Loneliness is a growing social problem that affects people from different age groups. Studies have shown that loneliness is prevalent more in young adults and the elderly demographic. Loneliness can pose serious health issues like cognitive malfunction, heart disease, stroke, depression, etc. People who stay alone from friends and family tend to feel lonelier. Conventional communication tools like a phone or video calls or using social media applications can help the users connect with people but also have adverse effects. As a result of this, the potential of an alternative nonverbal mode of communication needs to be explored. The research aims to understand individuals' behavior, traits, and hidden needs when it comes to loneliness. The purpose is to suggest an alternative way of communication that creates a sense of presence and ensures mental well for the people living alone and suffer from emotional loneliness. The concept of Calm and ambient technology has been explored in this thesis as an alternative means of communication. Users’ needs were gathered from eight semi-structured interviews, and two stakeholders were identified. Over forty ideas were generated from brainstorming. The ideas were sent to twenty individuals through snowballing. The response from them was analyzed and narrowed down by using concept screening and concept scoring. The final concept was a device called ‘One home lamp.’ The device uses light to show the presence of remote family members or loved ones to a person living alone. This concept product was then evaluated through ‘Mankoff’s heuristics’ to see its credibility as a calm ambient artifact.

Syftet med detta examensarbete är att synliggöra hur den icke-verbala kommunikationen ser ut hos lärare i ämnet idrott och hälsa i idrottsundervisningen. I arbetet undersöks också hur idrottslärarna själva upplever att de använder sig av den icke-verbala kommunikationen i undervisningen. För att besvara frågeställningarna används tidigare forskning som har bedrivits inom den icke-verbala kommunikationen i synnerhet. Som ett teoretiskt ramverk för analysen av idrottslärares icke-verbala kommunikation, har vi som utgångspunkt använt oss av Marie Gelangs teoretiska referensramar och begreppsapparat. Vi har framförallt inspirerats av Actiokapitalet: retorikens ickeverbala resurser från 2008. I Gelangs egen analys av den icke-verbala kommunikationen har Pierre Bourdieu och habitusbegreppet stått för den teoretiska plattformen. Vidare har frågeställningarna besvarats med hjälp av en kvalitativ metod i två olika delar. Dels i form av semistrukturerade videoobservationer av fyra idrottslärare i undervisningssituationer, där lärarnas icke-verbala signaler har kategoriserats med hjälp av ett observationsschema. Vidare har även semistrukturerade intervjuer genomförts med idrottslärarna, för att undersöka hur de själva upplever användandet av sin icke-verbala kommunikation. Resultatet och analysen av insamlade data visar på att lärarna arbetar med den icke-verbal kommunikationen på olika sätt. Kroppsspråk, mimik, paralingvistik, energi, dynamik, tempo och personligt avstånd kan uttryckas på olika sätt och ge olika signaler. Det tillvägagångsätt som varje enskild lärare använder sig av är till viss del förankrat i deras upplevelse om hur de vill bli betraktade, vilket i sin tur speglas i hur synkroniseringen mellan de olika icke-verbala resurserna framförs. Vidare tyder resultaten på att lärarna till viss del är medvetna om hur de arbetar icke-verbalt i sammanhang som har en koppling till didaktiken.

Bakgrund: Kommunikationen är en stor och viktig del i omvårdnaden av individer med demenssjukdom. Demenssjukdomen påverkar individens kommunikativa förmåga samt hjärnans förmåga att processa information. Syfte: Syftet var att belysa faktorer som främjar kommunikationen i omvårdnaden med individer som är diagnostiserade med demenssjukdom. Metod: Studien genomfördes som en allmän litteraturstudie. Studiens ansats var induktiv. Resultatet baserades på nio vetenskapliga artiklar. Resultat: I resultatet framkom fyra huvudkategorier: Kunskap och förståelse för individen, Personcentrerad vård, Prioriteringar och tid samt Kommunikativa hjälpmedel. En underkategori till Kommunikativa hjälpmedel skapades också: Musik som hjälpmedel. I resultatet framkom flertalet kommunikationsstrategier som ansågs främja kommunikationen i omvårdnaden vid demenssjukdom, däribland musik, kunskap och språklig anpassning. Konklusion: Faktorer såsom anpassat språk, musik och god kunskap om individen lyftes främja kommunikationen i omvårdnaden vid demenssjukdom samt att flertalet av faktorerna går hand i hand. Det uppmärksammades att vårdpersonal måste bli bättre på att implementera faktorerna i demensvården samtidigt som mer utbildning för vårdpersonal behövs kring ämnet. / Background: Communication is an important part in caring for people with dementia. Dementia affects the individual’s communications skills and the brain’s ability to process information. Aim: The aim of this study was to illustrate factors that facilitates communication in the daily care for people diagnosed with dementia. Method: This study was conducted as a literature review with inductive approach. The result was based on nine scientific articles. Result: The result emerged in four main categories; Knowledge and understanding of the person, Person-centered care, Priorities and time and Communicative aids. Another category, associated to Communicative aids was formed, Music as an aid. The result reveled several communications strategies that were considered to promote communication in the daily care for people living with dementia such as music, knowledge and language adaption. Conclusion: Adapted language, music and good knowledge of the person are factors that facilitates communication in the daily care in people living with dementia and most of the factors goes hand in hand. The study drew attention to the fact that nursing staff needs to improve their skills regarding implanting the factors in dementia care. At the same time, more training is needed for the nursing staff on this subject.

