Using Thin Slices to Investigate Impression Formation and to Measure Interpersonal Behavior From Recorded Social Interactions

The predominant focus in attachment research on trait-like individual differences has overshadowed investigation of the ways in which working models of attachment represent dynamic, interpersonally responsive socio-affective systems. Intensive longitudinal designs extend previous work by evaluating to what extent attachment varies over social interactions and the functional processes that underlie its fluctuation. We examined momentary activation of attachment orientations in the stream of peoples’ daily lives and how those patterns were linked to interpersonal behavior. Based on an event-contingent, ambulatory 7-day assessment protocol (N=263; 3971 interactions) operationalized using Contemporary Integrative Interpersonal Theory, we examined whether contextually activated working models accounted for patterns of interpersonal complementarity. Our analyses revealed that the situational activation of working models varied as a function of interpersonal perceptions of warmth, which were linked to greater state security and lower levels of anxious or avoidant expectations. These reactivity patterns, in turn, accounted for interpersonal complementarity. Avoidant attachment was linked to diminished and secure attachment to enhanced expressions of warmth. The analyses were robust even when controlling for momentary negative affect and closeness of the relationship. Attachment expectations wax and wane across daily social interactions, and such fluctuations are reflective primarily of a process in which perceptions of others’ warmth activate secure attachment expectations and lower insecure ones.

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Anxiety, emotional security and the interpersonal behavior of individuals with social anxiety disorder

Psychological Medicine ◽

10.1017/s0033291710000863 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 41 (3) ◽

pp. 545-554 ◽

Cited By ~ 31

Author(s):

J. J. Russell ◽

D. S. Moskowitz ◽

D. C. Zuroff ◽

P. Bleau ◽

G. Pinard ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Anxiety Disorder ◽

Social Anxiety ◽

Social Interactions ◽

Social Anxiety Disorder ◽

Interpersonal Behavior ◽

Emotional Security ◽

Laboratory Observation ◽

Interpersonal Behaviors ◽

Naturally Occurring ◽

Affiliative Behaviors

BackgroundInterpersonal functioning is central to social anxiety disorder (SAD). Empirical examinations of interpersonal behaviors in individuals with SAD have frequently relied on analogue samples, global retrospective reports and laboratory observation. Moreover, research has focused on avoidance and safety behaviors, neglecting potential links between SAD and affiliative behaviors.MethodThe influence of situational anxiety and emotional security on interpersonal behaviors was examined for individuals with SAD (n=40) and matched normal controls (n=40). Participants monitored their behavior and affect in naturally occurring social interactions using an event-contingent recording procedure.ResultsIndividuals with SAD reported higher levels of submissive behavior and lower levels of dominant behavior relative to controls. Consistent with cognitive–behavioral and evolutionary theories, elevated anxiety in specific events predicted increased submissiveness among individuals with SAD. Consistent with attachment theory, elevations in event-level emotional security were associated with increased affiliative behaviors (increased agreeable behavior and decreased quarrelsome behavior) among members of the SAD group. Results were not accounted for by concurrent elevations in sadness or between-group differences in the distribution of social partners.ConclusionsThese findings are consistent with predictions based on several theoretical perspectives. Further, the present research documents naturally occurring interpersonal patterns of individuals with SAD and identifies conditions under which these individuals may view social interactions as opportunities for interpersonal connectedness.

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Person Perceptions of Deaf and Hearing Observers Viewing Filmed Interactions

Perceptual and Motor Skills ◽

10.2466/pms.1972.35.1.219 ◽

1972 ◽

Vol 35 (1) ◽

pp. 219-234 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

William Schiff ◽

Erica Saxe

Keyword(s):

Social Interactions ◽

Visual Stimulus ◽

Impression Formation ◽

Visual Information ◽

Person Perception ◽

Interaction Effects

2 experiments were performed to investigate effects of several visual stimulus factors and observer differences in person perception. Traits of persons were judged after observers viewed films of social interactions. Extreme differences were found in deaf and hearing observers' judgments of persons when static views served as stimuli, but when social interactions served as stimuli, only some traits showed differences between observer groups. Visual information regarding the apparent deafness of an interactant, as well as interactive role and gestural forcefulness showed interaction effects with observer group in several instances. Results were discussed within frameworks of differences between deaf and hearing Ss' judgments, and methodology of typical impression formation and person-perception studies.

