People's Social Interactions Research Articles

Socialinės sąveikos tarp judėjimo negalią turinčių ir neturinčių visuomenės narių ypatumai

The article applies Alfred Schutz‘s sociological phenomenological perspective to explore how people in wheelchairs experience and interpret social interactions with non disabled people. Their personal narratives are based on the qualitative in-depth interviews. Sociological phenomenological analysis of these narratives disclose the a lack of intersubjective (mutual motivational) understanding which exists in social interactions of people with motor disability and other members of society. It arises from differently formed typifications and interpretational schemes, which are followed by members of these groups. The mentioned lack of understanding evidences by unrequested charity of passers-by for people sitting in a wheelchair, open display of compassion or its expression, bored staring at them and similar actions, which are undesirable by disabled. This shows that society is still not familiar with the social reality, lived by disabled persons. Due to this unfamiliarity during social interactions the disabled members of society are imposed with unequal relationships: they are stigmatized and classified as having a lower social status. Social and health care professionals also show their social power in relationship with disabled ones. In the primary health care institutions they are generally classified as “second-class” patients, who lack proper attention from professionals. These experiences, reflected by disabled people, show the existing trend of medical professionals to follow the biomedical and functionalist view towards a disabled person as towards an incurable patient and useless member of society. Although employees, providing social services for people with disability, or supervising professionals should be well aware of living specificity of people with motor disability, should be able to provide a competent support, however, in many cases the disabled ones argue that these professionals do not have the aforementioned characteristics, and the nature of social interaction with them is unacceptable.

Impact of Indian Dramas on Interaction behavior of female

Cable television is playing a vital role in Pakistani society. In Pakistan people mostly spend their time on watching Indian media as compare to other channels. In this study researchers find out the Indian dramas impact on people social interaction. Therefore, researcher selected target population female age group from 16 to 35 years from village Sehowal, Sialkot. While cultivation theory selected as theoretical framework that addresses the effects of television viewing on attitude and behavior of viewers. The study concluded that the viewing patterns of respondents indicated that their free evening time, which was previously used for social and family bonding, is now spent in front of the cable television especially for Star Plus dramas.

Interference Mitigation for Cyber-Physical Wireless Body Area Network System Using Social Networks.

Wireless body area networks (WBANs) are cyber-physical systems (CPS) that have emerged as a key technology to provide real-time health monitoring and ubiquitous healthcare services. WBANs could operate in dense environments such as in a hospital and lead to a high mutual communication interference in many application scenarios. The excessive interferences will significantly degrade the network performance including depleting the energy of WBAN nodes more quickly, and even eventually jeopardize people's lives due to unreliable (caused by the interference) healthcare data collections. Therefore, It is critical to mitigate the interference among WBANs to increase the reliability of the WBAN system while minimizing the system power consumption. Many existing approaches can deal with communication interference mitigation in general wireless networks but are not suitable for WBANs due to their ignoring the social nature of WBANs. Unlike the previous research, we for the first time propose a power game based approach to mitigate the communication interferences for WBANs based on the people's social interaction information. Our major contributions include: (1) model the inter-WBANs interference, and determine the distance distribution of the interference through both theoretical analysis and Monte Carlo simulations; (2) develop social interaction detection and prediction algorithms for people carrying WBANs; (3) develop a power control game based on the social interaction information to maximize the system's utility while minimize the energy consumption of WBANs system. The extensive simulation results show the effectiveness of the power control game for inter-WBAN interference mitigation using social interaction information. Our research opens a new research vista of WBANs using social networks.

BRIDGING VITAL SIGNS AND SOCIAL INTERACTIONS FOR RESOURCE-CONSTRAINED EPIDEMIC CONTROL

This paper proposes a new approach that uses people's social interaction behavior collected by mobile phones and vital signs collected by wireless body area networks (WBAN) for epidemic control. By this approach, infectious people who are socially active can be quickly identified to be quarantined. To realize this approach, we introduce a notion of critical network and critical node identification algorithm. Observing some resource constraints such as quarantine cost and hardware limitation, we focus on optimizing the proposed approach such that high epidemic control effectiveness is achieved while the corresponding overhead is minimized. Our simulation results demonstrate that our approach can effectively control the spread of epidemic diseases in various situations.

