Alle Publikationen

  • Erweiterte Suche öffnen

Treffer: 109
  • 2018

  • Couper-Kuhlen, Elizabeth; Selting, Margret (2018): Interactional linguistics. Studying language in social interaction. Cambridge; New York, NY; Melbourne; Singapore: Cambridge University Press

    Abstract: Machine generated contents note: Introduction: 1. What is interactional linguistics?; Part I. How Is Interaction Conducted with Lightening Sources?: 2. Turn construction and turn taking; 3. Repair; 4. Action formation and ascription; 5. Topic and sequence; Part II. How are Linguistic Resources Deployed in Interaction?; 6. Sentences, clauses, and phrases; 7. Clause combinations; 8. One-word constructions: particles; Conclusion: 9. Implications for language theory "Reviewing recent findings on linguistic practices used in turn construction and turn taking, repair, action formation and ascription, sequence and topic organization, the book examines the way linguistic units of varying size - sentences, clauses, phrases, clause combinations, particles - are mobilized for the implementation of specific actions in talk-in-interaction. A final chapter discusses the implications of an interactional perspective for our understanding of language as well as its variation, diversity, and universality. Supplementary online chapters explore additional topics such as the linguistic organization of preference, stance, footing, and storytelling, as well as the use of prosody and phonetics, and further practices with language"-- "The first textbook dedicated to interactional linguistics, focusing on linguistic analyses of conversational phenomena, this introduction provides an overview of the theory and methodology of interactional linguistics. Reviewing recent findings on linguistic practices used in turn construction and turn taking, repair, action formation, ascription, and sequence and topic organization, the book examines the way that linguistic units of varying size - sentences, clauses, phrases, clause combinations, and particles - are mobilized for the implementation of specific actions in talk-in-interaction. A final chapter discusses the implications of an interactional perspective for our understanding of language as well as its variation, diversity, and universality. Supplementary online chapters explore additional topics such as the linguistic organization of preference, stance, footing, and storytelling, as well as the use of prosody and phonetics, and further practices with language. Featuring summary boxes and transcripts from recordings of everyday conversation, this is an essential resource for advanced undergraduate and postgraduate courses on language in social interaction"--

  • Deterding, Sebastian (2018): Alibis for Adult Play. A Goffmanian Account of Escaping Embarrassment in Adult Play. In: Games and culture 13 (3), S. 260-279. DOI: 10.1177/1555412017721086

    DOI: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29706842 

    Abstract: The social meanings of play sit at odds with norms of responsible and productive adult conduct. To be "caught" playing as an adult therefore risks embarrassment. Still, many designers want to create enjoyable, nonembarrassing play experiences for adults. To address this need, this article reads instances of spontaneous adult play through the lens of Erving Goffman's theory of the interaction order to unpack conditions and strategies for nonembarrassing adult play. It identifies established frames, segregated audiences, scripts supporting smooth performance, managing audience awareness, role distancing, and, particularly, alibis for play: Adults routinely provide alternative, adult-appropriate motives to account for their play, such as child care, professional duties, creative expression, or health. Once legitimized, the norms and rules of play themselves then provide an alibi for behavior that would risk being embarrassing outside play.

  • Khoo, Tommy; Fu, Feng; Pauls, Scott (2018): Spillover modes in multiplex games. Double-edged effects on cooperation and their coevolution. In: Scientific reports 8 (1). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-25025-3

    DOI: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29720679 

    Abstract: In recent years, there has been growing interest in studying games on multiplex networks that account for interactions across linked social contexts. However, little is known about how potential cross-context interference, or spillover, of individual behavioural strategy impact overall cooperation. We consider three plausible spillover modes, quantifying and comparing their effects on the evolution of cooperation. In our model, social interactions take place on two network layers: repeated interactions with close neighbours in a lattice, and one-shot interactions with random individuals. Spillover can occur during the learning process with accidental cross-layer strategy transfer, or during social interactions with errors in implementation. Our analytical results, using extended pair approximation, are in good agreement with extensive simulations. We find double-edged effects of spillover: increasing the intensity of spillover can promote cooperation provided cooperation is favoured in one layer, but too much spillover is detrimental. We also discover a bistability phenomenon: spillover hinders or promotes cooperation depending on initial frequencies of cooperation in each layer. Furthermore, comparing strategy combinations emerging in each spillover mode provides good indication of their co-evolutionary dynamics with cooperation. Our results make testable predictions that inspire future research, and sheds light on human cooperation across social domains.

