Conscious first-missioners are separated from the other two groups based on having gone to the field once, whereby they felt in control over the decision on how to manage their sexuality. Alternatively, authentic realists and idealistic activists alike felt they did not really have a choice in how to manage their sexuality, but handled that differently. We find the importance of one’s sexuality as well as adherence to the overarching organizational mission relevant individual-level factors herein. Furthermore, we find disclosure of sexual identity to be strongly context-dependent, as participants are ‘out of the closet’ in the office, but go back into the closet when they enter the field, with different country contexts even leading to different decisions concerning self-disclosure, thus demonstrating the importance of careful sexual identity management. This so-called disclosure dilemma, we find, may not be merely an individual choice, but rather a shared dilemma involving multiple stakeholders, such as the organization and fellow team members. We discuss the findings’ contributions to existing literature on LGs’ workplace experiences and implications for future research on inclusion of sexual and other invisible minorities in the workplace.In this exploratory study, we present findings from semi-structured interviews with 11 self-identified lesbian and gay (LG) humanitarian aid workers of Doctors without Borders (MSF). We investigate their perceptions of workplace inclusion in terms of perceived satisfaction of their needs for authenticity and belonging within two organizational settings, namely office and field. Through our combined deductive and inductive approach, based on grounded theory, we find that perceptions of their colleagues’ and supervisors’ attitudes and behaviors, as well as organizational inclusiveness practices play a role in LGs’ perceived authenticity, but not belonging, in the workplace. However, these organization-level characteristics do not account for between-participant differences in perceived authenticity. Therefore, we inductively construct a typology of three groups, which we coined  Many lesbian women and gay men (LGs) across the globe work in legal and sociocultural contexts where their sexual orientation is illegal or rejected, including international LGs originating from Western countries. How does this latter group of employees, coming from an environment that is relatively ‘friendly’ toward sexual minorities, experience working in contexts where their sexual orientation can be a threat, and where they cannot be who they are? More specifically, how may this play a role in their workplace inclusion, i.e., individuals’ perceived satisfaction of their needs for belonging and authenticity in the workplace ? ThroughRecently, a number of countries, including most EU countries, Canada, Australia, and several US states, have adopted laws that serve to protect the workplace rights of LGs, thereby formally prohibiting employment discrimination based on sexual orientation e.g., . This deAlthough the situation for LGs in many Western societies has indeed improved in recent times e.g., , the woroffice settings in Western countries, in which Sexual and Gender Diversity (SGD) is legally protected and generally relatively accepted, and in field settings in project countries, in which SGD is oftentimes illegal or socially unacceptable . Two research questions will be answered:(1) How do lesbian and gay (LG) humanitarian aid staff members experience that their sexual orientation plays a role in their daily work in the office and the field?(2) Which factors play a role in LG humanitarian aid staff members’ perceptions of workplace inclusion in both office and field?We define workplace inclusion as the individual’s perception of a specific group  providing him or her with the satisfaction of the fundamental human needs for belonging and authenticity .target and the group is the source of inclusion  and negative  outcomes of revealing the stigma  supervisors’ attitudes and behaviors, and (3) organization’s inclusiveness policies toward SGD, in which way these characteristics may shape sexual identity disclosure, and how these might relate to perceived workplace inclusion . We will refer to these three elements as organization-level characteristics.We assess how LG humanitarian aid workers perceive and experience their (1) inclusion of LGs, which has so far received little attention in academic literature  in the Netherlands. MSF provides humanitarian assistance based on principles of neutrality and impartiality: quality medical care is provided to those who need it, regardless of race, religion or political affiliation . Exampleinternational staff. Examples of international staff positions are project manager, logistician, surgeon, and midwife. When employees are sent on a mission , they go together with other international staff members1. Missions on average last between 3 to 12 months, which leads to constantly changing team compositions. OCA carries responsibilities concerning the coordination of these projects, in which international staff works to provide (emergency) humanitarian aid to populations in distress, such as victims of natural or man-made disasters and victims of armed conflict, together with national staff. National staff is locally hired staff from the project country, who make up about 90% of MSF’s employees, and who can occupy positions such as nurse, doctor, engineer, and driver. In the field, international staff often lives together in international staff houses, sometimes even on guarded compounds, and tends to be separated from national staff during off-work hours.MSF-OCA is one of five operational centers (OCs), combining MSF-Holland, MSF-United Kingdom and MSF-Germany, and housed more than 250 office employees and sent out 780 international staff members to projects in 28 countries around the world in 2016 . Humaniton average, international LG humanitarian aid workers’ home countries, even though there is still considerable variation, are more supportive of LGs than project countries. During the time of interviewing, MSF-OCA had ongoing projects in Nigeria, Malaysia, and Pakistan (2), homosexuality is illegal and punishable. To exemplify: in Ethiopia, Malaysia, and Nigeria, same-sex individuals may receive up to life sentence in prison, and in Libya, Nigeria, Syria, and Uzbekistan, a prison sentence up to 14 years may be enforced , and ways to behave appropriately in that particular country’s social setting. However, whereas these briefings provide information on different types of potentially vulnerable groups , so far no insights on the legal or social status of SGM-populations are provided, as became apparent throughout interviews with our participants. = 45.4; SD = 9.5). Most participants were currently mainly stationed in an office, but had experience in the field; two participants only had field experience. Jobs of participants ranged from higher organizational positions, for example during missions in the field, to intermediate positions, mostly working at OCA  and occasionally going on a mission.Participants in this study were 11 MSF-OCA employees, seven of whom self-identified as female and lesbian, and four of whom identified as male and gay. At the time of interviewing, five participants were married, four were in a long-term relationship with their current partner, and two were single. Of these participants, most were raised in a Western country, and almost all of them were Caucasian; the participant who was not, was of Asian origin. Age ranged from 34 to 66 . Furthermore, interviewees had the liberty to address topics in their own preferred order, whilst the interviewer still had the tools to guide the conversation back into a direction that allowed answering the research questions.Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted, for two main reasons. First, because of the sensitivity of the topic, building rapport between interviewer and interviewee was pivotal, and second, we were interested in participants’ individual stories and lived experiences. We considered qualitative (interview) methods appropriate in satisfying both criteria . Semi-stWe derived the key questions of this study from existing literature on LGs’ workplace experiences e.g.,  and the is, and what it should be, in facilitating SGM-employees, within office and field. To conclude the interview, two closing questions were asked, in order to dissolve rapport, and end on a ‘lighter’ topic ; three interviews took place face-to-face, and eight via Skype . The first author served as the only interviewer in this project. Interviews were audio recorded with participant consent, after which verbatim transcripts were made. Most information remained confidential between interviewer and interviewee; direct quotations were only published after the participant’s explicit approval. Complete anonymity of participants was guaranteed by removing all identifiable information  from the transcripts; only the first author knows the participants’ identities. At the participant’s request or the first author’s judgment, counseling, provided by MSF-OCA’s psychosocial care unit (PSCU), was offered after participation; this was never deemed necessary by either party. All participants and the interviewer signed an informed consent form, which also contained the PSCU’s contact information, prior to starting each interview. This study was carried out in accordance with the recommendations of the Code of Ethics made by the American Sociological Association. The protocol was approved by the Ethics Committee of Sociology of the University of Groningen. All subjects gave written informed consent in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki.n = 4) of the interviews using that codebook, to examine consistency in coding across interviews, and to guarantee some form of interrater reliability. Afterward, first and second author discussed the coded interviews, based on which coding was refined. The transcripts were analyzed with the help of the qualitative data analysis software program Atlas.ti 7  and confirmability  see . More debelonging, and highlight aspects that create minor differences in the degree to which participants feel belonging to the organization. As we found little difference in