Social Interaction Antonela Cesa,r Sabrina Spampinat, o

Understanding Social Interaction  Social Action: Anything people are conscious of doing because of other people.

 Social Interaction: two or more people taking one another into account.

Social interaction is interpreted in terms of:  Context  Norms  Ethnometodology  Dramaturgy

Context  The physical setting of a place  The social environment  The activities surrounding the interaction.

Norms  Specific rules of behavior agreed upon and shared that prescribe the limits of accepted behavior.

Ethnometodology  The study of the sets of rules and guidelines that individuals use to initiate behavior, respond to behavior and modify behavior in social settings.

Dramaturgy  States that to create an impression, people play roles and their performance is judged by other who are alert to any slips that might reveal the actor’s true character.

Social Interaction  When two individuals are in each others presence they inevitably affect each other  They might do so intentionally or unintentionally  Types of Social Interaction:  Nonverbal Behavior  Exchange  Cooperation  Conflict  Competition

 The act of exchanging thoughts, opinions, or information without the use of spoken words.  Kinesics the study of body movements  Nonverbal Behavior includes:  Body language  Facial Expressions  Touch  Gestures  Eye Contact  Positioning within groups Nonverbal Behavior

 Attempts to examine how such things as “slight head nods, yawns, postural shifts, and other non verbal cues, whether spontaneous or deliberate, affect communication.” Hitch, 2005 “Sixty percent of all human communication is nonverbal, body language; thirty percent is your tone. So that means that ninety percent of what you're saying ain't coming out of your mouth”

Culture and Nonverbal Behavior  Norms of nonverbal behavior vary in different cultures.  Our culture has taught us a variety of appropriate communication procedures.  When they are followed we feel comfortable with the other person, when they are not it seems like something is out of place.  i.e. Communication patterns in the United States  This become more complex as we move from one culture to the other and try to use communication patterns that may be natural to us but not to the person from another background.

Culture and Eye Contact  Eye contact is another area where cultural differences are likely to show up.  Notions of eye contact found in the United Sates differ from those of other societies.  In Japan it is rude to look into another person’s eye during conversation.  Arabs stand very close to the person they are talking to and store directly into the eyes. They believe that the eyes are a “key to a person’s being and that looking deep into another’s eyes allows one to see another’s soul.”

Eye Contact and the Sexes  Prescribed relationships between males and females in a culture influence eye contact.  In Asian culture it is considered taboo for women to look straight into the eyes of males. Most men, out of respect for this cultural characteristic, do not stare directly at women.  In France starring is not considered taboo. French men accept staring as a cultural norm and often stare at women in public.

Culture and Gestures  There are cultural differences in the use of hand and arm movements as means of communication.  Gestures for derision vary in different cultures:  United States  Europe  Russia  A certain type of gesture might have a different meaning in another culture.  United States: things are OK  Japan: money  Arab countries: displaying extreme hostility

Exchange  Exchange Interaction: When people perform an action with the expectations of receiving or being rewarded with something in exchange. Professor and Student Relation Professor  Teaches students Students  Participate in class Professor  Rewards student with earned grade

Cooperation  Cooperative Interaction: When people work together to to achieve a common goal or express a shared interest.  Sports Teams  Families  Student Study Groups  Protests  Film Productions  Armies

Conflict  Opposite of cooperation  People struggle among themselves, and others, to gain an object, or title, of high value.  Power

Competition  Competition: It is an established form of conflict bounded by an agreed set of rules.  Sports  Politics  Among Students  Business

Elements of social interaction:  Statuses: socially defined position that people occupy.  Ascribed  Achieved

Elements of Social Interaction  Roles: the culturally defined rules for the proper behavior that is associated with a certain status.  Role set: encompasses all the roles attached to a single status.

Elements of Social Interaction  Role strain: occurs when a single role has conflicting demands attached to it.  Role conflict: occurs when an individual who is occupying more than one status at a time is unable to enact the role of one status without violating that of the other.