Gated communities, one of those originally Western developments, have suddenly been found in cities in the Global South. “Gated communities”, often defined on the basis of their physical form, have been criticized for disconnecting residents from their neighbors outside the gates and reducing social encounters between them. Focusing on cities in the Global South, a large body of research on social encounters between the residents of gated communities and others outside has used case studies of the middle class living in gated communities versus the poor living outside in slums, squats, or public housing. The assumption that gated communities are regarded as enclosed residential spaces exclusively for the middle class, while the poor are found solely in “informal” settlements, may have an effect of stigmatizing the poor and deepening class divisions. It is rare to find studies that take into account the possibility that there also exist gated communities in which the poor are residents. This article examines who the residents of gated communities are, and at the same time analyzes the extent to which people living in gated communities socialize with others living outside. Based on the results of qualitative research in Bangkok, Thailand, in particular, the article critically studies enclosed high-rise housing estates and shows the following: Walls and security measures have become standard features in new residential developments; not only the upper classes, but also the poor live in gated communities; the amenities which gated communities provide are available to outsiders as well; and residents living in gated communities do not isolate themselves inside the walls but seek contact and socialize with outsiders. This article argues that the Western concept of “gated communities” needs to be tested and contextualized in the study of cities in the Global South.

This article examines a recurrent format that speakers use for defining ordinary expressions or technical terms. Drawing on data from four different languages-Flemish, French, German, and Italian-it focuses on definitions in which a definiendum is first followed by a negative definitional component ('definiendum is not X'), and then by a positive definitional component ('definiendum is Y'). The analysis shows that by employing this format, speakers display sensitivity towards a potential meaning of the definiendum that recipients could have taken to be valid. By negating this meaning, speakers discard this possible, yet unintended understanding. The format serves three distinct interactional purposes: (a) it is used for argumentation, e.g. in discussions and political debates, (b) it works as a resource for imparting knowledge, e.g. in expert talk and instructions, and (c) it is employed, in ordinary conversation, for securing the addressee's correct understanding of a possibly problematic expression. The findings contribute to our understanding of how epistemic claims and displays relate to the turn-constructional and sequential organization of talk. They also show that the much quoted 'problem of meaning' is, first and foremost, a participant's problem. (C) 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Augmented reality (AR) applications have recently emerged for entertainment and educational purposes and have been proposed to have positive effects on social interaction. In this study, we investigated the impact of a mobile, indoor AR feature on sociability, entertainment, and learning. We conducted a field experiment using a quiz game in a Finnish science center exhibition. We divided participants (N = 372) into an experimental group (AR app users) and two control groups (non-AR app users; pen-and-paper participants), including 28 AR users of follow-up interviews. We used Kruskal-Wallis rank test to compare the experimental groups and the content analysis method to explore AR users' experiences. Although interviewed AR participants recognized the entertainment value and learning opportunities for AR, we did not detect an increase in perceived sociability, social behavior, positive affect, or learning performance when comparing the experimental groups. Instead, AR interviewees experienced a strong conflict between the two different realities. Despite the engaging novelty value of new technology, performance and other improvements do not automatically emerge. We also discuss potential conditional factors. Future research and development of AR and related technologies should note the possible negative effects of dividing attention to both realities.

Two central dimensions in psychotherapeutic work are a therapist's empathy with clients and challenging their judgments. We investigated how they influence psychophysiological responses in the participants. Data were from psychodynamic therapy sessions, 24 sessions from 5 dyads, from which 694 therapist's interventions were coded. Heart rate and electrodermal activity (EDA) of the participants were used to index emotional arousal. Facial muscle activity (electromyography) was used to index positive and negative emotional facial expressions. Electrophysiological data were analyzed in two time frames: (a) during the therapists' interventions and (b) across the whole psychotherapy session. Both empathy and challenge had an effect on psychophysiological responses in the participants. Therapists' empathy decreased clients' and increased their own EDA across the session. Therapists' challenge increased their own EDA in response to the interventions, but not across the sessions. Clients, on the other hand, did not respond to challenges during interventions, but challenges tended to increase EDA across a session. Furthermore, there was an interaction effect between empathy and challenge. Heart rate decreased and positive facial expressions increased in sessions where empathy and challenge were coupled, i.e., the amount of both empathy and challenge was either high or low. This suggests that these two variables work together. The results highlight the therapeutic functions and interrelation of empathy and challenge, and in line with the dyadic system theory by Beebe and Lachmann (2002), the systemic linkage between interactional expression and individual regulation of emotion.

