Context Of Social Interactions Research Articles

Emotional well-being and interactions with older adults' close social partners: Daily variation in social context matters.

Close social partners may contribute to or detract from older adults' health and well-being, in part because daily emotions are closely coupled with the quality of daily social interactions. This study examines variation in this sensitivity to interactions with social partners across the contexts of emotional closeness, interactions with others, and experienced relationship satisfaction across the study period. Using data from the 100-day web-based personal understanding of life and social experiences (PULSE) study, the authors examined the unique contribution of older adults' closest and other social partners to daily experiences of positive and negative affect and considered transitory state-like aspects of sensitivity that vary within individuals across the context of social interactions on that day. Participants in this microlongitudinal study (N = 99, M(age) = 62.3) identified their 5 closest social partners and then reported daily contact satisfaction with those partners as well as positive and negative affect. Multivariate multilevel analysis showed sensitivity of positive and negative affect to the quality of social interactions to vary across participant-defined hierarchies of closeness. Sensitivity to interactions with the closest partner also varied within individuals depending on the quality of interactions with others on that day and also across individual differences in the level of experienced relationship satisfaction during the study period. Together, the findings suggest that emotional responses to social interactions vary according to the context of daily social experiences, as well as accumulated social experiences over time.

Using sense-making theory to aid understanding of the recognition, assessment and management of pain in patients with dementia in acute hospital settings

BackgroundThe recognition, assessment and management of pain in hospital settings is suboptimal, and is a particular challenge in patients with dementia. The existing process guiding pain assessment and management in clinical settings is based on the assumption that nurses follow a sequential linear approach to decision making. In this paper we re-evaluate this theoretical assumption drawing on findings from a study of pain recognition, assessment and management in patients with dementia. AimTo provide a revised conceptual model of pain recognition, assessment and management based on sense-making theories of decision making. MethodsThe research we refer to is an exploratory ethnographic study using nested case sites. Patients with dementia (n=31) were the unit of data collection, nested in 11 wards (vascular, continuing care, stroke rehabilitation, orthopaedic, acute medicine, care of the elderly, elective and emergency surgery), located in four NHS hospital organizations in the UK. Data consisted of observations of patients at bedside (170h in total); observations of the context of care; audits of patient hospital records; documentary analysis of artefacts; semi-structured interviews (n=56) and informal open conversations with staff and carers (family members). FindingsExisting conceptualizations of pain recognition, assessment and management do not fully explain how the decision process occurs in clinical practice. Our research indicates that pain recognition, assessment and management is not an individual cognitive activity; rather it is carried out by groups of individuals over time and within a specific organizational culture or climate, which influences both health care professional and patient behaviour. ConclusionsWe propose a revised theoretical model of decision making related to pain assessment and management for patients with dementia based on theories of sense-making, which is reflective of the reality of clinical decision making in acute hospital wards. The revised model recognizes the salience of individual cognition as well as acknowledging that decisions are constructed through social interaction and organizational context. The model will be used in further research to develop decision support interventions to assist with the assessment and management of patients with dementia in acute hospital settings.

Children with Autism Show Altered Autonomic Adaptation to Novel and Familiar Social Partners.

Social deficits are fundamental to autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and a growing body of research implicates altered functioning of the autonomic nervous system (ANS), including both sympathetic and parasympathetic branches. However, few studies have explored both branches concurrently in ASD, particularly within the context of social interaction. The current study investigates patterns of change in indices of sympathetic (pre-ejection period; PEP) and parasympathetic (respiratory sinus arrhythmia; RSA) cardiac influence as boys (ages 8-11 years) with (N = 18) and without (N = 18) ASD engage in dyadic social interaction with novel and familiar social partners. Groups showed similar patterns of autonomic change during interaction with the novel partner, but differed in heart rate, PEP, and RSA reactivity while interacting with a familiar partner. Boys without ASD evinced decreasing sympathetic and increasing parasympathetic influence, whereas boys with ASD increased in sympathetic influence. Boys without ASD also demonstrated more consistent ANS responses across partners than those with ASD, with parasympathetic responding differentiating familiar and novel interaction partners. Finally, PEP slopes with a familiar partner correlated with boys' social skills. Implications include the importance of considering autonomic state during clinical assessment and treatment, and the potential value of regulation strategies as a complement to intervention programs aiming to support social cognition and behavior. Autism Res 2016, 9: 579-591. © 2015 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Teachers’ perceptions of virtual worlds as a medium for social inclusion for adults with intellectual disability

