Alle Publikationen
2015
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(2015) : Habit. History of the Concept In: Wright, James D.: International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences (Second Edition): Oxford: Elsevier, S. 475-479
Abstract: This article examines aspects of the history of the concept of habit in Western social thought. As an expression, the concept of habit has generally referred to a disposition to act as one has previously acted, whether in regard to simple behaviors, more complex forms of conduct, or broader characterological tendencies (habitus). Among social thinkers who have used the concept, habit has generally been applied to recurrent forms of moral, economic, political, and religious conduct insofar as these occur more or less automatically, thus differing from reflective forms of human action that entail the deliberative selection of means and ends by normative standards. While the history of the concept of habit has been roughly coextensive with the entirety of Western intellectual history, four phases are distinguished. The first phase, running from antiquity to the early 1800s, was marked by the frequent discussion of the role and significance of habit by thinkers ranging from Aristotle to the philosophers of the Enlightenment. The second phase, extending from the mid-nineteenth to the early twentieth century, was characterized by two contending developments. One of these was the invocation of the concept of habit by a great many European and American social theorists, including Emile Durkheim and Max Weber, and the use of the concept, in tandem with models of reflective action, to analyze human conduct in the social world. The second development in this period was the effort on the part of natural scientists to restrict habit to more elementary human and subhuman behaviors. The third phase, beginning roughly in the late 1910s, saw the successful appropriation of habit, narrowly conceived, by behaviorist psychologists and, in a strong countermovement, the abandonment of the concept by a majority of European and American social thinkers, who for the next half century conceptualized all human conduct exclusively in reflective terms. The fourth phase, extending from the early 1980s to the present time, has witnessed steps by social theorists and empirical researchers to revive and elaborate the concept of habit and to examine the relationship between habitual and reflective forms of human action. zitiert von 5
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(2015): Baby, Where Did You Get Those Eyes?. IEEE Pulse talks with Mark Sagar about the new face of artificial intelligence. In: IEEE pulse 6 (6), S. 4-8. DOI: 10.1109/MPUL.2015.2476763
DOI: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26583883 Abstract: Mark Sagar is changing the way we look at computers by giving them faces?disconcertingly realistic human faces. Sagar first gained widespread recognition for his pioneering work in rendering faces for Hollywood movies, including Avatar and King Kong. With a Ph.D. degree in bioengineering and two Academy Awards under his belt, Sagar now directs a research lab at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, a combinatorial hub where artificial intelligence (AI), neuroscience, computer science, philosophy, and cognitive psychology intersect in creating interactive, intelligent technologies.
Keywords: Artificial intelligence, Augen, Face, Female, Humans, Male, Motion Pictures, Status / biologische Marker -
(2015): Interpersonal Communication as Social Action. In: Philosophy of the Social Sciences 45 (4-5), S. 407-423. DOI: 10.1177/0048393115580265
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(2015) : Explicit representation of social norms for social robots In: Burgard, Wolfram: 2015 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS): Sept. 28, 2015 - Oct. 2, 2015, Hamburg, Germany: 2015 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS): Hamburg, Germany: 9/28/2015 - 10/2/2015. IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems; Iros: Piscataway, NJ: IEEE, S. 4191-4196
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(2015): Respect as an engine for new ideas: Linking respectful engagement, relational information processing and creativity among employees and teams. In: Human Relations 68 (6), S. 1021-1047. DOI: 10.1177/0018726714550256
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0018726714550256 Abstract: In four studies we examine whether and why respectfully engaging with other organizational members can augment creativity for individuals and teams. We develop and test a model in which respectful engagement among organizational members facilitates relational information processing, which in turn results in enhanced creative behaviors. We found a similar pattern across all four studies – respectful engagement is indirectly related, through relational information processing, to creative behavior at both the individual and team levels. These findings underscore the importance of respectful engagement in facilitating relational information processing and fostering creative behaviors at both the individual and team levels.