Gestural Manifestation of Knowledge in Conceptual Frames

Frames are cognitive structures of knowledge grounded in people's social interaction in recurrent sociocultural activities or individual incidences. Discussion concerning the knowledge in frames largely focuses on its linguistic manifestation with regard to roles and role relations in scenes. Little attention has been paid to the scriptal knowledge in conceptual frames. The present study provides empirical evidence that frame knowledge is also readily manifested in gesture in daily conversation. Gesture not only reveals roles and role relations in a scene as distinct from those in speech, but it also collaborates with speech to jointly manifest part of a script of the frame. In addition, in line with the view of prominence, the part of frame knowledge being selected for manifestation in gesture is the speaker's focus of attention on a certain aspect of the scene during speaking. Finally, the temporal patterning of gesture and speech further bears out growth point theory, in that the planning of an utterance involves the interplay of imagery thinking and linguistic thinking.

Social Representations of Foreign Aid: Exploring Meaning-Making in Aid Practice in Sulu, Southern Philippines

Conceptualising foreign aid as a controversial social object, this study utilised Social Representations Theory as a social constructionist framework to understand the meanings that arise from people's social interactions in relation to foreign aid practice in a particular historical, political and social context such as the province of Sulu in Southern Philippines. Key informant interviews and group discussions with representatives of various social groups involved in the practice of foreign aid in Sulu were conducted. Research data were examined using thematic analysis. Results showed two interrelated representational systems about foreign aid in the province. First, foreign aid was understood as a valuable resource for peace and development in Sulu. Second, based on narratives of aid practice in the province, the same social object was also represented as a profiteering enterprise that operates at various levels of the aid structure. Results are discussed in terms of meaning-making in aid practice; the possible psychological, social and political consequences of the social meaning of foreign aid as a profiteering enterprise; and the potential of these social representations for reflection, critique and transformation in the practice of foreign aid.

Arts In‐Reach: taking ‘bricks off shoulders’ in adult mental health inpatient care

This article reports upon a research study focusing on a programme of work called Arts In-Reach. The programme was designed to provide a participatory arts programme for the adult mental health inpatient wards in a city in the UK. The aim of the research study was to explore the experiences of people who have engaged with the Arts In-Reach programme of work. Eleven qualitative interviews were conducted among participants of the programme. Consistent with other research, this study reveals how people on the wards often feel powerless and bored. The feelings of boredom are exacerbated as people recover. Participating in the arts groups has alleviated some of those feelings. Furthermore, participation has also increased people's social interactions and given opportunity for self-expression. The arts activities also provide a distraction for people and some appreciated being able to talk about matters other than their 'illness'. The arts activities helped people to think about their future and how they might take their artwork forward. For some people, thinking about the future helped with restoring a sense of hope, a quality imperative for recovery.

Old Age Research

Introduction The Myers Lecture for 1987 is reported in The Psychologist of Decelnber 1988, by Patrick Rabbitt, in which the conclusion is drawn that a which has nothing to say about what being old feels like, how elderly people see thell1selves in relation to the world, and how they attelnpt to understand their lives and to Inanage their interactions without elnbarrassnlent and pain will be a paltry, pseudo-acadenlic exercise (p. 506). It will, Rabbitt continues, Iniss entirely how elderly people's social interactions Inaintain the everyday efficiency of their cognitive processes. Research in social psychology, the neurosciences, and cognitive psychology had failed to provide such essential knowledge, and gerontology was in sore need of all three disciplines. I anl to propose that it needs none of the three, and that already, in 1950, an opportunity was Inissed to develop gerontology on lines so egregiously lacking in these and other disciplines since then. It was a proposal originally published in nliIneographed fornl in Harold E. Jones (Ed.), Research on Aging: Proceedings of a Conference held on August 710/ 1950/ at the University of California/ Berkeley (Pacific Coast Conlnlittee on Old Age Research, Social Science Research Council). It involved Q-Inethodology, and I was its author (Stephenson 1950). Background