Purpose: The aim of this research was to explore educators’ perceptions of a virtual world Second Life TM as an environment for social interaction and social inclusion for the Norwegian adult students with intellectual disability that they supported. Method: Five educators who supported a total of 10 adult students with intellectual disability in computer classes in community Adult Education Centres participated in individual in-depth interviews. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed using a content analysis. Results: Participants were positive about Second Life although they did not perceive that it offered a successful context for social interaction or inclusion. They identified a number of benefits to using a virtual world and for students participating in virtual world research. Barriers identified included language, literacy, and technology issues along with the complexity of participating independently in a virtual world. Conclusions: Some people with intellectual disability can use virtual worlds but the skills required need additional research. Virtual worlds may provide a stimulating, safe, and exciting context for a range of activities but the level of support required by many people is high and consequently expensive.Implications for RehabilitationEducators can use virtual worlds such as Second LifeTM with people with intellectual disability as an enjoyable medium to experience new activities and gain feelings of independence.People with intellectual disability can use Second Life with support and those with good literacy and computer skills can be trained to use it independently.Technology support is needed as virtual worlds are not easy to use for those who have problems with literacy or with speaking or reading English and if the virtual world platform is not stable, the ensuing problems with sound and/or images can be frustrating.Further research is required to explore how virtual worlds could be used to expand teaching programs and allow individuals to build on independent and new experiences in the virtual world safely.

Do marmosets care to share? Oxytocin treatment reduces prosocial behavior toward strangers

Cooperatively-breeding and socially-monogamous primates, like marmosets and humans, exhibit high levels of social tolerance and prosociality toward others. Oxytocin (OXT) generally facilitates prosocial behavior, but there is growing recognition that OXT modulation of prosocial behavior is shaped by the context of social interactions and by other motivational states such as arousal or anxiety. To determine whether prosociality varies based on social context, we evaluated whether marmoset donors (Callithrix penicillata) preferentially rewarded pairmates versus opposite-sex strangers in a prosocial food-sharing task. To examine potential links among OXT, stress systems, and prosociality, we evaluated whether pretrial cortisol levels in marmosets altered the impact of OXT on prosocial responses. Marmosets exhibited spontaneous prosociality toward others, but they did so preferentially toward strangers compared to their pairmates. When donor marmosets were treated with marmoset-specific Pro8-OXT, they exhibited reduced prosociality toward strangers compared to marmosets treated with saline or consensus-mammalian Leu8-OXT. When pretrial cortisol levels were lower, marmosets exhibited higher prosociality toward strangers. These findings demonstrate that while marmosets show spontaneous prosocial responses toward others, they do so preferentially toward opposite-sex strangers. Cooperative breeding may be associated with the expression of prosociality, but the existence of a pair-bond between marmoset partners appears to be neither necessary nor sufficient for the expression of spontaneous prosocial responses. Furthermore, high prosociality toward strangers is significantly reduced in marmosets treated with Pro8-OXT, suggesting that OXT does not universally enhance prosociality, but, rather OXT modulation of prosocial behavior varies depending on social context.

Simulating irrational human behavior to prevent resource depletion.

In a situation with a limited common resource, cooperation between individuals sharing the resource is essential. However, people often act upon self-interest in irrational ways that threaten the long-term survival of the whole group. A lack of sustainable or environmentally responsible behavior is often observed. In this study, we examine how the maximization of benefits principle works in a wider social interactive context of personality preferences in order to gain a more realistic insight into the evolution of cooperation. We used time perspective (TP), a concept reflecting individual differences in orientation towards past, present, or future, and relevant for making sustainable choices. We developed a personality-driven agent-based model that explores the role of personality in the outcomes of social dilemmas and includes multiple facets of diversity: (1) The agents have different behavior strategies: individual differences derived by applying cluster analysis to survey data from 22 countries (N = 10,940) and resulting in 7 cross-cultural profiles of TP; (2) The non-uniform distribution of the types of agents across countries; (3) The diverse interactions between the agents; and (4) diverse responses to those interactions in a well-mixed population. As one of the results, we introduced an index of overall cooperation for each of the 22 countries, which was validated against cultural, economic, and sustainability indicators (HDI, dimensions of national culture, and Environment Performance Index). It was associated with higher human development, higher individualism, lower power distance, and better environmental performance. The findings illustrate how individual differences in TP can be simulated to predict the ways people in different countries solve the personal vs. common gain dilemma in the global limited-resource situation. This interdisciplinary approach to social simulation can be adopted to explain the possible causes of global environmental issues and to predict their possible outcomes.

