Interindividual Relations Research Articles

Sociopsychology of Interindividual Relations and Institutions: Levels of Analysis, Events, Research, and Theory

Sociopsychology is a multidisciplinary field study of interindividual relations, namely, a molecular segment of institutional or social practices. This area of studies has had an important developments over the last 15 years. Several experimental studies have been published in English and Spanish. However, the primary theoretical work is published in Spanish, and for this reason there is a need to connect the theoretical analysis to non-Spanish speaking audiences. We provide a conceptual analysis of sociopsychology as a scientific enterprise considering five main types of scientific descriptions: (1) the subject matter as a distinctive event; (2) levels of description of the event; (3) the factors and types of events; (4) the basic operations, methods, instruments, and experimental designs, and (5) main premises about social behavior and social contingencies. Our aim is to critically examine the sociopsychological view of social systems. Contributions of sociopsychology to behavior analytic knowledge of social relations and culture are also considered.

Vocal complexity in a socially complex corvid: gradation, diversity and lack of common call repertoire in male rooks.

Vocal communication is widespread in animals, with vocal repertoires of varying complexity. The social complexity hypothesis predicts that species may need high vocal complexity to deal with complex social organization (e.g. have a variety of different interindividual relations). We quantified the vocal complexity of two geographically distant captive colonies of rooks, a corvid species with complex social organization and cognitive performances, but understudied vocal abilities. We quantified the diversity and gradation of their repertoire, as well as the inter-individual similarity at the vocal unit level. We found that males produced call units with lower diversity and gradation than females, while song units did not differ between sexes. Surprisingly, while females produced highly similar call repertoires, even between colonies, each individual male produced almost completely different call repertoires from any other individual. These findings question the way male rooks communicate with their social partners. We suggest that each male may actively seek to remain vocally distinct, which could be an asset in their frequently changing social environment. We conclude that inter-individual similarity, an understudied aspect of vocal repertoires, should also be considered as a measure of vocal complexity.

From middle-class American women to French managers: The transatlantic trajectory of assertiveness training, c. 1950s-1980s.

This article explores the contribution of behavior therapy to the extension of psychotherapeutic notions and techniques into everyday life, focusing on the transatlantic trajectory of assertiveness training. It traces the history of this behavioral intervention into interindividual relations from its emergence as a treatment for anxiety in postwar United States to its importation into the French field of continuing professional training at the turn of the 1980s. To understand what traveled between countries and practical fields, I first consider the definition of assertiveness as a skill sitting halfway between passivity and aggressiveness, which developed in the United States along with its uses outside therapy. I relate the success and inflexions undergone by assertiveness training between the 1950s and the 1970s to theoretical and strategic innovations in behavioral therapy and psychology, as well as to the reception of political and social movements, especially the women's movement. This article also shows that what moved between countries, sectors, and target audiences was not only an understanding of assertiveness as a socially acceptable expression of feelings, needs, and wants, but also diagnostic and action scripts fueled by the "ferment" of the 1960s. From middle-class American women to French managers, the expanded applications of assertiveness training were justified by the rhetoric of tensions between role socialization and new expectations for self-fulfillment and efficiency. Following the behavioral deficit model emphasized in assertiveness training, increasing calls for self-expression and participation prescribed communication skill training and a reconfiguration of interpersonal relations, both in the private and the work sphere. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Shaping social behavior in an enriched environment.

Access to vital needs shapes social orders. In rats, social systems tend to maintain a certain stability, but alterations in the physical environment can change inter-individual relations, which consequently can alter social orders. Principles governing social systems are, however, difficult to study and most analyses have been restricted to dyads of animals over short periods of time, hardly capturing the complexity and temporal dynamics of social interactions. Herein, we studied social interactions in a colony of six rats living in a customized enriched environment (PhenoWorld, PhW), under variable conditions of access/availability to limited resources. Reductions in food accessibility and availability resulted in a marked heterogeneity in sniffing, chasing and fighting/struggling behaviors, and, in the latter condition, an overall increase of these displays. The introduction of the possibility of interaction with a female rat also increased the amount of sniffing and fighting/struggling in a homogeneous manner. Results also showed that individual food retrieval success had no association with fighting/struggling when food pellets are delivered to the animals. However, there was a statistically significant correlation between fighting/struggling and impulsivity as measured by the amount of premature responses in the Variable-to-Signal-Test outside of the PhW providing external validation to our measures. To sum up, through continuous monitoring of a group of rats in the PhW, we demonstrated how variations in access to reinforcers modulate social behavior.