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Transdiagnostic predictors of interpersonal and affective variability in borderline personality pathology

10.31234/osf.io/sh7cz ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Whitney R. Ringwald ◽

Michael Hallquist ◽

Alexandre Dombrovski ◽

Aidan G.C. Wright

Keyword(s):

Social Interactions ◽

Structural Equation ◽

Borderline Personality ◽

Interpersonal Behavior ◽

Personality Pathology ◽

Equation Modeling ◽

Trait Variance ◽

Multi Level ◽

And Behavior ◽

Pooled Sample

Cross-temporal and cross-situational variability are unifying characteristics of borderline personality disorder (BPD). Ambulatory assessment (AA) has been used to directly assess and quantify this variability in terms of the categorical BPD diagnosis, but growing evidence suggests that BPD instead reflects general personality pathology. This study aimed to clarify the conceptualization of BPD by mapping indices of variability in affect, interpersonal behavior, and perceptions of others onto a dimensional model of personality pathology. We studied a pooled sample of individuals that met diagnostic criteria for BPD (n=129) and healthy controls (n=47) who reported on their interactions throughout the day during a 21-day AA protocol. Multi-level structural equation modeling was used to examine associations between shared and specific variance in maladaptive traits with affect, perceptions, and behavior in social interactions. We found that variability is a clear indicator of shared trait variance, suggesting BPD is best understood as general personality pathology.

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Conflict Detection In Affective Language Content: Affective Incongruency In Semantically Correct Sentences Describing Social Interactions Activates The Anterior Cingulate Cortex

10.21203/rs.3.rs-549518/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Gesche Schauenburg ◽

Arash Aryani ◽

Chun-Ting Hsu ◽

Tobias Schröder ◽

Markus Conrad ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Social Interactions ◽

Anterior Cingulate Cortex ◽

Impression Formation ◽

Semantic Processing ◽

Meaning Making ◽

Cingulate Cortex ◽

Conflict Detection ◽

Anterior Cingulate ◽

Early Effect ◽

Language Content

Abstract Neurocognitive studies on the emotion-language relation report a significant influence of affective content on the level of single words. However, it is rather difficult to investigate such influence on the sentence level – partly due to a missing theoretical approach to integrate multiple affective meanings. In a previous EEG study, we used impression formation equations based on Affect Control Theory to calculate affective congruency of sentences describing social interactions to successfully predict ERP effects. The current study was crucially motivated by the assumption that the reported early effect of affective incongruency was related to automatic conflict detection associated with activation in anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). To test this hypothesis, we replicated the study as an event-related fMRI design: we visually presented the same sentences to 23 participants (12 f, 11 m) in a silent reading reading task while measuring differences in the hemodynamic response in two conditions of affective congruency. The ROI analysis results showed expected enhancement of neural activity for affectively incongruent sentences in left ACC, supporting the assumption that affective language content influences meaning making already at basic semantic processing stages. The reported results represent a replication of neuroscientific evidence for ACT's mathematical model of impression formation.

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Predicting Trustworthiness Across Cultures: An Experiment

Frontiers in Psychology ◽

10.3389/fpsyg.2021.727550 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 ◽

Author(s):

Adam Zylbersztejn ◽

Zakaria Babutsidze ◽

Nobuyuki Hanaki

Keyword(s):

Social Behavior ◽

Social Interactions ◽

Cultural Distance ◽

Cross Cultural ◽

Ongoing Debate ◽

Culturally Different ◽

Thin Slices ◽

Different Populations ◽

Target Agent

We contribute to the ongoing debate in the psychological literature on the role of “thin slices” of observable information in predicting others' social behavior, and its generalizability to cross-cultural interactions. We experimentally assess the degree to which subjects, drawn from culturally different populations (France and Japan), are able to predict strangers' trustworthiness based on a set of visual stimuli (mugshot pictures, neutral videos, loaded videos, all recorded in an additional French sample) under varying cultural distance to the target agent in the recording. Our main finding is that cultural distance is not detrimental for predicting trustworthiness in strangers, but that it may affect the perception of different components of communication in social interactions.

