Li Chun. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 41-48). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Introduction --- p.1 / The Puzzle --- p.2 / Questioning Accuracy of Personality Judgment by Peers --- p.4 / Differentiating RH with Liking and Contribution --- p.5 / Introducing Different Levels of Analysis --- p.7 / Individual-level Analysis for Social Reputation --- p.8 / Dyadic-level Analysis for Social Interaction --- p.11 / Group-level Analysis for Social Asset --- p.13 / Present Study --- p.14 / Method --- p.15 / Participants --- p.15 / Research Setting --- p.15 / Instruments --- p.15 / Results & Discussion --- p.19 / Psychometric Properties of Self- & Other- Rated Constructs --- p.19 / Individual Level --- p.20 / Dyadic Level --- p.26 / Group Level --- p.33 / Implication & Conclusion --- p.36 / Relating RH to Personality Judgments Reported by Peers --- p.36 / Differentiating RH from Liking and Contribution --- p.37 / Limitations and Future Studies --- p.39 / References --- p.41 / Tables --- p.49

Entrainment (sometimes called adaptation or alignment) is the tendency of human speakers to adapt to or imitate characteristics of their interlocutors' behavior. This work focuses on entrainment on acoustic-prosodic features. Acoustic-prosodic entrainment has been extensively studied but is not well understood. In particular, it is difficult to compare the results of different studies, since entrainment is usually measured in different ways, reflect- ing disparate conceptualizations of the phenomenon. In the first part of this thesis, we look for evidence of entrainment on a variety of acoustic-prosodic features according to various conceptualizations, and show that human speakers of both Standard American English and Mandarin Chinese entrain to each other globally and locally, in synchrony, and that this entrainment can be constant or convergent. We explore the relationship between entrainment and gender and show that entrainment on some acoustic-prosodic features is related to social behavior and dialogue coordination. In addition, we show that humans entrain in a novel domain, backchannel-inviting cues, and propose and test a novel hypothesis: that entrainment will be stronger in the case of an outlier feature value. In the second part of the thesis, we describe a method for flexibly and dynamically entraining a TTS voice to multiple acoustic-prosodic features of a user's input utterances, and show in an exploratory study that users prefer an entraining avatar to one that does not entrain, are more likely to ask its advice, and choose more positive adjectives to describe its voice. This work introduces a coherent view of entrainment in both familiar and novel domains. Our results add to the body of knowledge of entrainment in human-human conversations and propose new directions for making use of that knowledge to enhance human-computer interactions.

Choy E Hang. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 83-99). / Abstract in English and Chinese. / ABSTRACT --- p.2 / ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS --- p.4 / Chapter CHAPTER I: --- INTRODUCTION --- p.7 / Theory of Mind Hypothesis --- p.7 / Executive Dysfunction Hypothesis --- p.10 / Inhibitory Control --- p.12 / The Present Studies --- p.15 / Hypotheses --- p.17 / Chapter CHAPTER II: --- STUDY 1 --- p.18 / Method --- p.19 / Participants --- p.19 / Materials --- p.19 / Measures --- p.20 / Procedures --- p.23 / Results --- p.25 / Examining Hypothesis 1 --- p.21 / Examining Hypotheses 2 and 3 --- p.28 / Discussion --- p.35 / Chapter CHATPER III: --- STUDY 2 --- p.38 / Method --- p.39 / Participants --- p.39 / Materials --- p.39 / Measures --- p.40 / Procedures --- p.44 / Results --- p.45 / Examining Hypothesis 1 --- p.48 / Examining Hypotheses 2 and 3 --- p.48 / Discussion --- p.52 / Chapter CHATPER IV: --- STUDY 3 --- p.55 / Method --- p.56 / Participants --- p.56 / Materials --- p.56 / Measures --- p.57 / Procedures --- p.61 / Results --- p.62 / Examining Hypothesis 1 --- p.64 / Examining Hypotheses 2 and 3 --- p.64 / Discussion --- p.76 / Chapter CHAPTER V: --- GENERAL DISCUSSION --- p.78 / Conclusion --- p.82 / REFERENCES --- p.83

