A response to the annual Middlesex Psychology question:
We aim to understand seven-billion complicated neural networks whose synapses can be modified by external forces. They are connected to a body and can transmit sensations that feel like they come from that part of the body. These neural networks continue to grow for the first five years of their lives. They range in age from zero to one-hundred-years. They communicate with a significant set of other neural networks. Some of which they are in-love with and produce new networks. They develop a sense of self that feels absolutely real and different from anything other than another neural network. Together they create complicated structures and rules for existence. They now have access to a worldwide communication device. We are one of these networks.
I suspect we could get toward a deep explanation through one of two avenues. We could investigate their structure to see if there are some programmed aspects to their psychology. Alternatively, we could acknowledge the complexity and develop a deep subjective understanding of a small number of them. Maybe there are other avenues but I doubt we could control enough independent variables to get a truly deep understanding.
Nicholas Le Boutillier
Wednesday, 13 February 2013
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Some news: I have asked the Library if we could please have the full subscription to PNAS and the university has agreed. I asked Viv Eades to let us know when this becomes effective
This is the kind of paper we will get to read:
PNAS 12 Feb 2013, vol. 110 no. 7, 2581–2586
Evolution of fairness in the one-shot anonymous Ultimatum Game
David G. Randa, Corina E. Tarnita, Hisashi Ohtsuki and Martin A. Nowak
Abstract
Classical economic models assume that people are fully rational and selfish, while experiments often point to different conclusions. A canonical example is the Ultimatum Game: one player proposes a division of a sum of money between herself and a second player, who either accepts or rejects. Based on rational self-interest, responders should accept any nonzero offer and proposers should offer the smallest possible amount. Traditional, deterministic models of evolutionary game theory agree: in the one-shot anonymous Ultimatum Game, natural selection favors low offers and demands. Experiments instead show a preference for fairness: often responders reject low offers and proposers make higher offers than needed to avoid rejection. Here we show that using stochastic evolutionary game theory, where agents make mistakes when judging the payoffs and strategies of others, natural selection favors fairness. Across a range of parameters, the average strategy matches the observed behavior: proposers offer between 30% and 50%, and responders demand between 25% and 40%. Rejecting low offers increases relative payoff in pairwise competition between two strategies and is favored when selection is sufficiently weak. Offering more than you demand increases payoff when many strategies are present simultaneously and is favored when mutation is sufficiently high. We also perform a behavioral experiment and find empirical support for these theoretical findings: uncertainty about the success of others is associated with higher demands and offers; and inconsistency in the behavior of others is associated with higher offers but not predictive of demands. In an uncertain world, fairness finishes first.
Fabia Franco
This is the kind of paper we will get to read:
PNAS 12 Feb 2013, vol. 110 no. 7, 2581–2586
Evolution of fairness in the one-shot anonymous Ultimatum Game
David G. Randa, Corina E. Tarnita, Hisashi Ohtsuki and Martin A. Nowak
Abstract
Classical economic models assume that people are fully rational and selfish, while experiments often point to different conclusions. A canonical example is the Ultimatum Game: one player proposes a division of a sum of money between herself and a second player, who either accepts or rejects. Based on rational self-interest, responders should accept any nonzero offer and proposers should offer the smallest possible amount. Traditional, deterministic models of evolutionary game theory agree: in the one-shot anonymous Ultimatum Game, natural selection favors low offers and demands. Experiments instead show a preference for fairness: often responders reject low offers and proposers make higher offers than needed to avoid rejection. Here we show that using stochastic evolutionary game theory, where agents make mistakes when judging the payoffs and strategies of others, natural selection favors fairness. Across a range of parameters, the average strategy matches the observed behavior: proposers offer between 30% and 50%, and responders demand between 25% and 40%. Rejecting low offers increases relative payoff in pairwise competition between two strategies and is favored when selection is sufficiently weak. Offering more than you demand increases payoff when many strategies are present simultaneously and is favored when mutation is sufficiently high. We also perform a behavioral experiment and find empirical support for these theoretical findings: uncertainty about the success of others is associated with higher demands and offers; and inconsistency in the behavior of others is associated with higher offers but not predictive of demands. In an uncertain world, fairness finishes first.
