Measuring the Dynamics of Interactional Synchrony

Past research has revealed that natural social interactions contain interactional synchrony. The present study describes new methods for measuring interactional synchrony in natural interactions and evaluates whether the behavioral synchronization involved in social interactions is similar to dynamical synchronization found generically in nature. Two methodologies, a rater-coding method and a computational video image method, were used to provide time series representations of the movements of the co-actors as they enacted a series of jokes (i.e., knock?Cknock jokes). Cross-spectral and relative phase analyses of these time series revealed that speakers?? and listeners?? movements contained rhythms that were not only correlated in time but also exhibited phase synchronization. These results suggest that computational advances in video and time series analysis have greatly enhanced our ability to measure interactional synchrony in natural interactions. Moreover, the dynamical synchronization in these natural interactions is commensurate with that found in more stereotyped tasks, suggesting that similar organizational processes constrain bodily activity in natural social interactions and, hence, have implications for the understanding of joint action generally.     

Informant accuracy in social network data IV: a comparison of clique-level structure in behavioral and cognitive network data

This paper examines whether clique-structure in cognitive data (i.e. recall of who one talks to) may be used as a proxy for clique-structure in behavioral data (i.e. who one actually talks to). The answer to this question is crucial to much of sociometric and social net-theoretic studies of social structure.We analysed the clique structures of the communication patterns of four naturally occurring groups of sizes 34 to 58, whose actual communications could easily be monitored, together with the groups' perceptions of their communications. The groups used were: radio hams, a college fraternity, a group of office workers, and an academic department. The analysis used clique-finding, block-modelling, and factor-analytic techniques, all employed in such a way as to maximize the accuracy of the cognitive data.After defining a way to compare clique structures between behavioral and cognitive data, we found that there was no useful relationship between the two, and furthermore there was no significant difference in performance between any of the structure-finding algorithms.We conclude that cognitive data may not be used for drawing any conclusions about behavioral social structure.     

Patterns of social-emotional learning needs among high school freshmen students

The relationships among social-emotional learning (SEL), academics, and school behaviors have been widely established. However, it is less clear how patterns of co-occurring SEL needs among high school freshmen students relate to grades, behaviors, and their perceptions about the importance of social skills. This study uses latent class analysis to identify patterns of SEL needs among ninth grade students (n = 323), their associations with prior and current academic and school behavioral performance, and their perception of the importance of social skills. Five patterns of SEL needs emerged: (1) low-all, (2) high-all, (3) social skills problems only, (4) assertion, externalizing, and internalizing problems, and (5) high behavioral needs. Consistent with other research, students with more SEL needs experienced greater academic and behavioral problems. Additionally, importance ratings of social skills had varying associations with membership across the patterns of SEL needs. Findings highlight the importance for school practitioners to understand patterns and mindsets of students' social skills to improve programming efforts targeting academic and behavioral outcomes.     

SHOULD WE GET MARRIED? THE EFFECT OF PARENTS' MARRIAGE ON OUT‐OF‐WEDLOCK CHILDREN

Using a representative sample of children all born to unwed parents drawn from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study and a potential outcome approach to account for self-selection into marriage, we investigate whether marriage after childbearing has a causal effect on early child development. Comparing children with similar background characteristics and parental mate-selection patterns who differ only in terms of whether their parents marry after childbirth, we find that marriage after childbirth significantly increases a child's early cognitive performance but there is no evidence that it affects child asthma risk or behavioral outcomes.     

Patterns of Nonverbal Behavior Associated with Truth and Deception: Illustrations from Three Experiments

The digital age has brought with it new and powerful computer-based methods of analyzing heretofore elusive patterns of nonverbal behavior. C-BAS (Meservy 2010) is a computer-assisted behavioral observation tool for identifying and tracking nonverbal behaviors from video. THEME (Magnusson, The hidden structure of interaction: from neurons to culture patterns, IOS Press, Amsterdam, pp 4–22, 2005) is a software program that discovers patterns among discrete events in time-ordered data. Together, these tools enable more precise measurement and analysis of nonverbal behavioral dynamics. Applications to three corpora derived from interpersonal deception experiments reveal unique nonverbal patterns that distinguish deceptive from nondeceptive interactions. The first and second experiments produced serial, hierarchically related patterns of behaviors that differed in length and complexity between truthful and deceptive participants during interviews about a theft and cheating, respectively. The third experiment produced differential patterns by and among group members completing a task. Deceivers were inclined toward strategic initiations and interactional control, whereas suspicious group members adopted a more passive, possibly watchful stance. Discovery of these patterns challenges the prevailing view that nonverbal behaviors are too faint and inconsistent to identify deceptive communication. Results have numerous implications regarding the following: the development of new measurement tools locating significant effects of nonverbal behaviors, support for theory that coherent and repetitive relationships exist within and among interactants’ communication, demonstration of the role of nonverbal behaviors in deceptive communication and the dynamic and strategic nature of deception.     