  • 2017

  • Allahdadi, Marzieh (2017): Explaining the Criteria of Designing Urban Furniture and Landscape, with a Cultural-social Design Approach. In: Journal of History Culture and Art Research 6 (4). DOI: 10.7596/taksad.v6i4.1034

    Abstract: Attention to the deep relationship between human personality and the place in which he lives causes the place to play a crucial role in cultural transformations and prevalence of human life style and formation of values, connections and human activities. Cities are not just a place of transit, but they are also environments that must have mutual communications with the inhabitants in order to realize the meaning of citizen, as there is a distinction between the status of citizenship and urbanization. Urban furniture is one of the elements of urban space that its quantity, beauty and durability play a major role in achieving a healthy and favorable city and satisfies the needs of citizens in terms of performance and beauty. Accordingly, the present study, using descriptive-analytical method and with data collection tools including library and documentary studies, examines the concept of product ecology and answers to the questions whether urban furniture can start or support social interaction or positively affect the roles of citizens? In this paper, the relationship between social-cultural design in urban furniture and the disturbances regarding uneven distribution of elements are identified, and finally the criteria of designing urban furniture and landscape are expressed with a social-design approach.

  • Aspling, Fredrik; Juhlin, Oskar (2017): Theorizing animal–computer interaction as machinations. In: International Journal of Human-Computer Studies 98, S. 135-149. DOI: 10.1016/j.ijhcs.2016.05.005

    Abstract: The increased involvement of animals in digital technology and user-computer research opens up for new possibilities and forms of interaction. It also suggests that the emerging field of Animal-Computer Interaction (ACI) needs to reconsider what should be counted as interaction. The most common already established forms of interaction are direct and dyadic, and limited to domesticated animals such as working dogs and pets. Drawing on an ethnography of the use of mobile proximity sensor cameras in ordinary wild boar hunting we emphasize a more complex, diffuse, and not directly observable form of interaction, which involves wild animals in a technological and naturalistic setting. Investigating human and boar activities related to the use of these cameras in the light of Actor-Network Theory (ANT) and Goffman's notion of strategic interaction reveals a gamelike interaction that is prolonged, networked and heterogeneous, in which members of each species is opposed the other in a mutual assessment acted out through a set of strategies and counter-strategies. We stress the role of theory for the field of ACI and how conceptualizations of interaction can be used to excite the imagination and be generative for design. Seeing interaction as strategies and acknowledging the existence of complex interdependencies could potentially inspire the design of more indirect and non-dyadic interactions where a priori simplifications of design challenges as either human or animal can be avoided. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  • Bastianelli, Emanuele (2017): Structured learning for spoken language understanding in human-robot interaction. In: INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ROBOTICS RESEARCH 36 (5-7), S. 660-683

    Abstract: Robots are slowly becoming a part of everyday life, being marketed for commercial applications such as telepresence, cleaning or entertainment. Thus, the ability to interact via natural language with non-expert users is becoming a key requirement. Even if user utterances can be efficiently recognized and transcribed by automatic speech recognition systems, several issues arise in translating them into suitable robotic actions and most of the existing solutions are strictly related to a specific scenario. In this paper, we present an approach to the design of natural language interfaces for human robot interaction, to translate spoken commands into computational structures that enable the robot to execute the intended request. The proposed solution is achieved by combining a general theory of language semantics, i.e. frame semantics, with state-of-the-art methods for robust spoken language understanding, based on structured learning algorithms. The adopted data driven paradigm allows the development of a fully functional natural language processing chain, that can be initialized by re-using available linguistic tools and resources. In addition, it can be also specialized by providing small sets of examples representative of a target newer domain. A systematic benchmarking resource, in terms of a rich and multi-layered spoken corpus has also been created and it has been used to evaluate the natural language processing chain. Our results show that our processing chain, trained with generic resources, provides a solid baseline for command understanding in a service robot domain. Moreover, when domain-dependent resources are provided to the system, the accuracy of the achieved interpretation always improves.

