Empathic accuracy and interpersonal coordination: behavior matching can enhance accuracy but interactional synchrony may not.

The study considered two major facets of interpersonal coordination, namely, behavior matching (posture mirroring) and interactional synchrony, and investigated whether interpersonal coordination enhanced empathic accuracy. Interactional synchrony was further classified into simultaneous movement and interaction rhythms. Participants engaged in an eight-minute conversation with a same-gender unacquainted partner and an empathic accuracy task. Each participant viewed the interaction video and reported their thoughts and feelings at pre-determined points of time. Afterward, they rewatched the video and inferred the thoughts and feelings of their partners. The study employed OpenPose, 2D pose estimation software of human body, to quantify posture and bodily movement, which were used to determine coordination. The results indicated that behavior matching was positively associated with empathic accuracy, whereas rhythmic convergence in synchrony was negatively associated with accuracy in female dyads. The additional analysis explored the temporal relationship between coordination and accuracy, which indicated a cause-effect tendency during interactions.

Evaluating Interpersonal Synchrony: Wavelet Transform Toward an Unstructured Conversation.

This study examined whether interpersonal synchrony could be extracted using spectrum analysis (i.e., wavelet transform) in an unstructured conversation. Sixty-two female undergraduates were randomly paired and they engaged in a 6-min unstructured conversation. Interpersonal synchrony was evaluated by calculating the cross-wavelet coherence of the time-series movement data, extracted using a video-image analysis software. The existence of synchrony was tested using a pseudo-synchrony paradigm. In addition, the frequency at which the synchrony occurred and the distribution of the relative phase was explored. The results showed that the value of cross-wavelet coherence was higher in the experimental participant pairs than in the pseudo pairs. Further, the coherence value was higher in the frequency band under 0.5 Hz. These results support the validity of evaluating interpersonal synchron Behavioral mimicry and interpersonal syyby using wavelet transform even in an unstructured conversation. However, the role of relative phase was not clear; there was no significant difference between each relative-phase region. The theoretical contribution of these findings to the area of interpersonal coordination is discussed.

[Ranking assessment of the General Health Questionnaire using Latent Rank Theory].

The latent rank structure of the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) was examined and a methodology for "ranking assessment" for use in clinical screening was suggested. Clinical screening is conducted by using dichotomous methods, which is problematic. Recent research has introduced the concept of ranking assessment, which is conducted by dividing clients into ordinal groups according to the Latent Rank Theory (LRT). Participants (N = 949, including 80 neurotic patients) completed the GHQ. They were then divided into four ordinal groups according to LRT. The usual cut-off point of the GHQ (16/17 points) distinguished the third and fourth rank group as the clinical group and the first-rank group as the healthy group. However, the second rank group was classified as neither a healthy or clinical group. These results indicate that the LRT has the potential to facilitate practical and flexible clinical screening.

[The influence of affect on satisfaction with conversations and interpersonal impressions from the perspective of dyadic affective combinations].

This study examined the influence of affect on interpersonal relationships in a dyadic communication context. The combination of speakers' affective states was considered, as compared to previous studies which considered only the individual's affective state. The independent variables, in a between-subjects design, were affective condition (positive vs. negative) and affective combination (similar vs. dissimilar). Participants (N = 86) took a test on creative thinking and were given false feedback. Then they had a 6-minute conversation and answered questions about their satisfaction with the conversation and their impressions of their partner. Results showed that the two-factor interactions were significant for satisfaction with the conversation and interpersonal impressions (social desirability) of the partner. The scores for these variables in the positive affect condition were higher than in the negative affect condition only when the affective combination was dissimilar. These results show that individual's affect could not predict conversational outcomes. The results were discussed in terms of incorrect inferences about the partner's affective state and imbalanced conversation activity.

Effects of gaze and speech rate on receivers' evaluations of persuasive speech.

This study examined how gaze and speech rate affect perceptions of a speaker. Participants viewed a video recording of one of four persuasive messages delivered by a female speaker. Analysis of speech rate, gaze, and listener's sex revealed that when combined with a small amount of gaze, slow speech rate decreased trustworthiness as compared to a fast speech rate. For women, slow speech rate was thought to be indicative of less expertise as compared to a fast speech rate, again when combined with low gaze. There were no significant interactions, but there were main effects of gaze and speech rate on persuasiveness. High levels of gaze and slow speech rate each enhanced perceptions of the speaker's persuasiveness.