The purpose of this study was to compare the frequency and range of communication intentions in normally developing toddlers and ELD toddlers. Data were gathered from ten minute video tapes of low structured parent/child interaction by coding twelve communication intentions commonly acquired in the first two years of life and expressed with five modes of communication.

Nonverbal communication is especially significant in the area of intercultural communication. Familiar signals often signify and convey different and unexpected messages, usually out-of-awareness, and then unfamiliar stimuli cause confusion and uneasiness. This is a report of Thai NVC, which intends (1) to describe selected Thai nonverbal behavior, (2) to relate these to appropriate time and context, (3) to explain a cultural component that makes the behaviors acceptable and/or mandatory, and (4) to report how Thai nonverbal behaviors may affect intercultural and cross-cultural communication. Selected Thai nonverbal messages are described: (1) nonverbal signals: the sign language of wai, the kinesthetic behaviors of eye movement, and hand movements which include receiving, pointing, indicating farewell, rejection, negation, disagreement, beckoning, applause, counting, bad odor signal, insulting signal, and angry and friendly signals, (2) nonverbal action: the action of feet and khwan, postures which include sitting, walking and standing, (3) object language: four religious ceremonies of lod khrc kaaw pun, dam hua, wai khruu, and wi sa kha bu chaa; the use of artifacts: phra cee dii, phra phud tharubb, khryan raan ta krud, (dta gkroot) and jan, colors (clothing) which includes yellow, khaki, blue, red, daily color, black and white, the material orientation to directions such as staircase positions; cooking art which includes breakfast and eating, (4) paralanguage: the Thai linguistic parallel to paralanguage, especially vocal intensity (loudness and softness), (5) personal and social distance which includes proxemic behaviors of infancy, late childhood, adolescence, and adulthood, and male and female public positions, and male and female sleeping positions (6) olfaction: artificial scents and natural body odors, and finally (7) skin sensitivity: touch and temperature. The method used to gather data was through participant observation. The descriptions of these illustrative Thai NVC behaviors are drawn from the writer's personal firsthand knowledge of Thai life, from Thai informants, his field work experiences as a research assistant to a Cornell University anthropologist in Thailand, from his experience as an interpreter-translator for the U.S. Army there, and his observations of Thai nonverbal behaviors among Thai migrants and student s in many natural settings in ·the United States of America. The approach of “Participant Observation” is a social and cultural anthropological technique best described by Bruyn. The study shows that Thais are rigidly taught behaviors early in life, which portray nonverbal messages. These become a part of Thai cultural communication norms. Thus, Thais communicate through explicit and unquestioned sets of norms, using proper, desirable, and appropriate behavior for them. Since these cultural norms are taught early in life, they are out-of-awareness and deeply ingrained. Evidence is given that Thai NVC behavior is culturally interpreted. In intercultural and cross-cultural communication, this should be taken into consideration to prevent erroneous interpretation.

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(情報学) / 甲第17925号 / 情博第507号 / 新制||情||90(附属図書館) / 30745 / 京都大学大学院情報学研究科知能情報学専攻 / (主査)教授 西田 豊明, 教授 河原 達也, 教授 黒橋 禎夫 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Informatics / Kyoto University / DGAM

The current state of psychological research in nonverbal communication is briefly summarized and several problems are noted. Reciprocal communication (RC) is suggested, defined, and qualitatively investigated as a way of describing the experience of emotional compatibility in communication, with an emphasis on form, degree, and timing as fundamental aspects of nonverbal communication. Support for three different levels of emotional compatibility (fully, partially, and nonreciprocal) is found. Variation in the interpretation of nonverbal communication when communication is perceived as either intentional or unintentional is noted, and a system of categorizing reciprocal communication is suggested. Further patterns in nonverbal communication are observed, and terminology suggested.

