Towards a computational model of social comparison: Some implications for the cognitive architecture

Abstract

We investigate a general cognitive model of group behaviors, based on Festinger’s social comparison theory (SCT), a prominent social psychology theory. We describe two possible implementations of SCT process at an architectural level, on the basis of the Soar cognitive architecture. The first, which seems to follow directly from Festinger’s social comparison theory, treats the SCT process as an uncertainty-resolution method. The second, takes a different approach, in which an SCT process is constantly active, in parallel to any problem solving activity. We present the implementation of these approaches in the Soar cognitive architecture and argue that one is more suitable for modeling crowd behaviors. In previous work, we have shown that SCT covers a variety of pedestrian movement phenomena. In this paper we present the use of the SCT model in generation of imitational behavior in loosely-coupled groups. Based on experiments with human subjects, we show that SCT generates behavior in-tune with human crowd behavior.