Understanding Of Social Interactions Research Articles

Egocentric Hand Detection Via Dynamic Region Growing

Egocentric videos, which mainly record the activities carried out by the users of wearable cameras, have drawn much research attention in recent years. Due to its lengthy content, a large number of ego-related applications have been developed to abstract the captured videos. As the users are accustomed to interacting with the target objects using their own hands, while their hands usually appear within their visual fields during the interaction, an egocentric hand detection step is involved in tasks like gesture recognition, action recognition, and social interaction understanding. In this work, we propose a dynamic region-growing approach for hand region detection in egocentric videos, by jointly considering hand-related motion and egocentric cues. We first determine seed regions that most likely belong to the hand, by analyzing the motion patterns across successive frames. The hand regions can then be located by extending from the seed regions, according to the scores computed for the adjacent superpixels. These scores are derived from four egocentric cues: contrast, location, position consistency, and appearance continuity. We discuss how to apply the proposed method in real-life scenarios, where multiple hands irregularly appear and disappear from the videos. Experimental results on public datasets show that the proposed method achieves superior performance compared with the state-of-the-art methods, especially in complicated scenarios.

A Manifesto Against Failures of Understanding: Ian McEwan’s Atonement

ABSTRACTIn this article I will explore the ways in which Ian McEwan’s novel Atonement (2001) engages with contemporary scientific and philosophical theories of intersubjectivity. Recent cognitive and philosophical approaches to intersubjectivity deem as reductive an understanding of social interactions solely in terms of “theory of mind,” i.e., as inferential and observational processes, and provide instead a multilayered account of intersubjectivity incorporating the embodied and affective coupling between self and others (primary intersubjectivity), the capacity to participate in cooperative projects (secondary intersubjectivity), and narrative competences/practices. Through a close reading of how McEwan stages and reflects on the complex interplay between understanding and misunderstanding lying at the heart of social interaction, I will argue that Atonement can be read as a critique of complex forms of social interaction (including storytelling), advocating instead a reliance on embodied, affective, and collaborative forms of intersubjectivity.

How can the study of action kinematics inform our understanding of human social interaction?

The kinematics of human actions are influenced by the social context in which they are performed. Motion-capture technology has allowed researchers to build up a detailed and complex picture of how action kinematics vary across different social contexts. Here we review three task domains—point-to-point imitation tasks, motor interference tasks and reach-to-grasp tasks—to critically evaluate how these tasks can inform our understanding of social interactions. First, we consider how actions within these task domains are performed in a non-social context, before highlighting how a plethora of social cues can perturb the baseline kinematics. We show that there is considerable overlap in the findings from these different tasks domains but also highlight the inconsistencies in the literature and the possible reasons for this. Specifically, we draw attention to the pitfalls of dealing with rich, kinematic data. As a way to avoid these pitfalls, we call for greater standardisation and clarity in the reporting of kinematic measures and suggest the field would benefit from a move towards more naturalistic tasks.

Deciphering human motion to discriminate social interactions: a developmental neuroimaging study.

Non-verbal communication plays a major role in social interaction understanding. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we explored the development of the neural networks involved in social interaction recognition based on human motion in children (8–11), adolescents (13–17), and adults (20–41). Participants watched point-light videos depicting two actors interacting or moving independently and were asked whether these agents were interacting or not. All groups successfully performed the discrimination task, but children had a lower performance and longer response times than the older groups. In all three groups, the posterior parts of the superior temporal sulci and middle temporal gyri, the inferior frontal gyri and the anterior temporal lobes showed greater activation when observing social interactions. In addition, adolescents and adults recruited the caudate nucleus and some frontal regions that are part of the mirror system. Adults showed greater activations in parietal and frontal regions (part of them belonging to the social brain) than adolescents.An increased number of regions that are part of the mirror system network or the social brain, as well as the caudate nucleus, were recruited with age. In conclusion, a shared set of brain regions enabling the discrimination of social interactions from neutral movements through human motion is already present in 8-year-old children. Developmental processes such as refinements in the social brain and mirror system would help grasping subtle cues in non-verbal aspects of social interactions.

Motor simulation beyond the dyad: Automatic imitation of multiple actors.