Fabia Franco
Monday, 11 February 2013
Experimental subjects are not different
Recently Pablo Brañas-Garza, from economics here at Middlesex, has published a paper in Nature Scientific Reports entitled Experimental Subjects Are Not Different. I retained the use of subjects in the title for this entry because the paper is about economic games under experimental conditions where participants are indeed subjected to constraints and one another's strategic moves. To my mind these notions often get squeezed out by imposed social norms around labelling.
Here is the abstract:
Experiments using economic games are becoming a major source for the study of human social behavior. These experiments are usually conducted with university students who voluntarily choose to participate. Across the natural and social sciences, there is some concern about how this “particular” subject pool may systematically produce biased results. Focusing on social preferences, this study employs data from a survey experiment conducted with a representative sample of a city’s population (N=765). We report behavioral data from five experimental decisions in three canonical games: dictator, ultimatum and trust games. The dataset includes students and non-students as well as volunteers and nonvolunteers. We separately examine the effects of being a student and being a volunteer on behavior, which allows a ceteris paribus comparison between self-selected students (students*volunteers) and the representative population. Our results suggest that self-selected students are an appropriate subject pool for the study of social behavior.
This is an interesting result as it opens up a wealth of possibilities for those of us in Psychology who are interested in cooperation and its dynamics. Experimental games can be expensive to run, and therefore can require good funding, but this is not always the case and as you will see this paper has a way of offsetting some of the costs. And, of course, cash is not the only utility to distribute or maximize. So, there is much to think about here.
Pablo's other papers are well worth a look.
Tom Dickins
Here is the abstract:
Experiments using economic games are becoming a major source for the study of human social behavior. These experiments are usually conducted with university students who voluntarily choose to participate. Across the natural and social sciences, there is some concern about how this “particular” subject pool may systematically produce biased results. Focusing on social preferences, this study employs data from a survey experiment conducted with a representative sample of a city’s population (N=765). We report behavioral data from five experimental decisions in three canonical games: dictator, ultimatum and trust games. The dataset includes students and non-students as well as volunteers and nonvolunteers. We separately examine the effects of being a student and being a volunteer on behavior, which allows a ceteris paribus comparison between self-selected students (students*volunteers) and the representative population. Our results suggest that self-selected students are an appropriate subject pool for the study of social behavior.
This is an interesting result as it opens up a wealth of possibilities for those of us in Psychology who are interested in cooperation and its dynamics. Experimental games can be expensive to run, and therefore can require good funding, but this is not always the case and as you will see this paper has a way of offsetting some of the costs. And, of course, cash is not the only utility to distribute or maximize. So, there is much to think about here.
Pablo's other papers are well worth a look.
Tom Dickins
BabyLab conference activity
The following two abstracts have been accepted for conference:
Abstract one:
Accepted for presentation at the International Symposium on Performance Science (ISPS), Vienna (Austria), 28-31 August 2013
Stepping Together to Music Affects Men and Women Differently: Mode and Tempo Effects on Person Perception in a Synchronization Task
Fabia Franco & Stanislava Angelova
Department of Psychology, Middlesex University, UK
Keeping together in time (e.g. dance, military drill) has been described as crucial in human social evolution (McNeil, 1995). Recently, Macrae et al. (2008) showed enhanced cognitive performance in participants synchronising their hand-waving for 60 seconds. Furthermore, Valdesolo & Desteno (2010) found that entrainment facilitated altruism towards a synchronous partner. In both studies the participants synchronized to a fairly fast metronome, and both found higher partner likeability in synchronous than non-synchronous conditions. When considering music, tempo is a variable implicated in the identification of affect in music (besides mode). For example, Dalla Bella et al. (2001) differentiated ‘happy’ and ‘sad’ music as characterized, respectively, by fast tempo-major mode, and slow tempo-minor mode. Aiming to bring this area of study into a more ecologically valid and controlled framework, we investigated the effect of tempo and mode on person perception, prosocial attitude and recall when participants synchronised motor behaviour to music rather than metronome.