Informant accuracy in social network data III: A comparison of triadic structure in behavioral and cognitive data

This paper provides a comparison of the triadic-level structure inherent in behavioral and cognitive social network data taken on the same group, using a variety of groups whose communication could easily be monitored.It is found that many types of structure occur significantly more or less than chance in both behavioral and cognitive data, and providing that these are treated in similar ways, there is good agreement between the two structures. However, there are several ways to treat behavioral data, and these produce at least two essentially different structures.If cognitive and behavioral triads are compared, triad by triad, then there is virtually no agreement between them (even though they may both display the same structure on an overall triad census).Finally, as a demonstration of the dangers of relying solely on cognitive data, an unlikely null hypothesis is proposed. This asserts — for demonstration purposes — that, under many circumstances, behavioral structure never alters. Change in structure over time apparently occurs because of informant error in the reporting of the cognitive data. A pseudo-transition matrix, giving the probability that a triad is reported as one type when data are first taken, and a different type at a later date, is calculated. This compares reasonably with a genuine transition matrix evaluated for longitudinal cognitive data. It is believed that no data currently exist which can disprove this hypothesis, unlikely though it is. Much more accurate data are therefore necessary if any reliable theory of social structure is to be produced.     

MEANINGFUL REGRESSION AND ASSOCIATION MODELS FOR CLUSTERED ORDINAL DATA

Many proposed methods for analyzing clustered ordinal data focus on the regression model and consider the association structure within a cluster as a nuisance. However, the association structure is often of equal interest—for example, temporal association in longitudinal studies and association between responses to similar questions in a survey. We discuss the use, appropriateness, and interpretability of various latent variable and Markov models for the association structure and propose a new structure that exploits the ordinality of the response. The models are illustrated with a study concerning opinions regarding government spending and an analysis of stability and change in teenage marijuana use over time, where we reveal different behavioral patterns for boys and girls through a comprehensive investigation of individual response profiles.     

A Domain Conceptualization of Adolescent Susceptibility to Peer Pressure

This study tested a domain conceptualization of adolescent susceptibility to peer pressure. Using the peer pressure domains identified by Clasen and Brown (1985) , five susceptibility domains were proposed although only four (family involvement, school involvement, peer involvement, and misconduct) were tested. In terms of measurement, cross‐validated results showed that the model with the four domains provided the best fit. In terms of age and sex patterns, the different susceptibilities were characterized by different patterns of age trends and sex differences. In terms of incremental validity, all four susceptibilities predicted behavior in their domains beyond other potential predictors. In terms of relations with a theoretical correlate, the four susceptibilities were differentially related to parental knowledge of adolescents' lives. This overall pattern of results provides converging support for the domain conceptualization.     

Toward the Establishment of General Dimensions Underlying the Listening Process

Findings from previous research (Coakley, Halone, & Wolvin, 1996; Halone, Wolvin, & Coakley, 1997; Wolvin, Coakley, & Halone, 1995) indicate that the listening process may be conceptualized primarily in (a) cognitive, (b) affective, (c) behavioral/verbal, (d) behavioral/nonverbal, and (e) behavioral/interactive terms. This report seeks to quantitatively confirm these qualitatively-derived findings. Specifically, this study sought to analyze whether each respective dimension could be generally characteristic of the listening process. Confirmatory factor analyses were conducted, providing support for each respective dimension. Results from this study have implications for how communication scholars should conceive of the listening process in theoretical, empirical, and pedagogical terms.     