LIVING ACTION RESEARCH IN COURSE DESIGN: CENTERING PARTICIPATORY AND SOCIAL JUSTICE PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES

Action research (AR) courses provide openings in higher education to engage students, schools and communities in democratic and socially just ways within the contexts of research, classroom learning and broader social interactions. Such opportunities are strengthened when instructors design AR courses with the goal of enabling students to experience and 'live' AR principles within the learning environment itself. In this paper, we describe and critically examine how social justice and democratic principles were reflected and experienced by students in two online AR courses we co-designed. Our findings suggest AR courses embedded with AR principles can become transformative learning environments.

Social interaction is associated with changes in infants' motor activity.

BackgroundIn developmental research, infants are commonly assumed to be early stakeholders in interactions with their caregivers. The tools that infants can use to interact with others vary from visual contact to smiling or vocalizing, and also include motor activity. However, surprisingly few studies have explored how the nature and context of social interactions affect infants’ engagement in motor activity.MethodsWe investigated the kinematic properties of foot and face movements produced by 11 infants aged between 5 and 9 months during six contrasting dyadic episodes (i.e. passive presence of a stranger or the infant's mother, weak or intense interaction with the stranger/mother as she sings a nursery play song).ResultsThe infants’ face and foot motor activity was significantly reduced during the interactive episodes, compared with the episodes without any interaction, in both the mother and stranger conditions. Furthermore, the level of their motor activity was significantly lower in the stranger condition than in the mother one for some parameters.ConclusionThese results are in line with those reported by previous studies and confirm the relevance of using motor activity to delineate the early forms of interactive episodes in infants.

Aging and place in long-term care settings: influences on social relationships.

This article presents results of a qualitative research study that examined how living in a long-term care (LTC) home influences the quality of residents' relationships with peers, family members, and outside friends. Semistructured interviews using a phenomenological approach were conducted with 23 residents of a LTC home. Thematic analysis was employed to illuminate residents' perspectives on the nature of social relationships in this setting. Four key themes were identified that highlight the role of place in social relationships. Residing in a LTC home influences the context of social interactions, impacts their quality and process, clusters individuals with health and functional declines that hinder socialization, and poses structural and cultural barriers that impede social interactions. Health and functional limitations posed the greatest challenge to socialization relative to characteristics of the facility itself. Residents' insights emphasize how personal characteristics influence community culture and the experience of place.

Exploring stigmatisation among people diagnosed with either bipolar disorder or borderline personality disorder: A critical realist analysis

This study explores experiences of stigma and discrimination amongst people diagnosed with bipolar disorder (BD) or borderline personality disorder (BPD). Inspired by Margaret Archer's morphogenetic sequence and the ontological depth of critical realism, a temporal framework for stigmatisation, incorporating structure and agency, is developed and used to situate these experiences. A literature review found very little existing research on the subjective experience of stigma amongst these diagnostic groups. Indeed, most mental illness stigma research is quantitative and focussed on schizophrenia and depression. In-depth interviews were conducted with twenty-nine people diagnosed with BD or BPD, along with five ‘friendship’ mini-focus groups within the UK. Participants were recruited via charities and participant networking. Using thematic analysis, along with abductive and retroductive inference, experiences and anticipation of stigma and discrimination for participants with one of the two diagnoses in various contexts of social interaction were found to coincide with ‘four faces’ of oppression: cultural imperialism (pathologisation, normalisation and stereotyping), powerlessness, marginalisation and violence. Such experiences implied a range of antecedent social and cultural structures. Implications for the stigma concept are discussed.

Health maintenance, meaning, and disrupted illness trajectories in people with low back pain: a qualitative study

The relationship of parents and infants is ruptured at birth in the context of urgent issues such as congenital heart defects. The infants referred to in 10 semi-structured interviews had undergone cardiac surgery in a children’s hospital in Australia and were participating in a new programme known as Heart Beads instigated by the cardiac ward nurses. Within the biomedical context infants are often alienated from their parents and treated as isolated bodies. The paper discusses the social implications of an ill or deformed child and the role of narrative in addressing social demands and the problems faced by parents in infant intensive care contexts. It is argued that theorising the infant within a relational framework allows agency to be attributed to the infant and parents while also recognising the importance of the intimate social world and interactional context that it is expressed within. The paper draws on Nick Crossley’s relational sociology to highlight the importance of the relational embodiment that encompasses infants within a social world preceding them and enveloping them. The narrative is developed by parents in order to facilitate the social expression and integration of their child and thus plays a particularly social role in the context of infant surgery, rather than serving to adjust the individual to new circumstances. Exploring the role of narrative in this social relational sense is important for bringing the mother and the family back into the context and survival of the infant both physically and socially.

