Description du projet
Des créatures sociales aux êtres «numériques»
En tant qu’êtres humains, nous sommes configurés pour interagir avec les autres, ce qui assure notre survie en tant que «créatures sociales». La pandémie de COVID-19 a radicalement modifié nos interactions. Les relations en face à face ont fusionné avec les interactions virtuelles. De plus en plus de personnes travaillent et étudient à distance et accèdent aux soins de santé par Internet. Dans ce contexte, le projet SODI, financé par le CER, étudiera comment ce changement affecte nos interactions sociales. Plus précisément, il comparera les interactions en face à face avec les interactions face à l’écran (en direct). Grâce à une approche biopsychologique multiméthode, SODI vérifiera si les interactions face à l’écran activent les systèmes hormonaux socialement pertinents dans la même mesure que le contact en face à face. En outre, ce projet entend «enrichir socialement» les interactions dans l’espace numérique en permettant un regard mutuel, un contact physique et des odeurs sociales.
Objectif
Over millions of years, human survival has crucially depended on rapport building, seeking others’ social support, and sharing resources in groups. This social context has created constant evolutionary pressure to develop specific biological systems geared to interacting face-to-face with physically present others. For just a few years, we have been living in a rapidly developing digital world where interactions across society (education, friendship, health care) shift to face-to-screen interaction – strongly accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic. How does this core change affect our social interactions? In SODI, I will contrast face-to-face with face-to-screen “live” interactions of many individuals, taking a multi-method, biopsychological approach. According to my theoretical working model, face-to-screen interactions fail to entirely engage specific, socially relevant hormonal systems (oxytocin, μ-opioids, testosterone), which evolved to process context-dependent stimuli from face-to-face contact (mutual eye gaze, physical contact, social odour). Consequently, hormone-mediated beneficial social effects should be attenuated, while adding social stimuli should ameliorate this difference. To test my model’s assumptions, I will tackle three objectives. How do face-to-screen interactions differ from face-to-face ones? Can we “socially enrich” face-to-screen interactions by adding previously lacking social stimuli? Does experimentally modulating hormone levels in the brain affect differences between face-to-face and face-to-screen interactions? In a radically innovative approach, my research combines experimental-psychological interaction paradigms, neurophysiological and subjective measures, and hormone administration to understand the merits and flaws of interacting in a digital reality. Moreover, my project aims to strike new paths for “socially enriching” face-to-screen interactions, thereby unfolding the full potential of the digital (r)evolution.
Champ scientifique
Mots‑clés
Programme(s)
- HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme
Thème(s)
Régime de financement
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC GrantsInstitution d’accueil
79098 Freiburg
Allemagne