Perception Of Other People Research Articles

Neural Integration in Body Perception.

The perception of other people is instrumental in guiding social interactions. For example, the appearance of the human body cues a wide range of inferences regarding sex, age, health, and personality, as well as emotional state and intentions, which influence social behavior. To date, most neuroscience research on body perception has aimed to characterize the functional contribution of segregated patches of cortex in the ventral visual stream. In light of the growing prominence of network architectures in neuroscience, the current article reviews neuroimaging studies that measure functional integration between different brain regions during body perception. The review demonstrates that body perception is not restricted to processing in the ventral visual stream but instead reflects a functional alliance between the ventral visual stream and extended neural systems associated with action perception, executive functions, and theory of mind. Overall, these findings demonstrate how body percepts are constructed through interactions in distributed brain networks and underscore that functional segregation and integration should be considered together when formulating neurocognitive theories of body perception. Insight from such an updated model of body perception generalizes to inform the organizational structure of social perception and cognition more generally and also informs disorders of body image, such as anorexia nervosa, which may rely on atypical integration of body-related information.

PERCEPTIVE ASPECTS OF PEDAGOGICAL INTERACTION

The article investigates the problem of perception during pedagogical interaction. The purpose of the article is to substantiate the peculiarities of perception during pedagogical interaction. The objectives of the research are to substantiate theoretical approaches to perception during pedagogical interaction, and determine the peculiarities of perceiving subjects during interpersonal communication. There have been used the research methods of: analysis – to give a theoretical analysis of scientific literature; systematization and conceptualization of scientific ideas – to determine the main viewpoints on the perceptual aspects of pedagogical interaction and interpersonal communication; generalization – to develop conclusions. It has been emphasized that the emergence and successful development of interpersonal interaction in pedagogical communication is possible under mutual understanding between the participants, and results in adequate understanding. The interpersonal communication touches upon the problematics of message interpretation received from a teacher to student and vice versa. There have been revealed the most important properties of the perception subject: activity, integrity, substantiality, and duality. During pedagogical interaction, as a process of perception and understanding among people, it is important to make up the psychological mechanisms of mutual perception and understanding: identification, empathy, reflection, causal attribution, statements. There have been identified and explained the behavioral factors influencing the peculiarities of perception and understanding of others such as: behavior and activity, actions of the communicative partner, results of behavior and actions, behavior forms used by interlocutor, utterances of the partner etc.; psychological factors influencing the perception and understanding: appearance and its attributes, facial expressions, human eyes, pantomime; psychotypical peculiarities of communicative partner; the peculiarity of installing the communicator for the perception of other people, that is expressed differently in various socio-psychological situations. It has been concluded that the perception of a person is determined by the qualities and properties of the object and the perception of the subject. Understanding the peculiarities of interpersonal perception allows to communicate more qualitatively and effectively, achieve the set pedagogical goals, stimulate emotional state of a person, its maximum manifestation, develop socially approved inclinations and abilities.

Laughter as a social rejection cue: Influence of prior explicit experience of social rejection on cardiac signs of “freezing”

The study aimed at investigating the immediate cardiac effect of the sudden perception of other people's laughter after experimentally manipulating healthy participants' proneness to experience laughter as a cue of social threat. We expected that participants would show cardiac signs of freezing (i.e., sustained heart rate deceleration immediately after perception of the laughter) after prior social rejection but not or less so after prior acceptance, due to an increased bias to perceive the ambiguous social signal as a cue of social threat and rejection after rejection had been primed. Contrary to expectations, the perception of other people's laughter elicited a decelerative (freezing) response regardless of whether it was preceded by the experience of social rejection or acceptance. The response was prolonged in participants who had been accepted beforehand compared to those who had been rejected. The findings indicate that, given a relevant social context, other people's laughter can be a powerful cue of social threat and rejection also in healthy individuals. Prolonged heart rate deceleration after an ambiguous social signal may facilitate the processing of significant social information in the socially threatening situation. The study adds to the literature rendering the course of the immediate transient heart rate response a useful tool in social rejection research. Additionally, the findings suggested that in some cases the further progress of transient heart rate changes in more extended time-windows (about 30 s) may provide additional relevant information about the processing of social cues.

