- Social Psychology, Discursive Psychology, Conversation Analysis, Ethnomethodology, Membership Categorisation Analysis, Discourse Analysis, and 11 morePerson Perception, Social Perception, Nonverbal Communication, Impression formation, Nonverbal Behavior, Discursive Social Psychology, Language and Social Interaction, First Impressions, Conversation analysis, Interactional Linguistics, Pragmatics, Social Studies of Science and Technology, and Social Studies Of Scienceedit
- As Assistant Professor in the department of Language, Literature, and Communication at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, ... moreAs Assistant Professor in the department of Language, Literature, and Communication at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, I am a member of the Language and Communication research group and I teach on the programme in Communication and Information Studies in the Faculty of Humanities.
My research focuses on how language is used in everyday domestic and institutional interactions to construct and manage psychological topics, relevancies, and outcomes, with a view to developing practical applications and communication training. Drawing on a range of interactional methods – discursive psychology, conversation analysis, ethnomethodology, and membership categorisation analysis – I have examined, for example, how first impressions authenticate assessments, how persuasion and resistance are practically accomplished in sales calls, and how accusations of mansplaining are constructed and dealt with across different institutional settings.
My background is in sociology and psychology and I hold PhDs in Sociology from the University of Bucharest (2013) and in Social Psychology from Loughborough University (2018).edit
Childhood vaccination consultations are considered an important phase in parents’ decision-making process. To date, only a few empirical studies conducted in the United States have investigated real-life consultations. To address this... more
Childhood vaccination consultations are considered an important phase in parents’ decision-making process. To date, only a few empirical studies conducted in the United States have investigated real-life consultations. To address this gap, we recorded Dutch vaccination conversations between healthcare providers and parents during routine health consultations for their newborns. The data were analysed using Conversation Analysis and Discursive Psychology. We found that the topic of vaccination was often initiated with ‘Have you already thought about vaccination?’ (HYATAV), and that this formulation was consequential for parental identity work. Exploring the interactional trajectories engendered by this initiation format we show that: (1) interlocutors treat the question as consisting of two types of queries, (2) conversational trajectories differ according to which of the queries is attended to and that (3) parents work up a ‘good parent’ identity in response to HYATAV, by demonstrating that they think about their child’s vaccination beforehand and make their decisions independently. Our findings shed new light on the interactional unfolding of parental vaccination decisions.
Research Interests:
In this introductory article to the special issue on Resistance in Talk-in-Interaction, we review the vast body of research that has respecified resistance by investigating it as and when it occurs in real-life encounters. Using... more
In this introductory article to the special issue on Resistance in Talk-in-Interaction, we review the vast body of research that has respecified resistance by investigating it as and when it occurs in real-life encounters. Using methodological approaches such as ethnomethodology, conversation analysis, and discursive psychology, studies of resistance "in the wild" treat social interaction as a sequentially organized, joint enterprise. As a result, resistance emerges as the alternative to cooperation and therefore, on each occasion, resistant actions are designed to deal with the sequential and moral accountabilities that arise from the specifics of the situation. By documenting the wide array of linguistic, prosodic, sequential, and embodied resources that individuals use to resist the requirements set by interlocutors' prior turns, this article provides the first comprehensive overview of existing research on resistance as an interactional accomplishment.
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While in the last decade we made strides in the pursuit of gender equality, women's rights, dignity, and safety continue to be under threat around the world. There is a growing body of research documenting contemporary misogyny, mainly... more
While in the last decade we made strides in the pursuit of gender equality, women's rights, dignity, and safety continue to be under threat around the world. There is a growing body of research documenting contemporary misogyny, mainly focused on extreme manifestations found in online environments. Conversely, we know less about how misogyny features in other spheres of our daily lives. The current study focuses on such an environment, namely segments from the British show This Morning in which guests are invited to take opposing stances on a variety of topics related to women's appearance, behaviour, competencies, and experiences with sexual harassment. Using discursive psychology, we identified two sets of argumentative discursive practices employed by guests who espoused misogynist views. First, when guests were prompted to present their controversial views, they constructed them as reasonable, strategically differentiating them from established misogynist tropes. By contrast, when guests’ views were challenged, they doubled down on their positions by drawing on scientific explanations for human behaviour that ostensibly justified bigoted views. This study sheds light onto the discursive mechanisms through which misogyny escapes eradication, and through which it mutates into subtler forms that are increasingly difficult to identify and denounce.
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In "cold" sales calls, the salesperson's job is to turn call-takers, or "prospects," into clients while, very often, the latter resist them. In contrast to laboratory-based research, "cold" calls provide a natural environment where the... more
In "cold" sales calls, the salesperson's job is to turn call-takers, or "prospects," into clients while, very often, the latter resist them. In contrast to laboratory-based research, "cold" calls provide a natural environment where the stakes are real and resistance is manifest. We collected and transcribed 159 "cold" calls the goal of which was for salespeople to secure an appointment to meet prospects. Using discursive psychology and conversation analysis, we identified two practices-"blocks" and "stalls"-through which prospects resisted salespeople's attempts to schedule a sales appointment while also moving to terminate the interaction or delay the scheduling of an eventual appointment. Our findings show that, when approached as an interactive and situated discursive accomplishment, rather than a cognitive process, the practices involved in resisting can be better identified, described, and shared in ways that transform our understanding of resistance as a social psychological phenomenon.