A large body of research has provided evidence for the idea that individuals simulate the actions of others in their motor system. However, this research has focused almost exclusively on dyadic situations, hence ignoring the fact that social situations often require that the actions of multiple persons are simulated simultaneously. In the current study, we addressed this issue by means of a widely used automatic imitation task. In Experiment 1, it is shown that individuals automatically imitate the actions of 2 agents at the same time. More specifically, the results indicate that 2 identical observed movements produce a stronger imitation effect, whereas 2 different observed movements produce 2 opposite imitation effects that cancel each other out. In Experiment 2, it is shown that the effects obtained in Experiment 1 cannot be explained in terms of attentional capture. Instead, the results point toward an explanation in terms of ideomotor theory. The finding that observers simultaneously represent the actions of multiple agents in their motor system allows for a better understanding of social interaction beyond the dyad.

Like father, like son: negotiation of masculinity in the ethnographic context in Hong Kong

Feminist geographers have indicated that ethnographic research is an inter-subjective process constructed in relation to the intersection between the gender and other social dimensions of both the researcher and the informants relevant to the field. In particular, the matching and adaptation of masculinities in the research context is a complex methodological issue that receives relatively little attention. Using my fieldwork experience, this article builds on the contribution of feminist geographers to discuss how my masculine self-presentation was negotiated with the research topic, the caring masculinity endorsed among my middle-aged male informants, the sociocultural milieu and my positionalities and bodily representations in producing collaborative ethnographic data. My young age and doctoral student status, combined with my ‘soft and meek’ self-presentation, produced wen masculinity within the Chinese cultural context, which facilitated the paradoxical reception of me as both a son and a consultant in the men's groups. This masculine embodiment not only facilitated our rapport but also signified my cultural competence to participate in decision-making and activist activities in the discussion groups, which brought me to some unexpected research lands. The effect of my masculine embodiment on the ethnographic research process indicates that fieldwork is not only situated in a place but is also itself a space constructed through cultural understanding of social interactions and embodied gender representations.

Rational Choice and Freudian Accounts of Cooperation

In this paper we discuss one of the richest psychological conceptions of individuals – that offered by Sigmund Freud – in relation to rational choice theory. The purpose is twofold. First, we use coordination games to translate some of Freud's ideas into a choice theoretic framework; including the three central components of Freudian psychoanalysis, the id, ego, and superego. Second, we use this framework to suggest a deeper and richer psychological characterization of the individual within the choice theoretic framework. Freud's more complex view of individuals provides a potentially deeper understanding of social interaction within the rational choice approach. This paper therefore contributes to psychology and economics within the larger field of behavioral economics We focus on Freud’s Civilization and Its Discontents (1930) to discuss both the rational choice and the Freudian conception of the relationship between the individual and society, to note points of commonality and divergence, and to understand the consequences of these differences for models of social behavior. Freud makes two theoretical contributions in this work. The first parallels recent scholarship in rational choice in discussing the relationship between individual behavior and social outcomes. Both approaches emphasize, for example, that individuals bear a cost for participating in schemes of social cooperation and interaction. In Civilization and Its Discontents, Freud goes beyond this idea, attempting to show the implications of his interpretation of society for the individual, an analysis absent from rational choice analysis. Freud argues that individuals bear a psychological cost in fulfilling the demands and obligations of civilization. Participation in society requires that individuals suppress their desires in order to realize the gains from cooperation. The implications from the second part of Freud’s analysis allow us to study the limits of the standard rational choice conception of the individual.

Reframing the field of gender and nursing education

The aim of this article is to explore how male students learn to practice nursing and the role of technology in their training process. The study is inspired by Bruno Latour's understanding of social interaction as an interplay between humans and technology. The students' use of the washcloth and the stethoscope, two significant nursing tools, is examined. Data were gathered using participant observation and informal conversation with a group of male Norwegian nursing students and their male teacher in a skills laboratory at University College. The article contributes a renewed understanding of gender and nursing education as well as a deepened understanding of how men adjust to a historically female profession such as nursing.

