Study Of Sociality Research Articles

Conflicting predictions in the cross-cultural study of music and sociality – Comment on “Musical engagement as a duet of tight synchrony and loose Interpretability” by Tal-Chen Rabinowitch

Conflicting predictions in the cross-cultural study of music and sociality – Comment on “Musical engagement as a duet of tight synchrony and loose Interpretability” by Tal-Chen Rabinowitch

“She did it!”: Meaning-making in interaction between deaf and hearing siblings in Peru

Abstract In this article, I argue that centering multimodal practices is important in the study of human communication and sociality, and becomes particularly relevant in the presence of asymmetries in language access. Using data collected as part of a two-year linguistic ethnography of deaf youth in Iquitos, Peru, I demonstrate how three siblings engage in extended dispute routines even in the face of sensory and communicative asymmetries. The microanalysis of video-recorded sibling interaction sheds light on their use of diverse multimodal resources to navigate the common interactional work of securing an interlocutor, coordinating attention, managing misunderstandings, and establishing shared references (Sidnell 2007, 2009). Not only do the siblings utilize multimodal resources to carry out the interactional project of making an accusation and building alliances, but they also ‘co-operatively’ engage in building a shared semiotic repertoire (C. Goodwin 2018). (Deaf, sign language, linguistic ethnography, multimodality, semiotic repertoire, Peru)*

A qualitative study of food sociality in three provinces of South China: social functions of food and dietary behavior.

Food sociality refers to the exploration of food production, exchange, distribution, and consumption and influences on cultural communication and social meaning. This study aimed to investigate food sociality in three provinces of South China to provide theoretical and practical evidence of food sociality in the region and to revise nutrition policies. We conducted a qualitative study comprising 25 experts in the fields of nutrition, sociology, food science, and agriculture from Hainan, Guangdong, and Guangxi Province by using a semi-structured in-depth interview, which included 28 pre-determined questions covering six topics. The interviews were conducted between November 2020 and March 2021. Verbatim transcripts were analyzed thematically using NVivo 11.0. Of the 25 experts, the mean age was 50.6 (SD = 8.4) years, 15 (60%) were male, and 22 (88%) held a master's degree or above. The analysis showed that food sociality in three provinces of South China mainly comprises social functions of food and dietary behavior. Regarding social functions of food, the experts expressed that food represents local culture (72%, 18 experts), presents social status and economic power (40%, 10 experts), and is central to special occasions, traditional customs, and etiquette activities (60%, 15 experts). In terms of social functions of dietary behaviors, the majority of experts indicated that food is a social communication tool (72% experts), has geographical characteristics (80% experts), and, to some extent, is used as a proxy for reward or punishment. Furthermore, festivals are one of the core elements of food sociality in the region, although food safety is a major concern. Some dietary behaviors, such as overindulgence in afternoon tea and encouraging drinking, may increase the risk of chronic diseases. Food sociality in three provinces of South China is mainly related to the social function of food and dietary behavior. It is a combination of local culture, social status and economic power, traditional customs, rewards and punishments, geographical food preference, and social communication tools. The authors recommend increasing food safety at festivals and promoting healthy eating behaviors in order to improve the overall health of the population in this region.

Kinship composition in mammals.

Understanding the evolution of group-living and cooperation requires information on who animals live and cooperate with. Animals can live with kin, non-kin or both, and kinship structure can influence the benefits and costs of group-living and the evolution of within-group cooperation. One aspect of kinship structure is kinship composition, i.e. a group-level attribute of the presence of kin and/or non-kin dyads in groups. Despite its putative importance, the kinship composition of mammalian groups has yet to be characterized. Here, we use the published literature to build an initial kinship composition dataset in mammals, laying the groundwork for future work in the field. In roughly half of the 18 species in our sample, individuals lived solely with same-sex kin, and, in the other half, individuals lived with related and unrelated individuals of the same sex. These initial results suggest that it is not rare for social mammals to live with unrelated individuals of the same sex, highlighting the importance of considering indirect and direct fitness benefits as co-drivers of the evolution of sociality. We hope that our initial dataset and insights will spur the study of kinship structure and sociality towards new exciting avenues.