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Across the social sciences, there is a wealth of research on the role of language in persuasion in interpersonal communication. Most of these studies have been conducted in laboratories using experimental methods, have taken a social... more
Across the social sciences, there is a wealth of research on the role of language in persuasion in interpersonal communication. Most of these studies have been conducted in laboratories using experimental methods, have taken a social cognitive perspective, and have focused on the effects of particular linguistic practices on how persuasive messages are understood, processed, and ultimately complied with. By contrast, less attention has been paid to how language can be used to create sequential, interactional, and social obligations, in everyday interactions, like sales encounters or business negotiations, where persuasion occurs naturally and is built into the fabric of the conversation. In reviewing the former approach to studying language and persuasion, in this paper, I highlight several critical shortcomings. Then, I argue that, when studying naturally occurring persuasion-in-interaction, a discursive psychological approach is better suited for investigating and theorising the interactional structures underpinning persuasion and the role of language therein.
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The Open Science Movement aims to enhance the soundness, transparency, and accessibility of scientific research, and at the same time increase public trust in science. Currently, Open Science practices are mainly presented as solutions to... more
The Open Science Movement aims to enhance the soundness, transparency, and accessibility of scientific research, and at the same time increase public trust in science. Currently, Open Science practices are mainly presented as solutions to the ‘reproducibility crisis’ in hypothetico-deductive quantitative research. Increasing interest has been shown towards exploring how these practices can be adopted by qualitative researchers. In reviewing this emerging body of work, we conclude that the issue of diversity within qualitative research has not been adequately addressed. Furthermore, we find that many of these endeavours start with existing solutions for which they are trying to find matching problems to be solved. We contrast this approach with a natural incorporation of Open Science practices within interaction analysis and its constituent research traditions: conversation analysis, discursive psychology, ethnomethodology, and membership categorisation analysis. Zooming in on the development of conversation analysis starting in the 1960s, we highlight how practices for opening up and sharing data and analytic thinking have been embedded into its methodology. On the basis of this presentation, we propose a series of lessons learned for adopting Open Science practices in qualitative research.
Research Interests: Qualitative studies (Psychology), Conversation Analysis, Qualitative methodology, Discursive Social Psychology, Discursive Psychology, and 12 moreConversation Analysis (Research Methodology), Qualitative Research, Ethnomethodology, Attitudes (Social Psychology), Qualitative Research Methods, Open Data, Conversation Analysis, Talk-in-interaction, Membership Categorisation Analysis, Conversation Analysis (Languages And Linguistics), Open science, Replication, and Reproducibility Crisis
In everyday interaction, subtle manifestations of sexism often pass unacknowledged and become internalised and thus perceived as "natural" conduct. The introduction of new vocabularies for referring to previously unnamed sexist conduct... more
In everyday interaction, subtle manifestations of sexism often pass unacknowledged and become internalised and thus perceived as "natural" conduct. The introduction of new vocabularies for referring to previously unnamed sexist conduct would presumably enable individuals to start problematising hitherto unchallengeable sexism. In this paper, we investigate whether and how these vocabularies empower people to speak out against sexism. We focus on the use of the term "mansplaining" which, although coined over 10 years ago, remains controversial and contested. Using Conversation Analysis and Membership Categorisation Analysis, this paper excavates the interactional methods individuals use to formulate, in vivo, some prior spate of talk as mansplaining. In doing so, speakers necessarily reformulate a co-participant’s social action to highlight its sexist nature. Accusations of mansplaining are accomplished by invoking gender (and other) categories and their associated rights to knowledge. In reconstructing another’s conduct as mansplaining, speakers display their understanding of what mansplaining is (and could be) for the purpose at hand. Thus, the paper contributes to the well-established body of interactional research on manifestations of sexism by documenting how the normativity of epistemic rights is mobilised as a resource for bringing off accusations of mansplaining.
Research Interests:
While there are many definitions and conceptual accounts of 'persuasion' and other forms of social influence, social scientists lack empirical insight into how and when people actually use terms like 'persuade', 'convince', 'change... more
While there are many definitions and conceptual accounts of 'persuasion' and other forms of social influence, social scientists lack empirical insight into how and when people actually use terms like 'persuade', 'convince', 'change somebody's mind'-what we call the vocabularies of social influence-in actual social interaction. We collected instances of the spontaneous use of these and other social influence terms (such as 'schmoozing' and 'hoodwinking') in face-to-face and telephone conversations across multiple domestic and institutional settings. The recorded data were transcribed and analysed using discursive psychology and conversation analysis with a focus on the actions accomplished in and through the use of social influence terms. We found that when speakers use 'persuading'-but not 'convincing' or 'changing somebody's mind'-it is in the service of orienting to the moral accountability of influencing others. The specificity with which social actors deploy these terms demonstrates the continued importance of developing our understandings of the meaning of words-especially psychological ones-via their vernacular use by ordinary people in the first instance, rather than have psychologists reify, operationalize, and build an architecture for social psychology without paying attention to what people actually do with the 'psychological thesaurus'.
