Miriam Kyselo

Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Philosophy and Religious Studies, Faculty Member +2Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Philosophy and Religious Studies, Faculty MemberTechnische Universität Berlin, Institut für Philosophie, Faculty MemberTechnische Universität Berlin, Institut of Philosophy, Faculty Member

Enactive cognition +33

I'm a Associate Professor of Philosophy at NTNU, a PI in "Science of Intelligence" a cluster of Excellence funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and the leader of "Inter-Self Lab", an interdisciplinary research group focussed on embodied selfhood and intersubjectivity.
Address: www.inter-self.com
https://miriamkyselo.wordpress.com/
www.scienceofintelligence.de

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Papers

Galbusera, L., Finn, M., Tschacher W. and Kyselo, M. (2019) Interpersonal synchrony feels good but impedes self-regulation of affect, Scientific Reports

by Miriam Kyselo, Laura Galbusera, and Wolfgang Tschacher

Scientific Reports, 2019

The social benefits of interpersonal synchrony are widely recognized. Yet, little is known about ... more The social benefits of interpersonal synchrony are widely recognized. Yet, little is known about its impact on the self. According to enactive cognitive science, the human self for its stability and regulation needs to balance social attunement with disengagement from others. Too much interpersonal synchrony is considered detrimental for a person's ability to self-regulate. In this study, 66 adults took part in the Body-Conversation Task (BCT), a dyadic movement task promoting spontaneous social interaction. Using whole-body behavioural imaging, we investigated the simultaneous impact of interpersonal synchrony (between persons) and intrapersonal synchrony (within a person) on positive affect and self-regulation of affect. We hypothesized that interpersonal synchrony's known tendency to increase positive affect would have a trade-off, decreasing a person's ability to self-regulate affect. Interpersonal synchrony predicted an increase in positive affect. Consistent with our hypothesis, it simultaneously predicted a weakening in self-regulation of affect. Intrapersonal synchrony, however, tended to oppose these effects. Our findings challenge the widespread belief that harmony with others has only beneficial effects, pointing to the need to better understand the impact of interaction dynamics on the stability and regulation of the human self. Humans are no islands, but interconnected social beings. We continuously engage in social interactions and are affected by them in return. Important dimensions of this reciprocal process remain beyond our awareness. They play out as we automatically attune and synchronize our movements and actions with others 1-3. Interpersonal synchrony is beneficial as it functions as a social glue 4 and facilitates harmonious interactions between people 5-7. Considerable evidence shows that synchrony improves cooperative and other social skills 8,9. However, an important question still remains: what is the impact of interpersonal synchrony on the self? In this study we draw on a recent hypothesis in enactive cognitive science, according to which the stability of the self vitally relies on a balance between attunement with others, and the need for independence from them 10,11. Following this, we challenge the widespread assumption that being in harmony with others is unquestionably beneficial or desirable. We hypothesize that too much social attunement is detrimental to the self 's stability and regulatory processes. While having obvious relevance for our social abilities, interpersonal synchrony might thus actually have a negative trade-off when it comes to the self. Enactive approaches to cognitive science have recently challenged an individualist notion of the human self, according to which there is a clear-cut distinction between an agent and the objectively-given material or social world 12,13. Instead, the relation between agent and world is described in terms of non-linear interactive dynamics, whereby agent and environment are mutually constrained by each other 13,14. On this dynamical view, the boundary of the agent is not given, but continuously "enacted" (i.e. brought forth) through a process of self-organization, in which the agent actively structures the exchanges with the environment and thereby generates and maintains a form of systemic stability 12. Such self-organizing processes can be found at several levels of the individual organism , e.g. in metabolic and neurobiological homeostasis 15 , sensorimotor integration 13,16 , as well as in inter-limb coordination 17,18. But they also occur beyond the individual organism, at the social or collective level 19 .

Miriam Kyselo

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