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(2015): The Ethics of Everyday Life. Moral Theology, Social Anthropology, and the Imagination of the Human. By MichaelBanner. Pp xiii, 223, Oxford University Press, 2014, £20.00/$35.00. In: The Heythrop Journal 56 (4). DOI: 10.1111/heyj.12250_23Keywords: Ohne Abstract oder Text
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(2015): Critical Theory of Technology and technoscientific citizenship: resistance, "insistence" and hacking. Resistência, insistência e hacking. In: Revista de Filosofia Aurora 27 (621). DOI: 10.7213/aurora.27.040.DS07
Abstract: In recent years, the notion of citizenship and its novel forms and practices have been criticized, discussed, and re-conceptualized by several scholars in the Latin-American context, especially in fields as political sciences and sociology. Feenberg's work is of great value to apply and foster such discussions in the context of Science and Technology Studies, and to investigate potentialities and practices for a technical citizenship. We show how what we will call political and epistemological hacking may allow the reconceptualization of citizenship and the visibility of possible paths for an experimental ethics and a bottom-up politics, not based in principles or axioms, but on a Critical Practice of Technology. Changing social systems and technological codes is possible, if analysis and practices are grounded not on an essentialist vision of technique, nor on a normative notion of human nature, but on a dynamic, dialectic approach to the human condition and its technical environment.
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(2015) : Multimodal affect recognition for naruralistic human-computer and human-robot interactions In: Calvo, Rafael A.; D’Mello, Sidney K.; Gratch, Jonathan; Kappas, Arvid (Hg.): The Oxford handbook of affective computing. Unter Mitarbeit von Rafael A. Calvo, Sidney K. D’Mello, Jonathan Gratch und Arvid Kappas: New York, NY: Oxford University Press (Oxford library of psychology), S. 246-257
Abstract: This chapter provides a synthesis of research on multimodal affect recognition and discusses methodological considerations and challenges arising from the design of a multimodal affect recognition system for naturalistic human-computer and human-robot interactions. Identified challenges include the collection and annotation of spontaneous affective expressions, the choice of appropriate methods for feature representation and selection in a multimodal context, and the need for context sensitivity and for classification schemes that take into account the dynamic nature of affect and the relationship between different modalities. Finally, two examples of multimodal affect recognition systems used in (soft) real-time naturalistic human-computer and human-robot interaction frameworks are presented. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved)
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Cermak, Laird S.; Craik, Fergus I. M. (Hg.) (2015): Psychology library editions. Memory. First issued in paperback 2015. London; New York: Psychologie Press Taylor & Francis Group
Abstract: As a conceptual framework for the investigation of human memory, the levels-of-processing paradigm had enjoyed immense popularity since its introduction in the early 1970s. It was the impetus behind literally hundreds of experiments and was used as an "explanation" for a wide range of retention phenomena. Consequently, a wealth of data and theory had emerged, and this title assimilates and evaluates this information. Originally published in 1979, the distinguished contributors to the volume - both proponents and opponents of the levels-of-processing framework - present here their latest data and ideas on a viewpoint that has been a tremendous influence in memory research and related areas.
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(2015): The social nature of benevolent sexism and the antisocial nature of hostile sexism. Is benevolent sexism more likely to manifest in public contexts and hostile sexism in private contexts?. In: International journal of psychology : Journal international de psychologie 50 (5), S. 363-371. DOI: 10.1002/ijop.12106
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/ijop.12106 Abstract: Previous research converges on demonstrating that benevolent sexism (BS) is socially approved, whereas hostile sexism (HS) is socially disapproved. We postulated that a sample of married women would be likely to report that their husbands express hostile sexist attitudes and engage in related actions towards them more in private than public contexts, where they lie concealed from public censure. By contrast, the women would report that their husbands would be likely to express benevolent sexist attitudes and engage in related actions more in public than private contexts, where they are reinforced not only by their target (i.e. wife), but also by significant others and the society at large. We tested these hypotheses with a sample of Black, heterosexually married Zimbabwean women (n = 109, mean age = 31.83). Results supported our hypotheses: the women reported hostile sexist attitudes and actions to be more likely to occur in private than public contexts; on the other hand, they reported benevolent sexist attitudes and actions to be more likely in public than private contexts. We conclude that differences in social approval of BS and HS account for these results.
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(2015) : Power in Society In: Wright, James D.: International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences (Second Edition): Oxford: Elsevier, S. 765-769
Abstract: Power has been seen as an ‘essentially contested’ concept. Some of the major recent contours of this contestation will be addressed in this article. The argument is that power is a concept whose meaning is variable in different language games and that it is important to be clear which concepts, from which language games, one is using in inquiry.