participants’ fulfillment of the need for belonging, we devote relatively little attention to this topic. Second, we describe participants’ perceptions of authenticity in detail, since we found noticeable differences between office and field, as well as between participants. Third, we illustrate the inductively emerged individual-level factors related to variation in perceived authenticity between participants, as this variation was only partially related to the three organization-level characteristics we distinguish.Below, we first discuss participants’ perceptions of 3, 7½ years’ experience in office and field). Another participant expressed that “MSF has very much a sort of family feel to it” .Participants, almost unanimously, felt clearly that they belonged to MSF. As illustrated by one participant, who felt that “you’re like the firefighter […] you’re called on a Saturday, you’re called on a Sunday, you’re called […] at 1AM in bed. So, I think there’s never a moment that I do not feel part of it.” .Nonetheless, two factors slightly hampered perceptions of belonging. The first was a lack of organizational tenure, which subsequently led to not having many social relationships within the organization. Within MSF, going into the field is a way of gaining status among peers, a notion voiced by multiple participants. As such, several of them recalled that, when they had just joined the organization, they still had to ‘prove’ themselves. As one participant explained, “MSF does tend to be quite suspicious of outsiders […] so I think that’s […] the flip side of being a very close-knit community; it doesn’t always want to let people in if you’re not part of the club” .Another factor decreasing belonging was rooted in the inability to share personal stories with co-workers, mainly in the field, where some participants felt they could not be completely open about themselves, especially about their sexual identity. One participant said, “I think primarily […] it can be lonely. As everybody’s talking about their family, and […] I end up talking about my brothers and sisters instead, you know?” .In sum, all participants expressed strong feelings of belonging to MSF, primarily resulting from the nature of the organization and its humanitarian aid work. Factors hampering participants’ perceived belonging were shorter organizational tenure and an inability to share personal stories due to one’s  identity.office, followed by a discussion of authenticity perceptions in the field. Herein, we recognize that the analytical distinction between office and field may be less clear-cut in real life, where support received by office co-workers may mitigate the negative consequences of being closeted in the field.Whereas interviewees generally shared a strong sense of belonging, this was not the case for their perceived authenticity. This partly applied to their experiences in the office, but mostly to those in the field, where participants felt they could not always be themselves. Below, we first discuss perceptions of authenticity in the In the Amsterdam office, participants generally felt enabled and encouraged to be authentic, by colleagues and supervisors alike, and it was perceived as a pleasant work environment where participants could be themselves. Therefore, all participants were open about their sexual identity in the office. As an example, several participants recalled their colleagues’, mostly neutral to positive, responses to the disclosure of their sexuality within the Amsterdam office, which they described as largely characterized by genuine interest in their family life. Participants mainly ascribed this to the general atmosphere in Amsterdam, and the Netherlands at large, which, compared to other countries, was seen as tolerant and open-minded toward sexual minorities. They did not seem very concerned about the disclosure dilemma: multiple participants mentioned not having had severe difficulties coming out to their colleagues and supervisors within the office.They emphasized the diverse nature of the organization, especially in terms of cultural background of employees, which created the idea that participants could be open about their sexuality. One participant said: “I felt it was a very comfortable environment […] to be out, which was great, and that was, you know, also a part of what made it feel very comfortable and a good experience to join the organization” .Especially the Rainbow Network, established in 2016 in order to promote SGM-inclusivity within Amsterdam HQ and the other OCs, was perceived to be a safe haven by several participants. One participant sketched it as a placeall of us know those moments, and it’s just really nice to be able to talk about it, and that there’s people who just get it [emphasis added]” .“… to support each other in those moments when […] you do not feel part of the organization. And Despite the above, participants also voiced concerns about the boundaries of that generally supportive work environment. Some of them had heard negative comments about their own or others’ sexual orientation: jokes, negative remarks, and sexual innuendos were made in the office .A Rainbow Network questionnaire administered in 2016 further exemplified this paradoxical situation. In this questionnaire, MSF employees, both cisgenderSeveral participants stated that MSF, as an organization, was still ‘in the closet,’ since issues concerning sexual orientation of employees have only recently started receiving attention. Participants ascribed this to the organization’s very clear organizational mandate to deliver the highest quality humanitarian aid to those who are most in need, making everything not directly related to fulfilling this mandate of secondary importance. Another frequently mentioned argument was that some colleagues and supervisors believed that, given that they were situated in Amsterdam – one of the most gay-friendly capitals in the world - acceptance of sexual minorities had been fully achieved and did not need further improvement.Taken together, participants’ stories sketched a paradoxical situation within the Amsterdam office. Although they felt encouraged and enabled to be themselves, and believed the office generally provided a pleasant work environment, there were boundaries to the tolerance they experienced cf. . This caIn general, participants felt their need for authenticity far less fulfilled in the field, compared to the office. Participants all went ‘back into the closet’ when going on a mission. This decision was strongly rooted in perceived risks of being LG in many project countries. Such risks included the potential of disturbing team dynamics and the possibility of being outed by someone . Due to these risks, participants needed to gauge their fellow international staff members on their viewpoints toward SGD, which was difficult, as there was a large degree of uncertainty. That is, participants did not know how their fellow international staff would react to their coming out. Several participants spoke of going into the field assuming that their teammates would be able to handle such information discretely, which they oftentimes did not find to be the case. Interestingly, they mainly ascribed this to the organization not clearly communicating what was expected of international staff members, as international staff members were not instructed about the boundaries of acceptable behavior among colleagues.Participants thus had to decide very carefully whether, and, if so, to what extent, how, and to whom to disclose their sexual orientation within the international staff team. Here, it deserves mentioning that, throughout the interviews, participants did not speak of the disclosure dilemma concerning national staff or beneficiaries: None of the participants had come out to national staff members or beneficiaries, and no one was planning to do so in the future. Given this unanimity in our sample, we will therefore not discuss this aspect in further detail. The magnitude of the disclosure dilemma was therefore considerable, as illustrated by one of our participants, who said, “you’re living together, working together, and you’re totally reliant on each other. The team dynamic is everything. And you have something that alters the team dynamic” . This uncertainty with regard to sharing information about their sexuality within the international team was related to LGs’ fear of being outed to national staff, which might have negative consequences in legal or social contexts where homosexuality is illegal.These negative consequences of being outed can range from national staff no longer wanting to work together, to beneficiaries  deciding they no longer want to be treated, since the organization may be perceived to support something as sinful and unnatural as homosexuality. If that were to happen, MSF might lose its entire “raison d’être” since providing support for beneficiaries is the organization’s primary concern. More severely, being out or outed might affect MSF’s position within the project country; its acceptance in local communities is paramount to doing their job, as one participant expressed: “We have to be able to retain our local operating position. And if the local moms or the local bishops decide that MSF is pursuing a queer rights agenda, it may become virtually impossible to safely stay there” . Participants expressed a thorough understanding of the organization’s difficult position in this respect.6. Currently, supervisors did not deal particularly well with participants’ self-disclosure, as illustrated by one participant:Depending on the context, being outed may even lead to being taken out of the mission, to guarantee the individual’s and their team members’ safety . Given these strong associated risks, a pivotal role in LGs’ dealing with identity management issues in the field could be played by their supervisor(s) in the fieldhe’s being trained on how to manage it .”“I told my project coordinator I had a wife, and he was European, he was like ‘I don’t care.’ And I’m like ‘I don’t think you do, as a person. But as a manager, do you know how to manage the situation? Like, if something came up, and there was an issue within the team, would you know how to manage that within the context of the field situation?’ […] I don’t think only feasible way to manage one’s sexual identity in the field, as mentioned by several participants. That is, the organization’s advice on handling being LG in the field was to ‘don’t ask, don’t tell.’Given the perceived risks and potential consequences of being open about being LG, participants generally considered it better to go completely back into the closet. Interestingly, MSF regarded going back into the closet as the Being back in the closet, however, was not always easy to sustain for participants. Considering they were able to be open about their sexuality within the Amsterdam office and their private lives, participants found it challenging to live a closeted life in the field, as one participant illustrated:“Wherever you go, in any project, wherever in the world, the first thing people ask is: ‘Are you married?’ Because in most cultures where we work, your marital status and your parental status, so having children, are the things over which you bond” .Many participants struggled with how to maintain this straight façade, especially during their first mission. Some of them recalled having had to make an instant decision as to how they were going to approach questions concerning their family life. An influential factor was the duration of the mission. As was mentioned by multiple participants, it is easier to keep up the façade if one is in the field for a shorter period  than when one is away for longer . Another factor was participants’ relationship status. Understandably, participants in a relationship experienced more difficulties regarding questions about their family life than single participants. For example, when they had a Skype conversation with their partner, they had to pretend their significant other to be a mere friend. Other participants who had children found it hard to deny their existence, as revealing this might have evoked further inquiries about their family life.organizational context, and less to negative personal consequences, such as running the risk of discrimination or social exclusion , participants categorized in this group (n = 3) had, when the interview was taken, only been in the field once. They expressed the perceived choice they had with regard to self-disclosure. That is, they made a deliberate decision concerning the (non-)disclosure of their sexuality to others while they were in the field, which was less pronounced in interviews with the other participants.As already inherent in the label the relationship between their sexual orientation and the organization’s mission. Certain participants voiced an understanding to put their sexuality ‘on hold’ while they were in the field, whereas others saw it as their fundamental human right to be who they were, also in the field. We named the second group the authentic realists (n = 4), because they were accepting of the necessity to hide their sexual identity, whilst their perceived authenticity was relatively unblemished. Finally, we labeled the third group the idealistic activists (n = 4), because in their stories they delved into a more idealistic perspective of handling sexual orientation issues at MSF, and because they all actively advocated toward that aim.The other eight participants, whose experience in the field ranged from having been on several missions to having over 100 months of field experience, showed substantial differences in perceived authenticity. We derived two more groups based on how these participants described n = 3) were especially relevant regarding their field experiences. They were relatively critical toward the organization for its lack of support of sexual minority employees. This may be the case because, compared to other participants, they may, due to their short tenure at MSF, have been more prone to mirror the sexual orientation policies of their previous employer with those of MSF.Insights described by the conscious first missioners (deliberate and conscious decision with regard to their (non-)disclosure. That is, whether they decided to go back into the closet or disclose their sexual orientation, they described feeling in control over that process, as they themselves were responsible. One participant phrased this as follows:The conscious first missioners can especially be set apart from the other two groups because they had only been in the field once, and they made a “I just didn’t want to kind of create a problem there. So I did kind of get back in the closet, I suppose, for that period of time. Which was a conscious decision that I felt I was happy with, because it wasn’t so important for me to be out, if it was going to have a detrimental effect on […] the team or the project work that we were doing .”Making a conscious decision regarding (non-)disclosure might mean there was a sense of autonomy present among the conscious first missioners. Psychological theories of needs describe the importance of a sense of autonomy, as it is related to freedom, and thereby to positive individual functioning e.g., . Having n = 4) encountered relatively few problems with their sexuality. In general, they were less bothered by nasty comments than the other participants were. An explanation for this might be found in what has been termed identity centrality or -importance .In sum, despite not being able to be one’s authentic self, the participants categorized into this group were relatively accepting of the situation. They referred to the organizational mandate, and ascertained that issues surrounding sexual orientation were relatively unimportant within MSF. Moreover, they knew that, in order to work in the field, they had to conceal their sexuality, which they were willing to do.n = 4) were, comparatively, more critical with regard to sexual minority issues within MSF. They argued that MSF should be more explicit about the differential treatment of any minority group , about which the organization was not very vocal. The office was the most suitable context for change, according to these participants. All four participants categorized into this group were actively contributing to such change, as they were advocating for more inclusivity toward minority groups within MSF.The idealistic activists .With regard to having a choice in how authentic one is, two participants spoke of being outed in the field. This made them feel vulnerable, led to a breach of trust within the team, and required them to become even more vigilant. Such occurrences can also be linked to a deprived sense of autonomy (introduced above), because the element of choice in disclosing one’s sexuality is removed, and may therefore contribute to a diminished satisfaction of one’s authenticity need.Participants in this group assumed that the organization currently had a particular mindset concerning how sexuality issues should be dealt with, namely of not wanting to impose “Westernized” norms and values, such as homosexuality, onto project countries. Therefore, the organization saw only one feasible way of dealing with homosexuality, which was to strongly urge LG staff to go back into the closet in the field. In these participants’ opinions, the organization was hereby giving the signal that they did not want to delve into sexual orientation issues, simply because it might be a minefield.is possible was strongly dependent on the particular country context.Interestingly, all participants categorized into this group, as well as two of the conscious first missioners, mentioned the need to differentiate between contexts; that is, they believed disclosure should not always be considered an immediate threat to staff safety and organizational legitimacy. Instead, they urged the organization to consider contextual differences with regard to the extent to which disclosure of an LG identity should be possible, instead of the general ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ advice currently given. This illustrated participants’ recognition that disclosure is not always and everywhere possible, but that the extent to which it Idealistic activists believed that sexual orientation issues should be discussed within MSF, because it is a lived reality for a part of MSF’s employees. One participant described this sentiment as follows:without borders [emphasis added]! Don’t tell them they can’t go there, because they’re going to go! And I think: ‘why wouldn’t you want to go here?”’ .“I feel like they have their blinkers on when it comes to this, and I feel like it is always in the ‘too hard basket.’ Which is ironic, because MSF has never accepted a mission to be in the ‘too hard basket.’ They are all employees, as well as to their fundamental human right to be who they were. They understood that the organization was in a difficult position in this respect, but believed that nevertheless changes could and should be made.In sum, idealistic activists were concerned with the organization not taking any stance on sexual orientation issues, which they found frustrating and disappointing. In making this claim, they referred to the organizational boundary of care, which should also include taking care of individual-level differences in sexual identity management when trying to understand differences in perceived authenticity within the workplace. Through this inductively constructed typology, we received further insights into what could potentially contribute to variations in perceived authenticity.Taken together, in this section, we saw how participants spoke in different ways of how important their sexual identity was to them, and how much they perceived to be able to be authentic in the field. Participants’ stories highlight the importance of This study had two aims. First, it mapped LG humanitarian aid workers’ experience how their sexual orientation plays a role in their daily work, both in an office and a field setting. Second, it identified organizational factors that may play a role in the perceptions of workplace inclusion among this vulnerable minority group. As a result, this study makes four main contributions.corroborate previous research on sexual minorities’ workplace experiences. Participants experienced themselves, or witnessed someone else, being targeted by jokes, derogatory comments, or other types of micro-aggressions  may have an interest in not enabling SGM-employees to disclose, thereby thwarting their opportunity to satisfy their need for