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between nonverbal immediacy of community college teachers, both full-time and part-time, and their within-semester student retention rates.

Eye fixations of the face are normally directed towards either the eyes or the mouth, however the proportions of gaze to either of these regions are dependent on context. Previous studies of gaze behavior demonstrate a tendency to stare into a target’s eyes, however no studies investigate the differences between when participants believe they are engaging in a live interaction compared to knowingly watching a pre-recorded video, a distinction that may contribute to studies of memory encoding. This study examined differences in fixation behavior for when participants falsely believed they were engaging in a real-time interaction over the internet (“Real-time stimulus”) compared to when they knew they were watching a pre-recorded video (“Pre-recorded stimulus”). Results indicated that participants fixated significantly longer towards the eyes for the pre-recorded stimulus than for the real-time stimulus, suggesting that previous studies which utilize pre-recorded videos may lack ecological validity. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2016. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

O contato ocular entre o bebê e sua mãe é uma das manifestações iniciais da comunicação interpessoal e sua ausência é um indicador de risco para o desenvolvimento. Para auxiliar na compreensão do desenvolvimento inicial do contato ocular, visando perspectivas clínicas e preventivas, foi realizado acompanhamento longitudinal naturalístico de bebês entre zero e quatro meses de idade. Foram sujeitos desta pesquisa 17 bebês saudáveis com idades entre zero e quatro meses de idade. Após os procedimentos éticos pertinentes, cada sujeito recebeu cinco visitas domiciliares, ocorridas na segunda quinzena de cada mês de vida, nas quais foram realizadas videogravações das díades mãe-bebê por 30 minutos, englobando situações cotidianas de interação e cuidados. As atividades observadas foram classificadas segundo seu caráter. As videogravações foram assistidas em intervalos de 30 segundos e foram transcritos em protocolo apropriado os estados do bebê (seis estados) e as categorias de observação do olhar (doze categorias determinadas para esta pesquisa). Os dados foram contabilizados por software específico e submetidos à análise estatística. O estado de alerta foi o que mais forneceu subsídios para a análise do comportamento visual dos bebês. Em alerta, os sujeitos apresentaram, ao longo dos primeiros meses de seu desenvolvimento, diferenças estatisticamente significantes nas freqüências de oito das categorias de observação do olhar: "olhar para os olhos da mãe", "olhar para o rosto da mãe", "olhar para objeto(s)", "olhar para a pesquisadora", "olhar para o ambiente de forma ativa", "olhar para o ambiente de forma passiva", "olhar para o próprio corpo" e "olhos fechados". Houve correlação positiva entre "olhar para os olhos da mãe" e "olhar para o rosto da mãe" em 80% dos momentos pesquisados. O contato ocular entre o bebê e sua mãe pode ser detectado já no período neonatal, apresentando aumento estatisticamente significante de freqüência até o quarto mês de vida. Existem outras categorias de observação do olhar fundamentais no início do desenvolvimento de bebês, que indicam o aumento da freqüência do olhar ativo dirigido a outros elementos da cena, além da mãe. O estudo traz novos dados sobre o desenvolvimento do contato ocular nos primeiros meses de vida. / The eye contact between the infant and his/her mother is one of the first manifestations of interpersonal communication and its absence is an inidicator of risk for the infant's development. A naturalistic longitudinal study with infants between zero and four months of age can help the understanding of the initial development of the eye contact, aiming clinical and preventive perspectives. Seventeen healthy infants aged between zero and four months were the subjects of this research. After the ethic procedures, each subject received five home visits, which happened in the second fortnight of every month of life. Mothers and infants were video taped during these visits for 30 minutes in their daily routines of interaction and care. The observed activities were classified. These video tapes were watched in intervals of 30 seconds. The states of the babies (six states) and the categories of the observation of the gaze (twelve categories determined to this research) were transcribed in appropriate protocol. The data were registered on an specific software and submitted to statistical analysis of the infant’s visual behavior. In alertness, the subjects presented, along the first months of their development, statistically significant differences in the frequency of the eight categories of gaze observation: “look to mother’s eyes", “look to mother’s face", “look to object(s)", “look to the researcher", “actively looking to the environment", “passively looking to the environment", “look to his/her own body" and “eyes closed". There was a positive correlation between the “look mother’s eyes" and “look to mother’s face" in 80% of the researched moments. The eye contact of the infant and his/her mother can already be detected in the neonatal period, showing gradual frequency increase until the fourth month of life. There are other categories of the gaze that are fundamental in the beginning of the infant’s development and indicate the increase of frequency in the active look directed to other elements of the scene besides the mother. The study presents new data about the development of the eye contact in the first months of life.