CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

A social interaction is an exchange between two or more individuals and is a building

block of society. Social interaction can be studied between groups of two (dyads), three (triads)

or larger social groups. By interacting with one another, people design rules, institutions and

systems within which they seek to live.

Social interaction is the process of reciprocal influence exercised by individuals over one

another during social encounters. Social interaction plays an important role in learning.

Interacting with other people has proven to be quite effective in assisting the learner to organize

their thoughts, reflect on their understanding, and find gaps in their reasoning.

Social interaction is a dynamic, changing sequence of social actions between individuals

(or groups) who modify their actions and reactions due to the actions by their interaction

partner(s).

A social relation or social interaction is the fundamental unit of analysis within the social

sciences, and describes any voluntary or involuntary interpersonal relationship between two or

more individuals within and/or between groups. (Wikipedia)

In sociology, social interaction is a dynamic sequence of social actions between

individuals (or groups) who modify their actions and reactions due to actions by their interaction

partner(s).
 Social interactionist theory (SIT) is an explanation of language development emphasizing

the role of social interaction between the developing child and linguistically knowledgeable

adults. It is based largely on the socio-cultural theories of Soviet psychologist, Lev Vygotsky.

Social interaction increases cohesion among students i.e. the degree to which the students

are attracted to one another. More cohesive groups are usually more serious and more effective

in achieving their goals since there is often greater communication among the students.

Student-to-student interaction is vital to building community in an online environment,

which supports productive and satisfying learning, and helps students develop problem-solving

and critical thinking skills (Kolloff, 2011).

Interacting with others at nursery gives children the chance to establish boundaries, note

how others react to their actions, and find ways to resolve conflicts amicably; all valuable skills

that they will take into adulthood.

More students learn more material when they work together, cooperatively, talking

through the material with each other and making sure that all group members understand, than

when students compete with one another or work alone, individualistically.

Interaction is needed in the classroom activity. It helps the teaching and learning process

run smoothly and it can increase learners' communicative. It tells how the students have

interaction among them and teacher even with the whole class.

When we interact with others, the context in which our actions take place plays a major

role in our behavior. This means that our understanding of objects, words, emotions, and social

2|Page
cues may differ depending on where we encounter them. Social interactions include a large

number of behaviors, so many that in sociology, interaction is usually divided into five

categories. These are: exchange, competition, cooperation, conflict and coercion.

The social interaction theory demonstrates this by examining the patterns of actions and

reactions in response to other people. In this theory, people's behaviors directly reflect their

awareness of social expectations. These expectations also define social roles, the place of an

individual in society.

In the first half of the 1900s, American philosopher, sociologist and psychologist George

Herbert Mead and later his student, Herbert Blumer, developed this theory. Their main

contribution is the idea that humans interpret meanings through symbols.

Symbolic interactionism theory assumes that people respond to elements of their

environments according to the subjective meanings they attach to those elements, such as

meanings being created and modified through social interaction involving symbolic

communication with other people.

Central to the book and Goffman's theory is the idea that people, as they interact together

in social settings, are constantly engaged in the process of "impression management," wherein

each tries to present themselves and behave in a way that will prevent the embarrassment of

themselves or others.July 1, 2019

3|Page
 Durkheim believed that society exerted a powerful force on individuals. According to

Durkheim, people's norms, beliefs, and values make up a collective consciousness, or a shared

way of understanding and behaving in the world. The collective consciousness binds individuals

together and creates social integration.

Interactionist theories attempt to make the “commonplace strange” by turning on their

heads everyday taken-for-granted behaviors and interactions between students and students and

between students and teachers. It is exactly what most people do not question that is most

problematic to the interactionist.

Covid-19 pandemic brought a big impact to society, economy and education. In this

study, we will be able to identify the impact of the pandemic to the social interaction of the

student and how did the students deal with the changes of their social relationship after and

before the pandemic.

4|Page
Definition Of Terms

Amicably

Reciprocal

cohesion

Statement of the Problem

This research tends to determine the impacts of Pandemic to the social interaction of the

students in Martinez Cuyangan National High School. Particularly, it aims to answer the

Following questions:

1. What are the Changes did you observe on your social interaction with your classmates

when the F-2-F classes began?

2. what are the common reaction of the students about the impact of the pandemic to their

relationship with each other?