The study is based on a measure of global self-esteem developed by Rosenberg (1965). The aims are (1) to investigate in an adult population the concept of self-esteem as defined by Rosenberg, (2) to develop measures for examining qualitative differences within this global concept, (3) to map out qualitative differences in self-esteem for the sample of adults involved in the study. Antonovsky (1979) provides the theoretical basis for measures to examine qualitative differences. These include a sense of coherence, machiavellism (Mach IV) and the 'Big Five' personality theories. Emerging qualitative factors (personality components) and their interrelationships are examined. Data was collected during 1995 through questionnares administered to course participants representing different work environments (n=368). Gender, age and education were independent variables. In methodological terms the study was quantitative. Results were examined first on the basis of percentages, averages and correlations. The predictors of the global concept of self-esteem were analysed by means of factor analysis and linear regression analysis. Analysis of variance examined whether, in terms of the predictors, there were differences between different professional groups. The following dimensions of coherence emerged: a sense of meaninglessness (a=.77), disappointment in interpersonal relationships (a=.74), anxiety (a=73). The components of machiavellism were: cynicism (a= .73) and honesty/moral respect (a=.65). The dimensions of a sense of competence were: a wish to please (a=.70), competence and success (a= .78) and success at school (a= .74). Other personality factors were: social competence and empathy (a=.78), willingness to experiment (a=.69), social and verbal influence (a=.78), a sense of shame (a=.70), a sense of guilt (a= .69) and conservatism (a= .67). Gender and age did not have an effect on global self-esteem (Rosenberg). However, level of education did. Those with more extensive education seemed to have higher levels of self-esteem. Weak sense of coherence, shame and guilt as predictors of low self-esteem were common to the whole sample. Education and age also contributed to qualitative predictors. Cynicism and disappointment in interpersonal relationships characterised low self-esteem in young men (aged below 31) who had less education. For employed young adults and women with more education, talkativeness, which was associated with low self-esteem, could be explained as a defence and compensatory mechanism. For women, low self-esteem was affected by aspects to do with a sense of life coherence, shame and guilt. Low self-esteem among educated men was explained by aspects of empathy and social competence. While for men success was the most important contributor, for women it was close interpersonal relationships, empathy and social interaction. The results are largely in agreement with the views expressed by Rosenberg, i.e. the importance of social, normative and institutional integration in affecting self-esteem. Rosenberg, M. (1965): Society and adolescent self-image. Rosenberg, M. (1979): Conceiving the self. Antonovsky, A. (1979): Health, stress and coping.

Intersubjectivity is a concept central to human interaction, broadly understood as the sharing of minds. There is a rich diversity of conceptualizations of intersubjectivity, but detailed operationalization for its component processes in social interactions are scarce. We propose a novel approach to examine detailed variation in intersubjectivity in interaction. Our approach combines two previously formulated frameworks: the hierarchically organized developmental levels of intersubjectivity put forth in the field of developmental psychology, and three domains or orders of social interaction - affect, deontics, and epistemics - discussed in conversation analytic research literature. The interdisciplinary integration of these two frameworks allows a more crystallized view of intersubjectivity, which will benefit our understanding of the fine-scale social interaction processes as they vary in the course of the moment-to-moment unfolding of social action, across different stages of human social development, and between individuals belonging to different clinical groups and even to different species.

