1,720,998 research outputs found
Recommended from our members
Nonverbal behaviors in social interaction: An extension to affect control theory
No full textNonverbal behaviors impact our perceptions of interaction. Many sociological theories have attempted to understand how perceptions work in interaction. Affect Control Theory is one which has had particular success in understanding the ways in which people perceive events generally; with this research I hope to be able to make that theory even stronger and more predictive by including nonverbal behaviors in its scope. A four-study research design is presented. The first study collected the affective meanings of nonverbal behaviors independent of event contexts. Study two paired nonverbal behaviors with other behaviors to see how they combine in people's perceptions to create new affective meanings. The third and fourth studies required performing two experiments (one with paper stimuli and one with videotaped stimuli) to see what effects the inclusion of nonverbal behaviors has on impressions people form of events and event elements. I found that single nonverbal elements each have distinct meanings and create distinct impressions in those who view them; that nonverbal behaviors work in combination with behaviors to create modified impressions of situations; that nonverbal behaviors play as important a role as behaviors in those combinations; and that nonverbal behavior ratings are essential to understanding the meaning of behaviors in event contexts. This project has increased our understanding of the relationship between nonverbal behaviors and impressions that are formed in the context of interpersonal interaction. In addition, it increased the utility of Affect Control Theory in predicting event perceptions by allowing for more accurate understanding of the complex situations in which people interact.This item was digitized from a paper original and/or a microfilm copy. If you need higher-resolution images for any content in this item, please contact us at [email protected] file replaced with corrected file October 2023
Explaining Variance in Affect Control Theory: Cultural Consensus, Deflection, and Redefinition
No full textAffect Control Theory (ACT) conceives of affective sentiments as sharedmeanings among individuals within a single culture. Recognizing the theory's potentialto explain cultural differences and behavior patterns, many researchers aim to test andapply ACT's insights to within- and across-culture analysis. The growth of the theory'spopularity necessitates a review and exposition of the theory's fundamentalmethodological assumptions and its causal mechanism, deflection. Using data from the2003 Indiana EPA dictionary, I map the distribution of fundamental U.S. sentiments inEPA space, define two new conceptions of deflection, map the universe of eventcurrently measureable deflections, and discuss the ramifications of these findings forpast and future research.I critique ACT's operationalization of "shared meaning" as mean point estimatescalculated from individuals' numeric ratings on semantic differential scales. Pastresearch attributes variation in concept ratings to two sources: unsystematic error in themeasurement tool and imperfect cultural inculcation among respondents. By taking aconcept-focused approach, I show that variation between respondents is structured bythe institutional affiliation of identity concepts and concept labels' word difficulty. Thispattern exists even when controlling for individual-level characteristics, the traditionallyascribed reason for variation in concept ratings.I replicate a well-known ACT study that found support for the dynamic behaviorredefinition hypothesis and did not find support for ACT's redefinition hypothesis. Imake the design more robust and test both the original findings and my claims aboutthe role of institutions in ACT. I find support for the dynamic behavior hypothesis,partial support for the ACT hypothesis, and support for the claim that individualsdepend on institutional information inherent in identity meanings.</p
Recommended from our members
Childrearing, social contact, and depression: A structural analysis of the transition to parenthood
No full textUsing a random sample of 368 parents of young children in Pima County, Arizona, this study examines the implications of childrearing for social networks. In addition to cross-sectional network data, the study includes retrospective measures of networks at two periods: just before the birth of the respondent's oldest child, and around the time of the oldest child's first birthday. These retrospective longitudinal data permit a detailed assessment of stabilities and changes in parents' social contact patterns, and a discussion of their implications. Expectant parents occupy distinct structural positions related to the timing of parenthood in the life course, relationship status, ethnicity, and gender. In the year following parenthood, many of these differences are attenuated, suggesting that parenthood is itself a unique social position that may reduce the distinguishing power of other structural parameters. But while the networks of parents are, as a whole, more similar to each other than those of expectant parents, gender differences in network characteristics appear to be somewhat enhanced over the transition to parenthood. Cross-sectional data show that involvement in the domestic sphere, rather than sex-category, is especially predictive of network structure. The patterns identified here Will lead to more precise conceptualization and measurement of gender processes, as roles in work, marriage, and parenting gain increasing flexibility.This item was digitized from a paper original and/or a microfilm copy. If you need higher-resolution images for any content in this item, please contact us at [email protected] file replaced with corrected file August 2023
Recommended from our members
Domestic capital, portative capital and gender capital: The effects of independent living and family of destination on men's household labor participation
