This thesis investigates whether certain practices improve the use of video-mediated communication; specifically video-mediated gazing (the act of looking directly into the camera) and face-to-face familiarisation prior to video-mediated meetings. This is done through comparisons of conditions where such practices are employed and control conditions. The successful adoption of these practices is assessed using a multi-level approach: investigating the communicative process, participant perceptions and task outcome. Participant perceptions are directed towards assessing the media, assessing other participants using the media, perceptions of task performance and communicative success, and perceptions of social co-presence. In cases where task outcome is assessed, an objective measurement of performance is taken. Communicative process is assessed through investigating participants use of gazing behaviour and verbal aspects of process: for example turn length, dialogue length and the numper of interruptions. Verbal aspects of process are also measured using Conversational Games analysis, where the functions of participants' utterances are assessed. The results show that participants who gaze at the camera are perceived more favourably. Accompanying speech with video-mediated gazing also results in improved recall of information. Face-to-face familiarisation alters participant perceptions of others using the media and feelings of social co-presence. It is concluded that for certain applications (specifically social tasks) and with an appropriate level of training (specifically with the use of video-mediated gazing) the use of such strategies benefits video-mediated communication.

Although intergroup contact is a well-established area of inquiry within social psychology, the majority of research adheres to testing its traditional formulation, i.e. the extent that contact can reduce prejudice. Under this approach researchers do not investigate what happens during interactions, only if (and often, what sort of) contact has occurred. Consequently, it lacks the power to explain why interactions should be as they are between groups. Conversely, this thesis proposes that investigating contact as an outcome may provide a new and important insight into intergroup life. Specifically, this thesis investigated social psychological antecedents of contact quality among non-disabled and physically disabled people. This unique and challenging context is one that has largely been neglected by prior research. A review of the existing literature identified two key potential antecedents of contact quality, specifically the psychological concerns and embarrassment that both groups experience when interacting with out-group members. A qualitative study (Study 1) was then conducted to gain insight into the phenomenology of these constructs. Importantly, this allowed for the identification of the unique group-specific concerns that non-disabled and physically disabled people may hold. This thesis went on to test the impact of concerns and embarrassment on contact quality through a series of experiments involving both vignette-based and actual interactions (Studies 2-5). Among both groups, these studies revealed evidence of an indirect link between concerns and reduced contact quality. Furthermore, embarrassment was identified as the linking mechanism driving this important relationship. Subsequently the thesis tested a series of interventions directed at attenuating embarrassment and improving the contact quality of these encounters. Two of these studies (Study 6-7) tested the efficacy of an interpersonal feedback strategy, delivered by the physically disabled interactant across an actual (Study 6) and vignette-based (Study 7) interaction. Findings indicated that such feedback could improve contact quality perceptions among both groups, but it was unclear if it did so by reducing embarrassment. Additionally, among the physically disabled sample, the effects became non-significant when controlling for demographic factors. Finally, Studies 8a and 8b examined the potency of a societal-level intervention, the 2012 Paralympic Games. Over the period of the event, concerns and embarrassment were found to decrease in both groups but there was no reported change in contact quality. Additionally, differences once again disappeared when controlling for demographic factors. Implications of these findings, limitations and directions for future research are discussed.

From March 2006 until March 2008 I worked and did research with young people in El Salvador. I coordinated a local youth participation project in the capital, where, at the same time, I conducted fieldwork for my PhD research. The youth project aimed at empowering young people through participatory action research (PAR) and, together with the young participants, I critically reflected on the empowering impact of this participatory process. While participatory researchers and practitioners traditionally stress the importance of critical consciousness and critical discourse as the principal motors for individual and social transformation, my research with the young people particularly confronted me with the power of emotions and embodied knowledges. This research focuses in particular on the politics of emotions; their role in confirming exclusion and oppression and in facilitating empowerment and resistance. In this thesis, I bring together different bodies of theory. I start from the critical literature on PAR and from a poststructuralist account of power and empowerment. I build on an understanding of emotions as socio-culturally constructed and, at the same time, as deeply embodied phenomena. I look into emotional geographies considering emotions as relational and as always functioning within power relations and I use non-representational theory to challenge the privilege of cognition by focussing on practical and embodied knowledges and explicitly recognising their political and empowering potential. I conclude that although participatory researchers have increasingly extended and refined their understanding of power and empowerment, they still focus too much on critical reflection, discourse and conscious/linguistic representation as key to personal and social change. This focus has distracted their attention from the way power works through emotions and embodied knowledges. I believe that participatory researchers should become more sensitive still to the subtleties of power by paying more explicit attention to how emotions and embodied knowledges function within power relations to reproduce or challenge the existing status quo. Such a focus also opens new doors to new ways of empowerment (and politics) by considering alternative methods and media directly engaging with the power of emotions and embodied knowledges to shape the social world.