Despite over a century's worth of study, areal variations in suicide rate remain largely unexplained. In order to better understand these regional differences, this analysis aggregates county-level National Center for Health Statistics Multiple Cause of Death data with data from the US Census, the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies, and the Penn State Northeast Regional Center for Rural Development to test the three leading conceptualizations of social integration (i.e. demographic, compositional, ecological) against US suicide rates. Results of negative binomial regression models indicate that an ecological measure, social capital, is substantially associated with suicide rate, while demographic and compositional measures do not appear to be significantly associated with suicide rate, robust of controls, speaking to the role of social ties in preventing suicide. These findings highlight both the changing nature of social integration and the role that this plays in suicide prevention.

Different reasons for social withdrawal include a performance deficit, a social skill deficit, lack of peer support, and avoidance of anxiety or aversive interactions. Each of these reasons for social withdrawal may require a different intervention. This study investigated the utility of brief experimental analysis for identifying the most functional intervention to increase positive peer interactions for three socially withdrawn students. Using a multiple baseline and multi-element single subject design, three treatments were administered to compare differences in peer interactions during recess. Interventions were contingent reward, a social skills training with peer mediation, and a brief cognitive-behavioral strategy. Although students responded differently to the three interventions, the social skills training with peer mediation intervention showed the greatest gains for all students during the brief assessment and when implemented over time.

This dissertation explored ways that college students reflectively described the social influences related to their learning failures. This exploration was conducted using semi-structured interviews and Stake's multiple case analysis method. The findings from the interviews were used to develop a framework that describes the key social influence attributes of the learning failure experiences. The key attributes of the framework include: (a) roles, (b) context, and (c) phases. Each key attribute is discussed in detail. The framework serves as the means for exploring several related strands of research related to learning failure in a cohesive way, potentially enriching our understanding of these experiences. This improved understanding may lead to improved intervention designs and advisement strategies that could improve learning outcomes for students.

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Recent research has shown that children under two years demonstrate some early social understanding. Previous research has also demonstrated that mother talk about mental states is a factor in older preschoolers� later theory of mind understanding. In order to learn more about the predictive nature of mother mental state talk to very young children, this study examined the relation between mother talk about mental states at 15 and 24 months and their later mental state language and emotion understanding at 24 and 33 months. At all three time points, 71 mothers and 3 fathers (N=74) described pictures to their infants and mother talk was coded for mental and non-mental state language at 15, 24 and 33 months. In addition, at all three time points, children�s mental and non-mental state vocabulary levels were obtained via parental report. At the second and third time points the children were administered an emotion situation and a body emotion task. The mothers� ability to interpret emotion faces was also assessed. The results showed that mother use of desire language was more prevalent at 15 months, with references to thinking and knowledge increasing at 24 months. Partial correlations demonstrated that mother use of desire language with 15-month old children uniquely predicted a child�s mental state language and emotion situation task performance at 24 months, even after accounting for earlier child language, mother socioeconomic status, mothers� own emotion understanding, and other types of mother non-mental state language. Similarly, at 24 months of age, after accounting for potentially confounding variables, such as child language, mother use of think/know language as well as desire language were both predictors of children�s mental state language and emotion task performance at 33 months. The results further demonstrated that mothers� tendency to refer to the child�s (versus others�) desires at 15 months was the more consistent correlate of children�s mental state language and emotion understanding at 24 months. At 24 months a different pattern emerged with both references to the child�s and others� thoughts and knowledge correlating with child mental state language and emotion task performance at 33 months. It is proposed that Vygotsky�s zone of proximal development provides a framework within which maternal talk about specific mental states scaffolds the development of children�s later social understanding. I also suggest that such scaffolding motivates mothers to talk more about the child�s mental states when they are younger, before introducing talk that focuses on others� mental states.

Thesis (M.A.)--Bowling Green State University, 2007. / Document formatted into pages; contains 96 p. Includes bibliographical references.

<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>