Autistic adults show preserved normalisation of sensory responses in gaze processing

Progress in our understanding of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has recently been sought by characterising how systematic differences in canonical neural computations employed across the sensory cortex might contribute to clinical symptoms in diverse sensory, cognitive, and social domains. A key proposal is that ASD is characterised by reduced divisive normalisation of sensory responses. This provides a bridge between genetic and molecular evidence for an increased ratio of cortical excitation to inhibition in ASD and the functional characteristics of sensory coding that are relevant for understanding perception and behaviour. Here we tested this hypothesis in the context of gaze processing (i.e., the perception of other people's direction of gaze), a domain with direct relevance to the core diagnostic features of ASD. We show that reduced divisive normalisation in gaze processing is associated with specific predictions regarding the psychophysical effects of sensory adaptation to gaze direction, and test these predictions in adults with ASD. We report compelling evidence that both divisive normalisation and sensory adaptation occur robustly in adults with ASD in the context of gaze processing. These results have important theoretical implications for defining the types of divisive computations that are likely to be intact or compromised in this condition (e.g., relating to local vs distal control of cortical gain). These results are also a strong testament to the typical sensory coding of gaze direction in ASD, despite the atypical responses to others' gaze that are a hallmark feature of this diagnosis.

СБАЛАНСИРОВАННАЯ ВРЕМЕННАЯ ПЕРСПЕКТИВА ЛИЧНОСТИ КАК ФАКТОР СОЦИАЛЬНО-ПСИХОЛОГИЧЕСКОЙ АДАПТАЦИИ СТУДЕНТОВ ВУЗА

At the present stage of development of the higher education system, the issue of time aspects of a personality formation becomes actual. It is caused by changing conditions of personal and occupational development of a person through the potential fulfillment at the higher education institution. The possibility of using own experience from the past to create perfect future comes true in present. The ability for adaptation within changing conditions of the environment, self-awareness and emotional comfort and, as a consequence, the ability to achieve goals and plans that is especially important for the future specialist’s personal fulfillment, depends on the ability to synchronize various time loci. The paper considers the interrelation between the time perspective of a personality and the social and psychological adaptation of the university students. The goal of the research is to identify the influence of various types of time perspective on the adaptation potential of the university students and the relation between the types of time perspective of the university students and their emotional state and ability to interact adequately with the social environment. The students of Socio-Psychological Institute and Institute of Fundamental Sciences of Kemerovo State University were selected as the respondents. Using the cluster analysis, two groups were identified: the students with the indicators more consistent with the accepted criteria of a balanced time perspective (the first group), and the students with polar values of these indicators (the second group). The first group of students demonstrates the high indicators of social and psychological adaptation contributing to setting and achieving goals in the future. The second group of students demonstrates the significantly lower adaptation characteristics manifested in the negative perception of other people and in presence of emotional discomfort.