authenticity. This is most likely in situations where disclosure might endanger the safety of specific LG employees, but also for MSF as a whole. Similarly, fellow international staff members in the field may also be stakeholders in this dilemma. For example, team dynamics may change once someone reveals their sexuality within the team, with potentially detrimental effects on fellow staff’s ability to do their job well. Whereas the disclosure dilemma is usually presented as an individual dilemma  that distinguishes them from the majority. How does (lack of) satisfaction of their need for authenticity affect their perceived inclusion? Furthermore, in this particular case study, the organization was lauded by its ability to nurture perceptions of belonging, thereby somewhat ‘lessening the blow’ of lowered fulfillment of their need for authenticity. Do SGM-employees and fellow ‘invisible’ minorities in other sectors also experience that their need for authenticity needs to be compromised in their daily work, but that fulfillment of their belonging need may have a buffering function, or vice versa? What role does identity centrality play in the decision to disclose an invisible identity, and how does it affect perceived workplace inclusion?Addressing these questions may lead to uncovering the conditions under which a sexual minority employee’s different social identities become salient in a particular setting. For example, findings of our case study indicate the importance of an overarching organizational goal, which made employees subsume their personal need for authenticity under the organizational needs, especially in the field.With regard to methods, our study calls for replication in other contexts. It might be possible that humanitarian aid work, with its high volatility, stress-inducing workload, and extreme ability to foster a strong sense of belonging, may be a very special organizational setting, leading to the findings we presented here. Additionally, there is a strong self-selection in this type of profession; as several participants mentioned, you have to be a certain kind of individual to be willing to live under these very special circumstances. This may have influenced our findings. Therefore, future research would do well to investigate these components of workplace inclusion within other organizations, in particular those with a strong mission element and the aim to help or save others, such as the ICRC, the military, volunteering, or faith-based organizations.Thirdly, two more practical areas deserve attention. As the office setting of our study is situated in Amsterdam, we were not surprised to hear that, compared to other countries, participants felt they could be open about their sexual identity, hinging on the image of Amsterdam, and the Netherlands at large, to be tolerant and open toward SGM. Nevertheless, we also found boundaries to this openness: participants indicated to still be the subject of, or having witnessed someone else being the subject of, derogatory jokes and remarks toward SGM. We need to disentangle the mechanisms through which this ‘bounded tolerance’ see also  strains We found similarities as well as differences among sexual minority humanitarian aid workers, for example with regard to how they assess the disclosure dilemma, and with regard to their perceived workplace inclusion. This suggests that, even if a fundamental human need cannot be satisfied within a given organizational environment, sexual minority employees might continue to enjoy working for their organization, because of a deep love and great passion for their job, and for fulfilling an overarching organizational mission. There are ways in which they can make meaningful contributions, both within and beyond their organizational boundaries, even though it may be more difficult to fulfill their need for authenticity within the workplace, compared to members of the majority group. One way to better understand the mechanisms that perpetuate existing organizational arrangements maintaining workplace inequality of vulnerable groups, such as sexual minorities, is to do in-depth research on workplace inclusion from the targets’ own perspectives.The dataset for this manuscript is not publicly available because of the sensitive information it contains with regard to participants’ personal experiences related to their sexual identity, and because of the confidential information it contains on Médecins Sans Frontières. Requests to access the dataset should be directed to Julian Rengers, j.m.rengers@rug.nl.JR and LH established the conceptual framework and research design of this study. JR conducted the interviews, analyzed the data, and wrote the manuscript. LH, SO, and RW provided feedback on and contributed to rewriting of the manuscript. All authors approved the final version of this manuscript.The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.


Diabetologia, Nielsen et al (DOI: 10.1007/s00125-018-4587-1) demonstrate that an individual’s obesity level is associated with incident type 2 diabetes in their spouse. This is in line with studies providing evidence for spousal and peer similarities in lifestyle behaviours and obesity. Non-random mating and convergence over time are two explanations for this phenomenon, but shared exposure to more upstream drivers of diabetes may also play a role. From a systems-science perspective, these mechanisms are likely to occur simultaneously and interactively as part of a complex system. In this commentary, we provide an overview of the wider system-level factors that contribute to type 2 diabetes.Diabetes risk factors outside the individual are receiving increasing attention. In this issue of  Despite major investment in research and treatment options, type 2 diabetes mellitus remains a pressing public health issue that is approaching epidemic proportions globally , 2. ExceDiabetologia, Nielsen et al [There is increasing recognition that the conditions in which individuals are born, grow up, live, work and age are important for understanding the aetiology of type 2 diabetes. There is a growing evidence base for such upstream determinants of health ; for exaen et al  contribuThe study by Nielsen and colleagues , using dThe results of this study are in line with a previous meta-analysis that demonstrated evidence for spousal diabetes concordance  and is iThese effects outlined above may not be limited to spouses; Christakis and Fowler  showed tFollowing the reasoning above, health behaviours and chronic conditions may not just ‘spread’ via spouses, friends and siblings, but even across entire families, neighbourhoods or cities. If Nielsen et al had had data on cardiometabolic risk factors of other family members, friends or neighbours, they may have found that, not only spousal factors, but wider social environmental factors were associated with risk of developing type 2 diabetes. In turn, these similarities in type 2 diabetes risk across a social network may be explained by lifestyle behaviours, socioeconomic conditions across the lifespan, or exposure to food and physical activity environments. Indeed, a third explanation for behavioural and health similarities between connected individuals is shared exposure to common environmental factors.Although Nielsen et al adjusted for SEP, all the relevant socioeconomic variation in type 2 diabetes risk may not have been captured. They used the highest reported employment rate at the couple level to indicate SEP, while socioeconomic condition across the life span, including childhood SEP and parental SEP, and area deprivation, may also explain spousal similarities , 21. ForUnfortunately, Nielsen and colleagues did not have data available on other shared environmental factors and, thus, the authors could not investigate whether such factors may explain spousal similarities and differences in type 2 diabetes risk. They did, however, touch upon the role of the food environment for spousal concordance in type 2 diabetes. They found that a wife’s obesity status was a stronger risk factor for incident type 2 diabetes in her husband than vice versa; they speculate that this may be explained by the fact that women are more likely to be responsible for planning, preparing and shopping for food. Indeed, in couples with a more traditional division of roles, a woman’s unhealthy dietary practices may influence both her own and her husband’s risk of type 2 diabetes, while a man’s unhealthy dietary practices (likely originating from the out-of-home food environment) may not influence his wife’s risk of type 2 diabetes. This is, however, discordant with the finding that triacylglycerol levels in men (which are influenced by diet ) can impWhile the short-term clinical relevance of taking into account such upstream factors in the early detection of type 2 diabetes may be limited, it may still be important to take a step back to see the larger picture. Trying to identify individuals at risk of type 2 diabetes by looking at their ‘nearest neighbour’  may be regarded as fighting a running battle, given that there are more distal drivers that cause these spouses, siblings and friends to develop type 2 diabetes in the first place. As an example, Fig. It is important to realise that type 2 diabetes (like obesity) is likely to be the result of a complex, adaptive system . There aIn conclusion, Nielsen et al made an important contribution to the field by explaining the relevance of taking factors external to the individual into account when assessing risk of type 2 diabetes. Indeed, early detection of diabetes risk and subsequent interventions may be improved by using a couple-based, rather than an individual-based, approach. Moreover, healthcare professionals, researchers and policy makers should take into account the wider systemic drivers of the type 2 diabetes epidemic and realise that the effect of downstream interventions may be attenuated by upstream drivers. This implies that a systems response may be necessary to bring about the desired reduction in type 2 diabetes risk. To enable further research into this, broader data collection is required, not only on the influence of spouses, friends and siblings, but also neighbours, other family members and employers, the recreation, transport and food environment, and policy and economic systems.