Research Interests: Discourse Analysis, Semiotics, Social Psychology, Qualitative studies (Psychology), Conversation Analysis, and 11 moreQualitative methodology, Qualitative Methods, Discursive Social Psychology, Discursive Psychology, Conversation Analysis (Research Methodology), Qualitative Research, Persuasion, Qualitative Research Methods, Conversation Analysis (Languages And Linguistics), Interpersonal Communication / Persuasion / Social Influence / Language and Message Variables, and Interactional Linguistics
Research Interests: Psychology and Routledge
The paper is available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/08351813.2020.1739432. This article examines business-to-business “cold” calls between salespeople and prospective clients. Drawing on 150 audio-recorded interactions, we use... more
The paper is available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/08351813.2020.1739432.
This article examines business-to-business “cold” calls between salespeople and prospective clients. Drawing on 150 audio-recorded interactions, we use conversation analysis to identify the overarching structural organization and constituent activities in first-time and subsequent “cold” calls, a distinction that emerged from participants’ orientation to their relationship history or lack thereof. The article reveals how structural features of telephone conversations, such as identification sequences and “reason for calling,” are adapted to achieve local interactional results and that these conversational microstructures are consequential for the outcome of the telephone call and, ultimately, a company’s bottom line. Data are British English.
This article examines business-to-business “cold” calls between salespeople and prospective clients. Drawing on 150 audio-recorded interactions, we use conversation analysis to identify the overarching structural organization and constituent activities in first-time and subsequent “cold” calls, a distinction that emerged from participants’ orientation to their relationship history or lack thereof. The article reveals how structural features of telephone conversations, such as identification sequences and “reason for calling,” are adapted to achieve local interactional results and that these conversational microstructures are consequential for the outcome of the telephone call and, ultimately, a company’s bottom line. Data are British English.
Research Interests: Business, Marketing, Discourse Analysis, Conversation Analysis, Discursive Social Psychology, and 11 moreDiscursive Psychology, Direct selling, Applied Linguistics, Sales Management, Personal Selling, B2B Marketing, Sales and Marketing, Sales & Marketing, Telemarketing, Selling, and Sales & Lead Generation
Since its inception in 1987, Discursive Psychology (DP) has developed both methodologically, for instance by drawing closer to Conversation Analysis, and theoretically, by building a body of knowledge which outlines the discursive... more
Since its inception in 1987, Discursive Psychology (DP) has developed both methodologically, for instance by drawing closer to Conversation Analysis, and theoretically, by building a body of knowledge which outlines the discursive accomplishment of mind-world relations. One of DP’s contributions to psychology consists in the respecification of mainstream topics (like attitudes, identity, memory, and emotions). This editorial outlines the meta-theoretical underpinnings of DP’s respecification programme. The empirical studies comprised in this special issue showcase state-of-the art discursive psychological research that respecifies core psychological topics: attitudes, persuasion, emotions, agency, personality, uncertainty, and socialisation. The editorial also delineates the place of DP within contemporary psychological science and reviews DP’s theoretical and methodological contributions to key matters including open science, research ethics, and integrity and rigour in qualitative research. The special issue concludes with an insightful commentary by Sally Wiggins on DP’s relationship with mainstream psychology.
Research Interests: Discourse Analysis, Qualitative studies (Psychology), Conversation Analysis, Qualitative methodology, Qualitative Methods, and 13 moreDiscursive Social Psychology, Discursive Psychology, Conversation Analysis (Research Methodology), Critical Discourse Analysis, Qualitative Research, Ethnomethodology, Qualitative Research Methods, Conversation Analysis (Languages And Linguistics), Qualitative Methodologies, Qualitative data analysis, Qualitative Analysis, Discourse analysis, ethnomethodology, ethnography, and Sociology, Ethnomethodology, Conversation Analysis
Persuasion is a ubiquitous presence in everyday life, with decades of research from across the social sciences, and, of course, particularly within psychology. Nevertheless, in this paper, we argue that we still know very little about... more
Persuasion is a ubiquitous presence in everyday life, with decades of research from across the social sciences, and, of course, particularly within psychology. Nevertheless, in this paper, we argue that we still know very little about actual manifestations of persuasive conduct ‘in the wild’. Taking a discursive psychological approach to the study of people in the settings that comprise their everyday lives, we respecify persuasion as a visible, situated, and interactive accomplishment, rather than starting from a conceptualisation of it as an outcome of invisible cognitive processes. Examining a corpus of business-to-business ‘cold’ sales calls we show how salespeople successfully secure meetings with prospective clients, and how these outcomes are tied to specific practices of turn-taking and sequential organisation, rather than being the result of the prior (unknowable) ‘intent’ of the prospect. We conclude that persuasion is not an elusive or mysterious phenomenon, but needs much wider scrutiny to describe and understand it in settings that matter to the participants involved.
Research Interests: Discourse Analysis, Social Psychology, Conversation Analysis, Persuasion (Psychology), Discursive Social Psychology, and 15 moreDiscursive Psychology, Conversation Analysis (Research Methodology), Discourse, Critical Social Psychology, Ethnomethodology, Persuasion, Attitude change, Social Influence, Conversation Analysis (Languages And Linguistics), B2B Marketing, Sales, Interpersonal Communication / Persuasion / Social Influence / Language and Message Variables, Sociology, Ethnomethodology, Conversation Analysis, Mind and Brain. Linguistic Strategies of Persuasion (Commercial, and Sales & Lead Generation
Social psychology has theorized the cognitive processes underlying persuasion, without considering its interactional infrastructure—the discursive actions through which persuasion is accomplished interactionally. Our article aims to fill... more
Social psychology has theorized the cognitive processes underlying persuasion, without considering its interactional infrastructure—the discursive actions through which persuasion is accomplished interactionally. Our article aims to fill this gap, by using discursive psychology and conversation analysis to examine 153 “cold” calls, in which salespeople seek to secure meetings with prospective clients. We identify two sets of communicative practices that comprise persuasive conduct: (1) pre-expanding the meeting request with accounts that secure the prospect’s alignment to this course of action without disclosing its end result and (2) minimizing the imposition of the meeting to reduce the prospect’s opportunities for refusal. We conclude that persuasive conduct consists in managing the recipiency of the meeting requests by promoting alignment and hampering resistance. Overall, this article contributes to the wider discursive psychological project of “respecifying” psychological phenomena such as attitudes, memory, and emotion from the realm of social cognition to the realm of social interaction.