Conciliation agreement in the Roman law (sociocultural context)

The article provides insight into the content of the conciliation agreement as an alternative to settle the legal disputes based on the analysis of the key strategic foundations of the Quirite culture and provisions of the law of Ancient Rome. A special emphasis is placed on the fact that the extrajudicial, pre-judicial, and in some cases in-tra-judicial methods of the settlement of legal disputes are nowadays given a high status in the legal environment that confirms the general tendency to the humanization and democratization of the judicial proceedings. The article substantiates the necessity of going back to the historical context of appearance and formation of the conciliation agreement as a legal institute to improve the understanding of the nature and mechanism of this alternative method of dispute settlement, since the Roman law was and still is a foundation of modern legal systems of the European states. The stages of the development of conciliation agreement as an alternative method of dispute settlement were studied against the background of the culture of Ancient Rome and the main characteristic features of this institute were addressed, mainly: voluntary involvement (the parties pass a voluntary decision on reconciliation), alternativeness (the parties have to choose between the judicial, extra-judicial and pre-judicial dispute settlement), uncertainty (of the party or the party to the dispute is uncertain about the court decision in its favor), compromise (reaching an agreement, the parties arrive at a compromise in certain issues). In this case, it is emphasized that initially to settle the dispute extrajudicially, the Romans did not need any third parties (mediators). Following from the article, the conciliation agreement in the Roman law has formed as a contract, i.e. at its initial stage, it was the material law institute (contract) with the procedural consequences. Within the national sociocultural context, the application of conciliation agreement as an alternative method of dispute settlement is a way of searching for the new efficient methods of settlement of inter-individual relations. The research methodology is represented by a set of philosophical and general scientific methods. Determinants of which are comparative and hermeneutic, as well as socio-cultural and axiological approaches

Corporate social responsibility (CSR): an institutionalist Polanyian analysis

PurposeThis study aims to focus on the understanding corporate social responsibility (CSR), this “novel” form of corporate engagement, and evaluating its capacity to regulate capitalism. The authors advance the following thesis: CSR constitutes a new variety of regulation of capitalism which, to work efficiently, must be built on collective institutions (through both collective agreements and forms of coercion), instead of strictly contractual forms (based on inter-individual relations and voluntary commitments).Design/methodology/approachTo support this thesis, the authors use Karl Polanyi’s theory, in particular his concept of “fictitious commodities”. Like Polanyi, we contend that CSR is a necessary reaction to the new “great transformation” brought about by the financialisation of our economy which is currently in crisis. Polanyi agrees that this kind of regulation can yield results only when based on collective institutions. In the last section of the study, the authors attempt to determine how a “conventionalist analysis” of CSR could help us to precisely describe this phenomenon and how it could be institutionalised by actors (both inside and outside companies).FindingsThis paper theoretically demonstrates the role of institutions in CSR processes and the need to weigh them theoretically. In this sense, the paper demonstrates the aporia of a strictly contractualist framework, not only for the understanding of the phenomenon, but for its deployment.Research limitations/implicationsThis study proposes a theoretical framework, which is yet to be consolidated by empirical research.Practical implicationsThe paper proposes salient elements of a public policy of responsibility.Social implicationsThe paper proposes a methodological framework to go beyond a bilateral representation of the institutional framework and to produce a collective representation of the negotiation.Originality/valueThis is an original paper in its theoretical positioning and the implications it suggests for economic policy.

BILL VIOLA WITH GILBERT SIMONDON

This essay undertakes a joint exploration of Gilbert Simondon’s philosophy of individuation and Bill Viola’s video art to propose an ontogenetic model of ecology and a corresponding political praxis, or eco-politics, predicated on the affects of collective individuation. I examine several of Viola’s works that are most explicitly engaged with ecological thinking. These video works enact collective subjectivities related to the emergence of existential territories (The Path), flooding events (The Deluge; The Raft), or simply a confluence of bodies and water devoid of catastrophic implications (The Reflecting Pool). The collective subjectivities enacted in these videos prioritize the ecological event or existential territory over the individual subject, as well as over a social model based on commercial exchanges and interindividual relations. Instead, collective individuation and the discovery of the transindividual serve as catalysts of an affective attunement with the forces of Nature. Under these conditions, the ecological crisis has the potential to become the exceptional event that can serve as the point of inflection for a new immanent relation with Nature.

