scholarly journals Embodied Displays of “Doing Thinking.” Epistemic and Interactive Functions of Thinking Displays in Children's Argumentative Activities

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vivien Heller

This study investigates moments in which one participant in an interaction embodies that he is “doing thinking,” a display that is commonly referred to as “thinking face. ” From an interactional perspective, it is assumed that embodied displays of “doing thinking” are a recurring social practice and serve interactive functions. While previous studies have examined thinking faces primarily in word searches and storytelling, the present study focuses on argumentative activities, in which children engage in processes of joint decision-making. The paper has two interrelated aims. The first aim is to describe how multiple modalities—beyond the face—are temporally coordinated to create multimodal gestalts of “doing thinking.” It is shown that thinking displays not only involve dynamic imaginative gaze but also stylized bodily postures. The second aim is to generate knowledge about the functions of thinking displays in children's argumentative activities. The analysis describes how both speakers and recipients use thinking displays in different turn positions and align them with verbal talk or silence. The data for this study comprise video recordings of decision-making processes in groups of older children. Drawing on a multimodal approach to situated interaction, it will be proposed that embodied displays of “doing thinking” provide a resource to shape participation frameworks, mark epistemic stances and create epistemic ecologies for collaborative reasoning. By investigating thinking displays in a particular conversational activity, the study sheds light on the diversity and context-sensitive functionality of thinking displays. It also contributes to recent research on children's collaborative reasoning as an embodied discursive practice.

Author(s):  
Pedro B. Agua ◽  
Anacleto C. Correia ◽  
Armindo Frias

In critical activities and organizations, decision making in the face of complexity has been a growing normal. Complexity troubles humans due to cognitive limitations. Moreover, humans are merely able to understand cause-and-effect relationships that are close in time and space, not the paradigm of many complex socio-technical systems. Decision-making processes shall rely on models that help harness a problem´s associated complexity – among them the dynamics of supply chains. Models typically fall into two broad categories: mental and formal models. Supply chains are complex systems, which may exhibit complex behaviour patterns. Decisions and policies within organizational systems are the causes of many problems, among them undesirable oscillations and other problematic patterns of the parameters of interest. A system is a grouping of parts that work together for a purpose. Hence, the systems dynamics methodology is an adequate approach to deal with fuel supply chain management. A model was developed that helps manage marine gasoil supply chains in the context of the navy.


2013 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-24
Author(s):  
Guy Davidov ◽  
Maayan Davidov

Research on compliance has shown that people can be induced to comply with various requests by using techniques that capitalise on the human tendencies to act consistently and to reciprocate. Thus far this line of research has been applied to interactions between individuals, not to relations between institutions. We argue, however, that similar techniques are applied by courts vis-à-vis the government, the legislature and the public at large, when courts try to secure legitimacy and acceptance of their decisions. We discuss a number of known influence techniques – including ‘foot in the door’, ‘low-balling’, ‘giving a reputation to uphold’ and ‘door in the face’ – and provide examples from Israeli case law of the use of such techniques by courts. This analysis offers new insights that can further the understanding of judicial decision-making processes.


2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura E. Slosky ◽  
Marilyn Stern ◽  
Natasha L. Burke ◽  
Laura A. Siminoff

Background. In stressful situations, decision making processes related to informed consent may be compromised. Given the profound levels of distress that surrogates of children in pediatric intensive care units (PICU) experience, it is important to understand what factors may be influencing the decision making process beyond the informed consent. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the role of clinician influence and other factors on decision making regarding participation in a randomized clinical trial (RCT).Method. Participants were 76 children under sedation in a PICU and their surrogate decision makers. Measures included the Post Decision Clinician Survey, observer checklist, and post-decision interview.Results. Age of the pediatric patient was related to participation decisions in the RCT such that older children were more likely to be enrolled. Mentioning the sponsoring institution was associated with declining to participate in the RCT. Type of health care provider and overt recommendations to participate were not related to enrollment.Conclusion. Decisions to participate in research by surrogates of children in the PICU appear to relate to child demographics and subtleties in communication; however, no modifiable characteristics were related to increased participation, indicating that the informed consent process may not be compromised in this population.