The theory of CD, one of the most influential and extensively studied theories in social psychology, is shown to be highly compatible with recent developments in PP. This is particularly evident in the notion that both theories deal with strategies to reduce perceived error signals. However, reasons exist to update the theory of CD to one of “predictive dissonance.” First, the hierarchical PP framework can be helpful in understanding varying nested levels of CD. If dissonance arises from a cascade of downstream and lateral predictions and consequent prediction errors, dissonance can exist at a multitude of scales, all the way up from sensory perception to higher order cognitions. This helps understand the previously problematic dichotomy between “dissonant cognitive relations” and “dissonant psychological states,” which are part of the same perception-action process while still hierarchically distinct. Second, since PP is action-oriented, it can be read to support recent action-based models of CD. Third, PP can potentially help us understand the recently speculated evolutionary origins of CD. Here, the argument is that responses to CD can instill meta-learning which serves to prevent the overfitting of generative models to ephemeral local conditions. This can increase action-oriented ecological rationality and enhanced capabilities to interact with a rich landscape of affordances. The downside is that in today’s world where social institutions such as science  A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance, to develop and inspire new research (Cognitive dissonance (CD) theory is arguably one of the most influential and extensively studied theories in social psychology. Dissonance theory continues even 60 years after its original formulation by research . Howeverresearch , but itsresearch . I suggeresearch  as well research  and evolresearch  propositresearch  with a nwhat CD is (related to the concept of “prediction error” in PP), where it is  and why such a cognitive phenomenon might exist to begin with . The present study is therefore perhaps best understood as providing evidential diversity  and discusses these in terms of the propositions made in earlier sections. Section “Conclusion” summarizes the core arguments of this article.Predictive processing, many of its proponents e.g.,  argue, i1 hierarchy of acquired prior2 knowledge, which serves to predict online the incoming sensory barrage. Thus, from the PP perspective, the brain is “an inference machine,” which is in the business of actively predicting and explaining its sensations  of the incoming sensory barrage. Highly weighted, or highly reliable, prediction errors are more likely to update the generative model (and vice versa). By means of updating the generative model, organisms are, in the long term, capable of making the best possible guesses about the true causes of sensory stimuli and thus inferring the external causes that produce sensory data . To slightly complicate the picture – which, it should be noted, can be complicated quite a lot further – the Bayesian narrative of the mind proposed by PP suggests that generative models are s Figure . These hs Figure , p. 30. not to learn from low-weighted prediction errors. Therefore, to accommodate or “explain away”) the incoming or “driving” sensory signal by means of a matching top-down prediction.” Note that, importantly, the sensory signal can be reacted to in various ways, ranging from the updating of the predictive model, suppressing the error signal, recruiting alternate hypotheses, or altering movement in the world so as to harvest different information from the environment . A reader acquainted with CD theory might predict where this argument is heading – I will return to these alternative strategies for coping with error signals in broader detail and contrast them with dissonance reduction mechanisms in Section “A Comparative Take: Prediction Error and Dissonance Reduction.”The upshot is that the intricate balancing of predictions and prediction errors helps organisms such as ours not only to learn from sensory input but also 4 For instance, expecting the sensory flows of what it would be like if you were to write an academic article on a keyboard, is what (for good or ill) drives one to do so, since any other bodily state would induce prediction error.The “predictive engine” of the brain is, according to the PP narrative, also the fundamental driver for action. This is because the brain also makes active forward-looking predictive models for proprioceptive states . If organisms make forward predictions of proprioceptive states, reducing the signal error for these predictions implies moving bodily parts to predicted locations  argues, is a more common affair. For instance, “a person who is habitually very hostile toward other people may surround himself with persons who provoke hostility.” We can also imagine the aforementioned smoker seeking toward environments  where she or he would experience less dissonance. Importantly, Festinger does not imagine here a passive organism, but rather evokes the idea that we can actively move about in the world to reduce dissonance, for instance, by selecting the social groups we interact with (ibid.). Changing environmental cognitive elements can therefore also be achieved by moving to a different social or physical context.Dissonance can be reduced by focusing on more supportive beliefs or reducing the importance of conflicting beliefs. A person might “actively seek new information that would reduce the total dissonance” , p. 22. Dissonance can be reduced by adding cognitive elements or hypotheses which “reconcile” two dissonant cognitive elements. A smoker, Festinger (ibid.) notes, could “find out all about accidents and death rates in automobiles,” reducing the smoker’s dissonance by discounting it against the “more severe” risks of driving. This is, essentially, what dissonance researchers have later called self-justification see .Dissonance can be reduced by even arbitrary changes in beliefs, attitudes, or values. Therefore, finally, a smoker might reconsider their belief about the nature of what is “good” or correct behavior , is much more common than Festinger imagined. Nevertheless, recall how Festinger’s living room pacer reduced dissonance by breaking a hole in the floor. This could be easily reformulated as reduction of prediction error. If the man is actively attempting to predict a hole in the ground, while acting as if this were the case, the exteroceptive sensory information he encounters – the stimuli picked up from the external environment, or a perfectly intact floor – would induce upstream flows of prediction error. This prediction error, in turn, can be reduced by the act of breaking a hole in the floor.As with CD, prediction error can also be reduced by two distinct but related strategies, which are the physical modulation of environments and selective sampling of sensory environments . First, selectively sample the perceivable world. In other words, we have a tendency for selectively harvesting sensory information which is consonant with our predictions. The “dark side” . This leads to the boosting of prediction error signals which are deemed reliable, which in turn inform (or update) the predictive generative model, resulting in a very basic form of Bayesian learning. Basically, the suppression or enhancement of prediction error units serves the function of either updating or not updating the Bayesian priors of the predictive generative model.In the hierarchical PP framework, the recruitment of high-level predictions can explain prediction errors away and effectively tell the upstream-flowing error units to “shut up” , p. 38. mutually misleading” cycles  is reduced. If we make a speech counter to our opinions, we must reduce the magnitude of dissonance by recruiting consonant cognitions. If we can rationalize our behavior by adding reconciliatory cognitive elements , the amount of dissonance will diminish, as 7 In Section “An Evolutionary Rationale for Cognitive Dissonance?,” this idea is elaborated further and shown in particular to be compatible with action-based models of CD.Fourth and finally, as discussed in Section “Predictive Processing: A Brief Overview,” PP and the related free energy principle propose that organisms are inclined to actively avoid error-inducing or “surprising” states. PP and “active inference” e.g.,  posit thAs it appears, several similarities exist between PP and CD theory, namely, that they both deal with strikingly similar accounts of reducing unexpected (or subjectively surprising) mental states and encounters with the world. Arguably, however, PP proposes a more dynamic model of surprise reduction. From the PP point of view, dissonance reduction is not only about the modulation of “cognitive elements” in a passive stimulus–response manner, but is instead forward-looking and predictive. From this perspective, active reduction of “predictive dissonance” would serve as a primary driver for successful action in the world by means of optimizing the prediction of incoming sensory inputs. After all, the Bayesian brain proposed by PP “is an inference engine that is trying to optimize probabilistic representations of what caused its sensory input” to successfully predict the world and understand its causal mechanisms , p. 130.the reality which impinges on a person will exert pressures in the direction of bringing the appropriate cognitive elements into correspondence with that reality.” Recall Therefore, a major rationale for relocating CD in the PP framework is apparent from post-behavioral and consequently incapable of preparing rational action.” Importantly, from a forward-looking PP perspective, as returned to in detail in Section “An Evolutionary Rationale for Cognitive Dissonance?,” particularly the notion that dissonance is incapable of preparing rational action can be questioned. This is because if dissonance is related to, or in fact one form of, prediction error, dissonance is also pre-behavioral and thus capable of preparing efficient, successful and ecologically rational action in the long term. This might not be rational in the homo economicus sense , but can be generally “satisficing”  would most likely be those persistent and recurrent prediction errors higher in the hierarchical model. To illustrate this, imagine Therefore, while “dissonant relations” or “prediction errors” can exist anywhere in the hierarchical or lateral levels of the predictive hierarchy, the psychological uncomfortable state of CD , PP arguably gives CD valuable and informative context within the broader perception-prediction-action