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(2015): Money as Medium and Tool in advance. In: Techné: Research in Philosophy and Technology, S. 358-380. DOI: 10.5840/techne2015121039
Abstract: This article explores the relevance of Georg Simmel’s phenomenology of money and interpretation of modernity for understanding and evaluating contemporary financial information and communication technologies (ICTs). It reads Simmel as a philosopher of technology and phenomenologist whose view of money as a medium, a “pure” tool, and a social institution can help us to think about contemporary financial media and technologies. The analysis focuses on the social-spatial implications of financial ICTs. It also makes links to media theory, in particular remediation theory and Marshall McLuhan, and refers to work in anthropology and geography of money to nuance the story of the progressive dematerialization and delocalization of modern life. The conclusion highlights Simmel’s continuing relevance for thinking about the relation between technologies and social change, and explores alternative social-financial media and institutions.
Keywords: Disziplin, financial ICTs, Im (wissenschaftlichen) Diskurs, Informations- & Kommunikationstechnik, Informationstechnologie, McLuhan, Mensch-Technik-Relationen (MTR), Philosophie, (Post)phänomenologie, Realtechnik, Reflexionen über MTR, Simmel, Technik, Technikphilosophie, (Theory of) technological mediation, Zeitschrift: techne -
(2015): Speaking Confidence. Bubble Denial as Market Authoritative Rhetorical Decorum. In: RHETORIC SOCIETY QUARTERLY 45 (2), S. 117-137
Abstract: From the early to mid 2000s, economists, pundits, and other commentators engaged in heated debate about the possibility of a bubble in the U.S. housing market. Prognosticating in a variety of public forums, debaters divided along largely ideological lines, with adherents of mainstream neoclassical economics producing a forceful narrative accord that a bubble was unlikely or impossible. Approaching this debate as a case of the powerful discourses that strive to keep markets intervention-free, this essay explores market bubbles as sites of discursive tension and professional stigma, seeking to understand how the allegation of a bubble imbricates expectations of decorum and provokes a constraining rhetorical response. With particular attention to the phenomenon of “bubble denial,” I highlight how rhetorical strategies of definition, insult, and risk dismissal functioned to sustain market confidence, discredit bubble predictors, and habituate decision makers to evolving market risk.
Keywords: Beeinflussung der Bewertung moralischer Urteile, Bewertung von sozialem Verhalten (/sozialer Angemessenheit), decorum, discredit, Einfluss von Angst/Risiko, house market, Immobilienblase, Macht, Medienwissenschaft, Observablen/Kriterien für sozial angemessenes Verhalten und dessen Bewertung -
(2015): Justice, Fairness, and Employee Reactions. In: Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior 2 (1), S. 75-99. DOI: 10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-032414-111457
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-032414-111457 Abstract: Of all the issues that employees consider in organizational life, justice and fairness are among the most salient. Justice reflects the perceived adherence to rules that represent appropriateness in decision contexts (e.g., equity, consistency, respect, truthfulness). Fairness reflects a more global perception of appropriateness that lies downstream of justice. Our review integrates justice theories (fairness heuristic theory, the relational model, the group engagement model, fairness theory, deonance theory, uncertainty management theory) and broader theories (social exchange theory, affective events theory) to examine three questions: (a) Why do employees think about justice issues in the first place? (b) how do employees form fairness perceptions? and (c) how do employees react to those perceptions? We close by describing how justice and fairness can be managed in organizations, especially given new technological trends in how people work. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 AP A, all rights reserved)
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(2015): Implicit Contextual Integrity in Online Social Networks. In: Information Sciences 325, S. 48-69. DOI: 10.1016/j.ins.2015.07.013
Abstract: Many real incidents demonstrate that users of Online Social Networks need mechanisms that help them manage their interactions by increasing the awareness of the different contexts that coexist in Online Social Networks and preventing them from exchanging inappropriate information in those contexts or disseminating sensitive information from some contexts to others. Contextual integrity is a privacy theory that conceptualises the appropriateness of information sharing based on the contexts in which this information is to be shared. Computational models of Contextual Integrity assume the existence of well-defined contexts, in which individuals enact pre-defined roles and information sharing is governed by an explicit set of norms. However, contexts in Online Social Networks are known to be implicit, unknown a priori and ever changing; users relationships are constantly evolving; and the information sharing norms