Browsing by Author "Lehtonen, Noora"
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Lehtonen, Noora (2015)Aims. The purpose of this study was to show how emotions are displayed in repair sequences and how these emotion displays are linked to knowing and understanding. The theoretical framework was learning and emotions as social actions, constructed and displayed in interaction. Previous research has demonstrated that repair sequences are often situations in which learning is done. This research focuses on other-initiated repairs, which are often face threatening, and thus relevant for the study of emotion displays. Methods. The data were a set of videos of high school students' everyday interactions in and outside school. The data were originally recorded for the Språkmöten project during autumn 2011 and spring 2013. From the videos, I chose repair sequences in which emotions were clearly observable. I analyzed them using conversation analysis. Results and conclusions. There was a lot of laughter in repair sequences. Laughter was used throughout the repair sequence and it had many different functions. It was used to mitigate face threats, to construct a positive atmosphere and a sense of solidarity and to display joy of understanding. Laughter was also used to mock others for their mistakes or ignorance and to display one's epistemic position. Amazement and frustration were also displayed in repair sequences. Amazement was displayed as part of the repair initiation. It emphasized the participant's epistemic position as not-knowing. Frustration was displayed in or after the repair turn. Displays of frustration were linked to situations in which participants realized their mistake or misunderstanding, or had to explain something repeatedly. The study demonstrates empirically that laughter in repair situations is not always an indication of joy of learning. Further research is needed on how participants' institutional roles and differences in status affect emotion displays, for example the use of laughter, in repair sequences. In further studies the same methods may also be applied to explore emotions in other learning situations and contexts.
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Lehtonen, Noora (2022)Friendship can be defined as long-term social bonds between non-kin, characterized by mutual affection and support. Friendship is often studied in dyadic interactions or in ego-networks, but less is known about the group level processes of friendship. This thesis investigates factors related to maintenance of adult friendships over longer periods of time, using real-life, retrospective data of friendship groups formed during the study years and maintained well into adulthood. Based on group research in cognitive and social psychology and evolutionary theories on friendship and cooperation, I am especially interested in the effect of group size and group bonding on group success, as well as the role of possible gender differences. Using data from the Fraternity Friendship Study (N = 284), collected from fraternity alumni members, I investigate factors that help adult friendship groups succeed over time. The friendship groups were between 5 and 18 members in size and were formed 12-24 years ago. The survey data regard aspects of fraternity activities and friendship groups both at the time of studies and at present. Group success is measured as group bonding (the Inclusion-of-Other-in-Self or IOS scale), reflecting the members’ emotional closeness towards the group, and meeting frequency. Qualitative aspects of group functioning are also examined. Results show that group success was related to group size at the time of group formation, as well as with qualitative aspects of the group, such as information flow, perceived homophily, and perceived attractiveness of the friends in the group. Group bonding moderated the effect of group size on meeting frequency, so that smaller groups benefitted more of bonding. Group bonding was also itself an important factor for how active the groups remained over the years. Group success did not differ between male and female friendship groups: bonding, meeting frequency, and group size did not vary by gender. However, group size had a slightly larger effect for the maintenance of female friendships, compared to male groups: especially small female groups were more likely to lose contact. Overall, a group size of approximately 10 members or more, roughly corresponding to sympathy group in the layered social network model, was found to be beneficial for group success.
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