A survey on perceived speaker traits: personality, likability, pathology, and the first challenge

The INTERSPEECH 2012 Speaker Trait Challenge aimed at a unified test-bed for perceived speaker traits – the first challenge of this kind: personality in the five OCEAN personality dimensions, likability of speakers, and intelligibility of pathologic speakers. In the present article, we give a brief overview of the state-of-the-art in these three fields of research and describe the three sub-challenges in terms of the challenge conditions, the baseline results provided by the organisers, and a new openSMILE feature set, which has been used for computing the baselines and which has been provided to the participants. Furthermore, we summarise the approaches and the results presented by the participants to show the various techniques that are currently applied to solve these classification tasks

Participant responses to virtual agents in immersive virtual environments.

This thesis is concerned with interaction between people and virtual humans in the context of highly immersive virtual environments (VEs). Empirical studies have shown that virtual humans (agents) with even minimal behavioural capabilities can have a significant emotional impact on participants of immersive virtual environments (IVEs) to the extent that these have been used in studies of mental health issues such as social phobia and paranoia. This thesis focuses on understanding the impact on the responses of people to the behaviour of virtual humans rather than their visual appearance. There are three main research questions addressed. First, the thesis considers what are the key nonverbal behavioural cues used to portray a specific psychological state. Second, research determines the extent to which the underlying state of a virtual human is recognisable through the display of a key set of cues inferred from the behaviour of real humans. Finally, the degree to which a perceived psychological state in a virtual human invokes responses from participants in immersive virtual environments that are similar to those observed in the physical world is considered. These research questions were investigated through four experiments. The first experiment focused on the impact of visual fidelity and behavioural complexity on participant responses by implementing a model of gaze behaviour in virtual humans. The results of the study concluded that participants expected more life-like behaviours from more visually realistic virtual humans. The second experiment investigated the detrimental effects on participant responses when interacting with virtual humans with low behavioural complexity. The third experiment investigated the differences in responses of participants to virtual humans perceived to be in varying emotional states. The emotional states of the virtual humans were portrayed using postural and facial cues. Results indicated that posture does play an important role in the portrayal of affect however the behavioural model used in the study did not fully cover the qualities of body movement associated with the emotions studied. The final experiment focused on the portrayal of affect through the quality of body movement such as the speed of gestures. The effectiveness of the virtual humans was gauged through exploring a variety of participant responses including subjective responses, objective physiological and behavioural measures. The results show that participants are affected and respond to virtual humans in a significant manner provided that an appropriate behavioural model is used

Using immersive virtual reality for the assessment of intercultural conflict mediation

This exploratory study adopted immersive virtual reality (VR) technology to develop a task assessing college students’ intercultural competence, specifically their ability to mediate an intercultural conflict. Participants were 22 students enrolled in the intercultural communication class in a U.S. university. They first completed a pre-conflict mediation task using a VR platform following three steps: (a) reading a scenario describing a conflict situation between people from different cultures; (b) observing two people having a conflict in a 360-degree VR video; and (c) mediating the conflict on-the-spot by proposing a solution to the conflict. After completing the pre-task, they attended two class sessions (75 minutes each) that aimed to develop their conflict mediation skills. After the sessions, they completed a post-conflict mediation task following the same steps as the pre-task. A comparison between the pre- and post-task performance revealed significant gains in conflict mediation skills assessed on five dimensions: social initiative, empathy, perspective-taking, solution, and clarity in discourse. Survey data showed that the VR task evoked realistic emotions from witnessing a conflict, which in turn prompted the participants to take initiative in mediating the conflict

Leadership Ability Based on Communication Style: A Quantitative Study of the Effects of Sex and Gender on Perception of Leadership

Work to date on masculine and feminine communication styles in leadership roles is limited. Much of the leadership research reflects an interest in the differences between the styles of men and women, but relatively little has been done focusing on feminine and masculine communication styles. This study seeks to fill in some of the gaps. The quantitative design of this study is based on Goldberg\u27s (1968) experimental paradigm and used an Internet-linked survey consisting of four different sex and gender combinations. The survey included Renzetti\u27s (1987) Sex Role Attitudinal Inventory, a brief description of a leader, and a Likert-type scale with 20 items that rated leaders on five dimensions: task, relationship, organizational identity, qualifications, and dynamism. A factor analysis of these dimensions resulted in combining them into three factors: task/dynamism, relationship/organizational ID/qualifications, and an overall item with the two previous factors combined. Participants were selected using a convenience and a snowball approach. The convenience sample included a community college, resulting in 189 usable surveys, and the snowball sample was a general sample accessed via the Internet by the researcher sending an email to a personal address book and frequently used listservs and asking those recipients to pass it on, resulting in 213 usable surveys. Expectation states theory and role congruity theory were the foundations for this study. Contrary to expectations, males and leaders using a masculine communication style were not rated more positively than females or those using a feminine communication style

The Determinants of Reported Personal and Household Hygiene Behaviour: A Multi-Country Study.

