Spontaneous Behavioral Coordination: the Impact of Achieved and Desired Interpersonal Closeness on Synchrony and Mimicry

The purpose of the present dissertation was to examine the impact of interpersonal closeness and the desire for interpersonal closeness on displays of behavioral synchrony and mimicry, simultaneously. Groups of two strangers (N = 182 participants, N = 91 dyads) were randomly assigned to complete a “closeness-inducing” task where partners took turns asking and answering intimate questions or a comparison “small-talk” task where partners asked and answered less-intimate questions. Additionally, dyads were randomly assigned to complete these tasks in real time over Zoom, or by reading and responding to the task’s questions over text. These tasks were intended to generate varying levels of interpersonal closeness among participants or to prevent participants from feeling close and instead inspire the desire for closeness. Then, all participants, regardless of prior experimental condition assignment, completed a second problem-solving task where their behavioral synchrony and mimicry were measured using multiple methodological approaches. Specifically, synchrony was measured using global impression ratings whereas mimicry for gestures and postural displays was measured using global impression ratings and molecular coding approaches to allow for discriminant and convergent validity analyses. The effects of the experimental conditions on participants’ reported feelings of closeness and the desire for closeness after their first interaction were examined along with the effect of these experimental conditions on participants’ displays of behavioral synchrony and mimicry in a subsequent interaction. Then, collapsing across experimental condition, the effect of participants’ feeling of closeness with their partner after their first interaction on their behavioral synchrony during their second interaction was tested alongside the effect of participants’ desire for closeness with their partner after their first interaction on their behavioral mimicry. Results generally supported that the more participants reported feeling close with one another, the more they synchronized their behavior during a subsequent interaction. Additionally, the less close participants felt to their partner, but the more they desired to feel close, the more participants mimicked their partner in a subsequent interaction. These results are discussed in relation to understanding the differing nomological networks of behavioral synchrony and mimicry and recommendations for future measurement approaches are made

Letting Accuracy \u27Sync\u27 In: The Role of Synchrony in Perceptions of Personality Traits and Affective States

The human propensity to synchronize their behaviors to one another seems to be an ever-present aspect of our social lives. While a breadth of approaches have been taken to explain this phenomenon, the benefit of individuals temporally aligning their behaviors to one another during an interaction remains to be precisely identified. Some have argued that by becoming synchronized to the movements and actions of another, one may become a better perceiver of that other’s internal attributes (Hoehl et al., 2021). The purpose of the present thesis was to explore this potential benefit of synchrony by examining its relation to one’s ability to accurately judge the personality traits and affective states of an interaction partner. A secondary purpose was to explore whether these two interpersonal processes central to face-to-face interactions, synchrony and interpersonal accuracy, would be hindered if they took place over a videoconferencing platform. Groups of two strangers (N = 196 participants, N = 98 dyads) logged onto a videoconferencing platform (Zoom) with an experimenter and were asked to engage in a five-minute long recorded “getting-to-know-you” interaction. Subsequently, participants were asked to complete a variety of questionnaires including judgments of their partner’s personality traits and affective states from the prior interaction. Accuracy for judgments of personality traits and affective states was operationalized as the correlation between participant’s judgments of their partners states and traits, and their partner’s self-reported states and traits. The recordings derived from these interactions underwent rigorous coding by eight trained research assistants in order to determine the extent to which interactants’ behaviors were synchronized with one another during the first 30-seconds, middle 30-seconds, and last 30-seconds of conversation. Results supported that dyads whose movements were more synchronized with one another during their interaction were subsequently more accurate judges of their interaction partner’s personality traits and affective states. However, this relationship was only significant when examined during the beginning of the interaction, indicating that becoming temporally aligned to an interaction partner within the first 30-seconds of conversation seems to be most important for facilitating accuracy for interpersonal judgments of that person. In addition, the predictive validity relationships observed between synchrony, interpersonal accuracy, and a collection of theoretically-related outcome variables suggested that individuals’ tendency to synchronize with one another, as well as form accurate judgments of another’s states and traits, was likely not substantially hindered by videoconferencing platforms. These findings not only help refine existing theoretical frameworks regarding synchrony and accuracy, but help to address core questions regarding the benefits of humans’ innate tendency to synchronize their behaviors with one another

Greater belief in science predicts mask-wearing behavior during COVID-19

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic impacted both the physical and psychological aspects of people\u27s lives. Personality traits are one of the factors that explain the diverse responses to stressful situations. This study aimed to investigate whether five-factor and maladaptive personality traits are associated with depressive and anxiety symptoms, suicide risk, self-reported COVID-19 symptoms, and preventive behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic, comprehensively

Are you Choosing the Wrong Empathy Measure?