are implicit. This makes current Contextual Integrity models not suitable for Online Social Networks. In this paper, we propose the first computational model of Implicit Contextual Integrity, presenting an information model for Implicit Contextual Integrity as well as a so-called Information Assistant Agent that uses the information model to learn implicit contexts, relationships and the information sharing norms in order to help users avoid inappropriate information exchanges and undesired information disseminations. Through an experimental evaluation, we validate the properties of the model proposed. In particular, Information Assistant Agents are shown to: (i) infer the information sharing norms even if a small proportion of the users follow the norms and in presence of malicious users; (ii) help reduce the exchange of inappropriate information and the dissemination of sensitive information with only a partial view of the system and the information received and sent by their users; and (iii) minimise the burden to the users in terms of raising unnecessary alerts. (C) 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Keywords: computational model, contextual integrity, Contextual Integrity Theory, Daten, Datenschutz, Datenschutz & Privatssphäre, Disziplin, doppelter Treffer, Ethik, Favoriten, Im (wissenschaftlichen) Diskurs, incident of social interaction, Informations- & Kommunikationstechnik, Kontext, Medienwissenschaft, Mensch-Technik-Relationen (MTR), Modelle/Theorien, Philosophie, Privacy and data, privacy theorie, Realtechnik, Reflexionen über MTR, Soziale Angemessenheit, Soziale Netzwerke, Technik, Technikphilosophie -
(2015): From participatory sense-making to language. There and back again. In: Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences 14 (4), S. 1089-1125. DOI: 10.1007/s11097-014-9404-9
Abstract: The enactive approach to cognition distinctively emphasizes autonomy, adaptivity, agency, meaning, experience, and interaction. Taken together, these principles can provide the new sciences of language with a comprehensive philosophical framework: languaging as adaptive social sense-making. This is a refinement and advancement on Maturana's idea of languaging as a manner of living. Overcoming limitations in Maturana's initial formulation of languaging is one of three motivations for this paper. Another is to give a response to skeptics who challenge enactivism to connect "lower-level" sense-making with "higher-order" sophisticated moves like those commonly ascribed to language. Our primary goal is to contribute a positive story developed from the enactive account of social cognition, participatory sense-making. This concept is put into play in two different philosophical models, which respectively chronicle the logical and ontogenetic development of languaging as a particular form of social agency. Languaging emerges from the interplay of coordination and exploration inherent in the primordial tensions of participatory sense-making between individual and interactive norms; it is a practice that transcends the self-other boundary and enables agents to regulate self and other as well as interaction couplings. Linguistic sense-makers are those who negotiate interactive and internalized ways of meta-regulating the moment-to-moment activities of living and cognizing. Sense-makers in enlanguaged environments incorporate sensitivities, roles, and powers into their unique yet intelligible linguistic bodies. We dissolve the problematic dichotomies of high/low, online/offline, and linguistic/nonlinguistic cognition, and we provide new boundary criteria for specifying languaging as a prevalent kind of human social sense-making.
Keywords: Dialectical expansion model, Disziplin, enactive model of cognition and social sense-making/agency, Interaktion, interdisziplinär, Linguistic bodies, Linguistic sensitivities and powers, Normen, Participatory sense-making, Philosophie, Sinnzuweisung, social interaction, soziale Kognition, Wheel of languaging -
(2015) : Control, Social In: Wright, James D.: International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences (Second Edition): Oxford: Elsevier, S. 822-827
Abstract: At the beginning of the twentieth century, social control referred to those aspects of social life contributing to the social order, in fact making social order possible. Later, in the writings of sociologists and historians studying prisons, mental institutions, and the like, social control came to mean either a label putting in motion some amplification of deviance process or the organized way in which society reacts to deviance. The term was given a pejorative overtone, meaning coercion, manipulation, and stigmatization. In contemporary criminology, the term is often used in a theory trying to explain juvenile delinquency by a failure of informal controls and to explain the level of crime and violence in neighborhoods. The concept of social control is used by anthropologists to describe the methods by which different cultures resolve conflicts and enforce norms. The social control of crime also refers to all the means specifically aimed at reducing the probability or severity of crime. In the latter case, social control is not so much conceived as the influence of society on individuals, but as the intentional influence by social actors.