[Compensatory self-enhancement as a strategy for the multiple audience problem].

This study examined how people can handle the multiple audience problem of self-presentation (Fleming, 1994), when faced with two or more audiences while simultaneously wanting each audience to form or maintain a different impression of the presenter. In the laboratory, female participants had a brief conversation with either an opposite-sex (male) or a same-sex (female) confederate. The results showed that when no one else observed the conversation, the participants presented themselves as physically attractive to the opposite-sex more than to the same-sex audience. On the other hand, when another same-sex individual was observing the conversation, the participants presented themselves to the opposite-sex audience as less physically attractive but more socially desirable and friendly. The importance of this compensatory self-enhancement strategy in the multiple-audience situation is discussed.

[The structure of interaction in romantic relationships: hierarchical data analysis of inter-subjectivity between partners].

A hierarchical data analysis was conducted using data from couples to examine how self-reports of interactions between partners in romantic relationships predict the quality of the relationships. Whereas the social exchange theory has elucidated the quality of relationships from the individual level of subjectivity, this study focused on the structure of interactions between the partners (i.e., the frequency, strength, and diversity) through a process of inter-subjectivity at the couple level. A multilevel covariance structure analysis of 194 university students involved in romantic relationships revealed that the quality of relationships was mainly related to the strength and the diversity of interactions at the couple level, rather than the strength of interactions at the individual level. These results indicate that the inter-subjective process in romantic relationships may primarily explain the quality of relationships.

Patterns and universals of mate poaching across 53 nations: the effects of sex, culture, and personality on romantically attracting another person's partner.

As part of the International Sexuality Description Project, 16,954 participants from 53 nations were administered an anonymous survey about experiences with romantic attraction. Mate poaching--romantically attracting someone who is already in a relationship--was most common in Southern Europe, South America, Western Europe, and Eastern Europe and was relatively infrequent in Africa, South/Southeast Asia, and East Asia. Evolutionary and social-role hypotheses received empirical support. Men were more likely than women to report having made and succumbed to short-term poaching across all regions, but differences between men and women were often smaller in more gender-egalitarian regions. People who try to steal another's mate possess similar personality traits across all regions, as do those who frequently receive and succumb to the poaching attempts by others. The authors conclude that human mate-poaching experiences are universally linked to sex, culture, and the robust influence of personal dispositions.

Universal sex differences in the desire for sexual variety: tests from 52 nations, 6 continents, and 13 islands.

Evolutionary psychologists have hypothesized that men and women possess both long-term and short-term mating strategies, with men's short-term strategy differentially rooted in the desire for sexual variety. In this article, findings from a cross-cultural survey of 16,288 people across 10 major world regions (including North America, South America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Southern Europe, Middle East, Africa, Oceania, South/Southeast Asia, and East Asia) demonstrate that sex differences in the desire for sexual variety are culturally universal throughout these world regions. Sex differences were evident regardless of whether mean, median, distributional, or categorical indexes of sexual differentiation were evaluated. Sex differences were evident regardless of the measures used to evaluate them. Among contemporary theories of human mating, pluralistic approaches that hypothesize sex differences in the evolved design of short-term mating provide the most compelling account of these robust empirical findings.

[Early adult attachment styles and social adjustment].

We conducted this study in order to examine the relationships between early adult attachment styles and social adjustment, such as mental health and self-perception in the context of close relationships. Questionnaires were administered, 460 undergraduates participated in the study, and their data were analyzed. Results showed that secure attachment was positively related to better mental health and positive self-perception in close relationships. In contrast, insecure attachment, especially ambivalent style, was negatively related to social adjustment. As for attachment dimensions, "Anxiety" was significantly associated with negative states in mental health, such as anxiety, insomnia, and sever depression, and lower self-perceived confidence in close relationships, and "Avoidance" with low self-perceived sociability and attractiveness in close relationships. These results were discussed in terms of the theoretical concepts of adult attachment styles.