A substantial proportion of the total infectious disease burden world-wide is due to person-to-person spread of pathogens within households. A questionnaire-based survey on the determinants of hand-washing with soap and cleaning of household surfaces was conducted in at least 1000 households in each of twelve countries across the world (N = 12,239). A structural equation model of hygiene behaviour and its consequences derived from theory was then estimated on this dataset for both behaviours, using a maximum likelihood procedure. The analysis showed that the frequency of handwashing with soap is significantly related to how automatically it is performed, and whether or not someone is busy, or tired. Surface cleaning was strongly linked to possessing a cleaning routine, the perception that one is living in a dirty environment and that others are doing the behaviour, whether one has a strong sense of contamination, as well as a felt need to keep one's surroundings tidy. Being concerned with good manners is also linked to the performance of both behaviours. This study is the first to identify the role of manners, orderliness and routine on hygiene behaviours globally. Such findings should prove helpful in designing programs to improve domestic hygiene practices

Anger and substance abuse : a systematic review and meta-analysis

Objective: Conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate levels of anger among substance users compared to non-user controls and to analyze the possible association between anger and psychoactive substance use (PSU). Methods: The procedures of this review followed the Meta-Analyzes of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (MOOSE) and Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and MetaAnalyses (PRISMA) guidelines. Four electronic databases (MEDLINE, EMBASE, BIREME, PsycINFO) were searched. Results: Twelve studies were included in the meta-analysis; 10 used the State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory (STAXI) anger trait subscale and two used the Buss-Perry-Aggression Questionnaire (BPAQ) anger subscale. The sample included 2,294 users of psychoactive substances and 2,143 nonusers, all male. The mean difference in anger scale scores between users and non-users was 2.151 (95% CI 1.166-3.134, p p 0.00, inconsistency index [I2] = 98.83) standard deviations. Age and abstinence duration did not moderate the difference in anger between substance users and non-users. Conclusion: Users of psychoactive substances had elevated anger scores compared to non-users, which represents a high risk of relapse. It is suggested that PSU treatment programs include intensive anger management modules, focusing on factors such as dealing with daily stressors, family conflicts, frustrations, and problems

The influence of L2 on L1: metapragmatic judgments of L1 non-verbal greetings by Saudi L2 speakers of English - a mixed methods study

This study investigates the influence of English L2 on metapragmatic judgments of Arabic L1 non-verbal greetings behaviours. Through a sequential mixed methods approach, it looks at the effect of length of residence in the L2 target culture, cultural orientation, and personality traits on metapragmatic judgments of L1 non-verbal greetings by Saudi residents in the UK. The participants are 437 Saudi and British adults, made up of three groups: 1) Saudis with experience of living in the UK with English as their L2; 2) Saudis in Saudi Arabia who had never lived in the UK with English as their L2; and 3) British L1 English speakers living in the UK who had never been to Saudi Arabia. The data was collected using an online questionnaire and semi-structured interviews. The online survey consisted of scales on appropriateness of non-verbal greeting behaviours displayed in four social relational situations, the Vancouver Index of Acculturation, and the Multicultural Personality Questionnaire. This quantitative data was complemented by the qualitative data collected through semi-structured interviews with nine UK-based Saudi adults. There was variation found between the three groups in their metapragmatic judgments of Saudi non-verbal greetings. Moreover, attachment to L1 Saudi culture was positively linked with UK-based Saudis’ metapragmatic judgments of L1 non-verbal greetings, whereas acceptance of L2 British culture negatively affected their judgments of L1 non-verbal greeting behaviours. Amongst UK-based Saudis, Cultural Empathy and Openmindedness were both strongly related to appropriateness ratings of various L1 non-verbal greetings behaviours. There was also a link with levels of Social Initiative, and Flexibility. This suggests that a person’s L2 influences their metapragmatic awareness of their L1, confirming the principle of multi-competence of L2 users (Cook, 1992, 2003)