Christian Christopherson and Michael J. Crowley Influence of the Social Laugh Track: Studying Social Cues and Perceptions of Understanding Christian Christopherson and Michael J. Crowley Longwood University Abstract Method Cue Presented Comedy Score M, (SD) Horror Score Laughter Cue 3.41, (1.97) 2.17, (1.70) No Cue 2.72, (1.90) 2.44, (1.64) Shock Cue 2.31, (1.74) 3.08, (2.05) Participants This research explores how certain social cues, such as laughter or shock, influence participant’s understanding of an ambiguous source material. Two social cues were manipulated using a confederate, who either laughed or gasped, to test how participants reacted to the cues while listening to an audio with no meaning. Small groups of participants had to fill out a questionnaire to measure if they associated with the social cue. The faces of the participants were also recorded during the experiment to see if they mimicked the confederate’s social cue. The belief is held that the participants will associate with the social cues during the trials that the confederate presents cues, based on the idea of conformity to societal norms. Our findings suggest that social cues are taken in to account when trying to understand ambiguous source material. Participants were recruited from a southern liberal arts college through the psychology departments online study recruitment system (SONA). Participants received extra credit in their psychology courses for attending We had a total of 58 participants with an age range of 18 to 26 ( M = 19.19) with 46 females and 12 males. Class rank consisted of 36 underclassmen and 12 upperclassman Procedure The participants filled out each set of questions on the questionnaire after each trial. During the first and third trial runs, the confederate administered the social cue at the half way point in the video (Appx. 60 seconds). The cue order would be laughter in the first trial, the control in the second, and hock in the third. This order was reversed after each group to account for sequencing effects. After all three trials were completed the participants were asked to fill out our manipulation check, asking them if any other participants shared their feelings, and then they were debriefed. We had originally looked for the chameleon effect, by coding for mimicked behavior by the participants in response to the confederate through video recordings of our experimental trials. Background The context and syntax of a situation are important in the ability to understand a conversation. Any manipulation of the context or syntax and the perception of the event is changed (Glisan, 1985) .Social factors are another key component in understanding language in a conversational situation. Social identity and “self conscious” emotions have been shown to play a role in political polarization through conformity (Suhay, 2015). The idea that individuals unconsciously mimic others behaviors in social interactions as it builds trust and understanding between the two individuals (Chartrand & Bargh, 1999, 893 – 910) IV: Social cue presented by the confederate. Either Laughter, Shock, or no cue (acting as our control). DV: Participant’s ratings of the source material’s genre under the different social cue trials. And their behavioral responses to the introduction of the social cue. Hypotheses Participant’s ratings of the genre as “comedy” would be higher under the laughter social cue than the corresponding ratings with no cue, and the shock cue Participant’s ratings of the genre as a “horror” would be higher under the shock social cue than the corresponding ratings with no cue, and the laughter cue Results Discussion Two one-way repeated measure analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used to show a significant difference in the participants reporting of the audio file as a comedy, and as a horror, depending on the social cue presented F value for comedy F(2,114) = 11.81, p < .01, η2 = .17 Our data and analysis supported both of our hypothesis The post hoc tests revealed that Comedy was rated as more likely under the laugh social cue trial than under the shock trial, and under our control trial. Horror was rated as significantly more likely under the shock social cue trial than under the laughter trial, and under our control trial. These results fit with the research that theorize manipulation of the context and social situation that the perception takes place in can alter it. The experimental setting may have inhibited the chameleon effect from occurring So much power, not enough effect Within subject design gave our study an incredibly high power, .99 and .92 for the two ANOVAs, which may give an inaccurate picture of the true effectiveness of our IV’s effect on our DV. Future research: Classroom setting – Social cues influence in the understanding and learning of a foreign language classroom. F value for horror F(2,114) = 7.49, p < .01, η2 = .11 Materials Two minutes of recorded ambiguous conversation. Our audio clip consisted of a conversation between two people in Swahili. A Confederate: we worked with the same 20 year old, female junior in all of our trials Two Camcorders Our questionnaire asked participants to rate their perception of the audio files genre on a 1 (least likely) to 7 (most likely) for the genres Comedy, Documentary, Horror, and Sports Comedy scores under the laughter cue were significantly higher than under the shock cue p = .01. There was no significant difference in comedy scores when no cue was presented compared to when the laughter cue was presented, and when the shock cue was presented. Horror scores under the shock cue were significantly higher than under the laughter cue p = .04. There was no significant difference in horror scores when no cue was presented compared to when the laughter cue was presented, and when the shock cue was presented. In coding we as researchers could not come to a consensus that a single participant met the requirements for “mimicked” behavior. References Chartrand, T., & Bargh, J., (1999). The chameleon effect: The perception–behavior link and social interaction. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol 76(6), Jun 1999, 893-910. Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.76.6.893 Glisan, E., (1985). The effect of word order on listening comprehension and pattern retention: An experiment in Spanish as a foreign language. Language Learning, Vol 35(3), Sep 1985, 443-472. Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-1770.1985.tb01087.x Suhay, E. (2015). Explaining group influence: The role of identity and emotion in political conformity and polarization. Political Behavior, Vol 37(1), Mar 2015, 221-251. Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11109-014-9269-1