Theory of mind refers to the ability to attribute mental states to others and to predict their behaviour based on inferences about their mental states, for example their perception, desires, or beliefs. Forty years ago, research on theory of mind originated from the question of whether or not chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) have a theory of mind, a question that – after all this time – is still debated. In the present thesis, I investigate theory of mind and its precursors in birds of the crow family, specifically Eurasian jays (Garrulus glandarius), California scrub-jays (Aphelocoma californica), and carrion crows (Corvus corone corone). Corvids have been reported to possess theory of mind-like abilities. This qualification reflects the fact that most research on theory of mind in these birds has revolved around the ability to respond to perceptual and desire states of conspecifics, and so far has not produced evidence for or against an ability to also respond to others’ beliefs. Further, it is unclear which mechanisms could be the basis of corvids’ abilities. Thus, there are two open questions in regard to corvid theory of mind my thesis aims to address. To address these questions, first, I investigated the ability of Eurasian jays to respond to the false belief of a conspecific in a caching paradigm, where the knowledge of a conspecific observer about the accessibility of two caching sites was manipulated (Chapter 2). In Chapter 3 I explore which behavioural cues might present the basis of the jays’ ability to respond to the desire of a conspecific in a caching context. In Chapter 4, I report a study on biological motion perception in scrub-jays, a phenomenon suggested to be crucial for the detection of social agents. In Chapter 5, I assess scrub-jays’ sensitivity to gaze of a human and a conspecific. Finally, in Chapter 6, I report a study investigating the face inversion effect in carrion crows, an effect that is indicative of a ‘special’ relevance of faces. I conclude by discussing how the presented studies could help us inform our understanding of corvid theory of mind-like abilities.

Recently in the Netherlands and in Amsterdam, policymakers have started to see generalized trust as an indicator of societal cohesion, which is taken to be endangered by participating in ethnically homogenous or bonding organizations. However, there is no study that supports this negative socialization effect. Existing surveys in the Netherlands and in Amsterdam lack either appropriate data on ethnic minorities or do not allow this question to be properly addressed. They do not contain the relevant variables or do not have a multilevel structure, since the latter requires one to sample many responses from the same organization rather than collect data that is representative of individuals. This thesis addresses this gap in the literature by juxtaposing Turkish (bonding) associations with organizations whose membership consists of different ethnic groups (bridging). I surveyed 40 non-profit organizations in Amsterdam and collected responses from around 450 participants. I subsequently describe different bonding and bridging practices within and between organizations, and demonstrate that Turkish, as compared to mixed organizations, are internally focused on their own group, but externally are more involved in bridging networks. Thus contact within Turkish organizations is confined to fellow ethnics and this allows for testing the contact hypothesis. This thesis employs a multilevel model and distinguishes individual attributes from organizational factors (ethnic composition). However, the variance in generalized trust at the organizational level is only 4%, which indicates that the context of voluntary organizations has not much influence on it. Secondly, I test an interaction effect between the mixed ethnic composition of an organization and the length of participation in years in order to test for a socialization effect (the contact hypothesis). However, this interaction effect is not statistically significant. Finally, I test for another interaction effect, namely the effect of having a close tie in a mixed organization, in order to test for a sufficient but not necessary condition of the contact hypothesis, which might turn contact into attitude change. Again, this interaction is not statistically significant. Beyond bridging and bonding, there are complementary mechanisms which might have affected generalized trust. I, therefore, extend my model to include cognitive evaluations about one’s humanitarian values, negative life experiences and socio-economic factors. Three theoretical frameworks are tested: psychological; norm driven; and social success. The findings suggest that differences in generalized trust are best explained by individual processes rather than contact between ethnically diverse groups in voluntary organizations. Optimism has the strongest effect size on generalized trust. Other key factors are educational levels, and to some extent older age as well as having been widowed or lost one’s partner due to divorce. Younger people who adhere to humanitarian values are also among the high generalized trusters. The effect of education, age and the experience of divorce or separation is also found in other Dutch representative national samples and support the consensus around social success theories in explaining generalized trust.