No full textThis study argues that domestic skills--accumulated, transferred, and elicited by different aspects of the life course--act as a major influence on men's household labor participation. Specifically, I argue that as men increase their skills via independent living, as they are presumed to have more relevant skills when raising older biological/step male children, or as they become more proficient in skills relative to other household workers, they are more or less likely to assume (or be assigned) different responsibilities in the household. First, I tested to what extent the years a man lives without some kind of caregiver--whether that caregiver is tied to him through consanguinal, romantic, or institutional ties--affected the amount of housework he does once married. I discovered that men who live independently for long periods of time are responsible for creating less housework than men who are not. They do not do any more or less housework than their peers who are married, cohabiting, or in military service longer, but their wives have less of it to do. A man's years of independent living is unrelated to his own contribution to housework. I also tested whether a husband's holdings of particular occupational characteristics--namely, high levels of female sex composition, a service orientation, and routine and repetitive work tasks--affect the amount of housework he does in the home and his share of the overall housework that is done. I found mixed effects of these characteristics on household division of labor. Men whose jobs are especially routine and repetitive create more housework and do more of the additional housework they create. Conversely, wives do spend more time doing housework when their jobs are more masculine in composition and/or less service oriented than their husbands' jobs. Finally, I investigated the relationship between children's characteristics--sex, age, birth order, and relationship to the father--and their father's contributions to both housework and childcare interactions. I found no effect of children's characteristics on men's housework particiatipation and limited effects of children's characteristics on men's childcare interactions; men spend more time in unorganized play/non-play activities when they have male children
Occupational Stratification and the Multidimensional Structure of Symbolic Meaning
Full text linkSubjective cultural meanings were once central to occupational stratification research. However, attempts to operationalize cultural meanings associated with occupations have been widely criticized, leading contemporary stratification scholars to largely abandon subjective measures in favor of objective characteristics. This leaves a gap in our understanding of how inequality is generated and maintained because Weber ([1958]) theorized that status, a form of social symbolic power based on cultural beliefs, represents one of the fundamental bases of inequality. Without an adequate method of operationalizing occupational symbolic meanings, the extent to which cultural beliefs influence stratified life outcomes remains largely unknown.To address this, I used affect control theory, a quantitative general theory ofsocial action, and its measurement model, the semantic differential scale, to examine three issues regarding the relationship between cultural beliefs and stratified outcomes. Symbolic meaning was quantified into EPA ratings that measure three universal, affective dimensions: evaluation (good versus bad), potency (powerful versus weak), and activity (lively versus quiescent). Despite extensive support within structural social psychology, this approach has not been widely used in the field of stratification. In addition to providing a quantitative framework, because symbolic meanings are comprised of multiple dimensions, affect control theory's multidimensional construction allows for novel approaches not possible using unidimensional measures. The three chapters that follow use affect control theory and ratings of occupational meanings from a newly collected dictionary of affective meaning to address the occupational gender wage gap, the effect of occupational status on life chance outcomes, and the development and testing of a new measure of occupational status.</p
The Duality of Identities and Groups: The Effects of Status Homophily on Social Interactions and Relations
No full textGender and racial stereotypes are a pervasive aspect of social life arising from the consolidation of resources, statuses, and social roles and identities at the population level. They are widely shared group-level associations that influence how we perceive ourselves and others. Understanding how stereotypes influence the impressions we form about others, however, requires understanding how the association between statuses such as gender or race and the other identities we occupy influences impressions. This dissertation examines this process in three studies. In Studies 1 and 2, I model how people react to events using affect control theory’s impression change methodology. I estimate models using event stimuli collected in 1978 and 2010. I find that stereotypically female and male identities have affective profiles that influence how we form impressions. Affect control theory is best able to explain events involving identities that respondents perceived as associated with both genders. Study 3 analyzes perceptions of aggression among adolescents using longitudinal network data. I find (1) that the association between aggression and race grew as Black friend groups grew more homogeneous, (2) that both Black and White students held racialized status meanings, (3) that within-group similarities and between-group differences with respect to perceptions and behaviors grew over time, and (4) that Blacks were more likely to be identified as aggressive after controlling for self-perceptions of aggressiveness, violent behaviors, and peer perceptions of relational and social aggression. Combined, these studies suggest that the association between cultural meanings of goodness, potency, and aggression and statuses such as gender and race are mediated by identities.</p
Recommended from our members
Framing juveniles: Identity and negotiation in the construction of probation officer recommendations
No full textMeaning construction and its impact on the production of juvenile justice has received a great deal of attention from sociologists and criminologists. Despite an impressive body of research and a great deal of agreement on the factors associated with punishment recommendations and outcomes, few researchers have addressed the underlying process of interpretation and meaning construction that inspires the creation of court reports and recommendations. Even fewer have systematically dealt with the possible social origins of probation officer recommendations to the court. This dissertation addresses these issues by examining the processes by which members of a juvenile probation department manage their caseloads and construct their recommendations to the court. The core of the dissertation involves the application of framing perspective, currently popular among social movement researchers, to the question of probation officer decision-making. Using data derived from a two year ethnographic study of a juvenile court, I found that the forty-eight members of the probation department at West County Juvenile Court routinely negotiated and used eight juvenile frames when talking to each other and other court actors about their cases. Furthermore, I found that the frames employed by these probation officers influenced the recommendations the officers made to the court, and their actions taken in the field. My findings include a typology of the juvenile frames used by probation officers to make sense out of their cases, as well as a typology of probation officer role-identities that appear influential in frame selection. In addition, I highlight the negotiation that occurs between the officers and their peers, other court actors, and the juveniles with whom they work. I demonstrate how the negotiated order of probation serves to create and maintain juvenile frames, and influences how frames are applied. Based on my research, I present a theoretical extension of the framing perspective and offer a series of recommendations for improving probation officer training and practice
