Social Influence as Reinforcement Learning

Abstract

This project examined a reinforcement learning model of conformity and social influence. Under this model, individuals value consensusor agreement with groupsand conformity represents a strategy for maximizing consensus with a group. Under this project, we examined three predictions that emerge from a reinforcement model. First, people effects of social influence should generalize, such that people should agree with groups not only about particular exemplars (e.g., foods or paintings), but also about rules governing group behavior. Second, people should be most inclined to conform when they experience social hunger, such as isolation or rejection. Third, people should act more prosocially towards individuals who conformed with them (i.e., offer consensus). Predictions 1 and 3, but not 2, were borne out by our research.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 13, 2016
Accession Number
AD1008597

Entities

People

  • Jamil Zaki

Organizations

  • Stanford University

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Abstracts
  • Agreements
  • Cognitive Neuroscience
  • Cognitive Science
  • Conformity
  • Department Of Defense
  • Education
  • Engineering
  • Information Operations
  • Learning
  • Mathematics
  • Psychology
  • Reinforcement Learning
  • Social Norms
  • Social Psychology
  • Students
  • Technology Transfer

Fields of Study

  • Psychology

Readers

  • Computational Modeling and Simulation
  • Gender and Food Studies
  • Team-Based Human-Centered Cognitive Task Decision Making and Information Performance.

Technology Areas

  • AI & ML