Baudelaire and Other People

Baudelaire and Other People Maria Scott and Alexandra K. Wettlaufer OVER ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS after the death of Charles Baudelaire (1821–1867), his work remains a focus of interest and investigation for scholars of modernity across a range of disciplines and discourses. In this issue of L'Esprit Créateur, we propose that one reason Baudelaire's œuvre continues to be such a key point of reference for art historians, cultural historians, urban studies specialists, and literary scholars is that his writings—his poetry, prose, and criticism—explore a phenomenon that continues to be a major preoccupation today, namely, what it means to live in permanent proximity to other people. Closely associated with the definition and experience of modernity itself, Baudelaire inhabited the urban landscape of Second Empire Paris, a quasi-anonymous denizen of the crowded parks and boulevards. Manet aptly captures this modern social identity in La musique aux Tuileries (cover illustration), where the top-hatted author of "Les foules" is portrayed in profile against the trunk of a tree, one of a myriad of fashionable Parisians gathered in the gardens behind the elegant pair of lavender-bonneted women who dominate the foreground of the painting. Looking at this picture, it is difficult to imagine that, for many readers and critics, Baudelaire embodies the solitary individual whose psychic, moral, poetic, and even physical integrity is threatened by the presence of other people, or what one of his prose poems describes as "la tyrannie de la face humaine."1 Indeed, for Jean-Paul Sartre, Baudelaire's defensive stance against the gaze of other people is what defines him and his work.2 The theme of autrui is equally central to Walter Benjamin's essays and notes on Baudelaire. Benjamin argues that Baudelaire's verse and prose poetry bear witness to the shock effects produced by life in a modern city and to the mechanisms developed to defend the psyche against the potential violence of random encounters with others.3 Crowded urban spaces produce at least as much anxiety and exhilaration today as they did in Baudelaire's time; encounters with strangers, whether in person or on social media, continue to be a source of both unease and pleasure. Ross Chambers, whose death in 2017 was a grievous loss for French studies, places the various interpersonal croisements that took place in the busy streets of Second Empire Paris at the heart of his exploration of Baudelaire's poetry.4 For the critic Edward Kaplan, similarly, Baudelaire's poetry, in both verse and prose, places the relation between self and other at its very core; Kaplan shows how the poet's work challenges presuppositions about sameness [End Page 1] and difference through complex dialogic interchange.5 Our collection of articles similarly locates the self-other relation at its center, proposing fresh interpretations of Baudelaire's thinking about other people, and showing how the otherness of other people was negotiated by this founding figure of European modernity. Organized in three sections, "Baudelaire and Other People" first considers how the other is constructed in Baudelaire's poetry, then turns to Baudelaire's relationships with other poets, whether as reader or object of reading, and concludes with the role played by other arts and other artists not only in Baudelaire's poetry and criticism, but also in interpretations of his work. In our first section, "Baudelaire's Poetic Others: Theorizing and Realizing Autrui," authors examine the representation of encounters with other people in Les fleurs du mal and Le spleen de Paris. In her analysis of "À une passante" and "Les veuves," Sarah Gubbins explores the role played by both "generic baggage" and pre-existing assumptions in the perception of other people—in this case widows—in Baudelaire's verse and prose poetry. Kevin Newmark's reading of "Les sept vieillards" considers what the "loss of self" at the heart of Baudelaire's encounters with the other might entail and the possibility that it might be merely a provisional loss that allows for an even greater measure of self-possession and understanding in its wake. Maria Scott's essay, engaging with a currently topical theme in psychology and cognitive literary studies, approaches the meeting...

The Effect of Segregation on Intergroup Relations

AbstractInter-ethnic residential segregation is correlated with intergroup bias and conflict, poorly functioning states and civil societies, weak economic development, and ethnocentric political behavior. As such, segregation has been a subject of long-standing interest. However, segregation has not been assigned in randomized controlled trials, so the observed correlations may be spurious and the mechanism behind these correlations is poorly understood. In two experiments, we randomly assign segregation in a laboratory and demonstrate that segregation affects perceptions of other people and causes intergroup bias in costly decision-making. Rather than segregation merely inhibiting intergroup contact, we demonstrate that segregation directly affects perception and thus can affect intergroup relations even when holding contact constant.

The neural representation of social status in the extended face-processing network.

Social status is a salient cue that shapes our perceptions of other people and ultimately guides our social interactions. Despite the pervasive influence of status on social behavior, how information about the status of others is represented in the brain remains unclear. Here, we tested the hypothesis that social status information is embedded in our neural representations of other individuals. Participants learned to associate faces with names, job titles that varied in associated status, and explicit markers of reputational status (star ratings). Trained stimuli were presented in an functional magnetic resonance imaging experiment where participants performed a target detection task orthogonal to the variable of interest. A network of face-selective brain regions extending from the occipital lobe to the orbitofrontal cortex was localized and served as regions of interest. Using multivoxel pattern analysis, we found that face-selective voxels in the lateral orbitofrontal cortex - a region involved in social and nonsocial valuation, could decode faces based on their status. Similar effects were observed with two different status manipulations - one based on stored semantic knowledge (e.g., different careers) and one based on learned reputation (e.g., star ranking). These data suggest that a face-selective region of the lateral orbitofrontal cortex may contribute to the perception of social status, potentially underlying the preferential attention and favorable biases humans display toward high-status individuals.

