The pet factor - Companion animals as a conduit for getting to know people, friendship formation and social support

BACKGROUND: While companion animals have been previously identified as a direct source of companionship and support to their owners, their role as a catalyst for friendship formation or social support networks among humans has received little attention. This study investigated the indirect role of pets as facilitators for three dimensions of social relatedness; getting to know people, friendship formation and social support networks. METHODS: A telephone survey of randomly selected residents in four cities, one in Australia (Perth; n = 704) and three in the U.S. (San Diego, n = 690; Portland, n = 634; Nashville, n = 664) was conducted. All participants were asked about getting to know people within their neighborhood. Pet owners were asked additional questions about the type/s of pet/s they owned, whether they had formed friendships as a result of their pet, and if they had received any of four different types of social support from the people they met through their pet. RESULTS: Pet owners were significantly more likely to get to know people in their neighborhood than non-pet owners (OR 1.61; 95%CI: 1.30, 1.99). When analyzed by site, this relationship was significant for Perth, San Diego and Nashville. Among pet owners, dog owners in the three U.S. cities (but not Perth) were significantly more likely than owners of other types of pets to regard people whom they met through their pet as a friend (OR 2.59; 95%CI: 1.94, 3.46). Around 40% of pet owners reported receiving one or more types of social support (i.e. emotional, informational, appraisal, instrumental) via people they met through their pet. CONCLUSION: This research suggests companion animals can be a catalyst for several dimensions of human social relationships in neighborhood settings, ranging from incidental social interaction and getting to know people, through to formation of new friendships. For many pet owners, their pets also facilitated relationships from which they derived tangible forms of social support, both of a practical and emotionally supportive nature. Given growing evidence for social isolation as a risk factor for mental health, and, conversely, friendships and social support as protective factors for individual and community well-being, pets may be an important factor in developing healthy neighborhoods.

Live and analogue : Theatre as a practice of social inclusion

This monograph argues for a repositioning of theatre as an antidote to the negative effects of the reduction of live social interaction among the current generation of young people. It argues for a repositioned valuing of the role that live performing arts can play in the development of social cohesion and well-being with young people. Highlighted therefore is an emphasis on developing ‘communitas’ or ‘collective joy’ (Turner, 2012) for young audiences. Using the lens of social acupuncture (O’Donnell, 2006) the monograph explores how two Australian live theatre or performance events – The Walking Neighbourhood and 지하 Underground – foreground inclusionary audience experiences. It concludes with a challenge to drama teachers, theatre makers, arts researchers, arts programmers and performance venue managers regarding how they might view their young audiences as more than just a marketing demographic and income stream, by providing new platforms for young people’s social cohesion and well-being.

Ad hoc communities on the road: Serendipitous social encounters to enhance tourist experiences

Driving can be a lonely activity. While there has been a lot of research and technical inventions concerning car-to-car communication and passenger entertainment, there is still little work concerning connecting drivers. Whereas tourism is very much a social activity, drive tourists and road trippers have few options to communicate with fellow travelers. Our study is placed at the intersection of tourism and driving. It aims to enhance the trip experience during driving through social interaction. This paper explores how a mobile application that allows instant messaging between travelers sharing similar context can establish a temporary, ad hoc community and enhance the road trip experience. A prototype was developed and evaluated in various user and field studies. The study’s outcomes are relevant for the design of future mobile tourist guides that benefit from community design, social encounters and recommendations.

TrainYarn: Probing perceptions of social space in urban commuter trains

We studied the ways that urban commuter train passengers experience their journeys. We present the design process and in-situ evaluation of TrainYarn, a mobile app prototype designed to facilitate social interaction between co-located urban train passengers. Through the deployment of the prototype, we sought to probe perceptions of social space with a view to positively impact the assessment of public transport. Our results support that our target users saw value in the use of TrainYarn, perceiving it as emancipatory, in alignment with their communicative needs, and having the ability to transform their perceptions of social space. To further inform future research and practice, we put forward a series of design recommendations.

Identifying and addressing equivocal trouble in understanding within classroom interaction

Maintaining intersubjectivity is crucial for accomplishing coordinated social action. Although conversational repair is a recognised defence of intersubjectivity and routinely used to address ostensible sources of trouble in social interaction, it is less clear how people address more equivocal trouble. This study uses conversation analysis to examine preschool classroom interaction, focusing on practices used to identify and address such trouble. Repair is found to be a recurrent frontline practice for addressing equivocal trouble, occasioning space for further information that might enable identifying a specific trouble source. Where further information is forthcoming, a range of strategies are subsequently employed to address the trouble. Where this is not possible or does not succeed, a secondary option is to progress a broader activity-in-progress. This allows for the possibility of another opportunity to identify and address the trouble. Given misunderstandings can jeopardise interactants’ ability to mutually accomplish courses of action, these practices defend intersubjectivity against the threat of equivocal trouble.