Chinese philosophy and tourism development: a case study of Hangzhou

PurposeThis study aims to evaluate the correlation of Chinese philosophy to the process of tourism development. The current Chinese philosophy involves three influential ideologies: Chinese Confucianism, Chinese communism and Western capitalism, which significantly affect people's perspectives, behaviors and importantly, the whole tourism system.Design/methodology/approachThis study conducted 47 semi‐structured in‐depth interviews through field visits, in order to understand people's perspectives and social interactions in the tourism development process. The case study is based on the Hubin Street Project of Hangzhou, China.FindingsThe study finds that all three ideologies in Chinese philosophy have strong influences in the decision making processes of tourism development. They result in a relatively centralized decision‐making power centre, and increasing decentralized needs from the society.Research limitations/implicationsThis research helps to understand the reasons for social actions in China's tourism development from a different perspective, the philosophy. The study gives implications for other researches to further explore the relationship between ideologies and behavior.Originality/valueThe influences of Chinese philosophy to social actions could be even more complicated. More case studies could reflect different situations and more in‐depth views.

Situating Hazard Vulnerability: People’s Negotiations with Wildfire Environments in the U.S. Southwest

This article is based on a multimethod study designed to clarify influences on wildfire hazard vulnerability in Arizona's White Mountains, USA. Findings reveal that multiple factors operating across scales generate socially unequal wildfire risks. At the household scale, conflicting environmental values, reliance on fire insurance and firefighting institutions, a lack of place dependency, and social vulnerability (e.g., a lack of financial, physical, and/or legal capacity to reduce risks) were found to be important influences on wildfire risk. At the regional-scale, the shift from a resource extraction to environmental amenity-based economy has transformed ecological communities, produced unequal social distributions of risks and resources, and shaped people's social and environmental interactions in everyday life. While working-class locals are more socially vulnerable than amenity migrants to wildfire hazards, they have also been more active in attempting to reduce risks in the aftermath of the disastrous 2002 Rodeo-Chediski fire. Social tensions between locals and amenity migrants temporarily dissolved immediately following the disaster, only to be exacerbated by the heightened perception of risk and the differential commitment to hazard mitigation displayed by these groups over a 2-year study period. Findings suggest that to enhance wildfire safety, environmental managers should acknowledge the environmental benefits associated with hazardous landscapes, the incentives created by risk management programs, and the specific constraints to action for relevant social groups in changing human-environmental context.

The Nonformative Elements of Religious Life: Questioning the “Sociology of Spirituality” Paradigm

Sociological assertions of religious vitality in Euro-American societies have developed a paradigm of spirituality in which, following earlier studies of the New Age, a distinction is drawn between external authority and self-authority. Methodologically and theoretically problematic, this paradigm diverts attention from people's social practices and interactions, especially in relation to multiple religious authorities. Drawing upon ethnographic fieldwork with an English religious network, and building upon the work of Pierre Bourdieu, the author considers situations in which multiple authorities tend to relativize each other. Conceptualizing this in terms of “nonformativeness”—the lack of authorities' ability formatively to shape religious identity, habitus, and competition over religious capital—allows a new understanding of individual secularization to emerge that questions assertions of vitality.

Mixed Reality Entertainment and Art

Social and physical interactions are new paradigms that outline the vision of the next generation of entertainment. We can provide these interactions through employment of technologies such as mixed reality to merge the human physical world with the virtual game world. However, there are a few obstacles in achieving physical, mobile, tangible and social interaction for people's entertainment. The authors had organized a workshop on this topic of "Mixed Reality Entertainment and Art" at the ISMAR 2007 conference in Nara, and the presentations are summarized in this paper. Furthermore, the authors detail their related systems, including BlogWall, MediaMe, and Shared Design Space to provide artistic and entertainment mixed reality.

