Mobile Social Physiology as the Future of Relationship Research and Therapy: Presentation of the Bio-App for Bonding (BAB)

Abstract

Psychological science is in a transitional period: Many findings do not replicate and theories appear not as robust as previously presumed. We suspect that a main reason for theories not appearing as robust is because they are too simple. In this paper, we provide an important step towards this transition in the field of interpersonal relationship research by 1) providing an overarching theoretical framework grounded in existing relationship science, and 2) outlining a novel approach - mobile social physiology – that relies on intelligent technologies like wearable sensors, actuators, and modern analytical methods. At the core of our theoretical principles is co-regulation (one partner’s [statistical] co-dependency on the other partner). Co-regulation has long existed in the literature, but has to date been largely untested. To test the outlined principles, we 3) present a newly programmed app – the Bio-App for Bonding (available on GitHub: https://github.com/co-relab/bioapp). By providing a paradigm shift for relationship research, the field can not only increase the accuracy of measurement and the generalizability of findings, it also allows for moving from the lab to real life situations. We discuss how the mobile social physiology approach is rooted in existing theoretical principles (e.g., Social Baseline and Attachment Theory), extends the concept of co-regulation to allow for specific measurements, and provides a research agenda to develop a model of interpersonal relationships that we hope will stand the test of time.

Validation of the ISP131001 Sensor for Mobile Peripheral Body Temperature Measurement

“…The overall size of the device is 12.5 × 25 × 3 mm. The sensor communicates via Bluetooth Low Energy with an open-source smartphone app that our lab, the CO-RE Lab, developed: the Bio-App for Bonding (Frederiks et al, 2018;IJzerman et al, 2018). The smartphone app has a temperature module that displays a running log of temperature measurements (see Figure 1 for a photo of the sensor and the smartphone application).…”

“…The smartphone app has a temperature module that displays a running log of temperature measurements (see Figure 1 for a photo of the sensor and the smartphone application). Beyond the temperature module, we also programmed an algorithm into the app to record infant crying, a module to record electrodermal activity, a module to self-report experienced affect through a dial button, an existing experience sampler module, and a module to turn on a device to manipulate temperature, the EmbrWave (Frederiks et al, 2018). However, as the ISP131001 sensor had not been used in behavioral science before, it is unknown how accurate or suitable it is for research.…”

Development and Analysis of Deep Learning Architectures

“…The database for this study consists of three hours of audio recordings (sampled at 44, 100 Hz) of 0-6 month old babies in the Netherlands using off-the-shelf smartphones [87]. The babies were recorded continuously for several days in a domestic environment.…”

Data from the Human Penguin Project, a cross-national dataset testing social thermoregulation principles

“…For that reason, we think that the experience sampling of social experiences and moment-to-moment changes in peripheral temperature is the most promising route to discover socially-based temperature defense mechanisms. Because of rapid improvements in sensor technology, we have been able to develop software for smartphones to record moment-to-moment peripheral temperature fluctiations 45 . These projects should rely on similar data-driven approaches as we utilized here.…”