Research Interests:
The present study explored how primary school-aged children from families with a low socioeconomic position produce 'likes' and 'dislikes' of foods during everyday family meals, and how these (dis)likes are understood and... more
The present study explored how primary school-aged children from families with a low socioeconomic position produce 'likes' and 'dislikes' of foods during everyday family meals, and how these (dis)likes are understood and treated by their parents. It is crucial to understand how food preferences develop in the course of everyday life, as it is known that there are socioeconomic disparities in food preference and consumption, and that children from families with a low socioeconomic position have relatively poorer diets. Deploying an interactional approach to food preference, video recordings of 79 evening meals in families with a low socioeconomic position were analyzed using discursive psychology and conversation analysis. The analysis highlighted that children's food likes and dislikes were treated differently by their parents. While likes were routinely not responded to, agreed with or further elaborated, dislikes were predominantly oriented to as food refusals or treated as inappropriate, or non-genuine claims. Children's food assessments, i.e., likes and dislikes, were often disattended by parents when they appeared to be food preference displays. By contrast, assessments that accomplished social actions like refusals and complaints were more often responded to. The analysis also revealed the importance of distinguishing between assessments about food items in general, that were not currently being eaten, and assessments of food eaten here-and-now. All in all, the study evidences that and how assessment sequences open up interactional spaces where children and parents orient to and negotiate relative rights and responsibilities to know, to assess and to accomplish specific actions. Implications for food preference research are discussed.
Research Interests:
Conversation analysts have long since demonstrated that, in responding to an initiating action (e.g., question), recipients have at least two ways to respond; response options (e.g., answer, non-answer) are not equivalent, and ‘preferred’... more
Conversation analysts have long since demonstrated that, in responding to an initiating action (e.g., question), recipients have at least two ways to respond; response options (e.g., answer, non-answer) are not equivalent, and ‘preferred’ responses are typically delivered more rapidly than ‘dispreferred’ responses. This paper examines cases in which ‘preferred’ responses, which progress the preceding actions in productive alignment, are delayed. We combined and analysed four British and American English datasets: mediators talking to potential clients; police negotiators talking to suicidal persons in crisis; calls to emergency services from suicidal persons, and salespeople talking to potential customers. Our analysis revealed that, when one party has resisted the project of the other, delay may indicate an upcoming productive response. Such delays break the sequence's contiguity, thus producing (some) structural independence from a previously dismissed course of action and enabling the speaker to maintain (some) ‘face’, in Goffman's terms. We discuss the implications of these findings for understanding alignment and preference in conversation analysis, and the practices of resistance and persuasion more generally.
Entering the customer's domestic domain: Categorial systematics and the identification of 'parties to a sale' ABSTRACT This paper showcases work in 'categorial systematics' (Stokoe, 2012) and the sequential analysis of categories in... more
Entering the customer's domestic domain: Categorial systematics and the identification of 'parties to a sale' ABSTRACT This paper showcases work in 'categorial systematics' (Stokoe, 2012) and the sequential analysis of categories in interaction, in the context of current developments in membership categorization analysis. It shows how, in a corpus of sales calls, categorial matters are initiated and managed as salespeople elicit information about prospective customers. In particular, our interest is in the turn design of sellers' requests for names, and how men and women customers are asked for their titles (e.g., "is it miss, missus or ms?"). We show that these activities precipitate talk about the customers' domestic domain regarding who comprises 'the buyer' within the membership categorization device 'parties to a sale'. While such requests are apparently mandated by the company, they can produce turbulence as salespeople imply, or attempt to avoid implying, the nature of customers' domestic relationships. The analysis also shows that and how such requests sustain the gendered nature of forms of address. We discuss the implications of the research findings for training salespeople to communicate more effectively with their customers.
This article examines first impressions through a discursive and interactional lens. Until now, social psychologists have studied first impressions in laboratory conditions, in isolation from their natural environment, thus overlooking... more
This article examines first impressions through a discursive and interactional lens. Until now, social psychologists have studied first impressions in laboratory conditions, in isolation from their natural environment, thus overlooking their discursive roles as devices for managing situated interactional concerns. I examine fragments of text and talk in which individuals spontaneously invoke first impressions of other persons as part of assessment activities in settings where the authenticity of speakers’ stances might be threatened: (1) in activities with inbuilt evaluative components and (2) in sequential contexts where recipients have been withholding affiliation to speakers’ actions. I discuss the relationship between authenticity, as a type of credibility issue related to intersubjective trouble, and the characteristics of first impression assessments, which render them useful for dealing with this specific credibility concern. I identify four features of first impression assessments which make them effective in enhancing authenticity: witness positioning (Potter, 1996), (dis)location in time and space, automaticity, and extreme formulations (Edwards, 2003).