Increased body fatness adversely relates to 24-hour urine pH during childhood and adolescence: evidence of an adipo-renal axis

Reduced net acid excretion (NAE) capacity indicates a decrease in renal function. This reduction manifests as a disproportionally low 24-h urine pH in relation to the sum of actually excreted ammonium and titratable acidity by the kidney. The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that higher body fatness is one determinant of kidney function impairment with a lowered urine pH even at a young age. NAE, pH, urea, and creatinine were measured in 24-h urine samples from 524 healthy children and adolescents (aged 6-17 y) participating in the DOrtmund Nutritional and Anthropometric Longitudinally Designed (DONALD) Study. Body fatness was assessed anthropometrically by body mass index-standard deviation score (BMI-SDS), fat mass index (FMI), body fat % (BF%), and waist circumference (WC). Multivariable linear and mixed linear regressions were used to examine cross-sectionally (n=524 urine samples; age groups: 6-8, 9-11, 12-14, 15-17 y) and longitudinally (n=1999 urine samples) the associations of body fatness with 24-h urine pH as the outcome variable, respectively. After adjusting for the kidneys' total net acid load (24-h urinary NAE) and further relevant covariates, FMI showed significant inverse relations with urinary pH in all 4 age groups, and BMI-SDS, BF%, and WC each in 3 out of these 4 groups (P≤0.02). Longitudinal results substantiated these interindividual relations and further showed intraindividual increases in body fatness to be paralleled by urine pH decreases (P≤0.0002). Independent of underlying acid load, an early increase in body fatness is associated with increased free proton excretion, and thus with a decline in the kidney's acid excretion function, which could potentiate the risk of renal nephrolithiasis.

Intraindividual relations between achievement goals and discrete achievement emotions: An experience sampling approach

Theories on the link between achievement goals and achievement emotions focus on their within-person functional relationship (i.e., intraindividual relations). However, empirical studies have failed to analyze these intraindividual relations and have instead examined between-person covariation of the two constructs (i.e., interindividual relations). Aiming to better connect theory and empirical research, the present study (N = 120 10th grade students) analyzed intraindividual relations by assessing students' state goals and emotions using experience sampling (N = 1409 assessments within persons). In order to replicate previous findings on interindividual relations, students' trait goals and emotions were assessed using self-report questionnaires. Despite being statistically independent, both types of relations were consistent with theoretical expectations, as shown by multi-level modeling: Mastery goals were positive predictors of enjoyment and negative predictors of boredom and anger; performance-approach goals were positive predictors of pride; and performance-avoidance goals were positive predictors of anxiety and shame. Reasons for the convergence of intra- and interindividual findings, directions for future research, and implications for educational practice are discussed.

Plural policing in Paris: variations and pitfalls of cooperation between national and municipal police forces

The city of Paris, which epitomises the French tendency towards centralisation, has not escaped the global trend towards a pluralisation of policing. Parisian streets, parks and gardens and social estates are now being patrolled by a variety of uniformed professionals. This article aims to analyse the issues raised by the process of coordinating multiple actors. First, these non-police officers patrolling the streets are mapped in order to define their identities. Next, cooperative relationships and rivalries between these various actors are analysed, highlighting the differentiated configurations of the Parisian plural policing complex. We stress the differentiated nature of the regulation of plural policing in Paris and the importance of interindividual relations as a driver for cooperation. We also emphasise the pitfalls of coordination, in a context marked by several layers of cooperation and conflicting professional priorities.