HOW LOCALITY, FREQUENCY OF COMMUNICATION AND INTERNET USAGE AFFECT MODES OF COMMUNICATION WITHIN CORE SOCIAL NETWORKS

The number of ways that people communicate with their social networks has changed dramatically in the last 50 years. Traditionally, the local community was the basis for people's social interactions; most of people's closest friends resided locally and face-to-face communication was the predominant mode of communication. Yet, today face-to-face meetings are no longer the primary way to communicate as one can use a landline telephone or any number of the computer mediated communications such as email. This paper explores the modes of communication rural individuals use most often with their three closest friends and how these modes of communication vary by three factors: (1) social tie locality, (2) frequency of communication, and (3) degree of Internet usage. Using a 2005 random sample mail survey of 1,315 residents in an isolated region of the Western United States, the results show that people actively use email to maintain core social networks, particularly when alters live at a distance. However, contradictory to previous research, the results suggest that increases in Internet usage are associated with decreases in other modes of communication, with proficiency of Internet use serving as a mediating factor in this relationship.

Human Spatial Behavior in a Public Housing Project at Amman, Jordan

This study is an example of a neighborhood scheme that much has been altered in appearance after its initial construction due to the lack of building regulations. The residents changed, added and altered its architectural characteristics without paying much attention to other social and behavioral factors. Our case study presents an empirical study of human spatial behavior in Prince Rashed Housing scheme located in Amman, the capital of Jordan, where the concept of neighborhood in its original design, is not followed at all. It is similar to many other modern housing schemes in Amman and throughout Jordan, where the concept of neighborhood is neglected and changes in its architectural appearance after building it took place. This is reflected directly in wayfinding and human behavior in neighborhoods. This research is going to assess the quality of the housing scheme through studying human behavior and how people orient themselves inside large-scale schemes. This study covers a range of development concerns such as people's cognitive mapping of the built environment used in wayfinding and the people's behavior and social interaction. The spatial layout and perception of the housing scheme is also studied. Research methods incorporate a variety of interactive methodologies, such as visual analysis of the spatial ability of the area within the housing scheme, and utilize a survey to both the residents and non-residents of the housing. Observational categories include information on users' different age groups and environment. Finally a study to the signage system and landmarks inside Prince Rashed housing is examined side-by-side to the studies of navigation system and the experience of maneuvering. The results emphasize the importance of the spatial organization of the setting, the circulation system or paths, the architecture, and the signage system in wayfinding. The complex interaction of physical environment and social behavior is also stressed. A number of recommendations are suggested at the end to improve the spatial environment and to help people find their way inside this housing scheme.

Eavesdropping on Health: A Naturalistic Observation Approach for Social Health Research

AbstractThis article provides an overview of a novel ecological momentary assessment method called the electronically activated recorder or EAR. The EAR is a portable audio recorder that periodically records snippets of ambient sounds from participants’ momentary environments. In tracking moment‐to‐moment ambient sounds, the EAR yields an acoustic log of a person's day as it naturally unfolds. As a naturalistic observation method, it provides an observer's account of daily life and is optimized for the assessment of audible aspects of participants’ daily social environments and interactions. The article discusses the EAR method conceptually and methodologically and identifies three important ways in which it can enrich social health research. Specifically, it can help cross‐validate research findings independent of self‐reports, calibrate psychological measures against behavioral markers of real‐world social functioning, and further our understanding of the role that people's mundane social interactions and language use play in coping and health.

Response variability and turn taking in cooperative play.