Social perception and cognition : processing of gestures, postures and facial expressions in the human brain

Humans are a social species with the internal capability to process social information from other humans. To understand others behavior and to react accordingly, it is necessary to infer their internal states, emotions and aims, which are conveyed by subtle nonverbal bodily cues such as postures, gestures, and facial expressions. This thesis investigates the brain functions underlying the processing of such social information. Studies I and II of this thesis explore the neural basis of perceiving pain from another person s facial expressions by means of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and magnetoencephalography (MEG). In Study I, observing another s facial expression of pain activated the affective pain system (previously associated with self-experienced pain) in accordance with the intensity of the observed expression. The strength of the response in anterior insula was also linked to the observer s empathic abilities. The cortical processing of facial pain expressions advanced from the visual to temporal-lobe areas at similar latencies (around 300 500 ms) to those previously shown for emotional expressions such as fear or disgust. Study III shows that perceiving a yawning face is associated with middle and posterior STS activity, and the contagiousness of a yawn correlates negatively with amygdalar activity. Study IV explored the brain correlates of interpreting social interaction between two members of the same species, in this case human and canine. Observing interaction engaged brain activity in very similar manner for both species. Moreover, the body and object sensitive brain areas of dog experts differentiated interaction from noninteraction in both humans and dogs whereas in the control subjects, similar differentiation occurred only for humans. Finally, Study V shows the engagement of the brain area associated with biological motion when exposed to the sounds produced by a single human being walking. However, more complex pattern of activation, with the walking sounds of several persons, suggests that as the social situation becomes more complex so does the brain response. Taken together, these studies demonstrate the roles of distinct cortical and subcortical brain regions in the perception and sharing of others internal states via facial and bodily gestures, and the connection of brain responses to behavioral attributes.

Moral Professionalism in Interaction : Educators' Relational Moral Voices in Urban Schools

The aim of this study was to investigate educators relational moral voices in urban schools and to listen to what they told about moral professionalism and moral practices in challenging urban schools. Their relational moral voices were investigated through the following three questions: 1. What are the educators moral voices in relation to themselves and other people? 2. What are the educators moral voices in relation to their work and society? 3. What kind of interaction process lies between the educators moral voices and the urban school context? The research data of this study were gathered in four urban schools in Jyväskylä and Helsinki. The research schools were chosen for this study according to the criteria of the international Socrates Comenius project called Leading Schools Successfully in Challenging Urban Context: Strategies for Improvement. This study formed part of this project, which investigated successful urban schools as challenging learning environments in nine European countries and explored the principals success in leadership in particular. The data, which included 37 narratively constructed interviews with four principals and key informants selected by the principals, were gathered in interviews conducted in 2006. In other words, the data comprised three interviews with each of four principals, and interviews with two teachers, two parents, and two pupils from each school. In addition, the school deacon from one school was also interviewed. Furthermore, part of the data from one of the research schools included a medium report of the school deacon s work. This study combined the case study method, the narrative approach and the critical incident technique as the methodological framework. In addition, all of these methods served as practical tools for both analyzing and reporting the data. The educators' narrations and the results of the study appear in the original articles (Hanhimäki & Tirri 2008; Hanhimäki 2008b; Hanhimäki & Tirri 2009; Hanhimäki 2008a). The educators moral voices in relation to themselves and other people emerged through the main themes of moral leadership, the development and evaluation process, moral sensitivity, gender, values, and student well-being. The educators moral voices in relation to their work and society emerged through the main themes of multiprofessional cooperation, families and parental involvement, and moral school culture. The idea of moral interaction connected moral professionalism and the methodological combination of this study, which together emphasized social interaction and the creation of understanding and meaning in this interaction. The main point of this study was to state that the educators moral voices emerged in the interaction between the educators themselves and the urban school context. In this interaction, the educators moral professionalism was constructed and shaped in relation to themselves, other people, their work and society. The loudest relational moral voices heard through the main themes were those of caring, cooperation, respect, commitment, and professionalism. When the results were compared to the codes of ethics which guided these educators moral professional work, the ethical principles and values of the codes were clearly visible in their moral practices. The loudest message from the educators narration could be summarized in the words caring, respect and cooperation: at its best, there is just a human being and a human being with caring, respect and cooperation between them. The results of this study emphasize the need for practical approaches such as case studies and the narrative approach in teacher education to encourage educators to become moral professionals capable of meeting the needs of people of varied backgrounds. In addition, opportunities for moral, religious and spiritual education should be noticed and utilized in the plural interaction of urban schools when nurturing pupils and creating a moral school culture. Furthermore, multiprofessional cooperation and parents as the school s primary cooperation partner are needed to carry out the shared duty of moral education in urban schools. Keywords: moral professionalism, educator, relational moral voice, interaction, urban school