Method
Participants: 128 (50% female) tested in London (UK) from various ethnic and cultural backgrounds, none proficient active musicians.
Design: 2x2x2 independent factors (gender, tempo and mode). Dependent measures were synchronized partner likeability and similarity scores (both on a 1-7 scale), number of words recalled (incidental memory) and prosocial attitude towards synchronized partner (1-7 scale). Based on the 2x2 combination of mode (major, minor) by tempo (fast, slow), participants were randomly allocated to one of four conditions (e.g., MJ-FAST, major mode-fast tempo).
Procedure: Participants were asked to step to the musical beat with a female researcher by moving to each side of their initial position, for the duration of the musical track (1 min ~). During the task, the researcher pronounced 20 common words. Subsequently, participants were asked [1] to list the words spoken by the researcher if they could remember any, and to rate [2] how much they liked the researcher, [3] how similar to the researcher they felt, and [4] how likely they were to help the researcher on her next, very time consuming experiment (all on a 1-7 scale).
Results
ANOVAs revealed a significant gender x mode x tempo interaction for Likeability of the synchronized partner (F1,120 = 7.5, p = .007), showing that her likeability was differently affected by musical mode and tempo in women and men. Separate gender follow-up analyses yielded a significant mode x tempo interaction for women, who liked the researcher most with major/slow or minor/fast music and least when it was minor/slow (F1,60 = 5.26, p =.025). Male participants presented two independent effects of mode (F1,60 = 4.64, p = .035), and tempo (F1,60 = 4.62, p = .036), as they liked the researcher best, respectively, with major mode and slow tempo.
Conclusions
Musical variables such as mode and tempo, which are associated with the perception of affect in music, are relevant for person perception in a synchronised motor response task. Significant gender effects found in this study instigate revision of previous findings and consideration of evolutionary questions.
Abstract two:
25th APS Annual Convention, Washington, D.C. (USA) 23-26 May 2013 - Accepted for presentation as part of one of the themes of the conference: "Regulating the mind/regulating the world".
Atypical World/Mind Regulation: Dual-sensory Impaired Children Use Multisensory Means for Joint Attention
Nunez, M. (Glasgow Caledonian),
Franco, F. (Middlesex),
& Leekam, S. (Cardiff)
Joint Attention (JA) is a developmental milestone in human communication that typically appears around the end of the first year of life. Through JA children show evidence of coordinated regulation of their own attention and the attention of others to communicate something about the world. Communication in JA serves as a platform for cultural learning, language acquisition and the intentional understanding of the internal world. Most research on JA communication has focused on the visual modality. The study presented here is part of a larger project that looks at the use of alternative sensory modalities in the early communication of deafblind children. Fifteen congenitally deafblind children were recruited from England, Scotland and Wales. In an infant laboratory setting, parent/child dyads were observed free-playing for 15 minutes with sensory-adapted toys. A third of the children showed JA behaviours using differentiated multisensory means to communicate with their parent. These findings indicate that different levels of JA can be achieved through atypical sensory channels in order to fulfill typical communication functions. Atypical sensory trajectories to JA can fulfill typical functionality in regulating other's attention and intentions, and communicate about the world.
Acknowledgments: Funding and support for the research was provided to Nunez, Franco & Leekam by SENSE (UK).