3. what can the students say on how the pandemic affect their social interaction with each

other?

5|Page
 4. why is it necessary to determine the impact of the pandemic to the social interaction of

the student?

Scope and Delimitation

This study focused about the impact the pandemic on the social interaction of the students

and how big the changes of their social relationship took place when the F-2-F classes began.

This will help the students determine and analyze the situation for them to be able to cope and

work with it. They can be able to realize and find the appropriate way for them to restore their

closeness to each other. It was conducted at Martinez Cuyangan National High School located in

Barangay of Alang Salacsa, Kayapa, Nueva Vizcaya. Respondents were the Grade 11 students in

Martinez Cuyangan National High School. their answers and responses were prioritized and

given significance by this study.

6|Page
Objectives

To be able determine the impact of the pandemic to the social interaction of the students

at Martinez Cuyangan National Highschool.

To be able to get the personal perspective of the students about the changes of their social

relationship.

To be able to help the students revive their old unity and socialization.

To be able to bring back that bond of the students and make everyone comfortable to

each other.

To be able to improve the social interaction of every grade 11 students for to be able to

comply actively to their activities and boost their confidence in making new things.

7|Page
Conceptual Framework

Input Output

Analyzing and determining the reactions Determined impact of the Pandemic to

of the students by personally
questioning them on what they have
observed with their social interactions.
the social interaction of the students and
how they reacted on their observations
on their own social relationship with
each other after participating the F-2-F
classes.

Process

Personally asking the perspectives,

observation and the opinions of the
Grade 11 students of Martinez Cuyangan
National High School.

8|Page
Significance of the Study

This study aims to benefit the following:

To the students, in order for them to realize how the pandemic change their social

interaction and personal relationship to each other, we conducted this study. This research will

be able to help them determine their capacity to communicate with each other. In addition, this

will serve as a guide on how they will cope with the challenges that they may face if ever their

unity will be at stake with an unexpected circumstances.

To the teachers, through this research they will be able to know the personal perspective

of their students, in that case they will be knowledgeably how they will understand and handle

their student.

To the parents, they will be aware on the impact of pandemic to the social interaction of

their children. They will have an advance knowledge how they can help their children cope with

the changes. As a parent , they have the responsibility to help and understand what their children

are feeling so this study will help them to.

9|Page
 To the future researcher, through this research they can be able to have advance

information and knowledge on their related topic.

CHAPTER II

Review of Related Literature

Given the chance to estimate and determine how the pandemic change the social

interaction of the students at MCNHS, we are able to collect and analyze the personal

perspectives and opinions of the students. Before and after the pandemic was compared for the

situation to be determined if there is a change with their social interaction to each other. We

asked for their answers that as a students who experienced the pandemic as one of the

challenges of education, how did they continually communicate with their classmates and let

their close relationship to each other intact until today that the government agreed the

continuation of the Face-to-face classes.. Or did something change after the pandemic rise during

the school year until now. is their unity as a class remain the same as before.

As they answer with the questions they can already determine what change with their

social interaction to each other. At the very first day of the continuation of the Face-to-face

classes, each one of them had the same response ( “ we are silent, we don’t know why but it

10 | P a g e
seems so awkward to talk to someone that you never talk to for so long”) . As we continue this

research, we observe the changes on how the students act. They no longer interact with each

other comfortably not like before that they enjoy being with the company of each other. Now

they only talk to whom they are close to during their pandemic like their neighbors or relatives.

As we go further, we conducted an analytical study by basing the reaction of the students on

how they react to the changes of their social interaction with their classmates and teachers and

what could be the reason of the changes of their interaction.

The results of the present behavioral experiment and analytical study show that for

Valence ratings both Female and Male participants rated Angry facial expressions as more

negative than both Happy and Neutral ones, and they rated Happy facial expressions more

positively than Neutral ones. Nonetheless, Female participants gave more negative ratings than

Male ones when evaluating Angry and Neutral facial expressions, and more positive ratings

when evaluating Happy facial expressions. While these results show that participants rated the

Valence in accord with the expressed emotion, they also reveal a polarizing effect of ratings in

Females. This is consistent with previous studies demonstrating women’ stronger sensibility to

face stimuli (e.g., higher ratings for experienced valence and arousal, greater attention to the

eyes, better decoding of emotions through facial expressions, and greater electro-cortical

responsivity). Remarkably, the absence of a significant interaction between Emotion and