Social Life of Captive Asian Elephants (Elephas maximus) in Southern India: Implications for Elephant Welfare

Asian elephants in the wild live in complex social societies; in captivity, however, management often occurs in solitary conditions, especially at the temples and private places of India. To investigate the effect of social isolation, this study assessed the social group sizes and the presence of stereotypies among 140 captive Asian elephants managed in 3 captive systems (private, temple, and forest department) in Tamil Nadu, India, between 2003 and 2005. The majority of the facilities in the private (82%) and temple (95%) systems held a single elephant without opportunity for social interaction. The forest department managed the elephants in significantly larger groups than the private and temple systems. Among the 3 systems, the proportion of elephants with stereotypies was the highest in temple (49%) followed by private system (26%) and the forest department facility (6%); this correlates with the social isolation trend observed in the 3 systems and suggests a possible link between social isolation and abnormal elephant behavior separate from other environmental factors. The results of this study indicate it would be of greater benefit to elephant well being to keep the patchily distributed solitary temple and private elephants who are socially compatible and free from contagious diseases in small social groups at ocommon elephant houseso for socialization.

Social Experience Is Sufficient to Modulate Sleep Need of Drosophila without Increasing Wakefulness

Organisms quickly learn about their surroundings and display synaptic plasticity which is thought to be critical for their survival. For example, fruit flies Drosophila melanogaster exposed to highly enriched social environment are found to show increased synaptic connections and a corresponding increase in sleep. Here we asked if social environment comprising a pair of same-sex individuals could enhance sleep in the participating individuals. To study this, we maintained individuals of D. melanogaster in same-sex pairs for a period of 1 to 4 days, and after separation, monitored sleep of the previously socialized and solitary individuals under similar conditions. Males maintained in pairs for 3 or more days were found to sleep significantly more during daytime and showed a tendency to fall asleep sooner as compared to solitary controls (both measures together are henceforth referred to as ``sleep-enhancement''). This sleep phenotype is not strain-specific as it is observed in males from three different ``wild type'' strains of D. melanogaster. Previous studies on social interaction mediated sleep-enhancement presumed `waking experience' during the interaction to be the primary underlying cause; however, we found sleep-enhancement to occur without any significant increase in wakefulness. Furthermore, while sleep-enhancement due to group-wise social interaction requires Pigment Dispersing Factor (PDF) positive neurons; PDF positive and CRYPTOCHROME (CRY) positive circadian clock neurons and the core circadian clock genes are not required for sleep-enhancement to occur when males interact in pairs. Pair-wise social interaction mediated sleep-enhancement requires dopamine and olfactory signaling, while visual and gustatory signaling systems seem to be dispensable. These results suggest that socialization alone (without any change in wakefulness) is sufficient to cause sleep-enhancement in fruit fly D. melanogaster males, and that its neuronal control is context-specific.

Habilidades sociales y contextos de la conducta social

[Es] Las habilidades sociales, o habilidades interpersonales, han sido objeto de creciente interés durante los últimos años en psicología social, clínica y educativa; y, sin embargo, tanto su evaluación como la intervención psicológica para su mejora se topan con una desconcertante proliferación de clasificaciones o categorías divergentes de las mismas. En este trabajo, y como resultado de sucesivos análisis factoriales, se proponen cinco grandes categorías de habilidades sociales (Interacción con personas desconocidas en situaciones de consumo, Interacción con personas que atraen, Interacción con amigos y compañeros, Interacción con familiares, y Hacer y rechazar peticiones a los amigos/as) que responden a distintos contextos de interacción social. Las cinco escalas, correspondientes a tales categorías, de un nuevo instrumento de medida, el Cuestionario de Dificultades Interpersonales (CDI), con alta consistencia interna (·= 0,896), explican el 47,47% de la varianza total. Los análisis correlacionales entre el CDI y el Test de Autoverbalizaciones en la Interacción Social (SISST) de Glass, Merluzzi, Biever y Larsen (1982) revelan diferencias cognitivas significativas entre los sujetos de alta y baja habilidad social, dándose una mayor frecuencia de autoverbalizaciones positivas y una menor frecuencia de autoverbalizaciones negativas en los sujetos de alta habilidad social que en los sujetos de baja habilidad social.