The Relational Genesis of Community: Self–Other Dialogue

ABSTRACTOf late, there is increasing interest in the dialogical foundations of the self and community. Indeed, dialogical theory points to the embeddedness of community in self–other relations. This article proposes a dialogical approach to community that draws upon four key themes of discourse: the sociality of the self, the realm of interindividual relations, the constructive role of social representations, and the emergent properties of collective action. The ‘between’ constitutes a valuable concept for theorizing fundamental processes of relational existence and responsive meaning‐making, including the co‐constitution of community. In the process of coming into dialogic relation with one another, individuals construct meanings, experiences, and actions that profoundly shape both selfhood and community. Thus conceived, community is founded on dialogic interaction and intersubjective representation, thereby becoming the conscious object of reflection and action. The intention here is to theorize the relational genesis and continued transformation of community through self–other dialogue. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Social categorization and group‐motivated interindividual–intergroup discontinuity

AbstractResearch on the interindividual–intergroup discontinuity effect has demonstrated that intergroup relations are often less cooperative than interindividual relations. The aim of the present paper is to test whether mere social categorization suffices to create a group‐motivated discontinuity effect. In two experiments, we manipulated actors' personal versus social identity salience, whereas controlling for actors' outcome independence (1 : 1) versus interdependence (3 : 3). Making actors' social identity salient using a minimal group treatment was sufficient to increase defection in a Prisoner's Dilemma Game, irrespective of whether this was in an interindividual or intergroup interaction (Experiment 1). Using a Mutual Fate Control matrix in Experiment 2, results indicate that this effect can be attributed to actors' increased motivation to maximize relative differences to outgroup opponents under social identity salience. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Ecosystems are Made of Semiosic Bonds: Consortia, Umwelten, Biophony and Ecological Codes

The paper focuses on the semiotic principles of the organisation of ecosystems, attempting to find concepts that point to relations and not to elements. (1) Consortium (the term introduced by Johannes Reinke around 1873) can be defined as a group of organisms connected via (sign) relations, or groups of interspecific semiosic links in biocoenosis. The consortial relations include trophic and topic relations, both implying a recognition (identification) of the object by an organism involved (these, i.e., are sign relations). These relations are ecologically inheritable. (2) Umwelt (the term introduced by Jakob von Uexkull around 1909) can be defined as a set of relations an organism has in an ecosystem (as in a semiosphere). The formation of an umwelt is dependent on the modelling system of the organism. (3) Biophony (the term introduced by Bernie Krause around 2000) denotes the coordination of inter- and intra-species relations in a soundscape of a biological community. This can be seen as a special case of Komposition as defined by Jakob and Thure von Uexkull. (4) Ecological code (as introduced, e.g. by Alexander Levich around 1977) can be defined as the set of (sign) relations (regular irreducible correspondences) characteristic to an entire ecosystem. We also mention the concepts of ecomones and coactones (introduced by Marcel Florkin in 1965) as the substances which are responsible for mediation of ecological inter-individual relations. All the relations as sign-relations evidently imply both a static or structuralist description (in terms of codes), and a processual description (in terms of semiosis carried on by interpretation). We conclude that all the above mentioned concepts can be viewed as conceptually connected and are suitable for semiotic description of biological communities.

On the Role of Social Interaction in Individual Agency

Is an individual agent constitutive of or constituted by its social interactions? This question is typically not asked in the cognitive sciences, so strong is the consensus that only individual agents have constitutive efficacy. In this article we challenge this methodological solipsism and argue that interindividual relations and social context do not simply arise from the behavior of individual agents, but themselves enable and shape the individual agents on which they depend. For this, we define the notion of autonomy as both a characteristic of individual agents and of social interaction processes. We then propose a number of ways in which interactional autonomy can influence individuals. Then we discuss recent work in modeling on the one hand and psychological investigations on the other that support and illustrate this claim. Finally, we discuss some implications for research on social and individual agency.

The prehistory of compassion

Beyond the biological traits that differentiate ancient species of hominins from extant humans, differences in social organization remain an important yet difficult issue to assess. Psychological features and interindividual relations, in particular, are among the least accessible aspects of past behaviors. Although the fossil and archaeological records do not easily allow us to tackle these kinds of issues, contrasting views on the cognitive capabilities and behavioral sophistication of fossil human species have often been expressed. In this issue of PNAS, Gracia et al. (1) provide new evidence on the survival of an abnormal individual with possible cognitive deficits from a group of pre-Neandertal Pleistocene hunter-gatherers, currently assigned to a geological age of >500 ka. The cranium SH14 from the Sima de los Huesos (Sierra de Atapuerca, Spain) is the earliest documented case of human neurocranial and brain deformity in the fossil record to date. Despite her/his pathological condition, this individual was not rejected at birth and survived until at least 5 years of age, apparently receiving the same attention as other children from the group.