Condition suggests that the presence of a HP or a LP does not modulate emotional evaluations of

this kind. One could have expected lower positive ratings for Happy facial expressions covered

with a scarf, which, by guaranteeing less protection for the interacting individuals, assumes a

more negative contextual value. Indeed, previous studies demonstrated that contextual cues (e.g.,

11 | P a g e
Islamic vs. Western headdress) can bias perception toward more intense negative emotions,

making the recognition of happiness more difficult. We could hypothesize that, apart from

methodological differences with previous studies, Islamic headdresses, representing cultural and

religious symbols capable to evoke in-group/out-group dynamics and stereotypes, are more

rooted contextual cues than HP/LP, thus biasing and affecting the perception of emotions.

Results for the explicit Categorization of expressed emotions confirm participants’ ability

to correctly recognize emotional expressions, as they chose emotional labels congruent with the

displayed emotions. Interestingly, for Neutral facial expressions, participants also chose the

Sadness label more frequently than chance, particularly in the case of Female participants.

Altogether, both the results for Valence and Categorization show that, despite the covering of the

lower-face, participants were able to properly recognize the facial expressions of emotions.

Furthermore, results are also characteristic of the empirical challenges posed by operationalizing

neutral emotion, and in particular of the recurrence of “negative bias” (i.e., the attribution of

negative ratings to neutral stimuli). It is also possible that participants’ psychological state due to

the pandemic might have influenced their responses to neutral stimuli.

With regard to Physical Distance, the expressed emotion and the condition of “covering”

both influenced the results. Indeed, participants chose to keep the least distance from positive

facial expressions, followed by Neutral and Angry ones. Interestingly, Female participants chose

to keep greater Physical Distance from Angry facial expressions and less Physical Distance from

Happy facial expressions with respect to Male participants. These results are coherent with

previous studies that demonstrate an increase in interpersonal distance when participants are

exposed to Angry rather than Happy facial expressions.

12 | P a g e
 With regard to the “covered” condition, less Physical Distance, only in Male participants,

was attributed to facial expressions covered by HP than to those covered by LP. This latter result

can be explained by the fact that the Scarf offers far less protection from the infection with

respect to a sanitary mask, facilitating a higher risk for individuals if distancing measures are not

undertaken. Hence, it is shown for the first time that, in a pandemic context, the use of an

appropriate protective device reduces the desire to maintain Physical Distance and thus

potentially improves interpersonal social relations. Additionally, in accord with previous studies,

we found that less Physical Distance was attributed to Female than to Male stimuli.

Results for Social Distance revealed that, similarly to Physical Distance, participants

chose to keep the least distance from Happy facial expressions, followed by Neutral and Angry

ones, and to Female stimuli than to Male ones. While Female participants felt more socially

distant than Male for stimuli covered by both HP and LP, only Male participants chose more

Social Distance from faces covered with LP. Lastly, Female participants chose more Social

Distance from Angry and Neutral facial expressions than Male participants. The results of the

Physical and Social Distance are substantially overlapping: Females show a greater tendency,

compared to Males, to keep at distance the negative or ambiguous faces regardless of the type of

protective equipment (HP or LP). This is very interesting, because the need to maintain greater

distance from potentially dangerous stimuli in Females seems to be driven by the emotional

content of the stimuli. Differently, Males’ ratings of Social and Physical distances depend on the

type of protective equipment. Females, in order to establish social and physical distance from

other individuals, use more 'empathic qualities' of faces than Males, whose responses seem to be

more dependent on contextual cues.

13 | P a g e
 One could also have expected a difference between Physical and Social distance ratings

(i.e., increase of interpersonal/physical distance and a reduction of social distance after a

traumatic event, but it has to be considered the period during which our data was collected. thus

pointing for the first time to a correlation between these personality aspects and suggesting that

the fear of the virus can be linked to uneasiness and nervousness during social interactions.