Справедливы ли обвинения в адрес методологов? Ответ методолога

The article analyzes the discussion by political scientists and some Russian intellectuals of the ideas of the Moscow Methodological Circle (MMC), whose representatives are accused of arming the modern government with inadequate methodology, trying to control it, almost ideologically preparing a special military operation. The author separates two main directions of methodology - philosophical research and applying it into practice, arguing that the accusations relate primarily to the second direction, in addition, he argues that there is no single methodology, there are different groups of methodologists with different views and tasks. In order to develop criteria for understanding and evaluating the discussion, a reconstruction of the evolution of the views and concepts of the MMC is proposed: from the first program for the study of thinking, through the program for constructing the theory of activity and mental activity, to organizational activity games (OAG) and the concepts of management and OLM (organization, leadership, management). At the same time, the influence of Marxist ideas, which led to the reduction of sociality and management to activity, is demonstrated. The nature of the OAG is discussed. At the end of the article, the achievements of methodology are characterized, which the author refers to the “golden fund of methodology”, obtained in the framework of philosophical research. The study is accompanied by an analysis of the positions of methodologists and their critics, as well as social situations that predetermined the development of methodology. In particular, they point to the crisis of socialism in the USSR, the weakening of ideological pressure, the expansion of freedom, and the expansion of the activity of philosophers and scientists. According to the author, the main methodological schemes for reforming sociality were created at the MMC (Moscow Methodological Circle) without a serious study of sociality, which was used by some political scientists and ambitious intellectuals, blaming methodologists, attributing imperious intentions and goals to them. As the author shows, everything is much more complicated, it is necessary to take into account both the difference in methodological views, and the division of methodology into two directions, as well as the political context influencing it.

Genome assembly and annotation of the European earwig Forficula auricularia (subspecies B).

The European earwig Forficula auricularia is an important model for studies of maternal care, sexual selection, sociality, and host–parasite interactions. However, detailed genetic investigations of this species are hindered by a lack of genomic resources. Here, we present a high-quality hybrid genome assembly for Forficula auricularia using Nanopore long-reads and 10× linked-reads. The final assembly is 1.06 Gb in length with 31.03% GC content. It consists of 919 scaffolds with an N50 of 12.55 Mb. Half of the genome is present in only 20 scaffolds. Benchmarking Universal Single-Copy Orthologs scores are ∼90% from 3 sets of single-copy orthologs (eukaryotic, insect, and arthropod). The total repeat elements in the genome are 64.62%. The MAKER2 pipeline annotated 12,876 protein-coding genes and 21,031 mRNAs. Phylogenetic analysis revealed the assembled genome as that of species B, one of the 2 known genetic subspecies of Forficula auricularia. The genome assembly, annotation, and associated resources will be of high value to a large and diverse group of researchers working on dermapterans.

The Regarded Listener

Current theories of human social interaction characterize interactants, both speakers and hearers, as possessing a rich cognitive and reflexive life achieved through collaboratively built action. However, prevailing transcription approaches, which tend to neglect listening activity, do not adequately incorporate such understandings of the phenomena they represent transcriptively. We review the history and scholarship of video-based studies of human sociality. We then present an example of horizontal transcription to demonstrate the utility of this approach in capturing the spatial, temporal, and visual components of human social interaction—in this case, that of young children telling stories as they are writing them.

Coalitions of touch: Balancing restraint and haptic soothing in the veterinary clinic.

This article responds to recent calls to further incorporate the study of animal health care into the sociology of health and illness. It focuses on a theme with a long tradition in medical sociology, namely clinical communication, but explores matters distinctive to veterinary practice. Drawing on video recordings of 60 consultations across three small animal veterinary clinics in the United Kingdom, we explore how clients and veterinarians (or “vets”) fashion fleeting “coalitions of touch,” that aptly position the animal to enable the performance of medical work, often in the face of physical resistance. Building on recent developments in the study of haptic sociality, we analyse how care and emotional concern for animal patients is communicated through various forms of embodied action; thus, how the problematics of forced care and restraint are mitigated through distinctive ways of touching and holding animal patients. Moreover, while prior studies of small animal veterinary work have highlighted the significance of talk within the clinician–animal–client triad, we reveal the fundamentally embodied and collaborative work of managing and controlling patients during sometimes intense and fast‐moving episodes of veterinary care.

Evidence for acoustic discrimination in lemurs: A playback study on wild indris Indri indri.

