One of the crowd or one of a kind? New artificial intelligence research indicates we have a bit of both

An Aston University computer scientist has used artificial intelligence (AI) to show that we’re not as individuals as we’d like to think.

In the late 1960s, the famous psychologist Stanley Milgram proved that if one sees crowd looking in one direction, they have the ability to track a look.

Now, Dr Ulysses Bernardet in the Computer Science Research Group at Aston University, in collaboration with experts from Belgium and Germany, has found evidence that our actions follow a two-step process when We are in a crowd.

Their results, “Evidence for a two-step model of social group influence”, are published in iScience shows that we go through a two-stage process in which we are more likely to imitate the crowd first and think independently second.

The researchers believe their findings will increase understanding of how humans make decisions based on what others are doing.

To test this idea, scholars created a immersive virtual reality The test (VR) is located on a street in the simulated city.

Each of the 160 participants was individually observed as they watched a movie in virtual reality environment was created for testing.

As they watched the movie, 10 computer-generated “audiences” in a VR-simulated street were manipulated by AI to try to influence the direction of each participant’s gaze.

During testing, three different sounds such as an explosion coming from the left or right side of the virtual street. At the same time, some “audience” looked in a particular direction, not always in the direction of the virtual explosion or the other two sounds.

The scholar calculated a direct and indirect metric for tracking.

The direct measure was the proportion of trials in which participants followed the gaze of a crowd.

The indirect measurement took into account how quickly the participants reacted depending on whether they were instructed to look in the same or opposite direction as the audience.

The results of the trial support the understanding that the influence of a crowd is best explained by a two-step model.

Dr. Bernardet says that “people show an initial tendency to follow others – a mirroring, reflexive process. But then there is a more deliberate, strategic process when a person decides to have stars. copy others around them or not.”

“One way that groups influence individuals is by directing their gaze.”

“This influence is not only felt in terms of social norms, but also affects immediate actions and is at the heart of group behaviors such as riots and mass panics.”

“Our model is consistent not only with evidence obtained by brain imaging but also with recent evidence that post-vision is indicative of a complex interplay between opportunistic social processes version and enhancement.”