No description available.

This qualitative research study built on the existing research on young children’s composing. Although many researchers have examined the social nature of young children’s composing, there is little to no research that has focused on the social work of young bilingual children who are learning to write in two languages. This study explored the social activity of bilingual kindergarten writers in a two-way bilingual immersion program. Specifically, it examined (a) the face-to-face interactions of young bilingual writers, (b) the ways in which children’s interactions related to the written/drawn products that were being created at the writing center and during journal time and (c) the oral language that was being used as children engaged in writing activities. Data were collected for five months in a two-way immersion classroom in South Texas school district. Data sources, including expanded field notes, video recordings of students’ interactions, written/drawn artifacts and informal interviews with the students and the teacher were analyzed using the constant comparative method and microethnographic discourse analysis. Analysis revealed that bilingual children’s interactions were varied and complex. As they explored written language alongside their peers, the young writers in this study navigated through multiple peer worlds that were defined in part by the language and/or languages that were being spoken. In order to participate in these worlds the children had to draw on their entire linguistic repertoire, as well as differentiated social understandings that are unique to bilingual individuals. As children attempted to initiate interactions with their peers, they assumed the role of linguist; they made purposeful decisions about how and when they used both of their languages. Factors that influenced children’s oral language use included comfort level, peer culture and the out-of-classroom context. Also noteworthy is that these children drew on both languages to support their biliteracy learning. Both Spanish dominant children and those children who were balanced in their language use drew on their Spanish orally to support their writing in English while English dominant students tapped into their Spanish speaking capabilities to support their writing in English. / text

Thesis (M.A.)--Ohio University, June, 2006. / Title from PDF t.p. Includes bibliographical references (p. 74-81)

This study addresses how agrivisitors' social interactions affect satisfaction and, in turn, revisit intention. Adopting social exchange theory and resource theory, the study proposes that social interactions with service providers, local residents, companion visitors, and other customers influence satisfaction, which in turn affects revisit intentions. Revisit intentions, in particular, are considered as social intentions which are shared with other people who travel together. Furthermore, this study argues that the effect of social interactions on satisfaction is stronger for visitors who have greater environmental concerns than those who are less concerned. An onsite and online survey were conducted to examine the proposed model and test the hypotheses. Subjects (N= 400) were visitors who visited organic farms with their companions. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was used to test the proposed model and hypothesized relationships among the constructs. The analyses were performed with Analysis of Moment Structures (AMOS 7.0). One construct (i.e., social interaction with local residents) was removed due to its high nonresponse rate, so the two hypotheses associated with this construct were not tested. Other than that most hypotheses except one were supported or partially supported by the data and the proposed model also had an acceptable fit to the data. Results of the present study provide a direction for the development of a theoretical framework to understand revisit intentions by seeking to improve the social exchange relationships with visitors. In addition, practical implications are presented for organic farms involved in or considering tourism businesses.

This thesis presents the design of an interactive tool to improve elders’ social interactions. First, we studied the social interactions of the elderly. These interactions often diminish as elders experience dynamic physical, social, and cognitive decline. We examined how technology might extend these diminishing social interactions. We looked for the ways to minimize the technological barriers faced by the elderly in order to more easily integrate the technology into their lives. The final design focused on social interaction through travel and knowledge of a place. It is a service called ‘My City Counselor’, which allows elders to share their knowledge about local places they know well. This tool is designed to support the elderly in building new relationships or in maintaining close existing relationships by providing useful local information or by sharing common memories.