framework (known as active inference) and accommodates dissonance in the hierarchical multi-level system of the predictive mind. This also helps us demarcate dissonant cognitive elements from dissonant psychological states, although the two are seen as part of the same perceptual and cognitive process. In fact, the rather simple “Bayesian flip” proposed by PP, I argue below, might even help us understand why certain conservative dissonance reduction strategies exist to begin with.whys” regarding the origins of CD are discussed.A PP take on CD can be discussed against a backdrop of research which, on the one hand, suggests that dissonance has strong evolutionary underpinnings , and conwhy cognitive inconsistency causes both the psychological state of dissonance and the motivation for dissonance reduction. The authors’  proposition – drawing on influences such as William James and James J. Gibson, who also influenced the line of thought which led to at least action implications conflict with each other, making it difficult to act.” Predictive processing is particularly valuable for further understanding action-based dissonance since it proposes that predictive perceptions must be internally coherent to provide clear instructions for action. To highlight this aspect of PP, The same would arguably apply to the famous “duckrabbit,” a Gestalt demonstration by A predictive dissonance account is largely in line with recent action-based models of dissonance, and has potential to be informative for the development of these theoretical frameworks. If CD is understood as one form of prediction error, it makes sense that it should be reduced to ensure successful behavior in our variant ecological niche with multiple competing affordances. As discussed in Section “Predictive Dissonance,” ignoring much of what the sensory signal makes available: “one would be unwise to fit one’s prior too closely to any finite set of observations about how the world behaves, because inevitably the observations are a mixture of reliable and ephemeral factors.”The other immediate “why” of dissonance relates to the statistical properties of overfitting and underfitting. Overfitting a predictive model here, as defined by Marweski et al. , would entail the generative model capturing “not only the variance due to the variables of interest but also that from random error, which organisms are likely to encounter in an uncertain world.” A predictive engine, such as the predictive mind proposed by It seems that often CD and the associated information-discarding is framed as something entirely irrational , this does not entail that it is entirely irrational. The predictive brain, as This might afford a new window for understanding the “origins of CD” and why dissonance occurs not only with adult humans but also other cognitive (prediction error reducing) organisms such human infants as capuchin monkeys . After asocial psychological theory, so uncovering its social rationale is no triviality. Imagine here an early human called Proto, living in a primitive small culture. This culture, like any human culture, has shared meanings, intentions and norms, and the people of this culture particularly value the simple norm “Sharing is good” , leading this norm to be instilled at a high abstract level in their generative models. In practice, such a generative model corresponds to an increased probability of engaging in altruistic behavior, or P(Sharing) . Now, imagine that for some reason, Proto does not share its food and, as a result, experiences cascades of CD . Is it rational for Proto to update its generative model accordingly with the prediction error? Arguably not, since this would eventually lead to modulation of the high-level model “Sharing is good,” a decrease in pre-behavioral P(Sharing) and thus lead to all kinds of trouble in this primitive social setting . Here, for instance, a more conservative self-justifying reaction to dissonance  evolution. First, it should be noted that Perlovsky’s account of CD is not entirely fair, since at least according to Returning to via selective sampling, for instance, might also cause drastically underfitted generative models, leading to persistent confirmation biases  result both in over- and underfitted generative models. Dissonance, it seems, might fundamentally be related to the prevention of overfitting, although the side-effect of this is obvious. Dissonance reduction n biases . But thin biases . A rich n biases . HoweverI end with a normative note. CD is arguably one of the more relevant cognitive phenomena in understanding the roots of the global ecological crisis. This is due to the apparently prominent role that CD plays in the so-called attitude–action gap in environmental psychology see  as well unavoidable high-volume prediction error when irreversible ecological tipping-points9 are reached, or when it is too late.Phenomena such as climate denialism might be understood better through the PP viewpoint, which would posit that strong priors  combined with low attention and selective sampling are at least partly to blame for the poor uptake of new behaviors and evidence-informed local and global policies. The latter case is particularly interesting, since while science already deals with separating noise from signal, subjectively perceived sensory inputs  might still be treated as any other noise by a layperson’s predictive model . I have suggested elsewhere that a necessary starting point for this would be the design of urban environments, urban affordances and environmental education which promote local “action-first” environmentalism, by increasing attention toward environmental concerns behavior . Undeniabehavior .I have argued in this article that PP  can help us further understand the theory of CD, and that the theory of CD could be accommodated within the broader PP framework. The PP take on CD, in this article, has been dubbed “predictive dissonance.” This owes to the notion that it seems like CD is strongly related to the concept of prediction error in PP. Conclusively, PP can be interpreted to shed further light on:•What CD is. From the PP perspective, dissonance arises from upstream error signals weighed variably against downstream predictive generative models. This can also be dubbed “predictive dissonance.” The magnitude of dissonance is a function of the gain or volume and persistence or recurrence of error signals. Predictive dissonance can be reduced by either updating the predictive model, recruiting alternative predictive models or changing behavior and moving about in the social and material world .•Where CD exists. From the PP perspective dissonance can occur at different hierarchical  levels in the multi-level predictive hierarchy. This, at least partly, solves the dilemma of whether “dissonant relations” between cognitions always generate a “dissonant psychological state” (l state” . A theor•Why CD exists to begin with. A picture of CD is therefore painted where perception and action are self-fulfilling prophecies, and “When Prophecy Fails” (to evoke the title of RK made sole contribution to the conception and design of the work; drafted the work and revised it critically for important intellectual content; and agreed to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.The author declares that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.


Our answer is that dancers produce a stream of momentary micro-intentions that say “yes, and”, or “no, but” to short-lived micro-affordances, which allows both individuals to skillfully continue, elaborate, tweak, or redirect the collective movement dynamics. Both dancers can invite emergence as part of their playful exploration, while simultaneously bringing to bear global constraints, such as dance scores, and guide the collective dynamics with a set of specialized skills we shall term emergence management. Drawing on a micro-phenomenological paradigm, we discuss Contact Improvisation (CI), where dancers explore potentials of intercorporeal weight sharing, kinesthesia, touch, and momentum. Our aim is to typologically discuss creativity related skills and the rich spectrum of creative resources CI dancers use. This spectrum begins with relatively idea-driven creation and ends with interactivity-centered, fully emergent creation: (1) Ideation internal to the mind, the focus of traditional creativity research, is either restricted to semi-independent dancing or remains schematic and thus open to dynamic specification under the partner’s influence. (2) Most frequently, CI creativity occurs in tightly coupled behavior and is radically emergent. This means that interpersonal synergies emerge without anybody’s prior design or planned coordination. The creative feat is interpersonally “distributed” over cascades of cross-scaffolding. Our micro-genetic data validate notions from dynamic systems theory such as  Creativity and interaction research can glean new concepts from careful qualitative research on creative events. We observed Contact Improvisation (CI) dance couples, who agreed to participate in workshop-based think-alouds. The dancers explicated in minute detail what they perceived, thought, and planned in key creative moments. This first-person viewpoint, as well as the participatory experience of two of the authors (one of them with 25 years of CI experience), enables us to contrast different sources of embodied co-creation. Creativity is commonly defined as behavior that combines functionality and novelty . In tradAgainst this backdrop, we must appreciate critical differences in performative domains where moments evanesce and ephemerality is inscribed in the modus operandi. For example, certain postmodern dance practices are not outcome-oriented, but oriented towards a continuous process and, often, towards the esthetics of experience. They also engage as much in problem finding as in problem solving, as the creativity literature would term it. The most fundamental difference, however, is that CI and many other types of improvised dance, when practiced in duets or groups, reach beyond “internal”  creativity. The internal represents just one pole on a wider creativity spectrum. The analysis of performative creativity demands a transactional and thus also more “externalist” view, as philosophers would say. This approach has some important precursors we can build on.pre-inventive structures precede the final product, which can “be generated with a particular goal in mind or simply as a vehicle for open ended-discovery. They can be complex and conceptually focused, or simple and relatively ambiguous, depending on the situation or the requirements of the task” . As with the