Real-World Social Cognition: Context Effects in Face and Threat Processing

As borne out by everyday social experience, social cognition is highly dependent on context, modulated by a host of factors that arise from the social environment in which we live. While streamlined laboratory research provides excellent experimental control, it can be limited to telling us about the capabilities of the brain under artificial conditions, rather than elucidating the processes that come into play in the real world. Consideration of the impact of ecologically valid contextual cues on social cognition will improve the generalizability of social neuroscience findings also to pathology, e.g., to psychiatric illnesses. To help bridge between laboratory research and social cognition as we experience it in the real world, this thesis investigates three themes: (1) increasing the naturalness of stimuli with richer contextual cues, (2) the potentially special contextual case of social cognition when two people interact directly, and (3) a third theme of experimental believability, which runs in parallel to the first two themes. Focusing on the first two themes, in work with two patient populations, we explore neural contributions to two topics in social cognition. First, we document a basic approach bias in rare patients with bilateral lesions of the amygdala. This finding is then related to the contextual factor of ambiguity, and further investigated together with other contextual cues in a sample of healthy individuals tested over the internet, finally yielding a hierarchical decision tree for social threat evaluation. Second, we demonstrate that neural processing of eye gaze in brain structures related to face, gaze, and social processing is differently modulated by the direct presence of another live person. This question is investigated using fMRI in people with autism and controls. Across a range of topics, we demonstrate that two themes of ecological validity — integration of naturalistic contextual cues, and social interaction — influence social cognition, that particular brain structures mediate this processing, and that it will be crucial to study interaction in order to understand disorders of social interaction such as autism.

The body social: an enactive approach to the self

This paper takes a new look at an old question: what is the human self? It offers a proposal for theorizing the self from an enactive perspective as an autonomous system that is constituted through interpersonal relations. It addresses a prevalent issue in the philosophy of cognitive science: the body-social problem. Embodied and social approaches to cognitive identity are in mutual tension. On the one hand, embodied cognitive science risks a new form of methodological individualism, implying a dichotomy not between the outside world of objects and the brain-bound individual but rather between body-bound individuals and the outside social world. On the other hand, approaches that emphasize the constitutive relevance of social interaction processes for cognitive identity run the risk of losing the individual in the interaction dynamics and of downplaying the role of embodiment. This paper adopts a middle way and outlines an enactive approach to individuation that is neither individualistic nor disembodied but integrates both approaches. Elaborating on Jonas' notion of needful freedom it outlines an enactive proposal to understanding the self as co-generated in interactions and relations with others. I argue that the human self is a social existence that is organized in terms of a back and forth between social distinction and participation processes. On this view, the body, rather than being identical with the social self, becomes its mediator

POR QUE VOCÊ NÃO OLHA PRA MIM?: Invisibilidade social de jovens em situação de vulnerabilidade e o futebol como luta por reconhecimento

A presente dissertação discute o futebol como caminho para o reconhecimento social por jovens em situação de vulnerabilidade, entendida aqui pela afrodescendência, residência em favelas e a escassez de recursos financeiros. Esta vulnerabilidade pode remeter a uma invisibilidade social, que pode ser compreendida como relações sociais onde alguns sujeitos, por serem na esmagadora maioria das vezes proscritos do mundo significativo daqueles que detêm o poder, através da indiferença, e/ou por habitarem o imaginário social de forma negativa sendo estigmatizados, não têm suas capacidades e potencialidades reconhecidas e passam a ser ignorados e privados de muitas formas de interação social. Dialeticamente, no cerne destas relações, está presente a luta por reconhecimento, aqui estudada com base na Teoria Crítica e especialmente nos escritos do teórico Axel Honneth. A relação do indivíduo consigo próprio está atrelada às experiências de reconhecimento, pois ele se constitui unicamente porque aprende através do assentimento ou encorajamento de outrem a referir a si próprio determinadas características. Quando essas experiências são precárias, como ocorre nos casos de invisibilidade social, se dá uma busca, uma cobrança, uma luta pelo reconhecimento negado. Reconhecimento social que pode ser obtido através do futebol e seus desdobramentos, como a possibilidade do consumo conspícuo, da exposição midiática e de um suposto poder de mudança social. Como metodologia para compreender melhor estas questões foram analisadas produções sociais, como filmes, livros, músicas e reportagens, as quais foram consideradas sinais de uma sociedade capitalista, sociedade do espetáculo e individualista que se apresenta como meritocrática, ignorando que a disponibilidade de recursos da cultura dominante que cada sujeito possui, tem relação positiva com o sucesso pessoal. E para ilustrar o contexto histórico, social e cultural, onde jovens em situação de vulnerabilidade e muitas vezes invisíveis socialmente lutam por reconhecimento através do futebol, foram realizadas entrevistas com jovens jogadores de futebol da Vila Olímpica da Mangueira. A ascensão social e a identidade de ser um jogador de futebol são almejadas pelo desejo de obtenção de experiências de reconhecimento positivas nas três esferas do reconhecimento e que assim possam promover mudanças em suas respectivas autorrelações práticas: na dedicação emotiva, sendo mais amados por seus familiares e amigos (autoconfiança); no respeito cognitivo, obtendo cidadania que lhes é rotineiramente negada (autorrespeito); e na estima social, ao serem elogiados pela performance esportiva, ter fama e visibilidade, e exercer uma função social respeitada e digna de admiração (autoestima). Em suma, esta pesquisa busca apontar o futebol como instrumento para análise da dinâmica social e contribui por conectar o contexto esportivo ao social, visando fomentar nos profissionais que trabalham com esta população uma prática mais ampla e crítica, que possa ser capaz de ajudar a promover efetivamente mudanças sociais.