Facilities ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Erik Carl Backus ◽  
Jakob C. Bruhl

Purpose The facility decision-making process (FDMP), as described in this paper, is a framework based on decades of proven effectiveness in analogous military applications. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate key factors which justify the need for the FDMP before describing the FDMP. Design/methodology/approach This paper conducts a literature review as it relates to facilities specific decision-making, puts forward a new concept for those processes and provides an abridged case study of the concept in application. Findings Facilities management is a key function for nearly every type of business or enterprise. As part of facilities management, many decisions are made about physical assets that a business or enterprise owns or maintains. Currently, there is no uniform decision-making framework, in literature or in practice, which enables consistency, robustness and scalability for facility management decisions. Such a framework would enable facility managers to effectively justify decisions related to capital and operational expenses. Practical implications The FDMP provides a robust procedure for facilities managers and engineers that enables enhanced strength in the face of business enterprise scrutiny as compared with the often-intuitive decision-making processes currently used in practice. Originality/value This novel conceptual process articulates the opportunity to provide for a comprehensive facilities decision-making process that enables better decisions especially as it relates to what are often ill-defined problem sets in facilities management.


2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 127-148
Author(s):  
Brian L. Due

This paper considers how information sheets are used as a resource for joint attention and decision-making in a situated service encounter. The optician shop is a perspicuous setting for addressing decision-making as an interactional accomplishment informed by information sheets, because they are routinely used and made relevant by sellers. The paper builds on ethnomethodological multimodal conversation analysis and a large corpus of more than 700 hours of video recordings from eleven different Danish optician shops. Based on one single analysis from this corpus, the paper shows how the sheet is used cooperatively and oriented to in situ as a shared resource in the process of selling/buying glasses. A key finding is that the information sheet is not just a resource for the seller but a shared resource for established joint attention and decision-making. More generally, the paper contributes to studies of service and sales encounters by highlighting the importance of inscribed objects to decision-making processes in social interaction.


2000 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-65 ◽  
Author(s):  
Graham Smith ◽  
Corinne Wales

In the face of widespread dissatisfaction with contemporary democratic practice, there has been a growing interest in theories of deliberative democracy. However theorists have often failed to sufficiently address the question of institutional design. This paper argues that recent experiments with citizens' juries should be of interest to deliberative democrats. The practice of citizens' juries is considered in light of three deliberative democratic criteria: inclusivity, deliberation and citizenship. It is argued that citizens' juries offer important insights into how democratic deliberation could be institutionalized in contemporary political decision-making processes.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shuichi Suetani ◽  
Andrea Baker ◽  
Kelly Garner ◽  
Peter Cosgrove ◽  
Matilda Mackay-Sim ◽  
...  

Cognitive impairments in psychosis are one of the strongest predictors of functional decline. Cortico-striatal dysfunction may contribute to both psychosis and cognitive impairment in psychotic illnesses. The decision-making processes underlying goal-directed action and serial reversal learning can be measured and are sensitive to changes reflecting cortico-striatal dysfunction. As such, changes in decision-making performance may assist with predicting functional decline in people with psychosis. We assessed decision-making processes in healthy controls (N=34), and those with early psychosis (N=15) and persistent psychosis (N=45). We subclassified subjects based on intact/impaired goal-directed action. Compared with healthy controls (<20%), a large proportion (58%) of those with persistent psychosis displayed impaired goal-directed action, predicting poor serial reversal learning performance. Computational approaches indicated that those with persistent psychosis were less deterministic in their decision-making. Those with impaired goal-directed action had a decreased capacity to rapidly update their prior beliefs in the face of changing contingencies. In contrast, the early psychosis group included a lower proportion of individuals with impaired goal-directed action (20%) and displayed a different cognitive phenotype from those with persistent psychosis. These findings suggest prominent decision-making deficits, indicative of cortico-striatal dysfunction, are present in a large proportion of people with persistent psychosis while those with early psychosis have relatively intact decision-making processes compared to healthy controls. It is unclear if there is a progressive decline in decision-making processes in some individuals with psychosis or if the presence of decision-making processes in early psychosis is predictive of a persistent trajectory of illness.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document