Heterogeneity of Loss Aversion in Pathological Gambling

Pathological gambling (PG) is characterized by continual repeated gambling behavior despite negative consequences. PG is considered to be a disorder of altered decision-making under risk, and behavioral economics tools were utilized by studies on decision-making under risk. At the same time, PG was suggested to be a heterogeneous disorder in terms of personality traits as well as risk attitude. We aimed to examine the heterogeneity of PG in terms of loss aversion, which means that a loss is subjectively felt to be larger than the same amount of gain. Thirty-one male PG subjects and 26 male healthy control (HC) subjects underwent a behavioral economics task for estimation of loss aversion and personality traits assessment. Although loss aversion in PG subjects was not significantly different from that in HC subjects, distributions of loss aversion differed between PG and HC subjects. HC subjects were uniformly classified into three levels (low, middle, high) of loss aversion, whereas PG subjects were mostly classified into the two extremes, and few PG subjects were classified into the middle range. PG subjects with low and high loss aversion showed a significant difference in anxiety, excitement-seeking and craving intensity. Our study suggested that PG was a heterogeneous disorder in terms of loss aversion. This result might be useful for understanding cognitive and neurobiological mechanisms and the establishment of treatment strategies for PG.     

Gender and Managerial/ Leadership Styles:

This study of Arizona high-level state government administrators describes substantial current variations in male and female behavioral styles of management and leadership. In addition to assessing differences in how men and women deal with power, handle subordinates, and interrelate, the findings also highlight the difficulty associated with women's adoption of a male model of behavior. The lack of repitition of the same patterns among mid-level civil servants suggests an interaction between societal sex roles, organizational contexts, and behavioral characteristics in producing variations in overall styles of management and leadership.     

Behavior problems and attachment in adopted and non-adopted adolescents

Many studies have shown that adopted adolescents present more behavioral problems than non-adopted adolescents do. However, few studies have been published about national adoption in South America, even though this is the most common type of adoption in these countries. The goal of this study was to examine the differences in behavioral problems between nationally adopted and non-adopted adolescents (using Achenbach's Child Behavior Check-list (CBCL) and the Youth Self Report (YSR)), as well as to examine the relationship between behavioral problems and attachment style in adolescents. Participants: 25 adolescents adopted at the age of 6 months or older and 25 non-adopted adolescents. Results: No significant differences were found between groups in terms of behavioral problems. Adolescents adopted at a later age presented more “social problems” than those who were adopted earlier on. Even though the adopted adolescents presented more insecure attachment, there were no significant differences between groups in terms of behavioral problems and attachment style. There was a significant interaction between adoption and attachment on the Thought Problems scale of the YSR, with the non-adopted/insecure adolescents scoring higher. Possible interpretations of these results are presented in the discussion. In general, the adopted adolescents were not significantly different from the adolescents who grew up with their birth families. Furthermore, adoption within the first two years of life may represent a protective factor against “social problems” during adolescence. These findings may contribute to the de-stigmatization of adoption and a move away from the idea that adopted adolescents are “difficult”.     

Sociocultural Variations in Adolescent Girls' Expressions of Distress: What We Know and Need to Know

Social workers have a unique interest in understanding diversity in patterns of human adaptation to adverse circumstances. This paper draws social workers' attention to empirical research on sociocultural variations in adolescent girls' expressions of distress. Focusing on internalizing and externalizing modes of expression, the author summarizes current studies that investigate ethnic/race and socioeconomic influences on adolescent girls' behavioral and psychological symptoms of underlying distress. This review of existing literature points to the need for a more refined understanding of multiple and interacting influences on adolescent female patterns of expression and draws several implications for social work practice with this diverse population group.     

Marketing Archetypes: Applying Jungian Psychology to Marketing Research

In the current situation of growing information overload, individuals are gradually becoming less sensitive to traditional marketing communications. For this reason, traditional marketing research models are no longer capable of giving useful insights to management. This calls for new approaches that can grasp the inner meaning of consumer behaviors and evaluate their relevance. To this end, a new multidisciplinary approach is needed to interpret complex behavioral patterns so as to gain deeper and more effective insights into customers and to understand their behavioral patterns. In this paper, following a short introduction to the basic concepts of Jung's analytical psychology and their relevance for marketing, we propose the use of the Jungian archetypes to implement a market research model, considering the case of an Italian research company's development of the Archetipus® model.     

