Social Interaction Observed: Some Approaches to the Analysis of Behavior Streams

Abstract

Systematic observation of social interaction, noting the presence or absence of predefined behaviors in an ongoing stream of behavior, can result in an overwhelming mass of data. The central thesis of this report is that a few simple conceptual and analytic tools greatly facilitate the handling of such data. Various ways of representing observational data are discussed, and implications are included showing analyses of mother-infant, monkey- monkey, and human adult-adult interaction.