#social interaction
Just when you thought octopuses couldn’t get any more fascinating, they do!
A paper published on January 28th, 2016 in the journal Current Biology found that there is more to octopuses changing colors than camouflage or anti-predator behavior. Using close to 53 hours of recorded video and 186 interactions in a heavily octopus-populated area in the waters of Australia, the scientists found that some displays of colors are signals that actually mediate combative interactions with one another.
(Octopus in foreground turn pales when retreating from confrontation with another octopus, seen standing tall and menacing in the background. Photo by David Scheel)
This is the first study to document the use of signals during aggressive interactions among octopuses.
David Scheel recalls for NPR the first time he observed this behavior: “I took a look fairly early on at one sequence in which one octopus approaches another in a fairly menacing way. He gets all dark, stands up very tall, and the other octopus crouches down and turns very pale. And then, when the approaching octopus persists, the other one flees. And this is immediately followed by the first octopus approaching a third octopus that’s nearby. And the third octopus turns dark and doesn’t crouch down. He just stays where he is, holds his ground.”
Excerpts from the paper:
Interactions in which dark body color by an approaching octopus was matched by similar color in the reacting octopus were more likely to escalate to grappling.
Darkness in an approaching octopus met by paler color in the reacting octopus accompanied retreat of the paler octopus. Octopuses also displayed on high ground and stood with spread web and elevated mantle, often producing these behaviors in combinations.
(Source: Scheel et al. 2016)
“[An aggressive] octopus will turn very dark, stand in a way that accentuates its size and it will often seek to stand on a higher spot,”explainedProfessor Godfrey-Smith to the BBC.
The scientists in this research actually dubbed the pose “Nosferatu”because the spread of the octopus’s web was reminiscent of a vampire’s cape, and they looked like Dracula was approaching his prey.
In the end, the color displays ultimately are correlated with the outcome of the interaction.
(Source: Scheel et al. 2016)
Scientists don’t exactly know why octopuses engaged in such heated and feisty exchanges. “It could be an attempt by one or more animals to control territory, as we saw males excluding males but not females, but this isn’t always the case,” Professor Godfrey-Smith said.
It had been previously thought that octopuses were mostly solitary creatures, and changes to body color and shape were viewed as tactics to avoid predators or to hide. This study however not only shows a very interesting range of behavior, but also may indicate complex social signaling.
Octopuses actually have a pretty exciting and dramatic social life after all.
The video above shows a dark-colored octopus, standing in the Nosferatu pose before attacking another dark-colored octopus, which eventually turns white and retreats.
You can find and download the full article onCurrent Biology.
ESTP “Introvert”
INTP: Hey INFJ, you need to learn how to fake social skills. I can’t keep ordering food for you whenever we go out together.
INFJ: Of course you can. That’s why you still do it. Plus I just hate talking to people.
ESTP: Bruh, I hate talking to people. People think I’m social but I’m really not.
INFJ: Huh? You, asocial?
ESTP: Yeah, I’m just loud as fuck. I don’t actually talk to anyone.
INTP: …
Researchers map neurons in the brain involved with social interactions with others in groups
Meaningful social interactions are critical to an individual’s well-being, and such interactions rely on people’s behaviors towards one another. In research published in Science, investigators at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) have mapped the neurons in the brain that allow a monkey to process and remember the interactions and behaviors of another monkey to influence the animal’s own actions. The findings might be used to develop treatment strategies for people with neuropsychiatric conditions.
The study had three Rhesus monkeys sit around a rotary table and take turns to offer an apple slice to one of the other two monkeys. At the same time, the researchers recorded the activity of individual neurons in a brain area known to play a role in social cognition, called the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC).
During these interactions, the monkeys reciprocated past offers of an apple slice and retaliated when they did not receive a slice from another. The researchers’ recordings identified distinct neurons in the dmPFC that responded to the actions of other monkeys in the group. Certain neurons were activated with a particular action and outcome of specific individuals within the group (such as a neighbor monkey offering an apple slice leads to the outcome of receiving the reward). Many of the neurons encoded information not only about the actions and outcomes of specific individuals but also about their past behavior. This information about past interactions with group members influenced an animal’s upcoming decisions to reciprocate or retaliate, and investigators could use the neuronal information to predict which monkey would receive an apple slice from a particular monkey even before it was offered.