DSM-5 personality trait domains and withdrawal versus approach motivational tendencies in response to the perception of other people’s desperation and angry aggression

Expressions of affect communicate social messages, which trigger approach and withdrawal/avoidance motivational tendencies in the observer. The present study investigated relationships between inter-individual differences in the motivational responses to other people’s affect expressions and DSM-5 personality trait domains. State-dependent, transient EEG alpha asymmetry responses provided indicators of the relative activation of withdrawal versus approach motivation in the respective social-emotional contexts. The Personality Inventory for the DSM-5 (PID-5) was used for the assessment of personality traits in a non-clinical sample. Individuals with higher levels of Antagonism showed relative activation of approach versus withdrawal motivation (as indicated by less relative right frontal activation) in response to confrontation with auditory expressions of angry aggression, whereas participants with higher levels of Detachment showed relative activation of withdrawal versus approach motivation (as indicated by greater relative right frontal activation) to the perception of other people’s desperate crying.

“Seeing-in” and twofold empathic intentionality: a Husserlian account

In recent years, the phenomenological approach to empathy becomes increasingly influential in explaining social perception of other people. Yet, it leaves untouched a related and pivotal question concerning the unique and irreducible intentionality of empathy that constitutes the peculiarity of social perception. In this article, I focus on this problem by drawing upon Husserl’s theory of image-consciousness, and I suggest that empathy is characterized by a “seeing-in” structure. I develop two theses so as to further explicate the seeing-in structure in question: first, empathy as a phenomenologically sui generis act is an intentional fusion of both presentation and re-presentation; and second, empathic intentionality is in essence twofold in that it is at once directed at both the other’s sensuously given body and the other’s non-sensuously given mentality. In this light, I argue that empathy is better conceived as a quasi-perceptual act that is fundamentally different from external perception simpliciter and other complex acts such as signitive, recollective and imaginative intention.

Narcissism in Bulgarian adults

IntroductionNarcissistic personality disorder influences relationships and beliefs in different life spheres.ObjectiveWe aimed to measure narcissism among Bulgarian adults by establishing validity of two scales measuring narcissism, specifying some social and demographic factors and differentiating narcissistic features.MethodOne hundred and thirty-four Bulgarians (17–62 years old, M = 31; SD = 11) were examined with two scales measuring narcissism. Higher score on Narcissistic personality disorder scale from the Personality Diagnostic Questionnaire-4 correlated positively (r = .346; P < .001) with higher score on A. T. Beck and J. S. Beck's scale measuring Narcissistic beliefs from Personality Belief Questionnaire that indicated their validity.ResultsNo significant gender differences in narcissism were found, with female participants prevailing in the sample (n = 118). Family status (FPDQ−4(4,128) = 0.593; pPDQ-4 = 569; FPBQ(4,128) = 0.295; pPBQ = .881), occupational status – student, employed or unemployed (FPDQ−4(4,128) = 0.593; pPDQ−4 = .569; FPBQ(4,128) = 0.295; pPBQ = .881), secondary or university education (tPDQ−4(112) = 1.809; pPDQ−4 = .073; tPBQ(112) = 1.338; pPBQ = .184), and the length of work experience did not differentiate narcissism (RPDQ−4 = .168; tPDQ−4 = −1.853; pPDQ−4 = .066; RPBQ = .063; tPBQ = −0.681; pPBQ = .497). Advance in age was related to diminished levels of narcissism (RPDQ−4 = .21; R2PDQ−4 = .044; BPDQ−4 = −0.034; tPDQ−4 = −2.463; pPDQ−4 = .015). Higher narcissism was related to the belief of being a special person (70.8%) and to the perceptions of other people as being envy of one's personality–own achievements (60.9%).ConclusionsNarcissistic personality disorder is rare in the studied Bulgarian adult population – 4.5% of the subjects (n = 6) had the highest levels of narcissism on both scales that corresponded to the proportion of 6% prevalence of lifetime narcissism in USA, according to Stinson et al.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

People watching: The perception of the relative body proportions of the self and others

We have an abundance of perceptual information from multiple modalities specifying our body proportions. Consequently, it seems reasonable for researchers to assume that we have an accurate perception of our body proportions. In contrast to this intuition, recent research has shown large, striking distortions in people's perceptions of the relative proportions of their own bodies. Specifically, individuals show large distortions when estimating the length of their body parts with a corporal metric, such as the hand, but not with a non-corporal object of the same length (Linkenauger et al., 2015). However, it remains unclear whether these distortions are specific to the perception of the relative proportions of one's own body or whether they generalize to the perception of the relative proportions of all human bodies. To assess this, individuals judged the relative lengths of either their own body parts or the body parts of another individual. We found that people have distorted perceptions of relative body proportions even when viewing the bodies of others. These distortions were greater when estimating the relative body parts of someone of the same gender. These results suggest our implicit full body representation is distorted and influences our perceptions of other people's bodies, especially if the other person's body is similar to our own.