Behavior of Infant Chimpanzees During the Night in the First 4 Months of Life: Smiling and Suckling in Relation to Behavioral State

This article reports the behavior of 3 newborn chimpanzees in the first 4 months of life, reared by their mothers and living in a community of 14 chimpanzees in a semi‐natural enriched environment. We focused on spontaneous activity during the night partly because sleeping behavior constitutes an essential part of the infants' activity. Observation during the night also had the advantage of keeping the influence of the mothers' activity as well as the environmental stimulation constant throughout the observation period. We report several interesting findings. Behavioral states defined through overt features such as open or closed eyes were variable during the night, with the rapid eye movement (REM) and non‐REM sleep patterns alternating much as they do in human infants. Although crying is one of the distinctive behavioral states in the case of human infants, the chimpanzee infants did not cry like humans. Suckling behavior was often accompanied by open eyes until the end of the first 2 months. Thereafter, suckling with the eyes closed became more prominent. Although there were no explicit stimuli, the newborns showed neonatal smiling with the eyes closed during REM sleep periods. However, neonatal smiling disappeared within the first 2 months and was replaced by social smiling with open eyes. Taken together, the results suggest a strong similarity between human infants and chimpanzee infants in terms of developmental changes in spontaneous activities at around 2 months of age.     

A behavioral economic theory of cue-induced attention- and task-switching with implications for neurodiversity

I present a stylized, analytical model of cue-induced attention- and task-switching — with a proposed neurobiological interpretation of the model’s features — to organize available empirical evidence on two widely-studied neurodevelopmental conditions: attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Specifically, I use this framework to show how a systematic tendency to underestimate the opportunity costs of attention- and task-switching can give rise to several empirically-observed behavioral patterns in ADHD, and that the opposite tendency can give rise to empirically-observed behavioral patterns in ASD. While drawing on various economic concepts to formally express its predictions, the model offers new and inter-related conceptualizations of ADHD and ASD — as viewed through a behavioral microeconomic lens — that may be useful for understanding some subtypes and symptoms.     

Does the theory of planned behavior elements mediate the relationship between perceived constraints and intention to participate in physical activities? A study among older individuals

This study aimed to investigate the degree to which the elements of the theory of planned behavior mediate the relationship between constraints and intention to continuing participation in physical activities. The sample of the study consisted of 119 (N = 119) older individuals who participated in organized physical activity programs. The results indicated that attitudes and perceived behavioral control were negatively correlated with constraints, whereas the subjective norm variable had no relationship with them. In terms of the mediation role of the elements of the theory of planned behavior, the results indicated that both attitudes and perceived behavioral control partially mediated the relationship between constraints and intention, with the perceived behavioral control variable being the strongest mediator. These findings suggest that the theory of planned behavior elements mediate the constraints–intention relationship and determine, in a large degree, the older individuals’ intention to continuing taking part in physical activities.     

The effects of co-operating or conflicting over work restructuring: evidence from employees

This paper examines patterns of worker response to the introduction of teamworking at two similar large work sites. We consider whether the patterns of response are significantly different where change has been introduced through a more cooperative or a more conflictual bargaining process. In the cooperative negotiations that more typified one site, trade unions made concessions, generating both dissatisfaction with the terms under which teams were introduced and a decline in job satisfaction. At the site more characterised by conflictual negotiations, employees were more satisfied with teamworking after unions protected manning in teams, negotiated a pay increase for more workers and the side payment of a desired 12‐hours shift pattern. The findings indicate how response to workplace change depended upon the terms under which teams were introduced, in turn shaped in important part by the process of negotiating change.     

PERSONAL AUTHORITY VIA TERMINATION OF THE INTERGENERATIONAL HIERARCHICAL BOUNDARY: PART II—THE CONSULTATION PROCESS AND THE THERAPEUTIC METHOD

This paper is by way of a continuation of the definition of the theoretical position on the termination of the intergenerational hierarchical boundary, presented earlier (Williamson, 1981). That paper argued that this termination requires "a radical renegotiation of the power structures in the relationships between the two generations, and in the interactional political patterns which ensue from these." This paper reports on and describes a therapeutic methodology for securing and completing such a "radical renegotiation." It is implied that this therapeutic procedure has widespread applicability to the resolution of behavioral problems.     

Generalization of Relational Matching to Sample in Children: A Direct Replication

The ability of preschool age children to perform generalized relational matching to sample tasks with and without an overt mediating stimulus was examined. This experiment was a direct replication of a study by Lowenkron (1984) and examined a behavioral model relevant to complex human behavior that he later came to call joint control. Children were trained to code two-dimensional stimuli with the help of a handheld mediating stimulus. They were later tested for generalization of relational matching to sample with and without the mediating stimulus. Results indicated high levels of generalized matching to sample with the mediating stimulus and lower levels without. Findings also indicated that generalization was somewhat stronger with symmetrical shapes than with asymmetrical. Results are discussed in terms of a radical behavioral interpretation of complex human behavior.