  • Burgoon, Judee K.; Magnenat-Thalmann, Nadia; Pantic, Maja (Hg.) (2017): Social signal processing. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

    Abstract: Social Signal Processing is the first book to cover all aspects of the modeling, automated detection, analysis, and synthesis of nonverbal behavior in human-human and human-machine interactions. Authoritative surveys address conceptual foundations, machine analysis and synthesis of social signal processing, and applications. Foundational topics include affect perception and interpersonal coordination in communication; later chapters cover technologies for automatic detection and understanding such as computational paralinguistics and facial expression analysis and for the generation of artificial social signals such as social robots and artificial agents. The final section covers a broad spectrum of applications based on social signal processing in healthcare, deception detection, and digital cities, including detection of developmental diseases and analysis of small groups. Each chapter offers a basic introduction to its topic, accessible to students and other newcomers, and then outlines challenges and future perspectives for the benefit of experienced researchers and practitioners in the field.

  • Danner, Leno Francisco; Bavaresco, Agemir; Danner, Fernando (2017): The aesthetics of minorities against the correlation of strong institutionalism, scientism and technicality. on the voice-praxis of the minorities as art-literature. In: CLAREIRA-REVISTA DE FILOSOFIA DA REGIAO AMAZONICA (4/1), S. 13-48

    Abstract: In the paper, we defend that the aesthetic voice-praxis allows to social movements, citizen initiatives and political-cultural minorities the self-expression and self-affirmation from themselves and by themselves in terms of lyrical-political I-We, so that to frame and overcome the correlation of strong institutionalism, scientism and technicality which characterizes the constitution, legitimation, evolution and social-political linking of modern institutions, such as science, law, political parties and economy. These modern institutions or social systems are logical-technical, non-political and non-normative structures-subjects, marked and streamlined for a self-referential and self-subsisting dynamics which is eminently endogenous, autonomous and overlap in relation to the spontaneity and informality of the epistemological-political subjects, values and practices proper to civil society, centralizing and monopolizing the constitution, programming and functioning of their fields of research and objects and, from here, framing the own voice-praxis of these civil society's epistemological-political subjects in their nowadays action and relatively to institutions. In this sense, in the correlation of strong institutionalism, scientism and technicality, the institutions become the basis, the arena, the value and the epistemological-political subject par excellence and exclusive of the foundation of themselves and even relating to the social-cultural structuration and evolution, peripherizing the informal and spontaneous epistemological-political subjects of civil society. Against this apolitical and depoliticizing tendency assumed by modern social systems, we argue in favor of an aesthetics of the minorities that enables both their spontaneous and informal, political, politicizing and normative self-affirmation and self-expression, with no scientist and institutionalist mediations, and a political-normative praxis which is alternative and opposed to strong institutionalism and its scientism and technicism, because it is inclusive, participative and direct. Therefore, the social criticism, political-normative praxis and cultural resistance need a non-systemic, non-institutionalist, non-technicist and non-scientificist voice-praxis that can be founded and allowed by aesthetics in its anti-paradigmatic, non- institutionalist and anti-scientificist sense.

  • Debiec, Jacek; Olsson, Andreas (2017): Social Fear Learning. From Animal Models to Human Function. In: Trends in cognitive sciences 21 (7), S. 546-555. DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2017.04.010

    DOI: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28545935 

    Abstract: Learning about potential threats is critical for survival. Learned fear responses are acquired either through direct experiences or indirectly through social transmission. Social fear learning (SFL), also known as vicarious fear learning, is a paradigm successfully used for studying the transmission of threat information between individuals. Animal and human studies have begun to elucidate the behavioral, neural and molecular mechanisms of SFL. Recent research suggests that social learning mechanisms underlie a wide range of adaptive and maladaptive phenomena, from supporting flexible avoidance in dynamic environments to intergenerational transmission of trauma and anxiety disorders. This review discusses recent advances in SFL studies and their implications for basic, social and clinical sciences.