Full text available at: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/enhanced/doi/10.1111/bjso.12089/
Full text available at: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/enhanced/doi/10.1111/bjso.12089/
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A FULL version of the paper is available from Loughborough University's Institutional Repository: https://dspace.lboro.ac.uk/2134/24230 The study aims to develop a discursive approach to first impression formation. A topic of social... more
A FULL version of the paper is available from Loughborough University's Institutional Repository: https://dspace.lboro.ac.uk/2134/24230
The study aims to develop a discursive approach to first impression formation. A topic of social psychological inquiry for over 85 years, first impressions are currently studied employing an experimental methodology and a cognitive framework. This research tradition has generated a wealth of knowledge on first impression formation as a cognitive phenomenon, while at the same time systematically neglecting its vernacular manifestation. The chapter addresses this matter through the use of discourse analysis informed by a social psychological framework, examining both verbal and written naturally occurring first impression reports.
In this case study, I recount the strategies, techniques, and resources employed for carrying out a discursive analytic attempt within a discursive social psychological framework. I begin by pointing out the main aspects that discursive social psychology brings to bear upon a theoretical and methodological respecification of first impressions. Then, I describe the stages of my analytic endeavour. Each component is accompanied by practical suggestions derived from experience, as well as by reflexive considerations of the encountered methodological issues and their proposed solutions.
Full text available at http://srmo.sagepub.com/view/methods-case-studies-2014/n60.xml
The study aims to develop a discursive approach to first impression formation. A topic of social psychological inquiry for over 85 years, first impressions are currently studied employing an experimental methodology and a cognitive framework. This research tradition has generated a wealth of knowledge on first impression formation as a cognitive phenomenon, while at the same time systematically neglecting its vernacular manifestation. The chapter addresses this matter through the use of discourse analysis informed by a social psychological framework, examining both verbal and written naturally occurring first impression reports.
In this case study, I recount the strategies, techniques, and resources employed for carrying out a discursive analytic attempt within a discursive social psychological framework. I begin by pointing out the main aspects that discursive social psychology brings to bear upon a theoretical and methodological respecification of first impressions. Then, I describe the stages of my analytic endeavour. Each component is accompanied by practical suggestions derived from experience, as well as by reflexive considerations of the encountered methodological issues and their proposed solutions.
Full text available at http://srmo.sagepub.com/view/methods-case-studies-2014/n60.xml
Research Interests:
In this paper we argue that quantitative survey-based social research essentializes age, through specific rhetorical tools. We outline the device of ‘socio-demographic variables’ and we discuss its argumentative functions, looking at... more
In this paper we argue that quantitative survey-based social research essentializes age, through specific rhetorical tools. We outline the device of ‘socio-demographic variables’ and we discuss its argumentative functions, looking at scientific survey-based analyses of adult scientific literacy, in the Public Understanding of Science research field. ‘Socio-demographics’ are virtually omnipresent in survey literature: they are, as a rule, used and discussed as bundles of independent variables, requiring little, if any, theoretical and measurement attention. ‘Socio-demographics’ are rhetorically effective through their common-sense richness of meaning and inferential power. We identify their main argumentation functions as ‘structure building’, ‘pacification’, and ‘purification’. Socio-demographics are used to uphold causal vocabularies, supporting the transmutation of the descriptive statistical jargon of ‘effects’ and ‘explained variance’ into ‘explanatory factors’. Age can also be studied statistically as a main variable of interest, through the Age-Period-Cohort (APC) disambiguation technique. While this approach has generated interesting findings, it did not mitigate the reductionism that appears when treating age as a socio-demographic variable. By working with age as a ‘socio-demographic variable’, quantitative researchers convert it (inadvertently) into a quasi-biological feature, symmetrical, as regards analytical treatment, with pathogens in epidemiological research.
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Let us ask ourselves: is there a social psychology of olfaction? Bearing in mind that the scientific study of olfaction is mainly conducted in fields like psychology or biology, we could question the role of scents in social interactions.... more
Let us ask ourselves: is there a social psychology of olfaction? Bearing in mind that the scientific study of olfaction is mainly conducted in fields like psychology or biology, we could question the role of scents in social interactions. Nevertheless, knowing that human beings are first and foremost “social animals”, we can argue that our sense of smell is deeply involved in everyday life, influencing our behavior as well as being influenced by our interactions with others.
The interest for the scientific study of olfaction has resulted in the accurate description of olfactory stimuli reception, transmission and interpretation. The various cerebral structures involved in these processes have been identified and intensely studied. However, social psychologists, unlike biologists, have not shown the same interest in olfactory phenomena, probably because it has been established that, compared to animals, humans make less use of their sense of smell. Therefore, our ability to control, interpret and act upon olfactory stimuli is less developed, thus diminishing the importance of scents and the excitement for their social psychological study.
Nonetheless, etiologists argue that human beings still poses few characteristics which they share with other species, such as pheromones, those “airborne chemical signals emitted by an individual that trigger specific neuroendocrine, behavioral, or developmental responses in other individuals of the same species” (Jacob, Zelano, Hayreh şi McClintock, 2002, 178).
Although their functions are not yet fully established, human pheromones are supposed to influence our lives in ways we don’t even begin to imagine. This is probably why the quest for deciphering their role has already begun and why perfume companies are trying to use them to their pecuniary advantage.
