Signs of Socioeconomic Status: A Thin-Slicing Approach

ABSTRACT— Socioeconomic status (SES) is a primary determinant of health vulnerabilities and social affiliations. To ascertain if SES is signaled in brief patterns of nonverbal behavior, we had participants of varying SES backgrounds engage in a brief interaction with a stranger. Videos of 60-s slices of these interactions were coded for nonverbal cues of disengagement and engagement, and estimates of participants' SES were provided by naive observers who viewed these videos. As predicted by analyses of resource dependence and power, upper-SES participants displayed more disengagement cues (e.g., doodling) and fewer engagement cues (e.g., head nods, laughs) than did lower-SES participants. Results were also consistent with the thin-slicing literature, in that observers' estimates of SES were reliable with each other and accurately predicted targets' family income, maternal education, and subjective SES. Finally, nonverbal displays of disengagement and engagement predicted observers' estimates of SES, which suggests that these cues are systematic signs of SES. These results have implications for understanding the effect of SES on social interactions and patterns of disengagement and engagement in other realms.     

幼儿自豪的非言语行为表达编码系统编制

选取352名幼儿教师,对与幼儿自豪的非言语行为表达相关的2套图片进行识别.旨在确定幼儿自豪的非言语行为表达的动作成分和动作单元,并以此为基础编制编码系统.结果表明:(1)幼儿自豪的非言语行为表达包括4个方面7个动作成分,即Ⅰ微笑和大笑的面部表情,Ⅱ舒展的身体姿势,Ⅲ头稍微后倾的头部动作,Ⅳ双手叉腰、高举和在胸前握拳的手臂动作;(2)幼儿自豪的非言语行为表达包括12个动作单元;(3)幼儿自豪的非言语行为表达编码系统具有较高的信度和效度,可以作为测评幼儿自豪发展的工具.     

Are the accessory facial movements of the stutterer learned behaviours?

The purpose of the present study was to explore the accessory nonverbal behaviours emitted by stutterers when their speech was fluent, normally disfluent, or stuttered. Subjects were 25 stutterers who were required to speak spontaneously for a 2-min. period. Seven types of nonverbal behavior were observed. Significant differences among the three speech categories were obtained for jaw movements, mouth movements, forehead movements, eyebrow movements, and head movements. Eyelid movements and eye blinks were nonsignificant. The results are discussed with respect to the various functions that can be attributed to nonverbal behaviour in stuttering.     

WOMEN'S SOCIAL BEHAVIOR WHEN MEETING NEW MEN: THE INFLUENCE OF ALCOHOL AND CHILDHOOD SEXUAL ABUSE

Heavy alcohol consumption ( Testa & Parks, 1996 ) and childhood sexual abuse (CSA; Messman-Moore & Long, 2003 ) have been associated with adult sexual victimization. We examined the social behavior of 42 women under two alcohol conditions (high dose and low dose) in a bar laboratory. Women were videotaped interacting with a man they had just met. Women in the higher dose condition engaged in more open body position and talked, stood, and walked more than women in the lower dose condition. These behaviors are consistent with signs of intoxication or romantic interest. The women in the high-dose condition also frowned more than women in the low-dose condition. An increase in frowning could indicate less comfort or may be considered consistent with an increase in animation during the social interaction given the concomitant increase in other behaviors. Thus, the nonverbal behavior of women in the high-dose condition could be interpreted as mixed signals. CSA victims exhibited fewer head movements (e.g., nods), were less animated, and frowned more than non-CSA victims. These behaviors convey reticence or possibly even anxiety or discomfort during the social interaction. Thus, the nonverbal behavior of women with a history of CSA may convey an unease that could be viewed by a potential perpetrator as vulnerability. Our findings suggest that both acute alcohol consumption and history of CSA may influence nonverbal social behavior and may influence risk for sexual assault by sending mixed cues of romantic interest or signs of vulnerability to potential perpetrators.     

Activity of common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus) in limited spaces: hand movement characteristics

The increasing popularity of marmoset monkeys (Callithrix jacchus) in anatomical, behavioral, and electrophysiological studies has called for a detailed analysis of their natural behavior within limited spaces. In the present study, the authors analyzed hand movements during horizontal and vertical progressions in a cylinder. The trajectory of each hand covered the entire cylinder floor during horizontal progressions and the entire cylinder wall during vertical progressions. Different marmosets have different patterns of hand movement. The average maximum angle of hand movements for all marmosets during horizontal and vertical progressions oscillates, although the average over time is constant and similar for both hands, whereas head movements during horizontal progressions become smaller with successive progressions. Another observed difference between rats and monkeys was in the size of head and hand movements at the beginning of each experimental session. During the 1st horizontal progression, all marmosets moved their heads to a greater extent than their hands. This sequential head and hand movement is referred as bistable behavior. The bistable pattern of motor behavior, which was also observed in successive progressions, may be derived from an inherent fear of predators or exploratory interest of a novel environment.     

