The goal of this workshop is to present and discuss the theoretical foundations of studying human behaviour as part of an interaction and the commitments this would imply. The participants discuss current methods of data collection and analysis which relevantly contribute to their understanding of interpersonal interactions and allow new questions to be asked.
Humans are social beings: our interaction with others constitutes ourselves in their becoming (Mead, 1934). We talk or sign with one another, use our body for enacting otherwise absent state of affairs, we act together to carry out difficult or complex tasks, or simply walk side by side and say little at all, while our bodies give off meaning by synchronising our gait. In all of these cases, our interaction with one another makes us part of a larger dynamical system, where the behaviours of each individual are constrained by the coordinative dynamics of interaction. But how do we quantify and understand this multidimensional and time-varying interaction? How to deal with categorical and continuous aspects of linguistic sense-making (Raczaszek-Leonardi, 2023). And how do we study (social) behaviours occurring within this dynamic? The recent development of data collection techniques such as video-based motion tracking, as well as more refined, automated speech recognition and prosodic calculations, have enabled the accumulation of multi-modal, multi-scale, (semi-)naturalistic time-series data. Such data allows for descriptions of the dynamics of interpersonal interactions with a precision that was previously impossible. At the same time, the application of non-linear methods to such data may facilitate an explanation of these fundamental phenomena for humans.
Workshop highlights:
- four keynotes by prominent scholars
- hands-on workshop sessions and one poster session
- group work and social events to establish cooperation