<p>Computer mediated communication (CMC) has created new arenas for social interaction in contemporary society, also for children and young people. This raises questions about how these arenas are used by children and young people. Drawing on the sociology of childhood, this thesis addresses children’s social interaction on a website designed for young people, where issues of masculinity, femininity, emotions and sexuality are discussed. The general aim is to explore the construction of meaning in relation to these issues; more specifically patterns of online interaction and the ways children express and share ideas and values in the “now” of the interpretive communities on the website, and at the same time deal with ideas, norms and values mediated through society at large. </p><p>In three discussion groups on the website, 143 discussions initiated by virtual children aged 12 to 15 followed by discussions with several virtual persons at the same age and older were collected and analysed. Three patterns of interaction were identified according to the degrees of ‘horizontal’ versus ‘vertical’ communication: ‘Playful interaction’ is characterised by a horizontal communication where curiosity and experiences are shared between virtual children in the same age ‘Corrective interaction’ is characterised by vertical interaction and more explicit advise and instructions from participants in different ages, drawing on arguments from the ‘adult world’. In ‘Orienting interaction’ there are aspects of both horizontal and vertical interaction as older or adult virtual participants express their points of view and experiences as it were to strive for a shared understanding. These patterns of interaction, and the ways they are related to the different topics in the discussion groups, are discussed in terms of the on-going positioning of children as a ‘social group’ and the construction of gender, generation and cultural notions of children as innocent or knowing.</p>

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2006. / Full text release at OhioLINK's ETD Center delayed at author's request.

Computer mediated communication (CMC) has created new arenas for social interaction in contemporary society, also for children and young people. This raises questions about how these arenas are used by children and young people. Drawing on the sociology of childhood, this thesis addresses children’s social interaction on a website designed for young people, where issues of masculinity, femininity, emotions and sexuality are discussed. The general aim is to explore the construction of meaning in relation to these issues; more specifically patterns of online interaction and the ways children express and share ideas and values in the “now” of the interpretive communities on the website, and at the same time deal with ideas, norms and values mediated through society at large. In three discussion groups on the website, 143 discussions initiated by virtual children aged 12 to 15 followed by discussions with several virtual persons at the same age and older were collected and analysed. Three patterns of interaction were identified according to the degrees of ‘horizontal’ versus ‘vertical’ communication: ‘Playful interaction’ is characterised by a horizontal communication where curiosity and experiences are shared between virtual children in the same age ‘Corrective interaction’ is characterised by vertical interaction and more explicit advise and instructions from participants in different ages, drawing on arguments from the ‘adult world’. In ‘Orienting interaction’ there are aspects of both horizontal and vertical interaction as older or adult virtual participants express their points of view and experiences as it were to strive for a shared understanding. These patterns of interaction, and the ways they are related to the different topics in the discussion groups, are discussed in terms of the on-going positioning of children as a ‘social group’ and the construction of gender, generation and cultural notions of children as innocent or knowing.

The discovery of mirror neurons and the mirror neuron system is one of the most interesting breakthroughs in the field of neuroscience in recent years. The topic stretches over a wide spectrum of research fields but one of the more prominent areas is concerned with the role of mirror neurons in autism spectrum disorder. It is hypothesized that an impaired mirror neuron system may be one of the main causes underlying the deficits seen in autistic individuals. Parallel to the broken mirror theory of autism there are critical voices claiming there is not enough empirical evidence to support such a theory. Research carried out in the area seems to offer support for both contradictory approaches making it hard to conclude the definite role of mirror neurons in this developmental disorder. Future research may offer conclusive answers concerning the role of the mirror neuron system in autism spectrum disorder as well as other important questions regarding the functional properties of the brain areas under question.

Multinational companies in the global economy of today are competing based on strategic knowledge. The ability to send and receive knowledge within different subsidiaries has therefore become imperative for the international firm. There are several known barriers and facilitators to transferring knowledge across different borders. Social interaction is one variable that by some have been shown to positively impact the knowledge sharing within multinational companies. The challenges social interaction bridges are especially related to tacit knowledge, which is foremost shared through face-to-face interaction in social communities. In this study, we investigated this impact in a management consultancy operating in the knowledge intensive service sector. We further investigate the implications of communities in the shape of country clusters and its effects on social interaction and knowledge transfer within the firm. Our findings show that social interaction is only positively relevant in terms of sending knowledge, and not on receiving knowledge. Moreover, our study did not find any significant impact of social interaction on knowledge transfer within the country clusters.