All the (cyber) world’s a stage: Framing cyberbullying as a performance

This paper explores the ways in which the use of technology presents girls with new and alternative ways to participate in and experience bullying. The focus is particularly on how girls experience and participate in ‘cyberbullying’ via Instant Messenger (IM) programmes and social networking sites (SNS). A mixed method approach was employed with girls aged 12–15 years old in Northern Ireland which captured 494 questionnaire responses and eight online interviews conducted using instant messenger.Findings show that girls of this age group are high IM and SNS users. These forms of communication may be used to impersonate others, convey hurtful or malicious comments or share private or embarrassing information with online audiences. The data indicates that these online forms of bullying may be facilitated within friendship groups in an offline context in order for them to have access to such information and access to the appropriate audience. Furthermore, the research indicates that older girls experience and participate in cyberbullying more than younger girls.This article positions these findings within the conceptual framework of Goffman’s understanding of social interactions as a performance and proposes a model which applies this framework of performance to the phenomenon of cyberbullying.

Morphometric gray matter differences of the medial frontal cortex influence the social Simon effect

Interacting with others plays a fundamental role in human life. Although several brain regions have recently been associated with complex cognitive control processes, surprisingly little is known about the structural correlates underlying cognitive control processes involved in social interactions. In the present study we used gray matter voxel-based morphometry (VBM) to investigate structural brain correlates of individual performance differences in a social Simon task. Here, two people share a Simon task, which requires each participant to respond to only one of two possible stimuli, rendering the paradigm a go-nogo task, so that a Simon effect - known as the Social Simon Effect (SSE) - is observable across both participants. Using a whole brain approach, we found that inter-individual differences in the SSE are negatively correlated with gray matter (GM) volume of the medial frontal cortex (MFC). The present data indicate that individuals with larger MFC GM volume were those with better conflict resolution in a social Simon task and vice versa. This brain-behavior relationship between cognitive control processes and individual GM volume differences might help to improve our understanding of social interactions in joint task performance.

Claiming Deviance and Honoring Community: Creating Resistant Spaces in U.S. Dyke Marches

The article explores how two dyke marches, Oakland's Sistahs Steppin' in Pride: An East Bay Dyke March and Festival and the New York City Dyke March, enacted alternative models of social relationships. It compares the predominantly black Sistahs Steppin' in Pride's reaffirmation of connections among queer women with the intentional performance of deviance by a white-dominated group in New York City's annual Dyke March, arguing that each event presented a viable, although divergent, paradigm for social interaction contesting heterosexual norms. The differences are particularly clear when comparing the ritualized evocation of community at Sistahs Steppin' in Pride with the New York City Dyke March's intentional performance of culturally transgressive sexuality and genders on Manhattan's Fifth Avenue. While the New York City Dyke March fits easily within existing rubrics for understanding the transformative potential of LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, and queer) activism, Sistahs Steppin' in Pride presented a less recognized, but equally viable response to normative understandings of social interaction modeled on white heterosexual experiences.

Fairness considerations: Increasing understanding of intentionality during adolescence

The development of fairness considerations in decision making is not well understood. Here we tested the hypothesis that increased understanding of intentionality during adolescence underlies increased fairness considerations in social decision making. We conducted three experiments using an adapted version of the Ultimatum Game with participants during four stages of adolescence: 9, 12, 15, and 18 years of age. Participants made or evaluated monetary offers, and we manipulated the intentionality context of offers. Results show that strategic thinking is already present at 9 years of age. There was no age difference in fairness of offers when the responder could not reject an offer (Experiment 1), but when they could reject an offer there was an age-related increase in taking into account the perspective and intentionality of other players when making offers (Experiment 2) and evaluating offers (Experiment 3). Taken together, the results demonstrate a linear developmental transition in fairness considerations that may have important implications for our understanding of social interactions during adolescence.

Goffman's sociology: An inspiring resource for developing public relations theory

This article introduces key concepts in Erving Goffman's sociology, which are advocated to be important to our understanding of social interaction and the study of interpersonal relationships with internal and external publics. The concepts of impression management, framing, footing and face have bearing upon essential notions in public relations: relationships, identification and image. Thus, it is predicted that development of these concepts in public relations research will deepen our understanding of communication processes that have important implications for the relation of publics in public relations.