The current investigation examined the effectiveness of a metacontingency package in two experimentations. In experiment one, the metacontingency was utilized by embedding activities with interlocking behavioral contingencies to examine its effectiveness on reciprocal social interactions in two females diagnosed with an Intellectual Disability. Results demonstrated an increase of the dependent variable by the metacontingency activities. The results of experiment one were the premise for experiment two, which was to examine whether the metacontingency activities that were effective in increasing reciprocal social interactions were an effect of the metacontingency or an effect of engaging in an activity together. Experiment two utilized two activity types, parallel and metacontingency activities, to determine their relative effect on self-talk behavior, reciprocal social interactions, and conversational units in two males diagnosed with an Intellectual Disability. Results suggested that there were no relative effects demonstrated by the two activity types on self-talk behavior, however results demonstrated an increased effect by the metacontingency activities relative to the parallel activities on reciprocal social interactions and conversational units.

The purpose of this case study is to determine the influence of the curriculum used by the Guatemalan Municipal Orchestra (GMO) upon the social interactions of its members. Social interactions include relations with families, teachers, and music colleagues. To determine this influence, the researcher framed the study using three main components: the impact of music in the development of children’s social skills; the curricula forming educational processes; and the characteristics of the Venezuela musical program, El Sistema. These foundations are explored via the tenets of participatory literacy. The data collection included interviews, surveys, and observation of students, parents, teachers, and administrative personnel. Two primary themes emerged from the data analysis: the development of a sense of community and the presence of intrinsic and external motivators implicit in the GMO environment. The final analysis suggests that curricular practices in the GMO positively influenced the development of students’ social interactions.

No description available.

No description available.

Behavioural mimicry refers to an unconscious and automatic tendency for people to copy each other’s actions and mannerisms, while engaging in an interaction. Behavioural mimicry in dyadic interactions leads to an increase in liking, rapport and prosocial behaviour. Given that behavioural mimicry carries a social benefit within the dyad, in the first experiment, we wanted to explore the social consequence of behavioural mimicry in a larger social environment by introducing a third person. The third person was in the background of an interacting dyad (consisting of the participant and a neutral in demeanour confederate) and either (1) mimicked the participant, (2) anti-mimicked the participant, or (3) kept a neutral position throughout the interaction. The results indicated that when one of the interacting partners is anti-mimicked, they report liking their non-mimicking interaction partner more than in either of the other two conditions. In experiment two, we set out to determine whether motor similarity of movement or temporal contingency of movement led to the affiliative judgements often reported in the mimicry literature. We had a research assistant either anatomically mimic (same effector), specularly mimic (different effector) or anti-mimic the participant during a task at either a short or long time delay, and collected participant’s likeability judgements of the research assistant. We discovered that anatomical mimicry leads to higher affiliative judgement at short time delay compared to long time delay, that specular mimicry leads to a higher affiliative judgement at long time delay compared to short time delay, and that anti-mimicry leads to the same affiliative judgement regardless of time delay. In experiment three, we wanted to explore the neurocognitive significance of behavioural mimicry. A previous study demonstrated that anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to the inferior frontal cortex (IFC) increased mimicry in a subsequent interaction. We wanted to replicate this finding with one change: we used a computer task rather than a naturalistic interaction. Following anodal tDCS to the IFC, control site or sham stimulation, the participants watched a video of a female model that touched her face every few seconds. We wanted to determine whether the participant would touch their face more often following the IFC stimulation compared to the other two conditions. Our results were not similar to the previous finding: participants touched their face at similar rates regardless of the stimulation site. Nonetheless, in this thesis, we report a novel social manipulation of behavioural mimicry (mimicry emanating from outside the interacting dyad) that impacts the affiliative feelings within the interacting dyad. We also report a novel form of a mimicking behaviour, that goes beyond the traditional definition, to impact the perception of the interaction partner at a longer time delay. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc) / This thesis describes empirical research that explores the nature of behavioural mimicry and the impact it has on how people perceive one another. Behavioural mimicry refers to the natural tendency for people to copy one another’s behaviours and mannerisms in an interaction. This tendency builds rapport and likeability between the interacting pair. Across three experiments, we expand on previous behavioural mimicry literature. By using novel mimicry manipulations, we demonstrate that behavioural mimicry detection (experiment one) and recognition (experiments two and three) systems are more complex than previously believed.