Social Support and the Religious Dimensions of Close Ties

Despite the influence of social support on physical and mental health, few studies have examined why some close ties are more supportive than others. Though religion provides a rich context for social interaction and a meaningful social identity, it has received little attention in the social support literature. A growing literature on religion and health offers insight into how religion affects social support processes. Using dyadic network data derived from the nationally representative 2006 Portraits of American Life Study, I examine how the religious dimensions of close, nonhousehold ties relate to provision of social support. Results from logistic regression analyses indicate that (controlling for a range of other social tie characteristics) same‐faith ties are significantly more likely to be sources of help “in times of need,” while religious discussion is a strong predictor of receiving both help and advice. The effect of religious homophily is strongest for evangelical Protestants and African‐American Protestants. My findings underscore the need for social support researchers to consider the role of religion in shaping support processes in close relationships.

Adoption of cropping sequences in northeast Montana: A spatio-temporal analysis

Producers make the decision to adopt a particular agricultural practice within a range of social, economic, environmental, and agronomic constraints. The semiarid regions of the US northern Great Plains are dominated by dryland farming practices and the traditional practice has been to rotate small-grain cereals with summer fallow; however, producers are moving away from this practice. The area of fallow in northeastern Montana decreased by one-third and the area of pulse crops increased nearly six-fold during 2001–2012. We previously identified two key practices that are indicative of regionally changing agricultural practices: (1) the broad-scale adoption of cereal–pulse sequences, and (2) the conversion from continuous strip-cropping to block managed cereal-based sequences. Here, we examined the adoption of these two practices from a spatio-temporal perspective to determine if the observed patterns were consistent with those expected from a priori processes: random occurrence, spread and adoption of the practices due to social interaction as described in innovation diffusion theory, or adoption based on environmental factors. Our results suggest that the adoption and spread of both practices were likely constrained by the suitability of the physical environment. Available water, in particular, exerts a fundamental control on the decision whether or not to adopt either practice. We also found evidence for the expansion of these practices due, in part, to social factors, particularly during the early period of adoption. We conclude that producers made the decision whether or not to adopt these practices primarily as a function of environmental suitability and, to a lesser extent, within the context of social interactions.

‘She’s done two and that’s harsh’: The agency of infants with congenital conditions as invoked through parent narratives

The relationship of parents and infants is ruptured at birth in the context of urgent issues such as congenital heart defects. The infants referred to in 10 semi-structured interviews had undergone cardiac surgery in a children’s hospital in Australia and were participating in a new programme known as Heart Beads instigated by the cardiac ward nurses. Within the biomedical context infants are often alienated from their parents and treated as isolated bodies. The paper discusses the social implications of an ill or deformed child and the role of narrative in addressing social demands and the problems faced by parents in infant intensive care contexts. It is argued that theorising the infant within a relational framework allows agency to be attributed to the infant and parents while also recognising the importance of the intimate social world and interactional context that it is expressed within. The paper draws on Nick Crossley’s relational sociology to highlight the importance of the relational embodiment that encompasses infants within a social world preceding them and enveloping them. The narrative is developed by parents in order to facilitate the social expression and integration of their child and thus plays a particularly social role in the context of infant surgery, rather than serving to adjust the individual to new circumstances. Exploring the role of narrative in this social relational sense is important for bringing the mother and the family back into the context and survival of the infant both physically and socially.

Examining a Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game as a Digital Game-Based Learning Platform

A concurrent triangulation mixed-method research design was used to investigate 19 casual gamers’ or non-gamers’ use of a popular massive multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), Everquest 2, as an alternative pedagogical tool to support communicative use of the English language. This study poses that MMORPGs could serve as a virtually rich context for social interactions to aid development of communicative competence. Data were collected from semi-structured interviews, surveys, and through gameplay observations in Taiwan and the United States. Analysis of interview recordings, survey data, and observational data focuses on how player-generated perceptions align with Yee's (2006) motivation components and Ryan and Deci's (2000) theoretical assumptions of self-determination theory. Results from quantitative data analysis showed that both male and female participants in this study prioritized the importance of relatedness in playing Everquest 2 to practice using English for communicative purposes. Qualitative data analysis likewise revealed the importance of communication during gameplay. Integrated findings showed that player perceptions could be helpful in illuminating the potential of utilizing MMORPGs for game-assisted language learning and also inform different motivations in gaming to learn.