“This finding suggested that the dmPFC plays a role in strategic decisions. To test this idea, we disrupted the normal activity in this area and found that the animals were less likely to reciprocate,” says lead author Raymundo Báez-Mendoza, PhD, an investigator in the Department of Neurosurgery at MGH.
The results suggest that the dmPFC plays an important role in mapping out our actions and outcomes as well as the actions of others. “In neuropsychiatric conditions in which this ability is compromised, treatments aimed at improving the functioning of this brain area, either directly or indirectly, might improve peoples’ lives,” says senior author Ziv Williams, MD.
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Pro-tip to young trans guys:
If a stranger misgenders you, please please please do not ever utter the phrase, “I’m a man.” It sounds very unnatural and immediately sounds overly defensive.
My advice? Just look at the person like they’re an idiot and, in the deepest voice possible, say, “Uh. Alright, then.”
Just act as though they made a huge and obvious mistake, and don’t get flustered. If you’re comfortable with it, handle the situation with humor and say something like, “Man, I know I’ve got a babyface, but I didn’t think it was thatbad.”
and if someone doesn’t believe u, say you have a hormonal imbalance + are on meds for it. it’s quick, believable, and most ppl are too uncomfortable discussing health problems with strangers to question it.
THIS POST, hang on somewhere is the notes is a sentence that changed my whole fucking life! I don’t have time to dig for it right now but
Can’t find it, going to just going to explain it. I’ve been out for like 4 and a half years. I saw this post when I was Freshly Out, and this post has been so deep in my fucking rat brain for actual years.
You have to react like you’re not expecting to be misgendered. It’s hard and it’s weird, because I know, you walk out into the world very aware and afraid of how the cis people are going to perceive you. But deadass there is a “Wow, that stranger has made a bold call there” mentality that, yeah it’s a fake it till you make it type of deal. But once I internalized that, I genuinely don’t even hear people misgendering me most of the time.
I’m nonbinary, most of the time my gender presentation priorities are Have Fun and Look Queer.
The first time I noticed that being misgendered slides off my brain like a wet duck I was in a 7/11 and a cashier tried to direct me to the cardboard drink sleeves while I was like 3rd or 4th in line (yeah it was kinda weird, I was holding a large hot coffee in my bare hand and I guess it freaked the dude out, but like my hands are actually really heat resistant I was fine, anyway) He said several variations on “Mam, would you like a cardboard sleeve for your coffee, they’re right there” and I legitimately did not process that he could possibly be talking to me until he tried something like “the one in the red hat” and then I tuned back in and declined the heat protectant sleeve. (I do not know why this human man was so insistent that I needed a heat protection cardboard sleeve, and I’m gathering that me totally zoned the fuck out to his multiple attempts to get my attention holding something that he apparently thought was made out of fucking lava probably had the exact Genderless Eldritch Horror effect that we all know and love)
I accidentally also did this to one of my professors a couple weeks ago, I was given an instruction with she/her pronouns in it, purely by accident, this professor genuinely does right by his trans students as best he can, but I legitimately did not even process that it was for me until he repeated it with they/them.
This compared with a couple years ago a different professor slipped up and used me in an example to the class with she/her pronouns and I literally barely held myself together until the end of the class, made it 4 steps out the door and started silently crying.
It feels fucking powerful in a “that should have hurt, and I didn’t even notice, cis people have no power over me” way. I have a little piece of the security that cis people have in the way that they interact with the world. And that is absolutely precious.
It takes untraining years of social conditioning, and pretending that you can’t fathom that someone would use those words on you, that no one has ever said that to you before and the words are so foreign that they mean nothing to you.
And yeah I started out begging my body not to flinch when a stranger calls out “mam”, and practicing a moment of confusion and unaffected disbelief when cashiers would ask if I found everything I was looking for “young lady” and deliberately ignoring the incorrect gendered terms. And you know op’s “Just look at the person like they’re an idiot, break out the deep voice and say “Um, alright then”” it will feel fake at first.