Some of the social psychological studies on olfaction begin with its biological roots and reveal its influences on emotions, behavior and attitudes. This type of research implies mainly that olfactory phenomena are basically chemical reactions with psychological and social consequences. On the other hand, there are studies which focus on the cultural and social meanings ascribed to different fragrances and olfactory – related practices.
Finally, I think we can argue in favor of a social psychology of olfaction, mainly because, as social psychology itself, this research field is prone to a multi-disciplinary approach.
The interest for the scientific study of olfaction has resulted in the accurate description of olfactory stimuli reception, transmission and interpretation. The various cerebral structures involved in these processes have been identified and intensely studied. However, social psychologists, unlike biologists, have not shown the same interest in olfactory phenomena, probably because it has been established that, compared to animals, humans make less use of their sense of smell. Therefore, our ability to control, interpret and act upon olfactory stimuli is less developed, thus diminishing the importance of scents and the excitement for their social psychological study.
Nonetheless, etiologists argue that human beings still poses few characteristics which they share with other species, such as pheromones, those “airborne chemical signals emitted by an individual that trigger specific neuroendocrine, behavioral, or developmental responses in other individuals of the same species” (Jacob, Zelano, Hayreh şi McClintock, 2002, 178).
Although their functions are not yet fully established, human pheromones are supposed to influence our lives in ways we don’t even begin to imagine. This is probably why the quest for deciphering their role has already begun and why perfume companies are trying to use them to their pecuniary advantage.
Some of the social psychological studies on olfaction begin with its biological roots and reveal its influences on emotions, behavior and attitudes. This type of research implies mainly that olfactory phenomena are basically chemical reactions with psychological and social consequences. On the other hand, there are studies which focus on the cultural and social meanings ascribed to different fragrances and olfactory – related practices.
Finally, I think we can argue in favor of a social psychology of olfaction, mainly because, as social psychology itself, this research field is prone to a multi-disciplinary approach.
Research Interests:
This study aims to highlight some of the factors influencing first impression formation. The experiment was conducted on 106 subjects. The first impression was measured using a semantic differential which was constructed for this purpose... more
This study aims to highlight some of the factors influencing first impression formation. The experiment was conducted on 106 subjects. The first impression was measured using a semantic differential which was constructed for this purpose and consists of four dimensions: sociability, moral conduct, power and activity. We hypothesized that focusing attention on different nonverbal cues as well as sound manipulation will determine observers to form different first impressions of the same person. Our study subscribes to the differential information theory (Rebecca M. Warner and D. B. Sugarman, 1986), which the results obtained seem to support.
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This paper aims to highlight the differences between men and women regarding impression formation. It is based on secondary analysis of the data gathered in two previous experiments with similar conditions. However, the hypotheses... more
This paper aims to highlight the differences between men and women regarding impression formation. It is based on secondary analysis of the data gathered in two previous experiments with similar conditions. However, the hypotheses formulated within this study have not been tested before. The current analysis was conducted on 86 participants, 47 males and 39 females. Their ages ranged between 15 and 32, as they were either high school or university students engaged in a master’s program. Their task consisted of watching a 14 seconds long video of a female confederate reading a neutral text and then evaluating her using a semantic differential with four dimensions: sociability, ethics, power and activity. Based on previous studies, it was hypothesized that men and women will form different first impressions of the actor employed in the movie. More precisely, the majority of the studies undertaken in this area compare men and women’s accuracy scores of facial expressions decoding, yielding mostly significant differences, with women achieving higher accuracy. A small percentage has addressed other aspects of social perception like: personality traits or socio-demographic characteristics, yielding similar results. However, the current experiment failed to reveal any differences between men’s and women’s evaluations. Accuracy assessments were disregarded in this study, since establishing unequivocal criteria for personality traits evaluation is yet to be achieved. The results are consistent with a small percentage of the studies conducted on gender differences in social perception and allow multiple interpretations.
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Research Interests: Computer Science, Gender Studies, Media Studies, New Media, Digital Media, and 15 moreCollaboration, Mediated Discourse Analysis, Gender Equality, Computer Supported Collaborative Learning CSCL, Computer Mediated Communication, Collaboration Technology, Crowdsourcing, Crowd Sourcing, Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC), Gender in Mediated Contexts, Women and Gender Studies, Alison Bechdel, Technology Mediated Teaching and Learning, Social Media and Collaborative Technologies, and Bechdel Test
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The presentation is available at: http://bit.ly/FirstImpressionsPhD
The presentation is available at: http://bit.ly/FirstImpressionsEXP
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The presentation is available at: http://tinyurl.com/pywuydv
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The Open Science Movement aims to enhance the soundness, transparency, and accessibility of scientific research, and at the same time increase public trust in science. Currently, Open Science practices are mainly presented as solutions to... more
The Open Science Movement aims to enhance the soundness, transparency, and accessibility of scientific research, and at the same time increase public trust in science. Currently, Open Science practices are mainly presented as solutions to the ‘reproducibility crisis’ in hypothetico-deductive quantitative research. Increasing interest has been shown towards exploring how these practices can be adopted by qualitative researchers. In reviewing this emerging body of work, we conclude that the issue of diversity within qualitative research has not been adequately addressed. Furthermore, we find that many of these endeavours start with existing solutions for which they are trying to find matching problems to be solved. We contrast this approach with a natural incorporation of Open Science practices within interaction analysis and its constituent research traditions: conversation analysis, discursive psychology, ethnomethodology, and membership categorisation analysis. Zooming in on the development of conversation analysis starting in the 1960s, we highlight how practices for opening up and sharing data and analytic thinking have been embedded into its methodology. On the basis of this presentation, we propose a series of lessons learned for adopting Open Science practices in qualitative research.