Participation and empowerment are major drivers of social policy, but participatory projects often happen within contested territory. This research interrogates the assumed participation-empowerment link through the example of participatory video. Fieldwork unpacks the particular approach of Real Time, an established UK project provider. Disrupting representational framing, the emergent relational processes catalysed were explored in context, to address not whether participatory video can increase participants’ influence, but how and in what circumstances. This thesis therefore builds more nuanced understanding of empowerment practice as the negotiated (rhizomic) pathway between social possibility and limitation. Following Deleuze, a becoming ontology underpinned study of project actors’ experiences of the evolving group processes that occurred. An action research design incorporated both collaborative sense-making and disruptive gaze. Analysis draws on interpersonal and observational data gathered purposively from multiple perspectives in 11 Real Time projects between 2006 and 2008. Five were youth projects and six with adults, two were women-only and one men-only, two with learning-disabled adults and four aimed at minority-ethnic participants. Participatory video as facilitated empowerment practice led to new social becoming by opening conducive social spaces, mediating interactions, catalysing group action and re-positioning participants. Videoing as performance context had a structuring and intensifying function, but there were parallel risks such as inappropriate exposure when internal and external dialogical space was confused. A rhizomic map of Real Time’s non-linear practice territory identifies eight key practice balances, and incorporates process possibilities, linked tensions, and enabling and hindering factors at four main sequential stages. Communicative action through iteratively progressing video activities unfolded through predictable transitions to generate a diversifying progression from micro to mezzo level when supported. This thesis thus shows how participatory video is constituted afresh in each new context, with the universal and particular in ongoing dynamic interchange during the emergent empowerment journey.

This thesis examines the factors which influenced how social issue story lines were developed in the areas of sexual violence, breast cancer and mental distress in British soap opera in the mid to late 1990's. The soap opera production process was examined by conducting interviews with members of production teams from different programmes. This core study was contextualised by additional interviews with production personnel working in other areas of television (e.g. documentary). Spokespeople from different organisations who consulted on story lines or lobbied around different issues were also interviewed. In total, 64 interviews were conducted. The influence of soap story lines on public understandings of an issue was explored in an audience reception study of sexual violence in Brookside (12 focus groups). The soap opera production study identified a number of factors which influence story line development (socio - cultural positioning of the substantive topic, broadcast hierarchy and commercial imperatives). The comparative study of mental distress identified some cross genre constraints (narrative pace, commercial imperatives) and some genre specific issues (access to people with mental health problems). The audience study revealed that people bring their social knowledge of an issue to their viewing experience. Research participants 'read' the meanings of Brookside's story line in remarkably uniform ways however some participants responded differently to certain elements of the story (rejecting empathy with the 'collusive' mother). The story line was demonstrated to have made a lasting impact on Brookside viewers (in relation to the conflicting emotions of the abused child). There were also identifiable links between the intentions of the production team, the nature of representation and audiences responses.

This research focuses on social relationships within a school context and explores how social relationships within that context contribute to the production and reproduction of inequalities. The research draws on Bourdieu's work and examines the key role of schools in reproducing social and cultural inequalities (Bourdieu 1998). The research explores the process of producing and reproducing inequalities from the perspective of the young people. The study uses the lens of social capital to investigate how social relationships in the form of social capital practices operate within the classroom and the wider school context. While acknowledging structural and cultural dimensions highlighted by Bowles and Gintis (1977) and Willis (1981), I seek to explore how the social relationships between young people in a school context contribute to well documented educational inequalities. I argue that Bourdieu's theoretical framework offers the opportunity to explore relationships by placing social capital in relation to other capitals (economic and cultural) and to locate practices of everyday life, thus linking micro-social and macro-social structural factors. The starting position of this research focuses on the micro, i.e., the individual pupils as active agents in relation to social capital within the school context, before locating it within a wider macro context. The research uses a sequential mixed method design collecting data on the participant's social networks and exploring social practices with semi structured interviews. The research highlights how education and schooling produce and reproduce inequalities in and through the two case study sites.