Atribuindo significados as enfermeiras obstétricas: uma construção social sob a ótica das usuárias na perspectiva do interacionismo simbólico

O presente estudo teve como objetivos: identificar o significado de Enfermeira Obstétrica para as usuárias; analisar os significados atribuídos à Enfermeira Obstétrica pelas usuárias; e, desenvolver um modelo teórico explicativo da construção do significado de Enfermeira Obstétrica sob a ótica das usuárias. Trata-se de uma pesquisa descritiva com abordagem qualitativa interpretada pelo Interacionismo Simbólico, como referencial teórico e, tendo a Grounded Theory, como referencial metodológico. Foram participantes da pesquisa, 20 (vinte) usuárias atendidas por Enfermeiras Obstétricas em diversos cenários de cuidado, tais como: domicílio, Unidades Básicas de Saúde, Maternidades, Casas de Parto/Centros de Parto Normal de diversos municípios do Estado do Rio de Janeiro - durante o pré-natal, trabalho de parto e parto. A coleta dos dados ocorreu entre setembro de 2012 e julho de 2014, após este projeto ter sido aprovado pelo Comitê de Ética em Pesquisa da Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro/UERJ/SR2 em julho de 2012. Utilizou-se a entrevista semi-estruturada gravada, iniciada com uma questão comum: Fale-me como foi sua gestação, seu acompanhamento pré-natal e seu parto. Os resultados revelam que as usuárias chegam até as enfermeiras obstétricas porque procuram por alguém que atenda seu desejo de vivenciar uma gestação e um parto natural sem intervenções desnecessárias e com a presença de familiares, principalmente os companheiros. Fica evidente, neste estudo, que as usuárias desconhecem, até o estabelecimento da interação social, a profissional enfermeira obstétrica e chegam até elas por: indicação de amigos e/ou familiares; por indicação de outros profissionais de saúde (enfermeiras, fisioterapeutas ou médicos); ou por intermédio de grupos de mulheres nas redes sociais. Vale ressaltar que, as mulheres que optaram por serem atendidas por enfermeiras obstétricas durante o pré-natal, trabalham de parto e parto, buscaram informações sobre gestação, fisiologia do trabalho de parto, atuação e formação as enfermeiras obstétricas, direitos sexuais e reprodutivos, legislação sobre direitos dos usuários dos serviços de saúde, dentre outros, nas redes sociais; compartilharam vivências em grupos na internet e acabaram referenciando as enfermeiras obstétricas a outras mulheres. A análise comparativa dos dados identificou três categorias: Desejando vivenciar o parto natural; Procurando alguém que atenda o desejo de vivenciar o parto natural; e Encontrando e vivenciando os cuidados da Enfermeira Obstétrica. As usuárias agem em relação às Enfermeiras Obstétricas com base no significado que estas têm para ela, ou seja, apresentam como símbolos significantes para o objeto social Enfermeiras Obstétricas: aquela que presta um cuidado concreto, um cuidado abstrato, um cuidado afetivo e um cuidado com conhecimento científico. Os significados retratam que o vínculo estabelecido entre as envolvidas extrapola a competência técnica e ratificam que, a necessidade de vínculo pessoal é imprescindível para que o cuidado humanizado aconteça.