Public Risk Perceptions of Handgun Use in the United States

This study explores public risk perceptions of other people's use of handguns and the influence of demographics on individuals' risk perceptions of other people's use of handguns. Data were collected from a nationally representative online survey of 2,008 individuals in the United States. The results indicate that the public views other people's use of handguns as highly risky (3.6 on a scale of 1 to 5). This result is not particularly interesting by itself, but when analyzing individuals' risk perceptions of other people's use of handguns along various demographics, interesting insights emerge. Specifically, the results indicate that women and minority groups, as well as older and more educated individuals have a significantly higher risk perception of other people's use of handguns. A better understanding of public risk perceptions of other people's use of handguns can provide critical insights needed to design appropriate gun safety policies.

Modeling of human behavior in crowds using a cognitive feedback approach

We present an agent-based approach to modeling crowd behavior that is based on complementary psychological and engineering principles. The application focus is for developing realistic models that address not only the physical but also the psychological aspects of crowd behavior. Our approach to modeling the psychology of a crowd is based on the principle of emotional reflection. According to this principle, human emotions are evoked in response to the perception of other people’s emotions, implying that emotions propagate in a crowd as a result of each person’s perception of other crowd members’ emotions in addition to external factors. We demonstrate that when incorporating an emotional component into a crowd simulation, there is enough sensitivity between the outcomes and emotion-based responses to provide a rich and powerful test-bed for assessing possible effects of emotionally driven responses in crowds. The emotional model is coupled with a movement model that is based on the social forces formulation, but with parameters that vary according to the current emotional state of each crowd member. We present the model along with results of how different emotional levels can affect the movement dynamics of crowds.

Patients’ perspectives on aerobic exercise early after stroke

Purpose: To describe patient perspectives of aerobic exercise during inpatient stroke rehabilitation, including their self-efficacy and beliefs towards exercise, as well as their perceptions of barriers. Method: A survey was conducted at three Canadian rehabilitation centres to evaluate individuals’ (N = 33) self-efficacy and outcome expectations for exercise. In addition, patient perceptions of other people recovering from stroke, social support, and aerobic exercise as part of rehabilitation were assessed. Results: Thirty-two people completed the survey. Of these, 97% were willing to participate in aerobic exercise 5.9 ± 8.8 days after admission to inpatient rehabilitation. While outcome expectations for exercise were high, participants reported lower self-efficacy for exercise. Patients reported barriers related to the ability to perform exercise (other health problems (i.e., arthritis), not being able to follow instructions and physical impairments) more often than safety concerns (fear of falling). The lack of support from a spouse and family were commonly identified, as was a lack of information on how to perform aerobic exercise. Conclusion: Patients with stroke are willing to participate in aerobic exercise within a week after admission to inpatient rehabilitation. However, they perceive a lack of ability to perform aerobic exercise, social support from family and information as barriers.Implications for rehabilitationAerobic exercise is recognized as part of comprehensive stroke rehabilitation.There is a need to better understand patient perspectives to develop and implement more effective interventions early after stroke.Patients lack confidence in their ability to overcome barriers early after stroke.Patients are concerned with their ability to perform exercise, fall risk, lack of support from a spouse and family, and limited information on aerobic exercise.There is a need to reinforce education with practical experience in structured aerobic exercise programs that show patients and caregivers how to manage disability and complex health needs.

Reviewing the Aftermath Project (2013-2014) in the Light of Affect Theory

The Aftermath Project (2013-14) aims at offering insights into comparable experiences of displacement and trauma in times of conflict through an assemblage of online media as well as exhibits throughout Ireland. This contribution suggests that the project goes beyond asserting the sole prism of the Irish Troubles by considering other, more recent experiences of migration to Ireland. As a complex object that is more than what it looks like, I argue that it addresses the interaction between the auto-ethnographic subject, the camera’s eye and the critic’s, and the role of the network in the circulation and perception of other people’s affects and of one’s own. To do so, I propose to implement Lisa Blackman’s methodology in order to “construct a material-semiotic-affective apparatus that reorients the perception towards new ways of seeing hearing, listening, and feeling”.