The prototypical pride expression: development of a nonverbal behavior coding system

This research provides a systematic analysis of the nonverbal expression of pride. Study 1 manipulated behavioral movements relevant to pride (e.g., expanded posture and head tilt) to identify the most prototypical pride expression and determine the specific components that are necessary and sufficient for reliable recognition. Studies 2 and 3 tested whether the 2 conceptually and empirically distinct facets of pride ("authentic" and "hubristic"; J. L. Tracy & R. W. Robins, 2007a) are associated with distinct nonverbal expressions. Results showed that neither the prototypical pride expression nor several recognizable variants were differentially associated with either facet, suggesting that for the most part, authentic and hubristic pride share the same signal. Together these studies indicate that pride can be reliably assessed from nonverbal behaviors. In the Appendix, the authors provide guidelines for a pride behavioral coding scheme, akin to the Emotion Facial Action Coding System (EMFACS; P. Ekman & E. Rosenberg, 1997) for assessing "basic" emotions from observable nonverbal behaviors.     

Visual prosody and speech intelligibility: head movement improves auditory speech perception

People naturally move their heads when they speak, and our study shows that this rhythmic head motion conveys linguistic information. Three-dimensional head and face motion and the acoustics of a talker producing Japanese sentences were recorded and analyzed. The head movement correlated strongly with the pitch (fundamental frequency) and amplitude of the talker's voice. In a perception study, Japanese subjects viewed realistic talking-head animations based on these movement recordings in a speech-in-noise task. The animations allowed the head motion to be manipulated without changing other characteristics of the visual or acoustic speech. Subjects correctly identified more syllables when natural head motion was present in the animation than when it was eliminated or distorted. These results suggest that nonverbal gestures such as head movements play a more direct role in the perception of speech than previously known.     

Effects of relative immobilization on the speaker's nonverbal behavior and on the dialogue imagery level

People generally display an important amount of gestural and motoric activity when speaking. Since recent data have shown the limits of an explanation of this activity in terms of nonverbal or bodily communication, the present study attempted to explore what would happen if subjects were impeded from making the principal movements they normally perform during a conversation. Subjects were led to hold a 50-minute conversation while sitting in an armchair devised to restrain their movements of the head, arms, hands, legs, and feet during part of the experiment. The main dependent variables consisted of nonverbal activity in body zones that remained free to vary: eyebrows, eyes, mouth, and fingers. During the phase of movement restriction, highly significant increases in activity were recorded in these zones, with subsequent return to base levels when the subject recovered free movements. Also, significant interactions of conditions of movements and subject's conversational role (speaker vs. listener) were observed for most of the variables. Samples of dialogues submitted to a computerized technique of content analysis revealed a significant decrease in the vividness of imagery during movement restriction.     

Influences of head and torso movement before and during affordance perception

Previous research has shown that body sway (both standing and seated) is related to the accuracy of affordance judgments. The authors investigated the influence of seated head and torso movement on the perception of a novel affordance for wheelchair locomotion. Healthy adults without prior wheelchair experience judged the lowest lintel under which they could roll in the wheelchair. Prior to judgments, participants were given brief (≈ 2 min) practice at self-controlled wheelchair locomotion. During practice, the participant's head either was or was not restrained within the wheelchair. During the subsequent judgment session, the participant's head was or was not restrained. The accuracy of affordance judgments was influenced by restraint during the practice session and also by restraint during the judgment session. The authors collected data on head movement during the judgment session (when participants were not restrained). These data revealed that movement during judgment sessions was influenced by whether or not participants were restrained during the practice session. Overall, the results reveal that the availability of head movements (i.e., being unrestrained) and the nature of head movements (during unrestrained judgment sessions) were causally related to the accuracy of affordance judgments.     

The temporal organization of hand, eye, and head movements during reaching and pointing

Two experiments are reported that address the issue of coordination of the eyes, head, and hand during reaching and pointing. Movement initiation of the eyes, head, and hand were monitored in order to make inferences about the type of movement control used. In the first experiment, when subjects pointed with the finger to predictable or unpredictable locations marked by the appearance of a light, no differences between head and eye movement initiation were found. In the second experiment, when subjects pointed very fast with the finger, the head started to move before the eyes did. Conversely, when subjects pointed accurately, and thus more slowly, with the finger, the eyes started to move first, followed by the head and finger. When subjects were instructed to point to the same visual target only with their eyes and head, both fast and accurately, however, eye movement always started before head movement, regardless of speed-accuracy instructions. These results indicate that the behavior of the eye and head system can be altered by introducing arm movements. This, along with the variable movement initiation patterns, contradicts the idea that the eye, head, and hand system is controlled by a single motor program. The time of movement termination was also monitored, and across both experiments, the eyes always reached the target first, followed by the finger, and then the head. This finding suggests that movement termination patterns may be a fundamental control variable.     