  • Degens, Nick; Endrass, Birgit; Hofstede, Gert Jan; Beulens, Adrie; André, Elisabeth (2017): ‘What I see is not what you get’. Why culture-specific behaviours for virtual characters should be user-tested across cultures. In: AI & Society 32 (1), S. 37-49. DOI: 10.1007/s00146-014-0567-2

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-014-0567-2 

    Abstract: Abstract Integrating culture into the behavioural models of virtual characters requires knowledge from very different disciplines such as cross-cultural psychology and computer science. If culture-related behavioural differences are simulated with a virtual character system, users might not necessarily understand the intent of the designer. This is, in part, due to the influence of culture on not only users, but also designers. To gain a greater understanding of the instantiation of culture in the behaviour of virtual characters, and on this potential mismatch between designer and user, we have conducted two experiments. In these experiments, we tried to simulate one dimension of culture (Masculinity vs. Femininity) in the behaviour of virtual characters. We created four scenarios in the first experiment and six in the second. In each of these scenarios, the same two characters interact with each other. The verbal and non-verbal behaviour of these characters differs depending on their cultural scripts. In two user perception studies, we investigated how these differences are judged by human participants with different cultural backgrounds. Besides expected differences between participants from Masculine and Feminine countries, we found significant differences in perception between participants from Individualistic and Collectivistic countries. We also found that the user’s interpretation of the character’s motivation had a significant influence on the perception of the scenarios. Based on our findings, we giverecommendations for researchers that aim to design culture-specific behaviours for virtual characters.

  • Hasler, Béatrice S.; Salomon, Oren; Tuchman, Peleg; Lev-Tov, Amir; Friedman, Doron (2017): Real-time gesture translation in intercultural communication. In: AI & Society 32 (1), S. 25-35. DOI: 10.1007/s00146-014-0573-4

    Abstract: Nonverbal behavior plays a crucial role in human communication and often leads to misunderstandings between people from different cultures, even if they speak the same language fluently. While translation systems are available for verbal communication, translators for nonverbal communication do not exist yet. We present the conceptual design and an early prototype of a real-time gesture translator using body tracking and gesture recognition in avatar-mediated intercultural interactions. It contributes to the ambitious goal of bridging between cultures by translating culture-specific gestures to enhance mutual understanding. Possible applications of the gesture translator are discussed as a facilitating tool for global business meetings and as a means of technology-enhanced conflict resolution and prevention.

  • Krishnan-Barman, Sujatha; Forbes, Paul A. G.; Hamilton, Antonia F. de C. (2017): How can the study of action kinematics inform our understanding of human social interaction?. In: Neuropsychologia 105, S. 101-110. DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2017.01.018

    DOI: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28119002 

    Abstract: 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.

  • Schrank, Beate; Rumpold, Tamara; Amering, Michaela; Masel, Eva Katharina; Watzke, Herbert; Schur, Sophie (2017): Pushing boundaries-culture-sensitive care in oncology and palliative care. A qualitative study. In: Psycho-oncology 26 (6), S. 763-769. DOI: 10.1002/pon.4217

    DOI: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27429221 

    Abstract: OBJECTIVE In increasingly globalized societies, patient-centered cancer care requires culture-sensitive approaches in order to ensure patients well-being. While migrant patients' needs are frequently reported in the literature, staff members' perception of work with migrant patients, associated challenges, or individual work approaches are largely unknown. This study addresses this research gap through qualitative exploration of experiences of multicultural health care professionals in supportive oncology and palliative care, working with patients from different cultural backgrounds. This study aims to understand staff experience of the impact of culture on cancer care. METHODS This study was conducted at the Medical University of Vienna, including staff from different settings of oncology and palliative care, in different professional positions, and with a range of individual migration backgrounds. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 21 staff members working with patients from different cultural backgrounds. Interviews explored views on the impact of culture on care were audio-taped, transcribed, and analyzed using a rigorous method of thematic analysis, enhanced with grounded theory techniques. RESULTS Interviews revealed 4 key topics: culture-specific differences, assumed reasons for differences, consequences of multicultural care, and tools for culture-sensitive care. Strategies to better deal with migrant patients and their families were suggested to improve work satisfaction amongst staff. CONCLUSIONS This study identifies relevant staff challenges in work with migrant patients. Concrete suggestions for improvement include measures on an organizational level, team level, and personal tools. The suggested measures are applicable to improve work satisfaction and culture-sensitive care not only in cancer care but also in other areas of medicine.