Abstract one:
Accepted for presentation at the International Symposium on Performance Science (ISPS), Vienna (Austria), 28-31 August 2013
Stepping Together to Music Affects Men and Women Differently: Mode and Tempo Effects on Person Perception in a Synchronization Task
Fabia Franco & Stanislava Angelova
Department of Psychology, Middlesex University, UK
Keeping together in time (e.g. dance, military drill) has been described as crucial in human social evolution (McNeil, 1995). Recently, Macrae et al. (2008) showed enhanced cognitive performance in participants synchronising their hand-waving for 60 seconds. Furthermore, Valdesolo & Desteno (2010) found that entrainment facilitated altruism towards a synchronous partner. In both studies the participants synchronized to a fairly fast metronome, and both found higher partner likeability in synchronous than non-synchronous conditions. When considering music, tempo is a variable implicated in the identification of affect in music (besides mode). For example, Dalla Bella et al. (2001) differentiated ‘happy’ and ‘sad’ music as characterized, respectively, by fast tempo-major mode, and slow tempo-minor mode. Aiming to bring this area of study into a more ecologically valid and controlled framework, we investigated the effect of tempo and mode on person perception, prosocial attitude and recall when participants synchronised motor behaviour to music rather than metronome.
Method
Participants: 128 (50% female) tested in London (UK) from various ethnic and cultural backgrounds, none proficient active musicians.
Design: 2x2x2 independent factors (gender, tempo and mode). Dependent measures were synchronized partner likeability and similarity scores (both on a 1-7 scale), number of words recalled (incidental memory) and prosocial attitude towards synchronized partner (1-7 scale). Based on the 2x2 combination of mode (major, minor) by tempo (fast, slow), participants were randomly allocated to one of four conditions (e.g., MJ-FAST, major mode-fast tempo).
Procedure: Participants were asked to step to the musical beat with a female researcher by moving to each side of their initial position, for the duration of the musical track (1 min ~). During the task, the researcher pronounced 20 common words. Subsequently, participants were asked [1] to list the words spoken by the researcher if they could remember any, and to rate [2] how much they liked the researcher, [3] how similar to the researcher they felt, and [4] how likely they were to help the researcher on her next, very time consuming experiment (all on a 1-7 scale).
Results
ANOVAs revealed a significant gender x mode x tempo interaction for Likeability of the synchronized partner (F1,120 = 7.5, p = .007), showing that her likeability was differently affected by musical mode and tempo in women and men. Separate gender follow-up analyses yielded a significant mode x tempo interaction for women, who liked the researcher most with major/slow or minor/fast music and least when it was minor/slow (F1,60 = 5.26, p =.025). Male participants presented two independent effects of mode (F1,60 = 4.64, p = .035), and tempo (F1,60 = 4.62, p = .036), as they liked the researcher best, respectively, with major mode and slow tempo.
Conclusions
Musical variables such as mode and tempo, which are associated with the perception of affect in music, are relevant for person perception in a synchronised motor response task. Significant gender effects found in this study instigate revision of previous findings and consideration of evolutionary questions.
Abstract two:
25th APS Annual Convention, Washington, D.C. (USA) 23-26 May 2013 - Accepted for presentation as part of one of the themes of the conference: "Regulating the mind/regulating the world".
Atypical World/Mind Regulation: Dual-sensory Impaired Children Use Multisensory Means for Joint Attention
Nunez, M. (Glasgow Caledonian),
Franco, F. (Middlesex),
& Leekam, S. (Cardiff)
Joint Attention (JA) is a developmental milestone in human communication that typically appears around the end of the first year of life. Through JA children show evidence of coordinated regulation of their own attention and the attention of others to communicate something about the world. Communication in JA serves as a platform for cultural learning, language acquisition and the intentional understanding of the internal world. Most research on JA communication has focused on the visual modality. The study presented here is part of a larger project that looks at the use of alternative sensory modalities in the early communication of deafblind children. Fifteen congenitally deafblind children were recruited from England, Scotland and Wales. In an infant laboratory setting, parent/child dyads were observed free-playing for 15 minutes with sensory-adapted toys. A third of the children showed JA behaviours using differentiated multisensory means to communicate with their parent. These findings indicate that different levels of JA can be achieved through atypical sensory channels in order to fulfill typical communication functions. Atypical sensory trajectories to JA can fulfill typical functionality in regulating other's attention and intentions, and communicate about the world.
