journals The structure of influence tactics: a cartoon-based measurement system derived from the theater concept of dramatic action

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuvalal Liron ◽  
Noa Raindel ◽  
Uri Alon
Keyword(s):  
Social Interactions ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Psychological State ◽  
Emotional States ◽  
Coding Systems ◽  
Complementary Approach ◽  
Dramatic Action ◽  
Lexical Approach ◽  
Action Verbs

People use behavioral tactics during social interactions to influence others toward a specific goal or effect. Understanding these social interactions that transpire on a second-by-second time scale requires concepts that can describe these tactics. Existing approaches to describe social interactions consider emotional states or use ad-hoc descriptors for microanalysis of interactions. Such descriptors are different in each context thereby limiting comparisons, and can also mix facets of meaning such as emotional states, short term tactics and long-term goals. To develop a systematic set of concepts for second-by-second social interactions, we suggest a complementary approach based on practices employed in theater. Theater uses the concept of dramatic action, the effort that one makes to change the psychological state of another. Unlike states (e.g. emotions), dramatic actions aim to change states; unlike long-term goals or motivations, dramatic actions can last seconds. We defined a set of 22 basic dramatic action verbs using a lexical approach, such as ‘to threaten’ – the effort to incite fear, and ‘to encourage’ – the effort to inspire hope or confidence. We then developed a set of visual cartoon stimuli for these basic dramatic actions, and find that people can reliably and reproducibly assign dramatic action verbs to these stimuli. We show that each dramatic action can be carried out with different emotions, proving that the two constructs are distinct. We characterized a principal valence axis of dramatic actions. Finally, we re-analyzed three widely used interaction coding systems in terms of dramatic actions, to suggest that dramatic actions might serve as a common vocabulary across research contexts. This study supplies a key ingredient to analyze the elements of behavior in social interactions.

Alcohol Dependence Conceptualized as a Stress Disorder

2019 ◽  
pp. 198-220
Author(s):  
Leandro F. Vendruscolo ◽  
George F. Koob
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Alcohol Use ◽  
Alcohol Dependence ◽  
Glucocorticoid Receptors ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Emotional States ◽  
Brain Circuits ◽  
Negative Emotional State ◽  
Alcohol Alcohol

Alcohol use disorder is a chronically relapsing disorder that involves (1) compulsivity to seek and take alcohol, (2) difficulty in limiting alcohol intake, and (3) emergence of a negative emotional state (e.g., dysphoria, anxiety, irritability) in the absence of alcohol. Alcohol addiction encompasses a three-stage cycle that becomes more intense as alcohol use progresses: binge/intoxication, withdrawal/negative affect, and preoccupation/anticipation. These stages engage neuroadaptations in brain circuits that involve the basal ganglia (reward hypofunction), extended amygdala (stress sensitization), and prefrontal cortex (executive function disorder). This chapter discusses key neuroadaptations in the hypothalamic and extrahypothalamic stress systems and the critical role of glucocorticoid receptors. These neuroadaptations contribute to negative emotional states that powerfully drive compulsive alcohol drinking and seeking. These changes in association with a disruption of prefrontal cortex function that lead to cognitive deficits and poor decision making contribute to the chronic relapsing nature of alcohol dependence.

Gender Differences in Empathy During Adolescence: Does Emotional Self-Awareness Matter?

2021 ◽  
pp. 003329412097663
Author(s):  
Cristina Trentini ◽  
Renata Tambelli ◽  
Silvia Maiorani ◽  
Marco Lauriola
Keyword(s):  
Gender Differences ◽  
Reactivity Index ◽  
Self Awareness ◽  
Emotional States ◽  
Personal Distress ◽  
Full Knowledge ◽  
Emotional Concern ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Tas 20

Empathy refers to the capacity to experience emotions similar to those observed or imagined in another person, with the full knowledge that the other person is the source of these emotions. Awareness of one's own emotional states is a prerequisite for self-other differentiation to develop. This study investigated gender differences in empathy during adolescence and tested whether emotional self-awareness explained these differences. Two-hundred-eleven adolescents (108 girls and 103 boys) between 14 and 19 years completed the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) and the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) to assess empathy and emotional self-awareness, respectively. Overall, girls obtained higher scores than boys on IRI subscales like emotional concern, personal distress, and fantasy. Regarding emotional self-awareness, we found gender differences in TAS-20 scores, with girls reporting greater difficulty identifying feelings and less externally oriented thinking than boys. Difficulty identifying feelings explained the greatest personal distress experienced by girls. Lower externally oriented thinking accounted for girls’ greater emotional concern and fantasy. These findings offer an insight into the role of emotional self-awareness–which is essential for self-other differentiation–as an account for gender differences in empathic abilities during adolescence. In girls, difficulty identifying feelings can impair the ability to differentiate between ones’ and others’ emotions, leading them to experience self-focused and aversive responses when confronted with others’ suffering. Conversely, in boys, externally oriented thinking can mitigate personal distress when faced with others’ discomfort.

scholarly journals Recognising the Role of the Emotion of Fear in Offences and Defences

2019 ◽  
Vol 83 (6) ◽  
pp. 450-472
Author(s):  
Susan SM Edwards
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Responsibility ◽  
Self Control ◽  
Mens Rea ◽  
Emotional States ◽  
Loss Of Self ◽  
Human Conduct ◽  
Privileged Status ◽  
Actus Reus ◽  
Male Experience

Anger, its part in human conduct and in crime commission has been much discussed and accorded a privileged status within the law, while the role of fear has been less considered. Notwithstanding, fear and related emotional states have received some recognition as intrinsic elements of the perpetrator’s object integral to the actus reus of certain offences and relevant to the defendant’s mens rea of some defences. The harm caused by deliberately or negligently instilling fear in another is inconsistently considered in law as is its impact on criminal responsibility and mens rea. Fear has been recently acknowledged as a permissible cause of loss of self-control in a partial defence to murder (Coroners and Justice Act 2009 s 55(3)). It remains a contested emotion and as with anger the male experience of what circumstances trigger fear predominates.

