Alignment in social interactions Gallotti, M.; Fairhurst, M.T.; Frith, C.D.
Consciousness and cognition,
February 2017, 2017-02-00, 20170201, Volume:
48
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
•A new approach to social cognition in terms of mental alignment is proposed.•The dynamic and graded exchange of information between agents creates alignment.•Not all forms of joint action in which ...the agents align will turn out to be social interactions.•Shared goals are not needed for mutual alignment to occur.•Two important theoretical developments follow from focusing on processes of mental alignment.
According to the prevailing paradigm in social-cognitive neuroscience, the mental states of individuals become shared when they adapt to each other in the pursuit of a shared goal. We challenge this view by proposing an alternative approach to the cognitive foundations of social interactions. The central claim of this paper is that social cognition concerns the graded and dynamic process of alignment of individual minds, even in the absence of a shared goal. When individuals reciprocally exchange information about each other's minds processes of alignment unfold over time and across space, creating a social interaction. Not all cases of joint action involve such reciprocal exchange of information. To understand the nature of social interactions, then, we propose that attention should be focused on the manner in which people align words and thoughts, bodily postures and movements, in order to take one another into account and to make full use of socially relevant information.
To analyze the association between communicative competence self-assessment and interpersonal communication self-perception and voice symptoms in university professors.
Cross-sectional, analytical, ...observational study in 322 professors, who answered sociodemographic and occupational questions and three self-perception protocols: Self-Assessment of Communication Competence (SACCom), Interpersonal Communication Competence Scale (ICCS), and Voice Symptom Scale (VoiSS). The dependent variable was SACCom’s yes/no answers. Univariate and multivariate descriptive and inferential data analyses were performed through logistic regression.
Most professors were females (55.3%), worked 40 hours (96.6%), and self-reported voice symptoms (72.7%). The largest portion had been in the career for 11–22 years (38.2%). The final multivariate model demonstrated that better self-assessed communicative competence among professors (SACCom) is related to an absence of voice complaints (odds ratio (OR) = 2.17; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.29–3.65) and better self-perceived interpersonal communication (ICCS) (OR = 1.05; 95% CI 1.02–1.08). The older the professor (OR = 1.03; 95% CI 1.01–1.06), the better their communicative competence (SACCom).
Study professors’ self-assessed communicative competence is predominantly high. Those with a better communicative competence self-assessment are older and vocally healthy and self-perceive greater interpersonal communication skills.
This review addresses the use of peer-mediated interventions (PMI) to improve the social interaction skills of students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in inclusive settings. The purpose of this ...review is to (a) identify the characteristics and components of peer-mediated social interaction interventions, (b) evaluate the effectiveness of PMI by offering an analysis of intervention results and research design, and (c) suggest directions for future research. Overall, results suggest that PMI is a promising treatment for increasing social interaction in children, adolescents, and young adults with ASD in inclusive settings, with positive generalization, maintenance, and social validity outcomes. Findings also suggest that participant characteristics and the type of social deficit an individual exhibits are important considerations when choosing the optimal configuration of PMI strategies.
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