In conclusion, one of the most valid reasons was because of fear that they could be infected with

the virus if they interact with the other students. They are afraid to approach and get intact with

their classmates because the virus is still in the area. Another reason also is their feeling of

awkwardness, they are embarrassed to communicate and socialize with their classmates and

teachers because they think that their close relationship before change during the pandemic. For

the long time that they did not have any personal communication, they’re thinking that the past

will not be the same now. In this situation , we are able to determine their fear and the reason

why the change of the social interaction of the students took a big impact on how they treat each

other. Although the findings of this study are in accordance with hypotheses and support

previous research, there are several limitations that need to be acknowledged: First, the sample

size was moderate, thus challenging the robustness of the findings. However, in order to

circumvent this weakness, we used prior knowledge about the effects of social interactions with

close others on the adverse effects of depressive symptoms (e.g., Schwerdtfeger & Friedrich-

Mai, 2009), rumination (e.g., Gerteis & Schwerdtfeger, 2018) and social anxiety disorder (e.g.,

Bailey et al., 2019).

Basilaia and Kvavadze (2020) stated that the transition from traditional to remote learning during the

COVID-19 pandemic was successful, although to ensure the quality and effectiveness of learning, further

14 | P a g e
research is required. Interaction helps to build knowledge and empower learners (Holland, 2019), and it

offers the platform for members of a society, representing a mode of associated living, to share their

values and interests of each other (Tang and Tsui, 2018).

The spread of the COVID-19 pandemic has forced schools to close to minimize the damage of

spread in schools and colleges. There are several benefits of social distancing during the pandemic.

Social distancing measures save the lives of people and provide time for implementing strategies to

control spread (Thunstr€om et al., 2020). Greenstone and Nigam (2020) substantiated the economic

benefits of social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Lewnard and Lo (2020) stated that

politicians and administration of the state must play an important role to implement social distancing

and should not favor anyone who violates this rule. Uscher-Pines et al. (2018), while explaining the

benefits of maintaining social distance, suggested that schools should be closed during the pandemic to

maintain social distance so that the spread will be slow down COVID-19. Kleczkowski et al. (2015)

suggested that social distancing must be imposed all over, which includes closing all educational

institutes and workplaces and canceling all congregating events. Earn et al. (2012) suggested

Another impact of this situations, the self esteem and confidence of the students were affected. If

before they are proud to recite and give answers actively but because their confidence and self-

esteem is not exercised for a long time, it caused it to goes down. If before students proudly

share their perspectives and opinions, now they are already not used to it.

From the first day until now(march 20- June 2022) that the face-to-face are implemented the

students slowly adjust with the situation. They are little by little adopt the environment and new

normal. Slowly, they begin to interfere with each other, create bond with their classmates and

communicate well with their teachers. They are giving their best to cope with the situation.

15 | P a g e
Furthermore, as we observe the students, the bond they made from the past years they are

classmates did not disappear. They are just afraid to approach each other because of fear and

awkwardness.

CHAPTER III

Research methodology

This chapter presents the research methodology. It includes research design, research

environment, the respondents of this study and the data gathering instrument.

Research Design

This study is qualitative in nature. It is made use of descriptive research design. According to

Calderon, (1993), descriptive analytical method of research as certain to prevailing conditions

affecting a given group. It is a direction in reacting a goal, in addition, he pointed out that

descriptive method tells “what is”, that which lead to scientific information about education and

other situation. He further described it as a fact-finding with adequate interpretation usually

beyond fact-finding.

Research Environment

16 | P a g e
This research study aims was conducted in Martinez Cuyangan National High School located at

Bulo, Alang Salacsac specifically to the Grade 11 students.

The Respondents of this Study

The respondents of this study were the Grade 11 learners of Martinez Cuyangan National High

School. The students were analyzed and studied based on their personal reaction and

observation on the impacts of the pandemic to their social interaction with their classmates and

teachers. All of the grade 11 students were participants of this study.

Data gathering Instrument

Instrument used in this study was the online applications such as Google, interet, WWW AND

ETC. personal observations and insights of the students are also a big help in accomplishing this

study. We also considered asking cooperation to the parents on how the behavioral interaction of

their child change after the rise of the pandemic which contributed to the Collection of data and

important information.

17 | P a g e
References

https://www.rit.edu › course-design

https://narst.org › research-matters

https://socialsci.libretexts.org › 5.01:...

https://www.mercycare.org › bhs

https://jmc.msu.edu › academics › srp https://study.com › academy › social...

https://study.com › academy › social...

https://psychology.ucsd.edu/undergraduate-program/undergraduate-resources/academic-writing-

resources/writing-research-papers/appropriate-references.html

18 | P a g e
Angel Joy Culay-ab

19 | P a g e