Perceiving emotion in crowds: the role of dynamic body postures on the perception of emotion in crowded scenes

2009 ◽  
Vol 204 (3) ◽  
pp. 361-372 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joanna Edel McHugh ◽  
Rachel McDonnell ◽  
Carol O’Sullivan ◽  
Fiona N. Newell
Keyword(s):  
Body Postures ◽  
Crowded Scenes

scholarly journals Impacts of Gratifications on Consumers’ Emotions and Continuance Use Intention: An Empirical Study of Weibo in China

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 3162 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ives Gogan ◽  
Ziqiong Zhang ◽  
Elizabeth Matemba
Keyword(s):  
User Satisfaction ◽  
Uses And Gratifications ◽  
Theoretical Background ◽  
Emotional States ◽  
Continuance Intention ◽  
Uses And Gratifications Theory ◽  
Emotional Commitment ◽  
Use Of Social Media ◽  
Individual Use

Recently, several studies on information systems have applied the Uses and Gratifications theory to investigate individual use of social media, and have reported the role of different gratifications in predicting users’ behaviors. However, no attention was given to the influence of these gratifications on users’ emotional states (satisfaction and emotional commitment). To address this research gap, the current study integrates the Uses and Gratifications theory and the Stimulus-Organism-Response theory to provide a theoretical background for the impacts of gratification on consumers’ emotional states and continuance use intention. The study has proposed a theoretical model that was tested on data collected from 252 Sina Weibo users in China. The results revealed that social gratification is the most important factor influencing users’ satisfaction and emotional commitment. In addition, we report the roles that user satisfaction and emotional state provide in predicting users’ continuance intention. The theoretical and practical implications of the proposed theory are also discussed.

scholarly journals Neural mechanisms underlying regulation of empathy and altruism by beliefs of others' pain

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tao Yu ◽  
Shihui Han
Keyword(s):  
Real Life ◽  
Stimulus Onset ◽  
Neural Mechanisms ◽  
Altruistic Behavior ◽  
Emotional States ◽  
Neural Responses ◽  
Temporoparietal Junction ◽  
Subjective Estimation ◽  
Show Evidence

Perceived cues signaling others' pain induce empathy that in turn motivates altruistic behavior toward those who appear suffering. This perception-emotion-behavior reactivity is the core of human altruism but does not always occur in real life situations. Here, by integrating behavioral and multimodal neuroimaging measures, we investigate neural mechanisms underlying the functional role of beliefs of others' pain in modulating empathy and altruism. We show evidence that decreasing (or enhancing) beliefs of others' pain reduces (or increases) subjective estimation of others' painful emotional states and monetary donations to those who show pain expressions. Moreover, decreasing beliefs of others' pain attenuates neural responses to perceived cues signaling others' pain within 200 ms after stimulus onset and modulate neural responses to others' pain in the frontal cortices and temporoparietal junction. Our findings highlight beliefs of others' pain as a fundamental cognitive basis of human empathy and altruism and unravel the intermediate neural architecture.

scholarly journals Classroom Discourse and Teachers’ Experience: A Cognitive View

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 1308-1317
Author(s):  
Bibi Malihe Vamagh Shahi
Keyword(s):  
Novice Teachers ◽  
Community Of Practice ◽  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Classroom Discourse ◽  
English Teachers ◽  
Experienced Teachers ◽  
Years Of Experience ◽  
Efl Teachers ◽  
Action Verbs

In this article, we intend to investigate the role of experience in EFL teachers’ discourse using a cognitive taxonomy. In this line, we are going to examine whether there any significant differences between novice and inexperienced groups of teacher in their discourse with regard to a cognitive taxonomy. The selected sample comprises twenty-seven English teachers engaged in EFL classes. Totally, six categories of cognitive processes were introduced. The categories are from the most concrete to the most abstract: (1) knowledge; (2) comprehension; (3) application; (4) analysis; (5) synthesis; and (6) evaluation. According to the results, it was revealed that experienced teachers used more action verbs in all the categories of this taxonomy (428 action verbs out of 805), whereas novice teachers (teachers which has less than 4 years of experience) used 377 action verbs. It can be concluded that experienced teachers teach in more fruitful and meaningful way. Novice teachers can learn and construct meaning from their experiences when they are actively engaged in authentic activity that will help them to learn to think and act in a community of practice.

scholarly journals The role of emotional service in the restaurant business

2022 ◽  
pp. 164-167
Author(s):  
N. A. Ofitserova
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Intelligence ◽  
Customer Satisfaction ◽  
Emotional Labor ◽  
Work Performance ◽  
Positive Emotions ◽  
Emotional State ◽  
Communicative Competence ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Emotional States

The article considers the restaurant business from the point of view of not only the entrepreneurial aspect, but also the service aspect, which is fundamental. The reasons why people visit restaurants have been revealed. In addition to physical need, restaurants are an element of cognition and a way of experiencing positive emotions. The importance of the restaurant business in shaping people’s positive emotional state has been formulated. Two forms of emotional labor of an employee and the influence of emotional states on work performance have been highlighted. The role of emotional intelligence and communicative competence in customer satisfaction with a restaurant visit has been determined. The importance of developing emotional intelligence has been concluded. Recommendations for its development has been formulated. 

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