Social Interactions

Chapter 4
Social Interactions

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 Social Interactions

Theory
• Understand the relationship between Language
and Social Construction of Reality
• Understand the Social Construction of Emotion
• Understand the Social Construction of Humor

Application
In Social Interactions – Aware of fuzziness in human
communications. Able to identify emotions better.
Apply humor theory to tell jokes

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 Language and the Social Construction of Reality

The social construction of reality is the process by which people

creatively shape reality through social interaction. Foundation of the
symbolic-interaction approach

Baldovino’s remark suggests, quite a bit of “reality” remains unclear

in everyone’s mind, especially in unfamiliar situations.

We act according to the situation, we try to guide what happens next,

and as others do the same, reality takes shape.

Social Interaction = A complex negotiation that builds reality

Most everyday situations involve at least some agreement about

what’s going on. But how people see events depends on their
different backgrounds, interests, and intentions.

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 Language and the Social Construction of Reality

English Term = Romantic Love

Do you think romantic love exists?
Is there any relationship between love and
marriage?

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 Language and the Social Construction of Reality

The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis

English Language
11 basic color terms – red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple,
pink, brown, grey, black and white

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 Language and the Social Construction of Reality

The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis

Sarcoline Coquelicot Smaragdine Falu Xanadu Mikado

Eburnean Glaucous Wenge Fulvous Amaranth

Advanced Terminology for Colors

Designers and Painters will be able to identify them

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 Language and the Social Construction of Reality

Heider Rosch found that the Dani’s two colour

categories mola and mili were better labelled as
‘white-warm’ or ‘dark-cool’

Mola WHITE/RED/YELLOW Mili BLACK/GREEN/BLUE

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 Language and the Social Construction of Reality

A B C

Experiment by Paul Kay & Willett Kempton (1984)

Which one of the chips A,B,C is the odd one for

(a) Speakers of English?
(b) Speakers of Tarahumara?

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 Language and the Social Construction of Reality

A B C
Answer
•Chip A is the odd one according to the English
Speakers, Chip C is the odd one according to
theTarahumara speakers
•Why? Tarahumara speakers don't have separate
terms for blue and green (both are called siy?name)

SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE // Lectures by Sean Ang

 Language and the Social Construction of Reality

Post-Structuralism and Social Interaction

Good Morning
Auntie What? You think I
am old?

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 Language and the Social Construction of Reality

Structuralism or Post-Structuralism?

• There is Structure • There is No Structure

• Reality can be uncovered • Relativity of Reality

Related Concepts Related Concepts

1. Signified-Signifier 1.Differance
2. Binary Opposition 2.Death of the Author
3. Universal Narrative Structure 3.Power is Everywhere

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 Concepts in Structuralism

Ferdinand Saussure – Signifier-Signified

Every language has a fixed structure Apple
Its called Signifier and Signified. For example
we know a chair is a chair because we can
check the meaning in dictionary.

Love

What is the meaning of “The Apple of my heart”?

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 Concepts in Structuralism

Levi-Strauss – Binary Opposition

Reality can be represented by 2 Opposing Concepts

For example we know the meaning of beauty because

the opposite is ugly

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 Concepts in Structuralism

Binary Opposition – Reality Comes in Pairs

Sad Happy

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 Concepts in Structuralism

Levi Strauss – Culinary Triangle

What is Food?
ll food can be classified into boiling, roasting and smoking. All
other method is situated between the triangle

SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE // Lectures by Sean Ang

 Concepts in Structuralism

Joseph Campbell – Universal Narrative Structure

What is a Story?
All epic stories will have a storyline and structure

For example all movies will have the hero and an ending

SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE // Lectures by Sean Ang

 Concepts in Post-Structuralism

Jacques Derrida’s Concept of Differance

Reality exists because of other realities

For example a cup cake is a cake because of existence of

other types of cakes, and terms such as bakery and recipe

SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE // Lectures by Sean Ang

 Concepts in Post-Structuralism

Food for Thought How do you know you have a

nice girlfriend?

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 Concepts in Post-Structuralism

DEATH OF THE AUTHOR – Roland Barthes

In the movie Birdman – the audience decides the ending

The essay makes a declaration of radical textual independence: the work is

not determined by intention, or context. Rather, the text is free by its very
nature of all such restraints. Hence, as Barthes says in the essay, the
corollary of the death of the author is the birth of the reader.

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 Concepts in Post-Structuralism

POWER IS EVERYWHERE – Michel Foucault

In Iran – the government decide the meaning of decency.
In France – the government bans Burkini

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 Concepts in Post-Structuralism

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

What if I say your “Self” is only an illusion?

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 Concepts in Post-Structuralism

Is durian delicious?

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 The Social Construction of Emotion

The 6 Basic Emotions

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 The Social Construction of Emotion

Biological Aspect of Emotions

Paul Ekman found that every society use almost the same facial
expressions to portray emotions.
Ekman believes that some emotional responses are biologically
programmed in our facial feature, muscles and central nervous
system.

What is the Evolutionary Benefit?

They serve a social purpose: supporting group life. Emotions
allow us to overcome our self-centeredness and build
connections with others.
Thus the capacity for emotion arose in our ancestors along with
the capacity for culture.

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 The Social Construction of Emotion

The Cultural Side of Emotions

1. Culture defines what triggers an emotion

Example - the departure of an old friend as joyous (happiness)
or a loss (sadness)

2. Culture provides rules for the display of emotions

Example – Americans express emotions more freely with family
members and friends than with colleagues

3. Culture guides how we value emotions

Some societies encourage the expression of emotion; others
expect members to control their feelings. There is also gender
factor - emotional expression by men as a sign of weakness.

SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE // Lectures by Sean Ang

 The Social Construction of Emotion

Chinese Funeral – Common to Hire a Professional Mourner

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 The Social Construction of Emotion

Famahidana – Celebration of the Death in Madagascar

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 The Social Construction of Emotion

Exercise
Are you able to identify micro-expressions?

http://www.microexpressionstest.com/micro-expressions-test/

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 The Social Construction of Emotion

Cultural Aspect of Emotions

SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE // Lectures by Sean Ang

 The Social Construction of Emotion

Cultural Aspect of Emotions

SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE // Lectures by Sean Ang

 The Social Construction of Emotion

Cultural Aspect of Emotions

Japanese Focus on Eyes, Americans Focus on Mouth

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 The Social Construction of Emotion

Cultural Aspect of Emotions

Research by Miyamoto, Yoshikawa and Kitayama

Reference Feature and Configuration in Face Processing: Japanese Are More Configural Than Americans

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 The Social Construction of Emotion

Cultural Aspect of Emotions

http://www.tufts.edu/~nambad01/Universals%20and%20cultural%20differences%20in%20recognizing%20emotions.pdf

SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE // Lectures by Sean Ang

 The Social Construction of Emotion

Download AFFDEXME and find out emotions of your friends

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.affectiva.affdexme

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 The Social Construction of Emotion

Emotions Name of Student

Joy Anne Tan

Anger nobody

Fear Aaiz

Contempt nobody

Disgust Jia Ni

Sadness Xi Er

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 The Social Construction of Emotion

Unique Emotions from Different Culture

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20170126-the-untranslatable-emotions-you-never-knew-you-had

SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE // Lectures by Sean Ang

 The Social Construction of Emotion

Unique Emotions from Different Culture

Desbundar (Portuguese) – to shed one’s inhibitions in having fun
Tarab (Arabic) – a musically induced state of ecstasy or enchantment
Shinrin-yoku (Japanese) – the relaxation gained from bathing in the
forest, figuratively or literally
Gigil (Tagalog) – the irresistible urge to pinch or squeeze someone
because they are loved or cherished
Yuan bei (Chinese) – a sense of complete and perfect accomplishment
Iktsuarpok (Inuit) – the anticipation one feels when waiting for someone,
whereby one keeps going outside to check if they have arrived
Orenda (Huron) – the power of the human will to change the world in the
face of powerful forces such as fate

SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE // Lectures by Sean Ang

 The Social Construction of Emotion

Natsukashii (Japanese) – a nostalgic longing for the past, with

happiness for the fond memory, yet sadness that it is no longer
Wabi-sabi (Japanese) – a “dark, desolate sublimity” centred on
transience and imperfection in beauty
Saudade (Portuguese) – a melancholic longing or nostalgia for a
person, place or thing that is far away either spatially or in time – a
vague, dreaming wistfulness for phenomena that may not even exist
Sehnsucht (German) /ˈzeɪnˌzuːxt/ – “life-longings”, an intense desire
for alternative states and realisations of life, even if they are
unattainable
Dadirri (Australian aboriginal) term – a deep, spiritual act of reflective
and respectful listening
Desenrascanço (Portuguese) – to artfully disentangle oneself from a
troublesome situation

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 The Social Construction of Humour

What is Humor?

SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE // Lectures by Sean Ang

 The Social Construction of Humour

What is Funny to one society is offensive in another society

SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE // Lectures by Sean Ang
 The Social Construction of Humour

What is acceptable in one society is taboo in another society

SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE // Lectures by Sean Ang
 The Social Construction of Humour

Humour Requires the Understanding of Socio-Political Context

SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE // Lectures by Sean Ang
 The Social Construction of Humour

EXERCISE

After watching 4 Videos, develop your own Theory of

Humor

Your Theory should have the following element

a.Name of Theory

b.Describe Structure or Sequence

(Event A leads to Event B leads to Event C)

a.Ingredients of What Make Things Funny

a.Diagram [Optional]
SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE // Lectures by Sean Ang
 The Social Construction of Humour

Incongruity-Resolution Theory

Humor is perceived at the moment of realization of incongruity

between a concept involved in a certain situation and the real
objects thought to be in some relation to the concept.

Since the main point of the theory is not the incongruity per se,
but its realization and resolution.

Boyd views the shift as from seriousness to play. Nearly anything

can be the object of this perspective twist. The shift results from
"structure mapping" to create novel meanings.

Arthur Koestler argues that humor results when two different

frames of reference are set up and a collision is engineered
between them.
SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE // Lectures by Sean Ang
 The Social Construction of Humour
Sequence of the Incongruity-Resolution Theory

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 The Social Construction of Humour

The Benign Violation Theory

The benign violation theory (BVT) is developed by researchers
A. Peter McGraw and Caleb Warren.

The BVT integrates seemingly disparate theories of humor to

predict that humor occurs when three conditions are satisfied:

1. something threatens one’s sense of how the world

“ought to be,”
2. the threatening situation seems benign,
3. a person sees both interpretations at the same time.

SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE // Lectures by Sean Ang

 The Social Construction of Humour

The Collision of Reality is called a Punchline

SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE // Lectures by Sean Ang

Social Interactions

THE END

SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE // Lectures by Sean Ang