small dance, interior techniques teach dancers to experience themselves as organizing spatially along trajectories and other geometries, perceiving changes and their potentials, while making multifaceted, finely tuned decisions along the way. This practice teaches a deep relaxation in counterpoint to a quickening and the ability to be touched while touching, to be changed while changing and to awaken attention to the polyrhythms of bodies, including to a body ‘standing’ in the small dance.The CI teacher Nita Little ( p. 251) The less predictable we are, the more we have to listen to each other. […] if you have the intention of honing your attention to smaller and smaller... quantity of details. […] the thin-slicing will take you into improvisation. Similarly, our informants mention the importance of “listening” and expanding their attention, especially when entering into risky or unpredictable dynamics:dynamic immediacy  said, it’s faster than call and response. So that means to me that what’s happening, has to be happening on the level of what I call, peripheral intelligence. Which is, it’s not getting up to the skull. It’s happening on the level of our interweaving as physical-mental forms. But there is creativity there, so there is some level at which choices are being made. In terms of reactivity and micro-coordination, this indicates that CI dancers, instead of planning and anticipating, become capable of reflexes . Some ofIn this quote, the second dancer apparently attributes exceptional reaction speed to how features of the peripheral fascia and muscles are organized so that they react intelligently .affordances. The dancers’ real-time perceptual awareness signals adaptation needs, assistance requests, springboards into familiar synergies, and perhaps a hint of a crazy creative thing to try next. One basic creativity skill is to respond quickly to ad hoc affordances, while another skill is to actively sculpt, tweak, redirect, or rapidly “flip” them into a new configuration. As ecological theory predicts, what dancers perceive as afforded to them or their partner is encapsulated in invariants of the movement dynamics, balance, geometry, vectors, and all the other perceptual foci that we discovered (see above). As the father of affordance theory, James Gibson, would have said, the dancers’ “educated attention” allows them to read transient informational arrays arising from the engagement. To sum up, our observations on perceptual acuity clearly indicate that experienced dancers: (a) track and integrate multiple sources of information; (b) know which information sources to prioritize when; (c) use this information to select or rescale their actions in real time, or anyway as fast as nerve transduction allows; and (d) know how to “read” even novel situations based on this information . The accMoving from one “familiar place” to the next is not what CI is about. Dancers emphasize that they eschew using “ready-mades” and avoid chunky motor packages in general. As Nancy Stark Smith, a founder of CI, observes, “You can make a whole dance of very familiar moves. But you can also change it just a little bit to make it your own, to custom-make it in the moment—in the timing, phrasing, or the weight of it. It’s like practicing scales before you’re going to play” . In factpolysynthetic. Dancers must develop a strong capacity for variable cognitive (and motor) assembly. They must, figuratively speaking, come to freely play on the “keyboard” of CI-relevant dance parameters. In other words, dancers are faced with the challenge of assembling action in real time from a multi-dimensional array of motor sub-systems. We may analytically think of this ability as using multiple dynamic controllers pertinent to the current situation; dancers who improvise must scale and mix these controllers into fitting solutions and, even when the latter are unfamiliar, use active exploration skills and self-created feedback to “home in” on a properly balanced result. To improvise effectively and come up with novel, yet functional movement material, it is imperative to organize one’s motor control system in a specific way which we term soft-assembly  That is a place I often go to. Where is the moment that we don’t know? It is not clear for either one of us what can happen.” Where the immediate future is unpredictable, creative challenges arise. In fact, dancers may actively tip the collective system to invite (not yet determined) creative adaptations. Notably, destabilizing an ongoing coordination pattern can lead to this. In one example we observed, a dancer altered his position and initiated a rocking motion. This motion grew to the point of making him unstable and receptive to external perturbations fed into his system by the partner. In a second example, the dancers jointly adapted and oscillated between support and non-support, resulting in a constant “disassembling and assembling” of balance. The moments when she was “off being supported […] [were] really short; immediately […] [she was] clicking back in”. This example suggests that a key skill is to find new structure in the indeterminate situation. Such brinkmanship is somewhat similar to soccer players who “ride the boundary between legality and illegality to gain a competitive advantage”  and to mmetastable states  kind of surrendered to my idea in terms of: let’s see what she is doing, and let’s accommodate that doing”. Another option to try to accommodate your own ideas is by manipulating the partner. For example, one of our experts with an Aikido background applied a wrist lever to force the partner into a fall . Besides manipulating, dancers may invite partners to share an idea of theirs, e.g., by ostentatiously extending the outstretched hand, as we observed during one of our think-alouds. Finally, dancers may create situations that offer a very limited field of affordances to the partner and will likely nudge his or her response into the desired direction.At the far end of the co-creation spectrum, an internal idea can creatively modulate familiar movement material: creatively adapting prototypes or varying the structure of known exemplars has been documented in musical improvisation . In CI, A notch up on the creativity scale, new movement material is created. This can be as simple as using an easily done, but bizarre movement such as sticking the head underneath the partner’s shirt in order to be provocative. Creative material such as this may arise through analogies from situations such as hiding under a blanket as a child. With a dancer who is drawn to musicality, creative material can arise from a rhythm he or she pursues for a time, or a dancer may be intrigued by particular spatial variations. Since these ideas are constrained they can often only come alive fully if the partner actively picks up on the idea. In one particular case, the partner began to mimic a rhythm until dancers were rhythmically reversing roles sitting on top of each other.Another notch up the scale, generative mechanisms from the creativity literature, can be brought into play, of which we now discuss several: The first mechanism is to recombine aspects from different familiar dance scenarios. To illustrate, we observed dancers who creatively reversed roles in the commonplace “body-surfing” scenario, where a dancer is situated on the floor and the partner in a perpendicular position on top. Usually, the lower dancer will transport the upper dancer through space by rolling across the floor. A more creatively inclined dancer in the top position, however, need not follow the momentum of the partner below. He or she can instead approach things the other way around by locking hands or feet to the floor and then moving, stopping, or redirecting the bottom dancer with his or her body center. To provide another example of how elements are creatively combined, dancers might combine a handstand with a backward movement . In such examples, dancers mentally “mesh” known action affordances into something new . Many familiar dance techniques, even when a person envisages the idea to do them in advance, provide a good deal of leeway to begin with. Often, the reason is that a technique’s implementation details are not specified, e.g., in “sloughing” or creating a “rolling point” across the partner’s body. These techniques merely prescribe a directives  or thinking you have to undo it, you emphasize it even, take it as your solution”.problem finding often occurs in tandem with problem solving, both recognized resources  when you work with kinesthetics, these nuances, it’s kind of like you can mold it unpredictably in a way. […] it doesn’t happen by itself. It happens by ... and also not by will. It happens by allowing it. It’s more about registering it and then micro... kind of like tiny decisions that are taken at each moment: Go for it—go against it. Analytically, we may speak of a transactional process over the time-course of a few seconds. It involves, in simultaneity, exploration and solution probing in response to the challenges that the dancers create together in real time . The dancers monitor the ongoing dynamics and, to quote an informant, pick up onPatterns you can intentionally create and you learn […] are often relatively simple patterns and a limited repertoire. And then there are a much wider bandwidth [of patterns] which you can never intentionally produce with all their components, but which you only implicitly recognize as a chance when it arises.Dancers often emphasize the special creative potential of this transactional stream. One informant compared these resources favorably to what we termed internal modes of creativity:The following vignette  illustraNo one had envisaged the inverted lift; instead, both dancers responded fluently to the temporally overlapping co-actions of their partner, which supplied green lights for building on what was already there. The test criterion—and a common question in our think-alouds—is that they confirm they would have selected other options at various points without the synergistic co-actions of the partner. This exemplifies a spontaneous mutual augmentation of small dance impulses between the partners who, by continuously cross-scaffolding each other, create a viable and creatively interesting synergy. Note that, whereas the dancers were both familiar with all principles of inverse lifting, no advance planning was involved. General constraints that specify good acrobatic synergy did the job. The outcome was a physically demanding co-action without having envisaged anything. A dancer from a different think-aloud expressed the principle of how synergies emerge in this way: “it is an implicit