Identification of peripheral visual images in a laterally restricted gaze field

When the peripheral visual field is restricted or distorted, as occurs with certain spectacle lenses, the identification of objects in the periphery requires a coordinated head and eye movement. Initial experiments on the identification of peripheral images under such restrictions show that the degradation in performance is defined by a consistent additional delay in the time required to identify the image correctly. An analysis of the motor movements shows that performance is solely determined by movements of the head; eye movements are sufficiently precise and fast so they do not limit performance. A quantitative model of the identification task was developed and model simulations confirmed the experimental findings that head movement variables, specifically response latency and movement duration, uniquely determine identification performance. Hence, improved performance under these conditions must come from modifications in head-movement control either through training or adaptive processes.     

What wild primates know about resources: opening up the black box

We present the theoretical and practical difficulties of inferring the cognitive processes involved in spatial movement decisions of primates and other animals based on studies of their foraging behavior in the wild. Because the possible cognitive processes involved in foraging are not known a priori for a given species, some observed spatial movements could be consistent with a large number of processes ranging from simple undirected search processes to strategic goal-oriented travel. Two basic approaches can help to reveal the cognitive processes: (1) experiments designed to test specific mechanisms; (2) comparison of observed movements with predicted ones based on models of hypothesized foraging modes (ideally, quantitative ones). We describe how these two approaches have been applied to evidence for spatial knowledge of resources in primates, and for various hypothesized goals of spatial decisions in primates, reviewing what is now established. We conclude with a synthesis emphasizing what kinds of spatial movement data on unmanipulated primate populations in the wild are most useful in deciphering goal-oriented processes from random processes. Basic to all of these is an estimate of the animal’s ability to detect resources during search. Given knowledge of the animal’s detection ability, there are several observable patterns of resource use incompatible with a pure search process. These patterns include increasing movement speed when approaching versus leaving a resource, increasingly directed movement toward more valuable resources, and directed travel to distant resources from many starting locations. Thus, it should be possible to assess and compare spatial cognition across a variety of primate species and thus trace its ecological and evolutionary correlates. This contribution is part of the special issue “A Socioecological Perspective on Primate Cognition” (Cunningham and Janson 2007b)     

A VERSATILE EYE-MOVEMENT RECORDER

A small, light eye-movement recorder, capable of registering eye movements from the smallest voluntary movements to movements of 20 degrees of arc, is described. A miniature light projector gives a beam of infrared (or blue) light, which is reflected by the cornea of the eye. The beam is deflected by any movement of the eye. An optical system transforms the motion of the beam into changes of light intensity. These are translated into magnified fluctuations of current in a multiplier phototube. The output is translated into graphic form by an ink-writer fitted with a D.C. amplifier. The apparatus, except for the writer but including a helmet, weighs about 300–500 g and is mounted on the subject's head without appreciably disturbing the field of vision.     

Cancelling discrete and stopping ongoing rhythmic movements: Do they involve the same process of motor inhibition?

Motor inhibition is considered to be an important process of executive control and to be implicated in numerous activities in order to cancel prepared actions and, supposedly, to suppress ongoing ones. Usually, it is evaluated using a “stop-signal task” in which participants have to inhibit prepared discrete movements. However, it is unknown whether other movement types involve the same inhibition process. We therefore investigated whether the inhibition process for discrete movements is involved in stopping ongoing rhythmic movements as well.Twenty healthy adults performed two counterbalanced tasks. The first task was used to estimate the stop-signal reaction time (SSRTd) needed to inhibit prepared discrete key-pressing movements. In the second task, participants drew graphic patterns on a tablet and had to stop the movement when a stop-signal occurred. We calculated the rhythmic stop signal-reaction time as the time needed to initiate stopping such ongoing rhythmic movement (SSRTr) and the same latency relative to the period of the rhythmic movement (relSSRTr). We measured these delays under different movement frequencies and motor coordination conditions and further investigated whether they varied as a function of several parameters of the rhythmic movements (speed, mean and variance of the relative phase, and movement phase at several time events).We found no correlation between inhibition measures in the two tasks. In contrast, generalized linear models showed a moderate yet significant influence of the motion parameters on the inhibition of ongoing rhythmic movements. We therefore conclude that the motor inhibition processes involved in cancelling prepared discrete movements and stopping ongoing rhythmic movements are dissimilar.     