Mental state decoding impairment in major depression and borderline personality disorder: meta-analysis.

Patients with major depression and borderline personality disorder are characterised by a distorted perception of other people's intentions. Deficits in mental state decoding are thought to be the underlying cause of this clinical feature. To examine, using meta-analysis, whether mental state decoding abilities in patients with major depression and borderline personality disorder differ from those of healthy controls. A systematic review of 13 cross-sectional studies comparing Reading in the Mind of the Eyes Test (RMET) accuracy performance of patients with major depression or borderline personality disorder and healthy age-matched controls (n = 976). Valence scores, where reported, were also assessed. Large significant deficits were seen for global RMET performance in patients with major depression (d = -0.751). The positive RMET valence scores of patients with depression were significantly worse; patients with borderline personality disorder had worse neutral scores. Both groups were worse than controls. Moderator analysis revealed that individuals with comorbid borderline personality disorder and major depression did better than those with borderline personality disorder alone on accuracy. Those with comorbid borderline personality disorder and any cluster B or C personality disorder did worse than borderline personality disorder alone. Individuals with both borderline personality disorder and major depression performed better then those with borderline personality disorder without major depression for positive valence. These findings highlight the relevance of RMET performance in patients with borderline personality disorder and major depression, and the importance of considering comorbidity in future analysis.

Exploring the Relationship Between Stereotype Perception and Residents' Well-Being

Medicine has historically been a male-dominated field, and there remains a stereotype that men are better physicians than women. For female residents, and in particular female surgical residents, chronically contending with this stereotype can exact a toll on their psychological health. The objective of this study was to determine the relationship between women surgeons' psychological health and their perception of other people's endorsement of the stereotype (stereotype perception). This is a correlational study based on survey data collected from 14 residency programs at one medical center from September 2010 to March 2011. The participants were 384 residents (representing an 80% response rate). The main survey measures were the Dupuy Psychological General Well-Being Scale and the Maslach Burnout Inventory. Among female surgical residents, we found that those with higher degrees of stereotype perception had poorer psychological health than those with lower degrees of stereotype perception (β = -0.44, p = 0.002). For men, there was no relationship between stereotype perception and psychological health (β = 0.015; p = 0.92). Among nonsurgeons, there was no relationship between stereotype perception and psychological health for either women or men (β = -0.016; p = 0.78; β = -0.0050; p = 0.97, respectively). The data suggest that women in surgical training, but not men, can face a stressor--stereotype perception--that is negatively associated with their psychological health. This same relationship does not seem to exist for women in nonsurgical training programs. Efforts should be made to further understand this relationship and investigate possible interventions to level the playing field for male and female surgical trainees.

Lassen sich fremdpsychische Zustände wahrnehmen?

Abstract This paper discusses whether other people's mental states are, at times, perceivable. Against such a possibility it was objected that other people's mental states are not empirically accessible and therefore, at best, recognizable by inference to the best explanation of their behaviour. However, this fairly common view is committed to a narrow empiricist concept of perception. Hence, this article explores a broader concept of perception and analyses its application-conditions with respect to the perception of other people's mental states.

Investigating Older Adults’ Trust, Causal Attributions, and Perception of Capabilities in Robots as a Function of Robot Appearance, Task, and Reliability

The purpose of this study is to examine the extent to which appearance, task, and reliability of a robot is susceptible to stereotypic thinking. Stereotypes can influence the types of causal attributions that people make about the performance of others. Just as causal attributions may affect an individual’s perception of other people, it may similarly affect perceptions of technology. Stereotypes can also influence perceived capabilities of others. In situations where stereotypes are activated, an individual’s perceived capabilities are typically diminished. The tendency to adjust perceptions of capabilities of others may translate into levels of trust placed in the individual’s abilities. A factorial survey using video vignettes will be utilized to assess young and older adults’ attitudes toward a robot’s behavior and appearance. We hypothesize that a robot’s older appearance will yield lower levels of trust, more dispositional attributions, and lower perceptions of capabilities while high reliability should positively impact trust.