Assessing Behavioral Dynamics in Group Interactions

Abstract: A person’s behavior in social interactions is shaped by both their individual characteristics and the social context. However, research on the processes that capture behavioral dynamics within social interactions is limited. This brief report focuses on short-term assessments of expressive behaviors in group interactions among adolescents (80 groups with N = 301 participants, M age = 15.73, 60.08% girls). Specifically, we examined how trained observers can code nonverbal and verbal expressiveness through 30-second sequences in a 10-minute interaction. Our findings demonstrated the convergent validity of the behavioral expressiveness assessments with measures of extraversion and behavioral ratings during the interactions. Focusing on dynamics, results illustrated that participants varied substantially in their expressiveness during the interaction, revealing distinct patterns across behavioral channels. These first insights highlight the potential of short-term assessments to explore behavioral dynamics in social interactions, and we discuss future directions for research in this area.