The subject of the study is to examine knowing in social contexts. Knowing is contextualized in social situations in which knowledge is considered to have an significant role. College students' (N = 123) conceptions of knowledge and knowing are studied from two theoretical perspectives: 1) subjects' implicit epistemologies are analyzed in the cognitive-developmental framework, according to the Reflective Judgment Model of Kitchener and King, 2) analysis of subjects' descriptions of disagreement situations with academic experts (lecturer, professor etc.), with other professional experts or specialists (physician, lawyer etc.), and with friends, is based on a qualitative data-generated classification, and on a broad theoretical interpretation of conversation as a system of social interaction (Myllyniemi). College students were selected subjects of the study on the basis that in higher education one important goal is to help students understand the nature, limits, and the certainty of knowledge. In addition, previous studies have shown that the implicit epistemologies of students can develop substantially during the college years. The empirical material of the study was collected with a semi-structured questionnaire with open-ended questions. One of the starting points of the study was the idea that the situations, in which knowing takes place, are relational. Moreover, it was presumed that the nature of social relations (formal vs. informal, task-oriented vs. socio-emotional) would direct one's orientation in an interaction situation. In this study knowing is contextualized in disagreement situations, in which people are assumed to pay particular attention to the validity and truthfulness of one's claims and opinions. The concept of 'knowing' is approached from two perspectives. First, when contextualized in an interaction situation, the question is addressed, is knowledge a product of a single epistemic perspective or a product of the fullest range of epistemic perspectives in an interaction situation. This perspective is called the epistemic dimension of knowledge. Secondly, it will be explored, how do the participants of an interaction situation express their views and opinions. This perspective is called the intersubjective dimension of knowledge. According to the results, a conversational process, which is open to divergent viewpoints, and developing towards a mutually accepted shared perspective, seemed to be a mode of interaction, which served best the achievement of knowledge and truth, at least in ill-structured problems. Compromising and agreeing to disagree were also considered as solutions, in which the participants respected each other's opposing views, and where the participants tried to cooperate to resolve the problem. Accepting the other participant's view was also conceived as a solution based on argumentative judgments, but, on the other hand, as an inactive solution, which was based in relying on received knowledge. Complying and un-compromising were solutions, in which other circumstances - mainly personal, attitudinal, and behavioural standpoints - seemed to be more decisive than the participants' epistemological stances. When the relational contexts were compared, the results indicated that a feeling of ignorance and avoiding argumentative situations were typical in academic context. Silence and showing respect to epistemic authorities were typical in expert situations. With friends, on the contrary, managing conflict situations seemed to be easier and less distressed. Friends seemed to be more ready to engage in verbal debate on controversial issues than in formal relations. On the other hand, a controversy with friends calls also sensitivity and alertness because of the expectable negative emotional climate. The differences between the subjects' implicit epistemologies and the resolutions of conflict situations were not significant. The most important sources are Pirttilä-Backman (1990, 1991a, 1991b, 1993, 1994), King & Kitchener (1994), Myllyniemi (1986, 1990), and also the literature of epistemology, expertise, and higher education.

Achieving sustainable development as an inclusive societal process in rural landscapes, and sustainability in terms of functional green infrastructures for biodiversity conservation and ecosystem services, are wicked challenges. Competing claims from various sectors call for evidence-based adaptive collaborative governance. Leveraging such approaches requires maintenance of several forms of social interactions and capitals. Focusing on Pan-European regions with different environmental histories and cultures, we estimate the state and trends of two groups of factors underpinning rural landscape stewardship, namely, (1) traditional rural landscape and novel face-to-face as well as virtual fora for social interaction, and (2) bonding, bridging, and linking forms of social capital. We applied horizon scanning to 16 local landscapes located in 18 countries, representing Pan-European social-ecological and cultural gradients. The resulting narratives, and rapid appraisal knowledge, were used to estimate portfolios of different fora for social interactions and forms of social capital supporting landscape stewardship. The portfolios of fora for social interactions were linked to societal cultures across the European continent: “self-expression and secular-rational values” in the northwest, “Catholic” in the south, and “survival and traditional authority values” in the East. This was explained by the role of traditional secular and religious local meeting places. Virtual internet-based fora were most widespread. Bonding social capitals were the strongest across the case study landscapes, and linking social capitals were the weakest. This applied to all three groups of fora. Pan-European social-ecological contexts can be divided into distinct clusters with respect to the portfolios of different fora supporting landscape stewardship, which draw mostly on bonding and bridging forms of social capital. This emphasizes the need for regionally and culturally adapted approaches to landscape stewardship, which are underpinned by evidence-based knowledge about how to sustain green infrastructures based on both forest naturalness and cultural landscape values. Sharing knowledge from comparative studies can strengthen linking social capital.

Språkvetenskapen har traditionellt undersökt det verbala språket, dess lexikon och grammatik. Exempel som konstruerats eller hämtats från skrivna texter fick länge stå för språket. Senare har talat språk studerats i sekvenser av initiativ och responser, men ofta med fokus på språkliga handlingar. Multimodal interaktionsanalys har inte bara gjort oss medvetna om att sociala handlingar kan bestå av annat än språk, utan den visar också hur språkliga uttryck konstrueras i ett samspel med andra betydelseskapande element och att deras närvaro påverkar den språkliga formen. I det här kapitlet presenterar vi några exempel på hur språk, gester och artefakter är med om att skapa referens, hur kroppslig orientering kompletterar verbal handling och hur verbala och icke-verbala handlingar varvas med varandra i samtal.

The Dealing with Challenging Interaction (DCI) method was developed to measure social interaction skills of teacher study groups. The participants were 70 teachers from three schools. The inter-rater agreement, Cohen’s kappa, varied between 0.57- 1.00. The discriminant validity was supported by a cluster analysis differentiating between the skilful and less skilful teachers. The results of the supplementary instrument were equivalent to the cluster analysis maintaining criterion oriented validity of the method developed. The DCI appeared to be a reliable and valid tool for measuring teachers’ social interaction skills.