  • 2016

  • 2016Misztal, Barbara A. (2016): Normality and Trust in Goffman's Theory of Interaction Order. In: Sociological Theory 19 (3), S. 312-324. DOI: 10.1111/0735-2751.00143

    Abstract: The article asserts that Goffman's concept of normality comes close to the notion of trust as a protective mechanism that prevents chaos and disorder by providing us with feelings of safety, certainty, and familiarity. Arguing that to account for the tendency of social order to be seen as normal we need to conceptualize trust as the routine background of everyday interaction, the article analyzes Goffmans concepts of normal appearances, stigma, and frames as devices for endowing social order with predictability, reliability, and legibility. For Goffman, normality is a collective achievement, which is possible because of the orderliness of interactional activities, which is-in turn-predicated "on a large base of shared cognitive presuppositions, if not normative ones, and self-sustained restraints".

  • Brown, Thomas M.; Miller, Charles E. (2016): Communication Networks in Task-Performing Groups. In: Small Group Research 31 (2), S. 131-157. DOI: 10.1177/104649640003100201

    Abstract: In an experiment on the emergence of communication networks, 48 groups, each consisting of 4 or 5 members, were randomly assigned to the cells of a 2 (high vs. low time pressure) x 2 (high vs. low task complexity) factorial design and completed a decision-making task. The interpersonal dominance of each member was measured via the Dominance scale of the Personality Research Form (PRF). Results showed that members higher in dominance emerged as more central in the group communication network both sending and receiving more messages than members lower in dominance. Group members correctly perceived that those higher in dominance participated more in discussion. Communication was more centralized in groups that worked on the low complexity task than in groups that worked on the high complexity task Members correctly perceived that participation was more unequally distributed in more centralized groups. An anticipated interaction effect, with time pressure moderating the effect of task complexity was not supported.

  • Choi, Kyungsub Stephen; Im, Il; Hofstede, Gert Jan (2016): A cross-cultural comparative analysis of small group collaboration using mobile twitter. In: Computers in Human Behavior 65, S. 308-318. DOI: 10.1016/j.chb.2016.08.043

    Abstract: This study was undertaken to determine the distinctive user behaviors and patterns of participants communicating using Twitter on a mobile device in a small-group collaborative setting. Participants were from Western and Eastern cultures (the United States and Korea). Tweets were coded and classified and the results analyzed. Several cultural dimensions were utilized to detect subtle differences between participants from these two different cultures in their dynamic mobile exchanges. Systematic differences in microblogging behaviors were found mostly in the direction predicted by the findings of previous studies on differences in national culture; however, we also report new and interesting findings that contribute to the knowledge base. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of our findings and how this mobile communication information technology can be leveraged to the advantage of individuals and organizations.

  • Fiebich, Anika (2016): Pluralism, social cognition, and interaction in autism. In: Philosophical Psychology 30 (1-2), S. 161-184. DOI: 10.1080/09515089.2016.1261394

    Abstract: In this paper, I investigate social cognition and its relation to interaction in autism from the perspective of a pluralist account of social understanding by considering behavioral as well as neuroscientific findings. Traditionally, researchers have focused on mental state reasoning in autism, which is uncontroversially impaired. A pluralist account of social cognition aims to explore the varieties of social understanding that are acquired throughout ontogeny and may play a role in everyday life. The analysis shows that children with autism are well able to understand other people's behavior by considering social rules and norms, scripts, and stereotypes. Moreover, some individuals with autism succeed in understanding other people's behavior in terms of mental states by employing explicit behavioral rules as a compensatory strategy. The paper ends with a discussion of the social cognitive (dys)functions in autism and their relation to the motivation of individuals with autism to engage in social interaction.