The ambiguity plaguing the definition of empathy has not only been constrained to its content (i.e., assessing decoding or encoding) but how it is expressed in the individual (i.e., as a trait or ability). Any separation in the theorizing of a construct should be clearly reflected and labeled in the literature, however this has not always been the case with empathy. The objective of the present study is to propose a taxonomy of empathy that defines the construct in terms of decoding or encoding, as well as separates trait empathy from empathic ability. Participants were measured over the course of ten weeks on a variety of psychosocial measures including personality and trait measures, interpersonal accuracy, as well as two measures of empathy (i.e., the Davis IRI (Davis, 1983) and the Empathy Scale (Hogan, 1969)). Using a multitrait-multimethod structure (Campbell & Fiske, 1959), we determined that both the Empathy Scale and the Davis IRI were predictive of empathy trait tendencies, and were not predictive of interpersonal accuracy ability. The Perspective-Taking and Fantasy subscales displayed high correlations with decoding while Personal Distress, Empathic Concern, and Hogan’s Empathy correlated strongly with encoding measures. Therefore, researchers must take precautions in choosing a theoretically relevant empathy scale in order to be able to assess the construct in a more valid way, and help to alleviate the confusion and damage that results from researchers assuming that measures such as the Davis IRI, for example, are predictive of empathic abilities

The Virtual Doctor Is In: The Effect of Telehealth Visits on Patient Experience

COVID-19 has accelerated the adoption of telehealth. With this shift comes a need for empirically based research regarding the effect of telehealth on patient experience. The present study employed an online survey (N = 996) examining whether a patient's perceptions of a telehealth visit predict the likelihood that they will schedule a future telehealth visit, and their recall of clinical information. Participants viewed a video of a real clinician delivering information on a COVID-19 antibody test, and responded to demographic, socioemotional, and cognitive items. We found that individuals who were extremely satisfied with their interaction with the doctor, for every 1-point increase in satisfaction, they were 72.5% times more likely to revisit the doctor (p < .01). These results also provide insight to researchers and medical professionals regarding patient perceptions of virtual encounters and suggest best practices to consider as we further integrate telehealth

Love Language: Does your relationship status appear in your writing?

Past research has shown that individual's word usage can reveal aspects of who they are and how they behave (Tausczik & Pennebaker, 2010). For instance, couples who use inclusive pronouns such as “we,” as opposed to singular pronouns such as "I" cope better in relationships (Moran, 2018). Further, the use of negative emotion words has been shown to be associated with having unstable and unsatisfied relationships (Slatcher, 2008). For the present study, we were interested in knowing exactly how people who are in a romantic relationship may think differently than those who are not in a romantic relationship. We predicted that individuals who are in a romantic relationship would use more inclusive pronouns and emotive language. Participants (N=130) were asked to answer a few questions regarding their relationship status, duration of relationship, and its intensity. Additionally, participants completed a free write activity where they were prompted to write about their social skills. We used a text analysis program (Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count) to examine the frequency with which certain word categories (e.g., emotive language and inclusive pronouns) appeared in the stories. Results and implications are discussed

Lens opacity and refractive influences on the measurement of retinal vascular fractal dimension

10.1111/j.1755-3768.2010.01975.xActa Ophthalmologica886e234-e24

TM4SF20 ancestral deletion and susceptibility to a pediatric disorder of early language delay and cerebral white matter hyperintensities

White matter hyperintensities (WMHs) of the brain are important markers of aging and small-vessel disease. WMHs are rare in healthy children and, when observed, often occur with comorbid neuroinflammatory or vasculitic processes. Here, we describe a complex 4 kb deletion in 2q36.3 that segregates with early childhood communication disorders and WMH in 15 unrelated families predominantly from Southeast Asia. The premature brain aging phenotype with punctate and multifocal WMHs was observed in ∼70% of young carrier parents who underwent brain MRI. The complex deletion removes the penultimate exon 3 of TM4SF20, a gene encoding a transmembrane protein of unknown function. Minigene analysis showed that the resultant net loss of an exon introduces a premature stop codon, which, in turn, leads to the generation of a stable protein that fails to target to the plasma membrane and accumulates in the cytoplasm. Finally, we report this deletion to be enriched in individuals of Vietnamese Kinh descent, with an allele frequency of about 1%, embedded in an ancestral haplotype. Our data point to a constellation of early language delay and WMH phenotypes, driven by a likely toxic mechanism of TM4SF20 truncation, and highlight the importance of understanding and managing population-specific low-frequency pathogenic alleles.</p