Dialog as interpersonal synergy

Abstract

a b s t r a c tWhat is the proper unit of analysis in the psycholinguistics of dialog? While classical approaches are largely based on models of individual linguistic processing, recent advances stress the social coordinative nature of dialog. In the influential interactive alignment model, dialogue is thus approached as the progressive entrainment of interlocutors' linguistic behaviors toward the alignment of situation models. Still, the driving mechanisms are attributed to individual cognition in the form of automatic structural priming. Challenging these ideas, we outline a dynamical framework for studying dialog based on the notion of interpersonal synergy. Crucial to this synergetic model is the emphasis on dialog as an emergent, self-organizing, interpersonal system capable of functional coordination. A consequence of this model is that linguistic processes cannot be reduced to the workings of individual cognitive systems but must be approached also at the interpersonal level. From the synergy model follows a number of new predictions: beyond simple synchrony, good dialog affords complementary dynamics, constrained by contextual sensitivity and functional specificity. We substantiate our arguments by reference to recent empirical studies supporting the idea of dialog as interpersonal synergy.

Coordination Matters: Interpersonal Synchrony Influences Collaborative Problem-Solving

“…Consideration of the current Psychology LotM task suggests a similar scenario-sharing and debating opinions would likely lead to better solutions than a primary motivation to seek consensus or agree in the first instance (Civettini, 2007). Indeed, the optimization of communication is a recurring theme among researchers concerned with the functions of interpersonal coordination (e.g., Abney et al, 2015;Fusaroli, Rączaszek-Leonardi, & Tylén, 2014;Marsh, 2013;Riley, Richardson, Shockley, & Ramenzoni, 2011;Shockley, Richardson, & Dale, 2009;Semin, 2007). Here we speculate that the effects of in-phase behavioural synchrony facilitated styles of communication conducive to group-based problem solving.…”

Spectral Analysis of Information Density in Dialogue Predicts Collaborative Task Performance

“…More recently, different theoretical accounts other than IAM, such as interpersonal synergy (Fusaroli et al, 2014) and complexity matching (Abney et al, 2014) have been proposed to explain the mechanism of successful dialogue from the perspective of dynamic systems. Fusaroli and Tylén (2016) compare the approaches of interactive alignment and interpersonal synergy in terms of how well they predict the collective performance in a joint task.…”

Grasping intersubjectivity: an invitation to embody social interaction research

“…We are currently witnessing an interactive-experiential turn in social cognition research, and an explosion of studies on the dynamics of embodied interactions between people, in fields ranging from neuroscience, over psychopathology and psychotherapy, to linguistics (Dumas et al 2011;Ramseyer and Tschacher 2008;Di Paolo and De Jaegher 2012;Schilbach et al 2013;Timmermans and Schilbach 2014;Fusaroli et al 2014). At the same time, there is increasing recognition of the indelible role that the subjective experience of interacting -of interpersonal connecting -plays in how we understand each other (Pfeiffer et al 2014).…”