Abstract This study investigated whether response variability and turn taking were controlled by the play partner's responding. Variability and turn taking was assessed in two conditions following an ABA experimental design. Participants were three preschool aged children with autism and eight nondisabled preschool aged children. During the A-condition, the partner emitted play responses that were topically related to the participant's preceding play response, and during the B-condition, the partner emitted play responses that were topically unrelated to the participant's preceding play response. Results showed marked reduction in play variability and turn taking during the B-condition for all participants, demonstrating that variability and turn taking in cooperative play may be affected by the partner's play during the interaction. Key Words: cooperative play, variability, turn taking, typical children and children with autism. Introduction The analysis of social interaction in terms of both structural and functional properties is critical as a basis for understanding the occurrence of enduring social interaction and for the development of effective programs to facilitate social interaction in people with limited skills in this area. Behaviors that are evoked and maintained by properties of one or several other persons behavior are usually considered social, and the contingencies in which these behaviors are evoked are usually labeled social interaction (Skinner, 1957). Reciprocity, as an overarching concept, is said to be the nature of such interaction (Strain, Shores, & Timm, 1977) indicating a dependent relation between the responses involved. Functional aspects of social interaction have been discussed by several researchers, and often within the context of cooperation (e.g., Guerin, 1994; Hake, & Olvera, 1978; Schmitt, 1984). A cooperative contingency is according to Hake and Olvera (1978) identified when the reinforcers for each person involved is at least partially dependent upon the other person's responses. Reaching such a conclusion however, may require a further analysis of structural features of response patterns that occurs between the partners involved. Especially since an interaction as such seldom involves arbitrary reinforcers (e.g., food or money) but idiosyncratic responses, supposedly containing both reinforcing and discriminative stimulus functions. Jahr, Eldevik and Eikeseth (2000) argued that response alternation and response variability constitute some of the structural properties of a cooperative contingency from which functional properties may be derived. In this study, a procedure to establish cooperative play in children with autism was investigated and later replicated with typical children as participants (Jahr & Eldevik, 2002). The training elements included verbal description and imitation of modeled play episodes, utilizing a multiple exemplar strategy. Following training, participants in both studies could initiate play episodes and sustain episodes initiated by their play partner, and they were able to take turns in play episodes that contained a larger number of play responses than were practiced during training. Moreover, a considerable increase in play variability was evident for each child. Hence, the children seldom repeated their own play responses or persevered on specific objects. Instead they utilized a variety of play materials and their play responses were usually an adequate supplement to their play partners' responses and thereby a thematic extension of the play episode. That the children and their partner were playing within the same topic was confirmed by independent raters during social validity measures. The observed increase in turn taking and the emergent ability to vary responding in accordance to both the play partners' response and own previously emitted responses was assumed to indicate a functional relationship between the responses involved (Jahr et al. …

Motivational and Emotional Aspects of the Self

Recent theory and research are reviewed regarding self-related motives (self-enhancement, self-verification, and self-expansion) and self-conscious emotions (guilt, shame, pride, social anxiety, and embarrassment), with an emphasis on how these motivational and emotional aspects of the self might be related. Specifically, these motives and emotions appear to function to protect people's social well-being. The motives to self-enhance, self-verify, and self-expand are partly rooted in people's concerns with social approval and acceptance, and self-conscious emotions arise in response to events that have real or imagined implications for others' judgments of the individual. Thus, these motives and emotions do not operate to maintain certain states of the self, as some have suggested, but rather to facilitate people's social interactions and relationships.

Blushing during social interactions in people with a fear of blushing

Changes in facial blood flow were investigated during an introductory conversation, delivering a speech, and listening to the speech afterwards in 16 people with a fear of blushing and 16 controls. It was hypothesized that fear of blushing would be associated with high ratings of self-reported blushing intensity and embarrassment during the tasks, and with persistence of the blushing reaction between tasks. Embarrassment and self-reported blushing intensity were greater in the fear-of-blushing group than in controls throughout the experiment. Increases in facial blood flow were similar in the two groups during each of the tasks. However, blushing dissipated more slowly after each task in the fear-of-blushing group than in controls, resulting in an incremental increase in facial blood flow over the course of the experiment. The slow recovery after an episode of blushing might result in physiological or social cues that help to maintain a fear of blushing.

Religion in the structure of spiritual values

Religion is an important factor in the social interaction of people, which can significantly determine the direction of social development. As a spiritual phenomenon, religion is directly related to man, with his attachment to high spiritual ideals.

Communicative and translational functionality of religion and its basic manifestations

Religion in society is known to be an important factor in people's social interaction because it provides a certain type of communication. In the process of such communication, the necessary information and social experience of previous generations is transmitted. Therefore, religion is to some extent a historical memory of the community. Defining itself in certain sign systems (oral traditions in ancient times, later - in the "sacred books", confessional languages, etc.), social experience of past generations becomes public and becomes the property of new generations of people. From now on, it is no longer necessary for each individual individually to experience everything in their own experience. The individual experience of a person may to some extent be replaced by the results of the experience of their predecessors, and therefore the need to "invent a bicycle" every time