Research Interests: Sociology, Psychology, Cognitive Science, Qualitative studies (Psychology), Conversation Analysis, and 14 moreQualitative methodology, Discursive Social Psychology, Discursive Psychology, Conversation Analysis (Research Methodology), Qualitative Research, Ethnomethodology, Attitudes (Social Psychology), Qualitative Research Methods, Open Data, Conversation, Membership Categorisation Analysis, Open science, Replication, and Reproducibility Crisis
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In everyday interaction, subtle manifestations of sexism often pass unacknowledged and become internalised and thus perceived as “natural” conduct. The introduction of new vocabularies for referring to previously unnamed sexist conduct... more
In everyday interaction, subtle manifestations of sexism often pass unacknowledged and become internalised and thus perceived as “natural” conduct. The introduction of new vocabularies for referring to previously unnamed sexist conduct would presumably enable individuals to start problematising hitherto unchallengeable sexism. In this paper, we investigate whether and how these vocabularies empower people to speak out against sexism. We focus on the use of the term “mansplaining” which, although coined over 10 years ago, remains controversial and contested. Using Conversation Analysis and Membership Categorisation Analysis, this paper excavates the interactional methods individuals use to formulate, in vivo, some prior spate of talk as mansplaining. In doing so, speakers necessarily reformulate a co-participant’s social action to highlight its sexist nature. Accusations of mansplaining are accomplished by invoking gender (and other) categories and their associated rights to knowledg...
Research Interests: Discourse Analysis, Psychology, Gender Studies, Languages and Linguistics, Language and Gender, and 15 moreConversation Analysis, Discursive Psychology, Gender, Feminism, Ethnomethodology, Membership Categorisation Analysis, Categories, Sexism, Epistemics, Complaints, Accusations, Public health systems and services research, Kategoriat, Mansplaining, and keskustelunanalyysi
This paper aims to highlight the differences between men and women regarding impressionformation. It is based on secondary analysis of the data gathered in two previous experiments withsimilar conditions. However, the hypotheses... more
This paper aims to highlight the differences between men and women regarding impressionformation. It is based on secondary analysis of the data gathered in two previous experiments withsimilar conditions. However, the hypotheses formulated within this study have not been testedbefore. The current analysis was conducted on 86 participants, 47 males and 39 females. Their agesranged between 15 and 32, as they were either high school or university students engaged in amaster's program. Their task consisted of watching a 14 seconds long video of a female confederatereading a neutral text and then evaluating her using a semantic differential with four dimensions:sociability, ethics, power and activity. Based on previous studies, it was hypothesized that men andwomen will form different first impressions of the actor employed in the movie. More precisely, themajority of the studies undertaken in this area compare men and women's accuracy scores of facialexpressions decoding, yieldi...
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The aim of this thesis is to break new ground by investigating the interactional organisation of real events that comprise live business-to-business cold calls. Despite being a ubiquitous part of everyday life, we know very little about... more
The aim of this thesis is to break new ground by investigating the interactional organisation of real events that comprise live business-to-business cold calls. Despite being a ubiquitous part of everyday life, we know very little about how cold calls are initiated, progressed, and completed. Cold calls are unsolicited telephone encounters, initiated by salespeople aiming to get prospective clients ( prospects ) interested in their services, with the distal goal of turning them into clients and the proximal goal of getting them to agree to an initial meeting. Cold calls are often treated as a nuisance by call-takers, and salespeople must deal with reluctant gatekeepers, recurrent sales resistance, and the occasional hang-up. The training they receive often draws on outdated theories of communication and is rarely supported by empirical evidence. Thus, this study not only addresses an important domain for interactional research, but also fulfils a practical necessity for empirical re...
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We analyze the presentation software Prezi as an evocative object and a talkative technology that engages users in diverse web-based learning situations. Prezi claims to offer an alternative to a much ridiculed PowerPoint, and Prezi’s... more
We analyze the presentation software Prezi as an evocative object and a talkative technology that engages users in diverse web-based learning situations. Prezi claims to offer an alternative to a much ridiculed PowerPoint, and Prezi’s rhetorical options indeed privilege storytelling and metaphors through spatial organization, movement, and visuals. Still, we argue that many educational prezis in psychology fall short of such aims, relying on bullet points in a decorated, quasi slide-based document. The Prezi company, together with dedicated commercial and professional users, create a talkative and plurivocal technology, with a flow of tutorials and showcased presentations. Nonetheless, we propose that these voices leave important aspects uncovered for educational users, and we argue that the Prezi team should redefine its author guidance strategy. The paper is structured as follows: we first discuss the significance of presentation tools for learning. We then go on to investigate wh...