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(2015): How Threats to Masculinity Sequentially Cause Public Discomfort, Anger, and Ideological Dominance Over Women. In: Social Psychology 46 (4), S. 242-254. DOI: 10.1027/1864-9335/a000248
Abstract: This research examined whether threats to masculinity both inspired men’s efforts to reestablish their power over women via the promotion of ideologies that implicitly subordinate women and occurred when men were outperformed by women in masculine domains. Masculinity was threatened by telling men they scored like women on a gender knowledge test (Rudman & Fairchild, 2004), which sequentially led to more concern about how they were perceived by others, increased anger, and the increased endorsement of social dominance orientation (Study 1a) and benevolent sexism (Study 1b). Study 2 additionally shows that men experienced threats to masculinity when outperformed by women in masculine domains; when outperformed by a woman, men reported more concern about how they looked to others, which predicted increased anger and the subsequent sexualization of the woman. The findings link masculinity threats to the promotion of ideologies that implicitly subordinate women; the consequences of these linkages are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved) zitiert von 21
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Dahms, Harry F. (2015): Globalization, critique and social theory. Bingle, UK: Emerald Group Publishing Limited (Current perspectives in social theory$$vvolume 33)
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(2015): Stress game: The role of motivational robotic assistance in reducing user’s task stress. In: International Journal of Social Robotics 7 (2), S. 227-240. DOI: 10.1007/s12369-014-0256-9
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12369-014-0256-9 Abstract: In social HRI context, the robot’s usefulness and appropriate behavior plays an important role. A robot should be able to understand the human’s internal state (i.e., physiological and psychological states) so as to provide an adaptive and thus efficient assistance within daily life activities. Measuring stress and frustration of an individual while performing a certain task is a critical element that can help the robot adapt its behavior so as to improve user’s interest and task performance and to reduce his/her frustration. In this paper, we designed an experiment called ’Stress Game’. In our work, stress is measured in terms of heart rate signal. The robot displays different behaviors as a function of user’s personality and game condition. We conducted our experiments with the NAO robot. The experimental results support our hypotheses that the robot has a positive effect on stress relief. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved)
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(2015): Einschränkungen der Teilhabe in der Bevölkerung - Normdaten für den IMET auf der Basis eines Bevölkerungssurveys in Norddeutschland. In: Die Rehabilitation 54 (6), S. 402-408. DOI: 10.1055/s-0035-1559670
DOI: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26676739 Abstract: BACKGROUND Medical rehabilitation in Germany is characterized by the biopsychosocial model of the ICF. Its complexity makes it less suitable for studies in rehabilitation sciences. For an implementation of the ICF, specific assessment instruments that are able to measure activity and participation efficiently in rehabilitation are needed. Instruments measuring social participation are rarely available in German language and have been employed only in a handful of empirical works. The "Index zur Messung von Einschränkungen der Teilhabe" (IMET) was developed in 2005 and measures participation of people with different chronic diseases as described in the ICF. The IMET has been applied in many studies in rehabilitation science, but as reference values were not available so far, the results could not be classified. METHOD In a population survey, 5 004 residents in Luebeck were randomly selected by the registration office and sent a short questionnaire. The questionnaire contained questions on the overall state of health, quality of life, prevalence of chronic diseases and limitations of participation (IMET). RESULTS The completed questionnaire was returned by 2 755 of 4 692 eligible people (58.7%). 731 residents declined participation. Therefore, the participation quota is 43.1%. The mean age of participants was 53 years (SD: 17.1), 53% were women.Limitations of participation varied according to sex and age. Men tended to be more limited in their participation. As expected, limitations in participation increased with age. Participants with a low level of education showed a significantly higher rate of participation restrictions than people with a higher level of education. The IMET correlated significantly with the health status and quality of life as well as with the prevalence of various chronic diseases. DISCUSSION The random sample of Luebeck inhabitants comprised people between 19 and 79 years of age. The age distribution of our sample deviated from the German population with younger people being underrepresented, and older people being overrepresented. With respect to the educational level, the random sample of the Hanseatic city showed a larger proportion of people with higher education.In this population sample, there was a sex and age-related variation in restriction in participation and this correlated highly with content-related constructs. Norm values for the IMET enable classification of limitations of participation for people undergoing rehabilitation or patients suffering from chronic diseases.