Butfuckat some point it stops being an act, and that feels fucking bulletproof.
Calling a child talented or smart or gifted is actually really bad for them because if you’re inherently talented or gifted you can only disprove that so people end up freezing and not doing anything because they’re afraid of messing up and revealing that they’re not actually talented.
And when I first learned about that I think it explained a lot about my childhood. Holy heck.
And if you’re wondering how you should praise children, I’ve been told you should praise their accomplishments.
Yes, you did do that thing. Yes, you found that cool fact all on your own. Yes, you worked really hard and got good at that instrument.
And you can apply this logic to adults too. It teaches people that their effort and work is what counts. Not something inherent to their personality. And there’s always an opportunity to do more stuff. There’s no real opportunity to be inherently something new.
I think a good rule of thumb (regardless of the where, when, and why) is to praise and compliment people for what they have actual controlover – for things they actively do.
“You have such pretty eyes!” sounds like an innocent thing to say. But what are they supposed to do with that? In our society, they’re obligated to say something like “thank you,” because it’s a compliment, right? But what if they’re creeped out by the fact that you’ve been watching them so closely that you notice the color of their eyes?
However, a compliment like “Hey, that’s a cool outfit!” (Something they chose to express themselves with), celebrates their agency and power (and can lead to further discussion of things like pockets).
Autistic adulting is when you KNOW about lying, you know it’s a thing people do, you’ve experienced it happen to you MANY times, and yet it takes you a YEAR of knowing a person before it even crosses your mind that they might be lying to you, which is why things they say don’t make any sense.
OKAY so this IS an autism thing? Does this include completely not being ABLE to lie? Like I literally cannot play 2 Truths and a Lie, it makes me INCREDIBLY uncomfortable.
Yes. Having a strong aversion to lying is definitely a very autistic thing. We both hate to do it, hate when others do it, and I personally forget that others do it, and so they easily “trick” me, because I take everything everybody says at face value, and forget to consider that they may not mean the words they are saying.
I think I’ve had a bit of a different experience, where: lying? that’s fine. If I am specifically doing this with the intent of deception, and I can do that. It’s fine.
But that awkward, yes I’m fine, and how was your week, and sorry I’m just tired, and all those little lies that youhave to tell simply because you are told to, even though you don’t want to lie to these people? Those make my stomach feel twisted up inside and I hate it.
just though I’d add my experience
You know, I definitely agree with you there!
If I’m going to lie with FULL intent, ON PURPOSE, to deceive, then I have chosen to do that lie, and worked out all the pros and cons of telling the lie, and I’m choosing to do it because the pros of the lie outweigh the cons of it.
But when I feel forced to lie when I don’t want to, such as those little exchanges you mentioned, it feels really, really horrible. And this is the lying I was talking about. This is where autistics have very strong aversion. Because allistics don’t see these as lies, and we do. It’s a very autistic thing, to consider saying “I’m fine” when you’re notfine as a lie. I can’t tell you why allistics DON’T see this as a lie, as they make no sense to me, I only know that they do not consider this a lie.
Some of yall need to be more embarrassed about what yall say online and im not talking about the fandom people because at least they have friends that share their niche interests. Some of yall dont even have that and be on here talking to strangers any kind of way and then wonder why ur lonely. Like girl it’s because u are awful to be around
SInce when is “yall” a valid word? Honestly, it pisses me off to reduce two words to one, especially since the other defines a human being.
don’t you love it when people give a useful example of the op’s point out in the wild of a post
Random socializing tip: Tell people when they’ve had a positive impact on your life!
e.g.: “Hey, remember when I asked you for advice on X? That was really helpful, I tried it and now (insert what has improved)”
“You kept gushing about (insert series/book/movie/recipe) and made it sound really appealing, so I checked it out and I really liked it!”
“Thank you for letting me vent recently, telling you what bothered me really helped me to work through it / helped me see it from another perspective / gave me the courage to address it with the person I was talking about.”
It helps people see their own strong points, it deepens your relationships, it makes the people in your life feel appreciated and special and it can give you warm fuzzy feelings!
Win/win all around!
Receiving his vaccination, the grad student shudders at the thought of having flimsier excuses to avoid social interaction.