Acknowledgments: Funding and support for the research was provided to Nunez, Franco & Leekam by SENSE (UK).
Saturday, 9 February 2013
British Society for the Psychology of Individual Difference Meeting
We are pleased to announce that the 4th annual scientific meeting of British Society for the Psychology of Individual Difference (BSPID) is to be held at the Institute of Psychiatry on Friday the 12th of April.
This is a one day scientific meeting with keynotes by Prof Tim Bates (Edinburgh) and Prof Gisli Gudjonsson (IoP). The past three years of conference have been very successful and we hope that you’ll be able to attend the 4th in London, making it equally successful. We would also encourage you to submit abstracts for consideration for inclusion in the scientific programme (deadline is the 22nd of March). All the details for registration and abstract submission can be found on the BSPID web pages.
We will circulate a list of good but reasonable priced hotel accommodation in the area to all registered delegates.
Can you please forward these details onto others you think may be interested in attending the conference and/or joining BSPID.
All the best
Eamonn Ferguson
Professor of Health Psychology
Personality and Social Psychology and Health Group
School of Psychology
University of Nottingham,
Nottingham,
NG7 2RD
Co-founding president of the British Society for the Psychology of Individual Differences
Friday, 8 February 2013
Edging into the light
Every year the Edge asks an array of scholars, thinkers and public figures to answer a question. The most recent question was:
This is an interesting question because it can be parsed in a number of ways. For example, we might end up in a conversation about moral imperatives or, alternatively, we might end up focusing upon climate change or superbugs.
When I first read the question I immediately wondered about who the 'we' are and this led me to start wondering about group identities and crucial problems of cooperation. Many conflicts are ongoing, resource interests are leading to a tragedy of the commons in many arenas, and economic social experiments such as the single European currency are suffering. But this is not the place to begin this analysis.
Instead, I should like to start a tradition for Middlesex Psychology of asking an annual question of all my colleagues. I hope to post their answers on this blog. So, this year the question is:
Those of you who follow the Edge will see that this question has some relation to that asked in 2011/12.
This can be looked at in terms of explanatory satisfaction, or more specifically in terms of the properties and contraints of the discipline of Psychology, then there is the issue of depth and what that might imply... Let's see what emerges.
Tom Dickins
What *should* we be worried about?
This is an interesting question because it can be parsed in a number of ways. For example, we might end up in a conversation about moral imperatives or, alternatively, we might end up focusing upon climate change or superbugs.
When I first read the question I immediately wondered about who the 'we' are and this led me to start wondering about group identities and crucial problems of cooperation. Many conflicts are ongoing, resource interests are leading to a tragedy of the commons in many arenas, and economic social experiments such as the single European currency are suffering. But this is not the place to begin this analysis.
Instead, I should like to start a tradition for Middlesex Psychology of asking an annual question of all my colleagues. I hope to post their answers on this blog. So, this year the question is:
What constitutes a deep explanation in Psychology?
Those of you who follow the Edge will see that this question has some relation to that asked in 2011/12.
This can be looked at in terms of explanatory satisfaction, or more specifically in terms of the properties and contraints of the discipline of Psychology, then there is the issue of depth and what that might imply... Let's see what emerges.
Tom Dickins
Welcome
Welcome to the Middlesex Psychology blog.
This is a space where colleagues from the Department of Psychology at Middlesex University can post information about their latest research and knowledge exchange activities, and also discuss various ideas that they are currently grappling with from within the discipline and without.
So, in essence, this is a virtual common room that I hope will attract contributions and attention.
Tom Dickins
This is a space where colleagues from the Department of Psychology at Middlesex University can post information about their latest research and knowledge exchange activities, and also discuss various ideas that they are currently grappling with from within the discipline and without.
So, in essence, this is a virtual common room that I hope will attract contributions and attention.
Tom Dickins
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