Antony J. Chapman

EEG correlates of eye contact and interpersonal distance

The EEG of 18 male subjects was monitored while the subject gazed at the eyes of a male experimenter located 2, 4, 8, 16 or 32 ft from the subject. The experimenter either gazed directly at the subject or averted his eyes. EEG arousal was highest when the experimenter was at 2 ft and gazing into the subjects eyes. EEG arousal diminished as a function of distance, while arousal for direct gaze was always higher than for averted gaze, whatever the distance.

Social facilitation of laughter in children

Abstract This experiment was designed primarily to show that laughter can be socially facilitated. Independent groups of 7-yr-old children listened on headphones to amusing material under three conditions: they were tested in isolation (alone condition), with a nonlistening companion (audience condition), or with another who also listened to the material (coaction condition). Pairs of children were of like sex. The companions from the audience condition listened on a later occasion. Total times spent laughing and smiling were highest in the coaction condition, and were higher in the audience condition than in the alone condition. The data provide some support for Zajoncs “mere presence” hypothesis. They are also discussed in relation to: (1) informational aspects of laughter; (2) the relationship between overt expressive responses and subjective ratings of funniness; (3) an operational definition of “mirth”; (4) sex differences in laughter and smiling.

Noise in the environment: A social perspective

Abstract This is a review of findings relating to the social effects of loud noise. Evidence is drawn from four areas of research: noise annoyance, mental health, social behaviour and performance. It is suggested that noise may bring about strategic changes in behaviour by masking speech and acoustic variation and by its action as a stressor. Based on a range of evidence from laboratory and naturalistic settings three factors are isolated which form a basis for a comprehensive theory of the social effects of noise: (a) social interaction is disrupted by the masking of sounds; (b) the weighting of interpersonal judgements is changed; and (c) noisy settings are perceived as aversive, which governs the utility of social engagement.

The Perception of Art: The Cognitive Approach and Its Context

Publisher Summary Cognitive processes help to break down a compartmentalization in the investigation of art. Emotional responses have been studied separately from cognitive aspects and social psychological perspectives. Research into cognition and affect, and social cognition promises possibilities for more integrated theories of the perception of art. The chapter demonstrates progress thus far in the new field of the cognitive psychology of art. The pictures, drawings, songs, and pieces of music can be studied directly with methodological rigor and sophistication. Cognitive psychology introduces a broader set of dependent variables into experimental aesthetics: it breaks away from an over-reliance on measures of preference and liking, and judgments of pleasingness and interest. It is not obvious from an examination of art criticism that these traditional measures reflect the most salient constructs with which spectators confront art-works.

Eliciting children’s and adults’ accounts of road accidents

Psychological knowledge from eye-witness research is applied here to the particular problem of reporting road accidents. Thereby the paper highlights some of the assumptions in eye-witness research. The interface between that research and the reporting of road accidents is examined by reference to existing social psychological notions. These are notions about questioning and about hypothesis testing. The paper makes special reference to the questioning of child witnesses because problems therein are particularly acute.

The safety of CNC and robot technology

Abstract The incidence of robot and CNC related accidents has not been considered a significant occupational safety issue. It is suggested that this is partly due to a process of denial arising from the belief that accidents involving such machines cannot occur except in cases of gross negligence. It is argued that control processes founded on advances in information technology redistribute the risk of injury rather than eliminate that risk. This is likely to lead to the replacement of ‘traditional’ accidents, about which we know quite a lot, with information technology accidents, about which we know relatively little.

Arousal and the Bakan vigilance task: The effects of noise intensity and the presence of others

The joint effects of social setting and loud noise on task performance are examined. In a modified version of the Bakan vigilance task subjects were required to detect a sequence of two identical even digits and to report the two digits preceding the signal. Two types of acoustic environment were compared: loud noise at 90 dBC and quiet noise at 60 dBC. Two types of social setting were employed: “pair” where two subjects worked in the same room on similar tasks, and “single” where a subject performed the task alone. The effects of noise and the presence of another did not interact. Loud noise increased the speed of responses to signals early in the task. This effect is attributed to noise-induced arousal. There was a higher incidence of recall errors in pre-signal digits when subjects were in pairs. This effect is attributed to distraction.

Road safety and driver behaviour

This paper briefly summarizes research efforts concerned with road safety as related to driver behavior. From the perspective that accidents result from inability to cope with the traffic environment, research efforts for preventive measures have centered on engineering, education, and enforcement. Psychological research on accident prevention or countermeasures has concentrated upon road user behavior and upon individual, social, and environmental factors which contribute to accident causation. In relation to driving, research has focused in four main areas: the driving task itself and the skills required; driver characteristics and driving styles; driver education and training; and the effects on driving performance of physiological, psychological or drug-induced states. It is then pointed out that this issue of Ergonomics contains papers which embrace these four fields of research in driver behavior. A brief description of each paper is followed by a few concluding remarks which point to the vital necessity of such research efforts.

Perceived control in continuous loud noise

The effects of two types of perceived control were assessed for performance during and following exposure to continuous loud noise at 90 dBC. Subjects performed a tracking task during exposure and the Stroop test in the period following exposure. Control could be effected either (1) by attenuating the intensity of the noise or (2) by reducing the difficulty of the tracking task. In both cases subjects were encouraged not to exercise control. Performance in treatments involving loud (90 dBC) and soft (55 dBC) noise served as baseline conditions. Perceived control of task difficulty accentuated the tendency for root-mean-square error to rise during the tracking task. There were no significant effects of noise intensi ty on tracking performance. Loud noise reduced the incidence of errors in the Stroop test but perceived control failed to influence this effect. The results are discussed in terms of the generality of perceived control phenomena.

Recreational use of the street by boys and girls: an observational and developmental study

AIM OF EXERCISE: this is an observational exercise in which information is collected as to how boys and girls of various ages use streets for recreational purposes. A simple category system is used for classifying activities. The underlying problem is an important and salient one associated with everyday activities: it is how to account for child pedestrian accidents, and for the marked variation in accident rates associated with age and sex of children: five to nine year olds, especially boys, are involved in most accidents. Specifically the study examines whether trends in published statistics are a function of different amounts or types of street usage, with respect to (i) boys versus girls and (ii) five to nine year olds versus older and younger children.