This dissertation consists of two essays. The connecting theme for this body of work is social interaction. I define social interaction, for this dissertation, as non-market based face-to-face interaction between individuals where each is interested in a response. The first contribution investigates the relationship between social interaction and neighborhood population density. I use the exogenous variation in a set of geological instruments to predict the neighborhood population density. The results suggest that an increase in neighborhood population density increases some types of social interaction. The second contribution brings social interaction into a standard urban consumer theory model, the Alonso-Muth model.

Some loss in memory is considered a part of normal aging; however, there is a considerable heterogeneity in cognitive aging among older adults. Studies show that living arrangements, social interaction, social relationships and size of social network are among the predictors of memory decline for older adults. Moreover, marriage has been associated with physiological health as well as psychological and social well-being. This study has examined the relationship between the marital status and memory performance in older adults. It was hypothesized that (1) being married will be positively related to memory of older adults; (2) participants with larger supportive social network will perform better on memory tests; and (3) that quality of married life will be positively related to memory for married older adults. Results from this study did not support the hypotheses when age was controlled suggesting no relationship between marital status and memory performance.

The purpose of the following research was to test the prediction that a sense of social connectedness to a stranger would result in the tendency to share psychological states with him/her. An overview of the literature on state sharing and the psychological merging between other and self is described in Chapter 1. The first test of my prediction is provided in Chapter 2 where I demonstrate that participants who are led to feel socially connected to a confederate--by sharing idiosyncratic preferences in common with her--resulted in the propensity to take on her goals. In Chapter 3, participants who felt connected to a confederate who was asked to complete a stressful speech task experienced more stress themselves. This effect occurred in part through a sense of felt “oneness” with the confederate. Chapter 4 extended these findings by showing that socially connected participants tended to experience secondary appraisal emotions in line with the confederate’s appraisal of the stressful speech task and this occurred through a sense of felt oneness with the confederate. In Chapter 5, participants who felt connected to an outgroup member tended to experience greater empathy for another outgroup member who experienced discrimination. The implications for social interaction in general and for intergroup relations in particular are discussed in Chapter 6.

The curriculum of the Swedish school system explains how the transitions between the preschool class and the pre-school should be. The co-operation between the organisations should aim for a long term perspective with the students learning process in mind (Lgr11). The pre-school has almost the same aim in their curriculum, as the curriculum of the Swedish school system. The aim with my study is to examine how the teachers from the different organizations relate to knowledge and how they look at the students social interactions. Also how the transition between the pre-school and the pre-school class is viewed from their point of view.  How do the teachers from the different organisations comprehend knowledge? How do the teachers from the different organisations comprehend the social abilities? How do the teachers from the different organisations work and interact in terms of the transition between the pre-school and the pre-school class? The study that has been made is about the transitions between the pre-school and the pre-school class. It´s been investigated by doing interviews with teachers from both the pre-school and the pre-school class. The result from these is that the teachers from the different organisations have the same view about knowledge and social interactions. They didn´t have the same view at Co-operation this because their organizations was structured in a different way and also they hadn´t any guidelines to follow.

The Purpose of this study is try to discussion the social meaning, when the Starbucks Coffee Chain Stores into the Kaohsiung city has been made the great accomplishment in the two years recently. The core of the issue is ¡uwhy consumer into the Starbucks Coffee Chain stores¡v,we expand the consumer¡¦s experience ¡Bfeeling and their viewpoint to understand consumption content. Besides, we distinction the consumer type to show the consumption phenomena, and search the ¡uglobal-local¡vpresent meaning in the sociology. We finding that consumers not only attempt to build the social interaction in their everyday life, but also the commodity and human social relationships, through the frame analysis¡]including the expression¡Bpresentation¡Bimagination¡^, the consumers experience a way of life. On the other hand, they also make display or flaunt. The Starbucks Coffee Shop using the brand in the globalization development in the world to build the one¡¦s own fix position. So that, we may infer people¡¦s consumption identification has been formatted. According to the investigation of consumers at branch stores of Starbucks coffee chain stores with 3 branch stores in kaohsiung city, we finding the main consumers is female, single, 21~30 age, the education level is university, profession administrative staff, income between the $3,0001~$5,0001.We conjecture that female have the higher consumption identification than male. Deserve to be mentioned that consumers invisible or sedulously is imitated the city of Taipei to build the consumption identification effect in their consumption activities in the Starbucks coffee chain stores in kaohsiung city, we have merit to the objective or the impartial discourse in the field of the consumption research in the future.