Mapping the Social Ecology of Culture: Social Position, Connectedness, and Influence as Predictors of Systematic Variation in Affective Meaning
No full textA strong model of culture should capture both the structured and negotiated elements of cultural meaning, allowing for the fluidity of social action and the agency of social actors. Although cultural meanings often reproduce societal structures, supporting stability and consensus, culture is constitutive of and not merely produced by structural arrangements. It is therefore essential to establish clear mechanisms which guide how individuals interpret social events and apply cultural meanings in making sense of the social world. As such, this dissertation focuses on the model of culture forwarded by affect control theory, a sociological theory linking culturally shared meaning with identity, behavior, and emotion in interpersonal interaction (for reviews, see Heise 2007; Robinson and Smith-Lovin 2006). While many theories have attempted to deal with components of the cultural model separately, affect control theory provides a unifying multi-level framework, which rectifies many shortcomings of earlier models by simultaneously accounting for individual cognition and emotion, situational and institutional context, and cultural meaning. The dissertation begins by introducing affect control theory, which considers cultural meanings to be societally bound, based on consensual and widely shared sentiments, and stable over long periods of time. We advocate several refinements to the theory's assumptions about culture, proposing that cultural sentiments are dynamic and structurally contingent, and that mechanisms operating within social networks serve as important sources of meaning consensus and change.The remainder of the dissertation presents empirical evidence in support of our propositions. First, we draw upon primary survey data to show how social position and patterns of social connectedness relate to inculcation into the dominant culture and commonality with the affective meanings of others. Respondents' demographics, social position, social connectedness, network composition, and experiences in close relationships are explored as predictors of inculcation and commonality in meaning. Second, through an experimental study, we explore social influence processes as a mechanism of cultural consensus and change. Analyses examine both conditionally manipulated features of the group structure and respondents' emergent assessments of social influence as predictors of change in task-related attitudes and affective meanings. Our results identify structural sources of normative differentiation and consensus, and introduce social networks methodologies as a means of elaborating affect control theory's explanatory model. More broadly, the findings generated by this project contribute to an ongoing academic discussion on the origins of cultural content, exploring the complex and dynamic relationship between patterns of social interaction and cultural affective meaning. We close by introducing research in progress, which examines predictors of clustering in affective meaning and explores how values, self, and identity condition the effects of social influence on decision-making.</p
Recommended from our members
Values, deviance and conformity: Measuring values with the factorial survey method
No full textThe value concept is regularly employed by sociologists and social psychologists. Despite the ubiquitous nature of the concept, values are not a relevant theoretical construct in much social theory and the concept remains difficult to measure. This project tackles both theoretical and methodological shortcomings in the study and application of values. Two cutting edge methods of value measurement are used--the Schwartz Value Survey and the factorial survey method--and their results compared to assess the validity of these measures. There is little convergent validity with these two methods, perhaps due to some of the difficulties encountered when measuring values in the first place. In terms of content validity, both measures of values demonstrate a relationship between people's values and their deviant behavior. Surprisingly, this result has been difficult to obtain in the criminological literature. A theory that specifies a direct mechanism between values and deviance--cultural deviance theory--is tested. Evidence supports the notion that people who are more likely to be deviant, are also more likely to place a higher priority on "subterranean" values for wealth, aggression, competition, and beating the system, while simultaneously placing a low priority on "mainstream" values like trustworthiness and equality. Results could also apply to other criminological theories that have previously ignored values as an important theoretical construct
Errors in Judgement: How Status, Values, and Moral Foundations Influence Moral Judgments of Guilt and Punishment
No full textThis study investigates how actor status, moral foundations theory and Schwartz values influence the moral judgments of guilt and punishment. I argue that to understand individual values consequences for actions, they must be considered within organizational values and larger institutional logics frameworks. Building off Zerubavel’s conception of a three level cognition (Zerubavel 1999), I argue for a tri level conception of values and morality in order to more fully understand how moral judgements work as well as the social context in which they are shaped. Using original research, I offer evidence of three levels of morality. First, I evaluate actor status on judgments of guilt and punishment. I then evaluate individual moral culture using Schwartz Values (Schwartz 2012; Vaisey and Miles 2014). I evaluate the impact of the organization on moral culture measure through the use of status hierarchies (Sauder, Lynn, and Podolny 2012). Finally, I evaluate broader cultural morality using Moral Foundations Theory (Graham et al. 2016; Kesebir and Haidt 2010). Taken together, these three levels of morality present a more ecologically valid understanding of the ways in which moral culture works from the individual, through the meso-social level and to the broader culture. I demonstrate the complex ways in which moral judgments are influenced by universal concerns, organizational influences and individual characteristics. I find that moral foundations theory conceptions of harm does not predict judgments of guilt and punishment but that Schwartz Values do influence these moral judgments. I also find that it is the actor status that most strongly predicts the outcomes of guilt and punishment. The research provides a foundation for future research of how actor status influences moral judgments of guilt and punishment beyond the limited moral community of the current study.</p
- …