knowledge you cannot necessarily conjure up in advance and define, instead you recognize the opportunity.” Furthermore, “I didn’t know at the time that it was a preparation. But it turned out to be useful.”while it happens. Secondly, the dancers’ physical and structural interpenetration plays an important role. It ensures rapid information transmission and push-pull reactivity, but also creates a collective biomechanical unit that behaves low-dimensionally  your weight comes to the one side but then as it reverses it creates a wave and I just follow it”. […] Following the wave also requires proficiency because you have to relax certain parts of your body in order to follow. […] Reducing the tone is also a very active thing to do.At the most imperceptible level, perhaps, it is possible to skillfully exploit This quote is noteworthy in that it directly mentions the skills it takes and how the dancer exploits micro-trends so that internal and external agencies coalesce into an emergent effect. We have so far argued that collective self-organization trends are constantly infused with skilled intentionality; even highly interaction-dominant processes are given direction in informed ways. One essential aspect—ever-present in the conversations of CI dancers—is still missing from this argument. It concerns the question of general intentional constraints each dancer brings to an otherwise open encounter.full movement intention that very closely constrains motor activations for one’s own body before the act. However, CI dancers—much of the time—tend to eschew fully specifying plans that reach ahead. The risks are too evident, as expressed in an earlier quote: “The more definite imagination I put into it, the more likely I will get a no, because it will not correspond to your ideas”. Keeping intentions tentative or schematic until the moment arrives is more functional. Motor commands are created in the last moment to fit the ongoing interaction dynamic, as expressed here: “In an improvisation situation, it tends to be the case that I, as it were, narrow the frame to a certain selection of alternatives, and in the moment where we, for example, meet in contact it becomes this one option.” Let us briefly take a step back again: It is true, as reported in aspectual full intentions that reach ahead a little, yet leave other biomechanical parameters unspecified . Second, dancers constantly deploy micro-intentions that are short-lived and mostly say “yes, and” or “no, but” to ongoing dynamics. These micro-intentions are precisely in sync with the dynamic and never reach ahead more than would endanger this fit. If intentions are rarely envisaged as fully specifying plans, what do they consist of the rest of the time? Some parts of the answer were already given earlier: First, dancers report non-deterministic intentional constraints at a higher timescale, which we began to discuss under the rubric of control parameters in the last section. Such higher-timescale constraints and directives come in many types: The most frequent reported type are “scores” that define general aims without any specified implementation, thus a global intention such as “remaining close to her but not in physical touch”, “feel into the bone structure of my partner through the tactile interface”, “explore the vertical dimension”, “explore rotations around one another”, or “move as little as possible”. Next, dancers report thematic interests to pick up on when the opportunity arises and task type intentions, e.g., general, but otherwise unspecified interests in rolling point techniques, handstands, lifts, “sloughing”, ground techniques, etc. Third, dancers impose framing intentions. Framing intentions constrain what from the interactive process to pick up on, yet remain too schematic to narrow down options to a specific realization. This makes them compatible with multiple realizations and allows exploiting a wide range of emerging micro-affordances. In other words, framing intentions remain amenable to dynamic specification. Framing intentions are inherently “joint-improvisation-friendly”; they do not clash with interactive emergence, but supply mere constraints on it. We may sum these types of non-deterministic intentionality up as strictly cause dynamically adapted co-action behavior all by itself. It can at best furnish “constraints on dynamics” Within this process, the role of framing intentions is to generate directed activities that co-determine a general direction of the duet. At the level of cognition, framing intentions impose thematic decision filters that prioritize some of the many arising micro-affordances. They also guide active exploration and strategic feedback-generation in keeping with the notion of loose rectives . A danceIt is thus ultimately the rapidly evolving collective biomechanical milieu that narrows down how individuals contextually concretize framing intentions. Usually, the mix of two dancer’s currently active framing intentions drive the collective to some region of the interaction space where their further engagement narrows down possible micro-realizations or lets new micro-ideas emerge. intentionality hierarchy across timescales where micro-intentions take on shape situationally under constraints provided by higher-timescale intentions such as scores, themes or preferred task types. Micro-intentions emerge more or less at the timescale of motor commands themselves. Our present emphasis thus stands in contrast with hierarchical models of action [skilled intentionality towards the interaction [useful degree of constraint and adaptive pressure (whether self- or other-imposed). To recap all this, we have proposed an f action  where loeraction . This dyAn ecological model of co-creation would then ask which variables guide the agents in narrowing down the solution space, whereby their momentary micro-intentions can take on shape. This is a process of convergence, as we have seen. Prior intentional constraints—to varying degrees and at different timescales—blend into the emerging spatial and interactional constraints. In this complex equation, the perceived available space, collective milieu, readiness, and skill define the field of affordances available to a dancer. In CI, at least in most situations, dancers may freely select among these affordances. However, they are guided by their own framing intentions, their moods, habits, and implicit preferences , as well as by collective properties of the duet, be they physical , related to histories of dancing together, or of other sorts. weakly interactive co-creation a dancer tries to implement an idea which fits the situation at the outset, but has a projection span of a second or more, and may not fit the subsequent dynamic unless one ensures partner assistance, enforces the idea, or is only engaged in weak physical coupling with the partner at this moment. In contrast, in distributed creativity, unintended forms arise through a micro-cyclic process of continuous cross-scaffolding. It is thus a pertinent question for scholarship to inquire into the different possible modes of balancing constraining intentions and the willingness (and ability) to embrace surprise, serendipity, and emergent structures. Having come full circle now, we must reiterate that intentions and collective dynamics can be integrated in different ways. Dancers exercise variable ranges of “projection span” into the future and may or may not insist on prior intentions. In what we called interactional semiotics of co-creation, extended by the factor of embodiment and joint kinesthesia. We described how creative  dynamics in a duet emerge and we provided a vocabulary for this process. Our objective was to survey creative modes and resources in the dance domain CI to provide, as Keith Sawyer posited it over a decade ago, an The main novelty value of this paper lies in contrasting forms of performative co-creation on a gamut from relatively “internal” to dominantly “interactive” forms of ideation. We can sum up the argument in four points: (1) In co-improvised embodied performance, the generation of movement ideas is both constrained and inspired by a stream of participatory engagement. (2) Although creativity is always interactive, it ranges from weakly to strongly participatory versions—we have distinguished internally generated, but interactively implemented ideas and fully participatory  types of creativity that operate by continuous cross-scaffolding. (3) CI experts mostly prefer forms of skilled intentionality that are of a “joint improvisation-friendly” kind, which balance collective constraints with individual creative freedom. Emergence is respected by guiding, tweaking, and nudging an ongoing collective dynamic, but also by allowing things to unfold. (4) Methodologically, we demonstrated how to put into practice a thorough micro-analysis of transactional emergence, which tracks precisely how intentionality weaves itself into the process. This shows how co-creation research can go well beyond topics such as brainstorming and explore the implications of real-time dynamic coupling as a generative principle in its own right.conditions of possibility. This includes skills for remaining poised in readiness; a functional attentional focus on “what matters”; perceptual “thin-slicing” and real-time reactivity; motor repertoires that are capable of combinatorial synthesis; and capacities for micro-coordinating complex movements without planning ahead. Second, creativity techniques in the narrower sense were analyzed, notably heuristics for seeking novelty, for self-stimulation, and for gravitating towards micro-zones of the action space where novelty is likely to arise. We also connected the idea of distributed creativity, the CI modality where creativity arguably becomes richest, to abilities for real-time cross-scaffolding with the partner. Distributed modes of creativity put high demands on all of the above enabling skills, but also require a knack for inviting and exploiting self-organizing dynamics. This surplus hardly “just happens”—it requires ongoing “emergence management”, a set of special skills that allow reaping the benefits of embodied or interpersonal auto- or cross-catalysis. Overall, the present case study suggests an important new focus for dynamic systems research, namely the study of expert skills for properly calibrating, nudging, tweaking, and optimally exploiting a complex non-deterministic system. As a second innovation, our survey of creativity related skills made efforts to distinguish between two levels. First, dancers train a range of sensorimotor skills to enable improvisational co-creation, i.e., to supply necessary