Indris Indri indri are group-living lemurs that occupy stable territories over several years and perform remarkable long-distance vocal displays. Vocal exchanges between long-term territory neighbors may contribute to assessing reciprocal resource-holding potentials, thus adaptively reducing the costs of territorial defense by limiting aggressive escalation. Previous work showed that indris' songs show distinctive acoustic features at individual and group level. However, the possibility that indris use such cues for individual or group-level recognition has never been investigated experimentally. We conducted a playback experiment to test whether indris discriminate between familiar and nonfamiliar songs. Our rationale lies in the hypothesis of the dear enemy phenomenon, which predicts that territorial animals will show reduced aggression levels toward familiar neighbors compared with novel rivals. We played back stimulus recordings to wild indris from their territory boundaries and examined their responses in terms of vocal and behavioral indicators of willingness to engage in a fight. In line with our predictions, focal animals responded more rapidly and approached more often the speaker in response to playback stimuli of nonfamiliar individuals than to stimuli of neighboring groups. These results indicate that indris can discriminate between different classes of intruders based on distinctive acoustic features of their song choruses. We suggest that increased aggression directed toward unfamiliar intruders may be explained by higher threat levels associated with dispersal and group formation dynamics. We further discuss the relevance of these findings in a strepsirrhine primate model for comparative studies of vocal communication and sociality.

Stability and change in gartersnake social networks across ontogeny

AbstractDevelopmental studies of sociality in non‐human animals can offer important insights into the evolution, function, and plasticity of social behavior, especially in understudied species. We examined the development of social behavior in gartersnakes. We hypothesized that social interactions change as snakes age, but are relatively stable in the short term. To assess developmental changes in social patterns, we examined the social tendencies of a group of 6 eastern gartersnakes over the first year and a half of their lives. We placed the snakes in an arena for 8 days and recorded the time that they spent in physical proximity to each other. We repeated this 8‐day process 7 times across the snakes’ development. We looked at changes in association patterns and individual differences in sociality (i.e., network position), and examined the effect of group size reduction on social behavior. We found that individuals tended to show repeatable network position across time, but there was a behavioral divide between younger snakes and mature snakes. When male snakes reached sexual maturity, they began initiating most social interactions. Additionally, group member attrition caused the networks to tighten, and the population reduction in combination with sexual maturity created stable social networks. This research shows that social context can have important effects on sociability, and that even a species without permanent social groups will be influenced by its social environment.

Artificial sociality in the human-machine interaction

The article aims at clarifying the concept artificial sociality in the human-machine interaction by answering the question whether artificial sociality is a prerequisite or a result of this interaction. The authors conducted a logical analysis of the definitions of sociality and artificial sociality as presented in the scientific literature, and conducted an empirical study of artificial sociality in the human-machine interaction with three methods - comparison of means, correlation analysis and discriminant analysis. All three methods were used in the analysis of the same data: indicators of the potential of the human-machine interaction and G. Hofstedes six cultural dimensions. With these measurements of culture, the authors interpreted empirically the degree of its artificiality (based on the methodological assumption about the combination of natural and artificial in culture) which determines the development of artificial sociality. Based on the results of the application of three methods of statistical analysis, the authors conclude that in the contemporary world, there are both conditionally artificial cultures that are the most favourable for the development of artificial (algorithmic) sociality and conditionally natural cultures that hinder the development of artificial sociality. This type of sociality emerged under the development of writing and various methods of processing and storing information (catalogues, archives, etc.), i.e., long before the creation of machines. Artificial sociality is determined by the relative artificiality of culture, and is a prerequisite rather than a result of the human-machine interaction.

The Evolution of Social Behaviour

The Evolution of Social Behaviour

Distribution of Vasopressin and Oxytocin Neurons in the Basal Forebrain and Midbrain of Spiny Mice (Acomys cahirinus)