  • Lee, Raymond L. M. (2016): Diagnosing the Selfie. Pathology or Parody?: Networking the Spectacle in Late Capitalism. In: THIRD TEXT 30 (3-4), S. 264-273

    Abstract: Social networking sites are now reportedly flooded with millions of selfies, the purportedly narcissistic tendency to reproduce with webcams and smartphones self-images intended for widespread online dissemination. Like the chain-letter craze of yesteryears, selfies have become fast reduplicating memes targeted at no single destination and orbited in digital space as self-identities transformed into virtual signs. Psychological interpretations cast them as pathological manifestations of low self-esteem and attention-seeking behaviour, perhaps even a form of psychosis. However, defenders attempt to demonstrate selfie circulation as a reality sui generis with its own codes of communication and decorum that may even suggest the formation of new digital communities. However, this defence neglects the question of selfies as spectacles in network culture coinciding with the growth of surveillance practices. Intensification of spectacles aided by the spread of new media technologies may be seen as favouring an interpretation of selfies as reflecting the power of network memes rather than a pathological manifestation of narcissism.

  • Lopez, Patricia J. (2016): A love story: For ’Buddy System’ research in the academy. In: Gender, Place & Culture 23 (12), S. 1689-1700

    Abstract: This article makes a case for a 'buddy system' approach to research and scholarship, or a kind of 'caring with' our colleagues, as feminist praxis and as an intentional, politicized response to the neoliberalization of the academy. Through autoethnographic writing on our travels together into farmed animal auction yards, we explain the buddy system as a mode of caring, solidarity, and love that differs from collaborative research, focused as it is on caring for and about our colleagues and their research even (or especially) when we have no direct stakes in the research being conducted. We contribute to three feminist conversations with this approach: feminist care ethics in geography; emotional geographies; and critical perspectives on the neoliberalization of the academy. We advocate the buddy system as an extension of feminist care ethics, enriching how feminists think about 'doing' research. We draw on feminist geographies of emotion and our own emotions (grief especially) experienced while witnessing processes of nonhuman animal commodification to politicize the act of researching and to develop a more caring way of inhabiting the academy. This is particularly important, we argue, in the context of deepening neoliberal logics that turn the academy into a place where care and love become radical acts of resistance and transformation.

  • Meyer, Holly; Varpio, Lara; Gruppen, Larry; Sandhu, Gurjit (2016): The Ethics and Etiquette of Research Collaboration. In: Academic medicine : journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges 91 (12). DOI: 10.1097/ACM.0000000000001439
  • Presbitero, Alfred (2016): Cultural intelligence (CQ) in virtual, cross-cultural interactions. Generalizability of measure and links to personality dimensions and task performance. In: INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INTERCULTURAL RELATIONS 50, S. 29-38. DOI: 10.1016/j.ijintrel.2015.11.001

    Abstract: Previous studies have focused on investigating CQ in face-to-face contexts but very few have assessed CQ in virtual, cross-cultural interactions. This study highlights the relevance of cultural intelligence (CQ) as an intercultural capability in cross-cultural communications that are virtual. This two-study research (study 1: n = 274; study 2: n = 223) conducted in call centers in the Philippines (a) assesses the generalizability of the four-factor CQ model (i.e., cognitive, metacognitive, motivational and behavioral CQ) as applied in the virtual context and (b) tests the relationship between CQ personality dimensions (i.e., openness to experience and extraversion) and supervisor's ratings of task performance. Study 1 results show that the structural validity of the four-factor CQ model was supported with minor issues in some of the items indicating the need to modify the CQ measure when utilized in the virtual context. Study 2 results show that CQ is positively and significantly related to openness to experience and extraversion. In addition, results show that CQ predicts task performance highlighting the importance of developing CQ among call center representatives and other working professionals who virtually engage and interact with clients and customers from culturally diverse backgrounds.