Longitudinal striae of the human fornix: shape, relations and variations

Two pairs of sagittal longitudinal striae, medial and lateral, are slender bundles of fibers located on the dorsal surface of corpus callosum, situated deeply in the longitudinal fissure of telencephalon. Imbedded in the structure of tiny gyrus, indusium griseum, they are, in fact, supracallosal fibers of the fornix, previously called fornix longus. Longitudinal striae were investigated in 25 fixed human brains obtained from autopsies. Macrodissection and morphometric methods were used in order to find out and analyze the appearance and gross morphological variability of longitudinal striae, as well as their inter-individual relations. Lateral longitudinal striae were located along the sulci of corpus callosum. Medial striae were positioned along the sagittal midline and they were mostly individual. However, they were at times connected, spanned or duplicated. Longitudinal striae make a characteristic pattern on the dorsal surface of corpus callosum. A classification of striae is made on the basis of their appearance. Although similar at first sight the striae, especially medial ones, have some individual features which make the pattern variable. Medial striae are more variable than the lateral ones. Perhaps functional neuroimaging and DT MRI will disclose the enigma of these striae.

Comportamento e estrutura reprodutiva da formiga Dinoponera lucida Emery (Hymenoptera, Formicidae)

The ant Dinoponera lucida (Ponerinae), endemic of the Atlantic rain forest (States of Bahia, Espirito Santo and Minas Gerais), is included in the list of Brazilian threatened species. We investigated aspects of its biology, particularly its behavior, to furnish arguments for a plan of management aiming the conservation of this species. Five colonies collected at Belmonte, Bahia, were studied through the scan sampling method. The division of labor between workers seems to depend on the individual age (age polyethism) and was organized in two groups: workers taking care of the offspring (nurses) and foragers. The spermatheca analysis pointed out the occurrence of a single gamergate (worker that have the ovaries developed and its spermatheca functional, able to mate and lay fertilized eggs) per colony (monogyny). Agonistic interactions included specialized behaviors, such as: gaster rubbing, antennal boxing, mandible bite and immobilization. These interactions were observed generally with a low frequency, but were more frequent in a colony with no gamergate. In colonies with a gamergate, this one does not participate in agonistic interactions. The understanding of reproduction mechanisms, as well as that of inter-individual relations, is extremely important for future management actions where any colony manipulation aiming at reinstallation or rehabilitation of a population needs this previous knowledge.

Explanations of interindividual – intergroup discontinuity: A review of the evidence

The authors review and evaluate various explanations for the tendency of intergroup relations to be more competitive, or less cooperative, than interindividual relations (the discontinuity effect). They distinguish between two general perspectives, each comprising a set of explanations for the discontinuity effect. The fear and greed perspective assumes that intergroup relations are characterised by greater fear and greed than are interindividual relations. The group decision-making perspective assumes a crucial role for group discussion in facilitating rational comprehension of mixed-motive situations. In general, explanations from the fear and greed perspective were found to be more consistent with the empirical record than explanations from the group decision-making perspective. The authors propose that a complete understanding of the discontinuity effect is yet to be achieved.

Citoyens à l'ombre d'un mur...

Citizens in the shadow of a wall... There is no “scientific” or “objective” solution to the conflict between the Arab countries and Israel ; no more than such a solution exists for a conflict between two individuals. Inter-individual relations do not fit into the framework of first-order, scientific reality, because it is impossible to scientifically determine their nature. Being completely constructed by their partners, such conflicts escape all forms of objective verification. This explains the failure of the naive belief in human reason, based on scientific knowledge, as well as the failure of the hope created in men who are “good by nature”, that their voluntary, spontaneous and reasonable submission to fundamental values which, when established scientifically, always turn out to be the best, and that, therefore, individual needs and desires will one day coincide perfectly with those of society...

Interindividual–intergroup discontinuity reduction through the anticipation of future interaction.

Consistent with the role of a long-term perspective in reducing the tendency of intergroup relations to be more competitive than interindividual relations in the context of noncorrespondent outcomes, an experiment demonstrated that anticipated future interaction reduced intergroup but not interindividual competitiveness. Further results indicated that the effect was present only for groups composed of members high in abstractness (Openness-Intellect on the Big 5 Inventory and Intuition on the Myers-Briggs Type Inventory) who trusted their opponents.