The nonapeptides vasopressin (VP) and oxytocin (OT) are present in some form in most vertebrates. VP and OT play critical roles in modulating physiology and are well-studied for their influences on a variety of social behaviors, ranging from affiliation to aggression. Their anatomical distributions have been mapped for numerous species across taxa, demonstrating relatively strong evolutionary conservation in distributions throughout the basal forebrain and midbrain. Here we examined the distribution of VP-immunoreactive (-ir) and OT-ir neurons in a gregarious, cooperatively breeding rodent species, the spiny mouse (Acomys cahirinus), for which nonapeptide mapping does not yet exist. Immunohistochemical techniques revealed VP-ir and OT-ir neuronal populations throughout the hypothalamus and amygdala of males and females that are consistent with those of other rodents. However, a novel population of OT-ir neurons was observed in the median preoptic nucleus of both sexes, located dorsally to the anterior commissure. Furthermore, we found widespread sex differences in OT neuronal populations, with males having significantly more OT-ir neurons than females. However, we observed a sex difference in only one VP cell group – that of the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BST), a VP neuronal population that exhibits a phylogenetically widespread sexual dimorphism. These findings provide mapping distributions of VP and OT neurons in Acomys cahirinus. Spiny mice lend themselves to the study of mammalian cooperation and sociality, and the nonapeptide neuronal mapping presented here can serve as a basic foundation for the study of nonapeptide-mediated behavior in a group of highly social rodents.

No association between genetic variants in MAOA, OXTR, and AVPR1a and cooperative strategies.

The effort to understand the genetic basis of human sociality has been encouraged by the diversity and heritability of social traits like cooperation. This task has remained elusive largely because most studies of sociality and genetics use sample sizes that are often unable to detect the small effects that single genes may have on complex social behaviors. The lack of robust findings could also be a consequence of a poor characterization of social phenotypes. Here, we explore the latter possibility by testing whether refining measures of cooperative phenotypes can increase the replication of previously reported associations between genetic variants and cooperation in small samples. Unlike most previous studies of sociality and genetics, we characterize cooperative phenotypes based on strategies rather than actions. Measuring strategies help differentiate between similar actions with different underlaying social motivations while controlling for expectations and learning. In an admixed Latino sample (n = 188), we tested whether cooperative strategies were associated with three genetic variants thought to influence sociality in humans—MAOA-uVNTR, OXTR rs53576, and AVPR1 RS3. We found no association between cooperative strategies and any of the candidate genetic variants. Since we were unable to replicate previous observations our results suggest that refining measurements of cooperative phenotypes as strategies is not enough to overcome the inherent statistical power problem of candidate gene studies.

Social Network Analysis of a Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) Group in Captivity Following the Integration of a New Adult Member

Management of primates in captivity often presents the challenge of introducing new individuals into a group, and research investigating the stability of the social network in the medium term after the introduction can help inform management decisions. We investigated the behavior of a group of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) housed at Chester Zoo, UK over 12 months (divided into three periods of 4 months) following the introduction of a new adult female. We recorded grooming, proximity, other affiliative behaviors, and agonistic behaviors and used social network analysis to investigate the stability, reciprocity, and structure of the group, to examine the effect of rearing history on grooming network position and the role of sex in agonistic behavior. Both the grooming and agonistic networks correlated across all three periods, while affiliative networks correlated only between periods 2 and 3. Males had significantly higher out-degree centrality in agonistic behaviors than females, indicating that they carried out agonistic behaviors more often than females. There was no significant difference in centrality between hand-reared and mother-reared chimpanzees. Overall, the group structure was stable and cohesive during the first year after the introduction of the new female, suggesting that this change did not destabilize the group. Our findings highlight the utility of social network analysis in the study of primate sociality in captivity, and how it can be used to better understand primate behavior following the integration of new individuals.

The Multiple Self: Between Sociality and Dominance

We begin from the current approaches to the multiple self - Bakhtin’s concept of polyphony, Mair’s community of self and Hermans’ dialogical self theory. Polyphony assumes that the self consists of multiple different voices, which simultaneously exist and interact in complex dialogical relations. The metaphor of the community of self enables us to perceive how the individual, depending on a specific social context, can use different selves, as subsystems of constructs which are mutually incompatible. Dialogical self theory enriches the idea of the polyphonic self with the idea of the extended I, in which the voices of others appear as simultaneous external and internalized I-positions. Further on this paper proposes that the understanding of the multiple self is complemented by the implementation of the concepts of sociality and relations of domination. Then, a methodological approach is presented for the study of sociality and dominance in the multiple self. The paper also presents a case study of a successful student’s community of self as an illustration of the implementation of this methodological approach. The case study shows that the student’s community of selves is marked by tension between dominant voices and voices of resistance which always have the potential to change the balance of power, making the sense of self as a student both changeable and inconsistent. The other significant finding is that the role relationships which are established between some voices could serve to either establish or maintain the domination in the multiple self.