Keywords: Adult, Age Distribution, Aged, Chronic Disease/epidemiology/psychology/rehabilitation, Disability Evaluation, Disabled Persons/psychology/statistics & numerical data, Female, Germany/epidemiology, Gesundheit, Health Status, Health Status Indicators, Humans, International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health, Male, Middle Aged, Patient Participation/psychology/statistics & numerical data, Prevalence, Quality of Life/psychology, Reference Values, Risk Assessment, Social Participation/psychology, Soziale Teilhabe, Surveys and Questionnaires, Überblick -
(2015): Getting Respect from a Boss You Respect: How Different Types of Respect Interact to Explain Subordinates’ Job Satisfaction as Mediated by Self-Determination. In: Journal of Business Ethics 131 (3), S. 543-556. DOI: 10.1007/s10551-014-2291-8
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-014-2291-8 Abstract: Interpersonal respect can be differentiated into two kinds: (1) horizontal respect, i.e. treating someone with dignity; and (2) vertical respect, i.e. genuinely honoring someone’s merits. With the present research, we draw on motivation theory to explore their interplay in leadership relations. Specifically, we argue for a moderated mediation hypothesis in that (a) leaders’ horizontal respect for their subordinates fundamentally speaks to subordinates’ self-determination and (b) that the message of respectful leadership is enhanced by the vertical respect subordinates have for their leaders. As a result, subordinates are more satisfied with their jobs, which should also show in a decreased willingness to leave. The proposed model was supported in two survey studies (N = 391 and N = 518) and an experimental scenario study (N = 107)—thus suggesting that perceived leader behavior needs to be complemented by leader standing.
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(2015): F-formation and social context. How spatial orientation of participants’ bodies is organized in the vast field, S. 263-283, zuletzt geprüft am 01.10.2019Keywords: F-Formations
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(2015): Who Attains Status?. Similarities and Differences Across Social Contexts. In: Social Psychological and Personality Science 6 (6), S. 692-700. DOI: 10.1177/1948550615580171
Abstract: Informal groups form hierarchies and allocate social status in order to coordinate action and make collective decisions. Although researchers have identified characteristics of people who tend to get status, the extent to which these characteristics are context-dependent is unclear. In two studies, participants from the United States (N = 157) and Germany (N = 95) engaged in affiliative or competitive group interactions. We investigated whether the nature of the group's task moderated the relationship between status attainment and personality. As in previous research, it was found that extraversion predicted status in both competitive and affiliative contexts. In contrast, agreeableness was only associated with status in affiliative contexts. These findings underscore the importance of examining the relationship between personality and social status in context. zitiert von 11
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(2015): COURTEOUS GESTURE AND DISCOURTEOUS CONTRAST IN FLAMENCA (OCCITAN NOVEL OF XIII CENTURY). In: HIPERBOREEA 2 (1), S. 73-85
Abstract: Coagulated at the end of the 11th century at the seigniorial courts from the southern France and spread afterward in the northern French territory, the courteous ethical code intended to be a set of rules representative for the nobility. It included, between other elegant specifics, the discipline of the body, necessarily based on the self-control and, in the same time, on a distinguished, elegant, polite and moderated gesture. The Middle Ages imaginary and mainly the literature from the 12th and the 13th centuries are full of this kind of examples. In fact, the elite's will to adhere on this ethics and to appropriate it till transforming it in its second nature represents the theme of the courteous novels, focused on some characters which are symbols for the ideal courteous values. By contrast, some other characters are not only at the limit of the courteous model, but also transgress its principles by more or less serious discourteous deviations. The Occitan novel Flamenca (from the 13th century), that we are focusing on, illustrates this trend: one of its principal characters, the signor Archambaut, shows, immediately after his marriage with Flamenca, an unexpected regression, in fact a profound alteration of the courtly behavior, in terms of verbal and mainly gestural manners.