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A Comparison of Signal- and Event-Contingent Ambulatory Assessment of Interpersonal Behavior and Affect in Social Situations

10.31234/osf.io/e6g3j ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Philip H. Himmelstein ◽

William C. Woods ◽

Aidan G.C. Wright

Keyword(s):

Social Interactions ◽

Psychological Research ◽

Interpersonal Behavior ◽

Ambulatory Assessment ◽

Cluster Randomization ◽

Social Situations ◽

Design Decisions ◽

Contingent Condition ◽

Ecological Momentary ◽

Momentary Assessment

Ambulatory assessment (e.g., ecological momentary assessment) is now widely used in psychological research, yet key design decisions remain largely informed by methodological lore as opposed to systematic inquiry. The present study experimentally tested whether signal- (e.g., random prompt) and event-contingent (e.g., complete a survey every time a target event occurs) recording procedures of interpersonal behavior and affect in social situations yield equivalent quality and quantity of data. Participants (N = 286) completed baseline questionnaires, underwent cluster randomization to either a signal- or event-contingent condition, then completed one week of ambulatory assessment during which participants answered questions about their social behavior and affect tied to their social interactions. Conditions were compared on response frequency, means and variances of interpersonal behavior and affect, correlations between interpersonal behavior and affect within-person, and associations between momentary behavior and affect and baseline variables (e.g., big-five traits). Results indicated that signal- and event-contingent recording techniques provided equivalent data quality, suggesting that researchers can use the two methodologies interchangeably to draw conclusions about means, variances, and associations when examining social interactions. However, results also showed that event-contingent recording returned, on average, a higher number of reported social interactions per individual and this was true for most time-periods of the day. Thus, event-contingent recording may hold advantages for studying frequency and timing of social interactions.

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Perceived Voice Disorders in Older Adults and Impact on Social Interactions

Perspectives of the ASHA Special Interest Groups ◽

10.1044/2020_persp-20-00059 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-8

Author(s):

Connie K. Porcaro ◽

Clare Singer ◽

Boris Djokic ◽

Ali A. Danesh ◽

Ruth Tappen ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Social Interactions ◽

Social Engagement ◽

Leisure Activities ◽

Treatment Strategies ◽

Voice Disorders ◽

Community Dwelling ◽

Vocal Performance ◽

Older Individuals ◽

Cross Sectional

Purpose Many aging individuals, even those who are healthy, report voice changes that can impact their ability to communicate as they once did. While this is commonly reported, most do not seek evaluation or management for this issue. The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence and differences in voice disorders in older adults, along with the effect of fatigue on their social interactions. Method This is a cross-sectional investigation of a community-dwelling sample of individuals aged 60 years or older. Participants completed the Questionnaire on Vocal Performance, the Social Engagement Index subset “Engagement in Social or Leisure Activities,” and the Fatigue Severity Scale. Results Results indicated 32.5% of the 332 participants reported symptoms of voice problems with no difference found between male and female respondents. A slight increase in report of voice problems was noted with each year of age. Participants who self-reported voice problems indicated less interaction in social activities involving communication than those who did not. Finally, as severity of self-reported voice problems increased, an increase was reported by the same individuals for signs of fatigue. Conclusions Voice problems and resulting decreased social interaction are commonly experienced by older individuals. Voice symptoms in older adults have been found to benefit from evidence-based treatment strategies. It is critical to provide education to encourage older individuals to seek appropriate evaluation and management for voice issues through a speech-language pathologist or medical professional.

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“Shhhh! Alex Has Something To Say”: AAC-SGD Use in the Classroom Setting

Perspectives on Augmentative and Alternative Communication ◽

10.1044/aac19.4.108 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 19 (4) ◽

pp. 108-114 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Lisa M. Mellman ◽

Laura S. DeThorne ◽

Julie A. Hengst

Keyword(s):

Social Interaction ◽

Social Interactions ◽

Augmentative And Alternative Communication ◽

Classroom Community ◽

Classroom Observations ◽

Classroom Teachers ◽

Classroom Setting ◽

Alternative Communication ◽

Structured Interviews ◽

Missed Opportunities

Abstract The present qualitative study was designed to examine augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) practices, particularly surrounding speech-generating devices (SGDs), in the classroom setting. We focused on three key child participants, their classroom teachers, and associated speech-language pathologists across three different schools. In addition to semi-structured interviews of all participants, six classroom observations per child were completed. Data were coded according to both pre-established and emergent themes. Four broad themes emerged: message-focused AAC use, social interactions within the classroom community, barriers to successful AAC-SGD use, and missed opportunities. Findings revealed a lack of SGD use in the classroom for two children as well as limited social interaction across all cases. We conclude by highlighting the pervasive sense of missed opportunities across these classroom observations and yet, at the same time, the striking resiliency of communicative effort in these cases.

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