The narrative in qualitative research in health

The marked interest of the human and social sciences in health in narrative studies has led to many forms of incorporation of these contributions in qualitative research in health. It is important to reflect on the contexts and characteristics of this incorporation. To accomplish this, we highlight the core theoretical issues involved and also situate this incorporation in the broader context of the scientific production in the human and social sciences in health. We also stress the contribution of the narrative studies for reflection upon the relations between social structure and action or between specific contexts of social interaction and broader societal contexts. This contribution can be identified in relations established through narrative between interpretation, experience and action throughout the health-disease-care process. It is argued that narratives not only organize interpretations, but can also represent a specific form of social agency. In this sense, the narrative interpretations and narrative performances can be seen as core elements in the social construction of experiences and trajectories of illness and care.

‘She’s done two and that’s harsh’: the agency of infants with congenital conditions as invoked through parent narratives

The relationship of parents and infants is ruptured at birth in the context of urgent issues such as congenital heart defects. The infants referred to in 10 semi-structured interviews had undergone cardiac surgery in a children’s hospital in Australia and were participating in a new programme known as Heart Beads instigated by the cardiac ward nurses. Within the biomedical context infants are often alienated from their parents and treated as isolated bodies. The paper discusses the social implications of an ill or deformed child and the role of narrative in addressing social demands and the problems faced by parents in infant intensive care contexts. It is argued that theorising the infant within a relational framework allows agency to be attributed to the infant and parents while also recognising the importance of the intimate social world and interactional context that it is expressed within. The paper draws on Nick Crossley’s relational sociology to highlight the importance of the relational embodiment that encompasses infants within a social world preceding them and enveloping them. The narrative is developed by parents in order to facilitate the social expression and integration of their child and thus plays a particularly social role in the context of infant surgery, rather than serving to adjust the individual to new circumstances. Exploring the role of narrative in this social relational sense is important for bringing the mother and the family back into the context and survival of the infant both physically and socially.

Social Interactions in the Public Space in the Context of Public Confidence

Without confidence, without conviction that another person can be trusted, it is not possible to function well, neither in places associated with private life nor public ones. In this study, special attention has been given to the issues of public confidence as a context of social interactions taking place in public places. Confidence is also indispensable in the sphere of activities in public places and local communities, as well as with different types of interactions. But confidence increases also a co-operation and the latter affects an increase in the level of confidence. Adherence to cultural rules, as far as the question of confidence is concerned, on the basis of inertia is of dysfunctional nature in the aspect of society as a whole. Definitely greater confidence is generated by the society being fully democratic, with the established traditions in this regard.

Impaired social decision making in patients with major depressive disorder

BackgroundAbnormal decision-making processes have been observed in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD). However, it is unresolved whether MDD patients show abnormalities in decision making in a social interaction context, in which decisions have actual influences on both the self-interests of the decision makers per se and those of their partners.MethodsUsing a well-studied ultimatum game (UG), which is frequently used to investigate social interaction behavior, we examined whether MDD can be associated with abnormalities in social decision-making behavior by comparing the acceptance rates of MDD patients (N = 14) with those of normal controls (N = 19).ResultsThe acceptance rates of the patients were lower than those of the normal controls. Additionally, unfair proposals were accepted at similar rates from computer partners and human partners in the MDD patients, unlike the acceptance rates in the normal controls, who were able to discriminatively treat unfair proposals from computer partners and human partners.ConclusionsDepressed patients show abnormal decision-making behavior in a social interaction context. Several possible explanations, such as increased sensitivity to fairness, negative emotional state and disturbed affective cognition, have been proposed to account for the abnormal social decision-making behavior in patients with MDD. This aberrant social decision-making behavior may provide a new perspective in the search to find biomarkers for the diagnosis and prognosis of MDD.

A emergência dos comportamentos de obediência e de desobediência: Relação com as estratégias de controlo materno

A aprendizagem da auto-regulação inicia-se precocemente no contexto das interacções sociais que a criança mantém com os adultos que lhe são mais próximos. Este artigo apresenta um estudo sobre a emergência dos comportamentos de obediência e de desobediência da criança, observados numa situação de arrumação de brinquedos, e sua relação com os comportamentos de controlo maternos. Participaram nesta investigação 120 mães e respectivos filhos com idades compreendidas entre 14 e 49 meses, homogeneamente distribuídos por género e seleccionados aleatoriamente a partir de 30 salas de creche. Os resultados revelam a influência diferencial da idade das crianças, bem como dos comportamentos de controlo utilizados pelas mães, na determinação da qualidade dos comportamentos de obediência e de desobediência das crianças. À medida que a idade aumenta, as crianças apresentam menos comportamentos de desobediência passiva, e mais comportamentos de recusa simples e de negociação. A obediência situacional é explicada pelo uso de ordens específicas e de estratégias directivas por parte da mãe, sendo que os quatro comportamentos de desobediência das crianças aparecem associados a diferentes estratégias de controlo materno.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17575/rpsicol.v23i2.334