  • Sawyer, R. K. (2016): The Mechanisms of Emergence. In: Philosophy of the Social Sciences 34 (2), S. 260-282. DOI: 10.1177/0048393103262553

    Abstract: This article focuses on emergence in social systems. The author begins by proposing a new tool to explore the mechanisms of social emergence: multi agent based computer simulation. He then draws on philosophy of mind to develop an account of social emergence that raises potential problems for the methodological individualism of both social mechanism and of multi agent simulation. He then draws on various complexity concepts to propose a set of criteria whereby one can determine whether a given social mechanism generates emergent properties, in the sense that their explanation cannot be reduced to a mechanistic account of individuals and their interactions. This combined account helps to resolve the competing claims of methodological individualists and social realists. The author's conclusion is that the scope of mechanistic explanation may be limited due to the extreme complexity of many social systems.

  • Starovoytenko, Elena (2016): The 'Conversation Partner' Phenomenon in the Dialogical I-Other Relationship. In: SSRN Electronic Journal. DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.2884743

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2884743 

    Abstract: Authors develop a new approach to the study of one's relationships with others, which focuses on the conditions and the effects of the dialogical nature of a person. Theoretical modeling, hermeneutics, qualitative and quantitative methods have been applied. The solution for identifying prerequisites of self-development and social positioning of a person that are rooted in dialogical I-Other relationships has been suggested. The originality of the paper is associated with describing the relation to the other as a reflexive I-Other relationship; with an elaborated model that highlights the variety of dimensions of I-Other relationships (between I and Other, I-in-Other, Other-in-Me, I-in-Myself) results in a truly dialogical mode of being; with revealing the potentials of a Conversation Partner in dialogical I-Other relationships (subjective interrelations and significance of Conversation Partners, their activity, fullness of the reflection of significant Conversation Partners); with a description of different hypostases of Conversation Partners (Real, Ideal, Secret, I as Myself) by the means of hermeneutics. The method called "My Conversation Partner" should also be mentioned, as well as the empirical study of existential and social resources of Conversation Partners. Theoretical background of the study was formed by the works of M.M. Bakhtin, M. Buber, M. Heidegger, J.-P. Sartre. E. Levinas, as well as by the works of modern psychologists such as G.M. Kuchinsky, A.V. Rossokhin, E.B. Starovoytenko, C.T. Brown & P.W. Keller, Hubert Hermans, F. Rivetti Barbo, etc. Results of the current research have shown that the potential of social adaptivity, affiliation, dominance, positive solitude, joy of solitude, freedom, self-transcendence, existential fulfillment is associated with the richness of one's Conversation Partners.

  • Tennyson, Matthew F.; Kuester, Deitra A.; Casteel, John; Nikolopoulos, Christos (2016): Accessible Robots for Improving Social Skills of Individuals with Autism. In: Journal of Artificial Intelligence and Soft Computing Research 6 (4). DOI: 10.1515/jaiscr-2016-0020

    Abstract: This paper reports on an ongoing project between members of the computer science and special education departments of Bradley University and Murray State University, detailing the robotic platforms developed and investigated as a potential tool to improve social interactions among individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Development of a fourth generation robotic agent is described, which uses economically available robotic platforms (Lego NXT) as Socially Assistive Robotics (SAR), combined with direct instruction pedagogy and social scripts to support an alternative educational approach to teaching social behavior. Specifically, in this fourth generation, changes to the physical design of the robots were made to improve the maintainability, reliability, maneuverability, and aesthetics of the robots. The software architecture was designed for modularity, configurability, and reusability of the software.

  • Tsatsou, Panayiota (2016): Digital technologies in the research process: Lessons from the digital research community in the UK. In: Computers in Human Behavior 61, S. 597-608. DOI: 10.1016/j.chb.2016.03.053

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2016.03.053 

    Abstract: This paper reports on a qualitative study of the employment of digital tools, resources and services by social researchers in the UK and has a twofold aim. First, it presents the employment of digital means of research work from the stage of designing the research through to data collection and dissemination of the research results. Second, it assesses the complexity and multiplicity of digital tools, resources and services used in research as well as the complexity and range of such usage, also providing explanations as to why researchers in different disciplines use in different ways and for different purposes digital technologies of various ranges and degrees of complexity. The paper concludes that there are certain commonalities and differences in researchers' practices with digital technologies and that such practices are largely driven by researchers' expertise combined with associated disciplinary traditions and etiquette. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)