Social perception is dynamic and ambiguous. Whilst previous research favoured bottom-up views where observed actions are matched to higher level (or motor) representations, recent accounts suggest top-down processes where prior knowledge guides perception of others’ actions, in a predictive manner. This thesis investigated how person-specific models of others’ typical behaviour in different situations are reactivated when they are re-encountered and predict their actions, using strictly controlled computer-based action identification tasks, event-related potentials (ERPs), as well as recording participants’ actions via motion tracking (using the Microsoft Kinect Sensor). The findings provided evidence that knowledge about seen actor’s typical behaviour is used in action observation. It was found, first, that actions are identified faster when performed by an actor that typically performed these actions compared to another actor who only performed them rarely (Chapters Two and Three). These effects were specific to meaningful actions with objects, not withdrawals from them, and went along with action-related ERP responses (oERN, observer related error negativity). Moreover, they occurred despite current actor identity not being relevant to the task, and were largely independent of the participants’ ability to report the individual’s behaviour. Second, the findings suggested that these predictive person models are embodied such that they influenced the observers own motor systems, even when the relevant actors were not seen acting (Chapter Four). Finally, evidence for theses person-models were found when naturalistic responding was required when participants had to use their feet to ‘block’ an incoming ball (measured by the Microsoft Kinect Sensor), where they made earlier and more pronounced movements when the observed actor behaved according to their usual action patterns (Chapter Five). The findings are discussed with respect to recent predictive coding theories of social perception, and a new model is proposed that integrates the findings.

Happiness is consistently cited as one of the things that people consider most important in their lives and yet is a slippery concept about which it is difficult to establish a shared understanding. There is increasing agreement that Gross National Product (GDP) is not a sufficient indicator of progress and that alternative measures may need to include the subjective aspects of wellbeing, or happiness. However, if policy makers and development workers are to seriously consider happiness, clarity is required about what it means to different people and such clarity must be grounded in the everyday experiences of the people whose lives social and development polices aim to improve. Despite increasing interest in the concept of happiness within Laos, academic research focusing upon positive subjective experience is limited. Young Lao people who volunteer with Non-Profit Associations (NPAs) in Vientiane occupy a unique position at the crossroads of a country that continues to be affected by a complex political legacy, a rapidly modernising capital city and a newly visible civil society. The findings from the current research provide rich data from 18 months of ethnographic and participative fieldwork with this specific group of young people in Vientiane. The research addresses the following questions:  What do the ways that young Lao volunteers in Vientiane express happiness tell us about the ways that they conceptualise happiness?  What do young volunteers in Vientiane say makes them happy?  What beliefs do young volunteers in Vientiane have about happiness?  How do these beliefs about happiness fit with young volunteers’ expressed experiences of happiness? This thesis identifies three key conceptual models that research participants used to express happiness including ‘Being Happy’ (happiness is a present moment choice), ‘Becoming Happy’ (happiness is something to be achieved) and ‘Happy Being With Others’ (happiness is located in relationships between people). Further, three culturally constructed ‘happiness scripts’ that research participants share are outlined and discussed. The three scripts are: “The way to be happy is to be a good Lao person”, “I will be happy if I have the things that I need to be comfortable and to have an easy life” and “I am happy when I follow my heart”. These scripts each combine a conceptual mode of happiness with a focus on specific aspects of their lives that research participants say make them happy and a set of shared beliefs about happiness. These three scripts offer normative accounts of different pathways that research participants believe will lead to happiness. The research demonstrates, however, how research participants hold multiple scripts simultaneously and looks at the interactions and tensions between the scripts and between the scripts and participants’ lived experiences. The research concludes that the socially constructed nature of the happiness scripts and the multiple conceptual models of happiness used by the research participants emphasise the need for self-awareness and transparency in conversations about happiness. Any consideration of happiness at policy level must include open and critical discussion about the happiness script that is being promoted. At the individual level participants valued positive opportunities to become aware of and challenge their own assumptions about the things that are most important in their lives were beneficial to their happiness. The thesis, therefore, recommends a shift in policy focus from solely measuring happiness to promoting positive conversations about happiness at policy, community and individual levels. Happiness is both an important experience and a slippery concept. It is both critical that we consider it and vital that we remain critical of it.