Virtual social interactions in social anxiety--the impact of sex, gaze, and interpersonal distance

In social interactions, interpersonal distance between interaction partners plays an important role in determining the status of the relationship. Interpersonal distance is an important nonverbal behavior, and is used to regulate personal space in a complex interplay with other nonverbal behaviors such as eye gaze. In social anxiety, studies regarding the impact of interpersonal distance on within-situation avoidance behavior are so far rare. Thus the present study aimed to scrutinize the relationship between gaze direction, sex, interpersonal distance, and social anxiety in social interactions. Social interactions were modeled in a virtual-reality (VR) environment, where 20 low and 19 high socially anxious women were confronted with approaching male and female characters, who stopped in front of the participant, either some distance away or close to them, and displayed either a direct or an averted gaze. Gaze and head movements, as well as heart rate, were measured as indices of avoidance behavior and fear reactions. High socially anxious participants showed a complex pattern of avoidance behavior: when the avatar was standing farther away, high socially anxious women avoided gaze contact with male avatars showing a direct gaze. Furthermore, they showed avoidance behavior (backward head movements) in response to male avatars showing a direct gaze, regardless of the interpersonal distance. Overall, the current study proved that VR social interactions might be a very useful tool for investigating avoidance behavior of socially anxious individuals in highly controlled situations. This might also be the first step in using VR social interactions in clinical protocols for the therapy of social anxiety disorder.     

RELATIONSHIP OF NONVERBAL BEHAVIOR TO THE SOCIAL PENETRATION PROCESS1

Theoretical formulations concerning the relationship of nonverbal behavior to the social penetration processes, i.e., the development of interpersonal relations (Altman & Taylor, 1973) were examined via acted, videotaped conversations in which subjects role played good friends (GF) or casual acquaintances (CA) discussing intimate (I) or nonintimate (NI) topics. The methodological approach adopted for this study was unique in three ways. First, patterns of nonverbal behavior rather than single behaviors were the primary units of analysis. Second, data were collected during dynamic, ongoing conversations rather than from static poses or photographs. Finally, the use of a repeated measures design permitted evaluation of the importance of individual differences. Pattern analyses generally confirmed predictions: the GF by NI cell was characterized by nonverbal behavior patterns indicative of relaxation, while tense behavior patterns occurred in the CA by I cell.     

Simulation Studies of Descending and Reflex Control of Fast Movements

Several neurological control strategies for fast head movements are considered using computer simulations of a stretch reflex model. Each control strategy incorporates a different amount of proprioceptive feedback contributing to braking and/or clamping the movement. The model behavior for each control strategy is qualitatively compared to experimental data that includes the agonist and antagonist EMGs, and the head position, velocity, and acceleration. Significance of the study is discussed with respect to the characteristic tri-phasic EMG pattern for fast voluntary movements and the possible roles that the stretch reflex may have in contributing to this pattern of activation.     

Inter-manual transfer and practice: Coding of simple motor sequences

Previous research suggests that movements are represented early in practice in visual-spatial coordinates/codes, which are effector independent, and later in practice in motor coordinates/codes (e.g., joint angles, activation patterns), which are effector dependent. In the present experiments, the task was to reproduce 1.3 s patterns of elbow flexions and extensions. An inter-manual transfer paradigm was used in Experiment 1 and an inter-manual practice paradigm was used in Experiment 2. The present results clearly indicated a strong advantage of effector transfer when the motor coordinates available during acquisition were reinstated (Experiment 1) and demonstrate that inter-manual practice with the same motor coordinates results in enhanced retention performance relative to transfer and practice where the same visual-spatial coordinates are used. These results demonstrate that the more effective movement code (motor or visual-spatial) is dependent on the movement sequence characteristics (e.g., difficulty, number of elements, and mode of control [preplanned or on-line]). These results are also interesting because they indicate, contrary to previous findings with more complex movement sequences, that an effective motor code can be developed relatively early in practice for rapid movement sequences.     

Approach and avoidance relationship goals and couples’ nonverbal communication during conflict

Approach relationship goals are pursued in order to achieve desirable outcomes, whereas avoidance relationship goals are pursued to prevent undesirable outcomes in relationships. We investigated how partners’ approach and avoidance relationship goals are related to their nonverbal communication during conflict. A sequential analysis of observational data from 365 couples (28,470 observations) revealed that individuals with more (vs. fewer) approach goals displayed more positive involvement (e.g., head nods, smiles) and less avoidant withdrawal (e.g., shaking head, folded arms). The reverse pattern emerged for avoidance goals. Furthermore, women (but not men) matched their partner's positive involvement to a greater extent the more approach goals and the fewer avoidance goals they pursued. In contrast, approach/avoidance relationship goals were not associated with how much individuals matched their partner's avoidant withdrawal. Results suggest that relationship goals are related to partners’ nonverbal communication and the extent to which women match their partner's positive involvement during conflict.