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In this paper we argue that online forums are a valuable resource for teaching and learning specific analytical skills required for empathetic understanding, especially for students in the social professions - such as sociology, social... more
In this paper we argue that online forums are a valuable resource for teaching and learning specific analytical skills required for empathetic understanding, especially for students in the social professions - such as sociology, social work, psychology, etc. Empathy refers to the capacity of understanding the situation of another person - that is, understanding his or her definition of the situation and the symbolic universe in which elements of the situation become meaningful and shape actions. This capacity is cultivated through daily social interaction, and it can also be trained in educational settings. Empathy can be improved through analytical skills, consisting in the capacity to identify core symbolic elements of a persons' situation and then to reconstruct her perspective. A key resource for cultivating the analytical skills required for empathetic understanding consists in the diversity of perspectives of multiple persons engaged in interaction on a common topic. Onlin...
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In everyday interaction, subtle manifestations of sexism often pass unacknowledged and become internalised and thus perceived as “natural” conduct. The introduction of new vocabularies for referring to previously unnamed sexist conduct... more
In everyday interaction, subtle manifestations of sexism often pass unacknowledged and become internalised and thus perceived as “natural” conduct. The introduction of new vocabularies for referring to previously unnamed sexist conduct would presumably enable individuals to start problematising hitherto unchallengeable sexism. In this paper, we investigate whether and how these vocabularies empower people to speak out against sexism. We focus on the use of the term “mansplaining” which, although coined over 10 years ago, remains controversial and contested. Using Conversation Analysis and Membership Categorisation Analysis, this paper excavates the interactional methods individuals use to formulate, in vivo, some prior spate of talk as mansplaining. In doing so, speakers necessarily reformulate a co-participant’s social action to highlight its sexist nature. Accusations of mansplaining are accomplished by invoking gender (and other) categories and their associated rights to knowledg...
Research Interests: Discourse Analysis, Psychology, Gender Studies, Languages and Linguistics, Language and Gender, and 15 moreConversation Analysis, Discursive Psychology, Gender, Feminism, Ethnomethodology, Membership Categorisation Analysis, Categories, Sexism, Epistemics, Complaints, Accusations, Public health systems and services research, Kategoriat, Mansplaining, and keskustelunanalyysi
Research Interests: Discourse Analysis, Semiotics, Sociology, Psychology, Cognitive Science, and 15 moreSocial Psychology, Conversation Analysis, Qualitative methodology, Qualitative Methods, Discursive Social Psychology, Discursive Psychology, Qualitative Research, Persuasion, Qualitative Research Methods, Medicine, Interactional Linguistics, Bf, Hm, H, and P
Research Interests: Business, Marketing, Discourse Analysis, Conversation Analysis, Discursive Social Psychology, and 14 moreDiscursive Psychology, Direct selling, Applied Linguistics, Sales Management, Personal Selling, Sales and Marketing, Telemarketing, Bf, Hm, Selling, Sales Marketing, Sales & Lead Generation, H, and Psychology and Cognitive Sciences
Research Interests: Discourse Analysis, Sociology, Psychology, Qualitative studies (Psychology), Conversation Analysis, and 15 moreQualitative methodology, Qualitative Methods, Discursive Social Psychology, Discursive Psychology, Critical Discourse Analysis, Qualitative Research, Ethnomethodology, Qualitative Research Methods, Business and Management, Qualitative Methodologies, Qualitative data analysis, Qualitative Analysis, Bf, Routledge, and Qualitative Psychology
Research Interests: Discourse Analysis, Sociology, Psychology, Social Psychology, Conversation Analysis, and 15 morePersuasion (Psychology), Discursive Social Psychology, Discursive Psychology, Discourse, Critical Social Psychology, Ethnomethodology, Persuasion, Attitude change, Social Influence, Business and Management, Sales, Bf, Hm, Routledge, and Qualitative Psychology
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This article examines first impressions through a discursive and interactional lens. Until now, social psychologists have studied first impressions in laboratory conditions, in isolation from their natural environment, thus overseeing... more
This article examines first impressions through a discursive and interactional lens. Until now, social psychologists have studied first impressions in laboratory conditions, in isolation from their natural environment, thus overseeing their discursive roles as devices for managing situated interactional concerns. I examine fragments of text and talk in which individuals spontaneously invoke first impressions of other persons as part of assessment activities in settings where the authenticity of speakers' stances might be threatened: (1) in activities with inbuilt evaluative components and (2) in sequential contexts where recipients have been withholding affiliation to speakers' actions. I discuss the relationship between authenticity, as a type of credibility issue related to intersubjective trouble, and the characteristics of first impression assessments, which render them useful for dealing with this specific credibility concern. I identify four features of first impressio...
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Social psychology has theorized the cognitive processes underlying persuasion, without considering its interactional infrastructure—the discursive actions through which persuasion is accomplished interactionally. Our article aims to fill... more
Social psychology has theorized the cognitive processes underlying persuasion, without considering its interactional infrastructure—the discursive actions through which persuasion is accomplished interactionally. Our article aims to fill this gap, by using discursive psychology and conversation analysis to examine 153 “cold” calls, in which salespeople seek to secure meetings with prospective clients. We identify two sets of communicative practices that comprise persuasive conduct: (1) pre-expanding the meeting request with accounts that secure the prospect’s alignment to this course of action without disclosing its end result and (2) minimizing the imposition of the meeting to reduce the prospect’s opportunities for refusal. We conclude that persuasive conduct consists in managing the recipiency of the meeting requests by promoting alignment and hampering resistance. Overall, this article contributes to the wider discursive psychological project of “respecifying” psychological phen...