Изучение социальности и проблема социального действия

Изучение социальности и проблема социального действия

The Basic Ideas for Constructing Methodological Concept of Sociality

The article discusses the crisis situation in sociology, and in connection with this, ideas are outlined aimed at constructing a methodological concept of sociality. It is noted that the crisis in sociology takes place due to the transition of sociologists to interdisciplinary research. It seems that such an interdisciplinary turn is unsafe for sociology as a scientific discipline, primarily in terms of understanding the subject and the integrity of the reality being studied. Analyzing the crisis in sociology, the author considers himself as methodologist and culturologist, setting the task to implement cultural, historical and phenomenological approaches in the social sciences. In this regard, the methodological, cultural, historical and phenomenological features of the study are characterized. They are compared with sociological ones. The sociological approach is distinguished by four characteristics: 1) assessment of sociality as well as an indication of the type of social action aimed at changing or optimizing sociality, 2) description of the mass behavior of people and the social order that determines this behavior, 3) attitude toward the study of sociality and a description of “social nature”, 4) consideration of sociality only within the framework of the modern culture (this approach is contrasted with the cultural-historical interpretation of sociality). The author agrees with these characteristics, although believes that they need to be problematized. He considers the current understandings of justice and social nature and concludes that sociality is not equal to itself, it is rather a historically determined phenomenon. In conclusion, the author outlines the stages of research and the construction of a methodological concept of sociality. The author believes since the problematization and case studies have already been carried out, the next step is the cultural and historical reconstruction of the main types of sociality (mainly, the European types).

Рефлексия оснований междисциплинарного изучения социальности

В статье автор анализирует основания своих исследований социальности, такие как культура, экономика, личность, социальные институты и институции, управление и власть. Необходимость такого анализа объясняется, с одной стороны, критикой авторских исследований со стороны социологов и философов, с другой – собственными размышлениями и проблемами автора. Вначале вводится понятие социальности и показывается, как исследование этого явления реагирует на связь социальности и культуры. Затем последовательно обсуждаются и остальные основания, а также следствия, проистекающие из их учета и привлечения в изучении социальности. Отдельно рассматривается тема анализа социальности в логике различения модерна, культур до модерна и постмодерна, при этом автор ссылается на работы В. Иноземцева и В. Беляева, с которыми он частично соглашается, частично спорит. Анализируя основания своих исследований социальности, автор иллюстрирует и подкрепляет свои тезисы как эмпирическим материалом истории культуры (поскольку он является и культурологом), так и материалом современности, в том числе отечественным.

A bidimensional measure of empathy: Empathic Experience Scale.

Empathy is a key notion in the study of sociality. A phenomenological perspective on empathy as intersubjective understanding offers a common ground for multiple dimensions. Corresponding to the dichotomy between perceptual and cognitive levels, two constructs can be distinguished: vicariously experiencing and intuitively understanding others’ emotions. We developed and validated a new questionnaire for the assessment of individual differences in empathy. In a first study (N = 921), we created a questionnaire measuring empathy consisting of a pool of 75 items. Exploratory factor analysis suggested to retain two factors (“Intuitive Understanding” and “Vicarious Experience”), whereas a 30-item version of the questionnaire had satisfactory psychometric properties. In a second study (N = 504), we administered the 30-items questionnaire and several concurrent/divergent measures. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated that a two-factor structure best represented its latent factor structure. The results show that our questionnaire could be considered a reliable and valid measure of empathy with internal consistencies of 0.93 and 0.95 for Vicarious Experience and Intuitive Intuitive Understanding, respectively. Whereas our questionnaire mostly showed the expected convergence with existing scales of empathy, the correlations also suggest that it adds valuable new information to the assessment of empathy. The two-factor structure suggests that the perceptual (vicarious) experience and the basic (non-effortful) cognitive awareness of others’ emotions can be assessed as distinct constructs. This bidimensional structure that distinguishes between the perceptual experience and the basic cognitive awareness of others’ emotional states connects theoretical, empirical, and clinical data from psychology and neuroscience.