How qualitative research can contribute to research in the intensive care unit

A qualitative research design can provide unique contributions to research in the intensive care unit. Qualitative research includes the entire process of research: the methodology (conceptualization of the research question, choosing the appropriate qualitative strategy, designing the protocol), methods (conducting the research using qualitative methods within the chosen qualitative strategy, analysis of the data, verification of the findings), and writing the narrative. The researcher is the instrument and the data are the participants' words and experiences that are collected and coded to present experiences, discover themes, or build theories. A number of strategies are available to conduct qualitative research and include grounded theory, phenomenology, case study, and ethnography. Qualitative methods can be used to understand complex phenomena that do not lend themselves to quantitative methods of formal hypothesis testing. Qualitative research may be used to gain insights about organizational and cultural issues within the intensive care unit and to improve our understanding of social interaction and processes of health care delivery. In this article, we outline the rationale for, and approaches to, using qualitative research to inform critical care issues. We provide an overview of qualitative methods available and how they can be used alone or in concert with quantitative methods. To illustrate how our understanding of social phenomena such as patient safety and behavior change has been enhanced we use recent qualitative studies in acute care medicine.

Measuring Transference Phenomena With fMri

Measuring Transference Phenomena With fMri

Free viewpoint action recognition using motion history volumes

Action recognition is an important and challenging topic in computer vision , with many important applications including video surveillance, automated cinematography and understanding of social interaction. Yet, most current work in gesture or action interpretation remains rooted in view-dependent representations. This paper introduces Motion History Volumes (MHV) as a free-viewpoint representation for human actions in the case of multiple calibrated, and background-subtracted, video cameras. We present algorithms for computing, aligning and comparing MHVs of different actions performed by different people in a variety of viewpoints. Alignment and comparisons are performed efficiently using Fourier transforms in cylindrical coordinates around the vertical axis. Results indicate that this representation can be used to learn and recognize basic human action classes, independently of gender, body size and viewpoint.

Variability in Spoken French: A Sociolinguistic Study of Interrogation and Negation

A key interdisciplinary concept in our understanding of social interaction across creative and cultural practices, kinesthetic empathy describes the ability

Ornamentalism: Geography and the Labor of Language in Structuration Theory

In an effort to respond to the so-called ‘postmodern challenge’ in a way that continues to allow for an understanding of social interaction in time and space, geographers have increasingly turned to the theory of structuration put forward by Anthony Giddens. This theory paints a picture of the human agent as being constrained by sociohistorical circumstances and yet being fundamentally autonomous. The success of Giddens attempt to transcend the traditional dualism of individual and society seems to have been taken for granted by now. In this paper it is shown that a careful, ‘deconstructive’ scrutiny of key concepts as they appear in Giddens's major texts reveals insurmountable problems inherent in language. Specifically, the categories ‘duality of structure’, ‘practical consciousness’, and ‘mutual knowledge’ are each in their turn required to perform two contradictory tasks: The simultaneous blending and separation of determinism and autonomy. The gist of Giddens's attempts to circumvent this task is outlined through a seemingly thorough consideration of the effects of language, and the continued popularity of structuration theory is speculated on in light of its ultimate failure.

A Theory of Social Interaction.

This book provides an analysis of the fundamental problem areas of social science. Jonathan Turner concentrates on the relation between micro and macro analyses in the understanding of social interaction. A range of theories of interaction - including those by G.H. Mead, Alfred Schutz, Erving Goffman, Harold Garfinkel and Jurgen Habermas - are subjected to critical analysis. Turner gives an analysis to those areas covered half a century ago by Talcott Parsons in his celebrated The Structure of Social Action. Turner believes, with Parsons, that there are invariant and universal properties of the social universe which can be understood in an analytical fashion. His portrayal of these dimensions, however, diverges fundamentally from that of Parsons and incorporates ideas drawn from contemporary debates in social theory.

On Thinking and Doing: Cognitive Science and the Production of Social Behaviour

The aims of this paper are, first, to make a case for cognitive approaches to the study of social behaviour, and, second, to overview the articles in this special issue. We suggest that issues of behavioural production are crucial to our understanding of social interaction. Further, because the problems of behavioural production implicate mental structures and processes, a theoretical approach that admits such constructs is desirable. Finally, we suggest that within the general orientation of cognitivism, some approaches are more likely than others to yield general, powerful principles. The framework articulated in pursuit of these points is then applied to a brief overview of the remaining papers in this issue.