Small Group Behavior Research Articles

Adaptive Formation by Pedestrian Small Groups During Egresses

Human crowd behavior is an intriguing example of collective behavior where global dynamics emerge from interindividual interactions. Although most studies of human crowds assume that all individuals are independent, the presence and impact of social groups, such as friends or families, have recently been explored. Spatial structures resulting from group behavior and decision-making processes are key aspects of social groups, and how such structures are formed and the impact of these are largely unknown, especially in the scenario of crowd evacuations. Here we experimentally show that in the vicinity of exits, dyads and triads form a representative formation, which would attenuate a disadvantage of small groups that are typically regarded as moving obstacles toward the evacuation dynamics. In laboratory experiments on crowd evacuations regarding small group behavior, we first observed no noticeable differences of egress time between monads and groups, which is contrary to a naïve intuitiveness but in agreement with recent experimental observations. To resolve this contradiction, a detailed analysis focusing on behavior in front of exits suggests that group members constitute a straight-line structure vertical to the exit. Our findings offer a new perspective on how adaptive small group behavior emerges during crowd evacuation.

Analysis of the Impact of Small Group Behavior on Cruise Ship Emergency Evacuation

The effectiveness of a cruise ship’s emergency evacuation is greatly influenced by the way people interact; this paper uses the social force model to simulate two different evacuation scenarios considering the impact of small groups. It uses an agent to simulate the behavior of a single occupant, and leverages the social force model to quantify the effect of group behavior on the group members. According to the influence of the group on the members, this paper corrects the expected speed of the members to determine the speed of crowd evacuation. It uses the SAFEGUARD cruise ship as the evacuation platform to simulate the process of evacuating the passengers to the boarding station and assembly station, respectively, and calculates the evacuation time, congestion area, and congestion duration of passengers under the action of groups. The simulation results of the two scenarios show that the group effect increases the average evacuation time by 15.29% and 21.79%, and increases the average detour distance by 24.54% and 17.89%, respectively.

Modified social force model considering emotional contagion for crowd evacuation simulation

Pedestrian behavior in emergency situations is an important part of emergency management, and crowd evacuation simulation provides a low-cost and low-risk method for investigating pedestrian evacuation dynamics by describing pedestrian evacuation behavior and predicting evacuation outcomes under hypothetical situations. This study proposed a modified social force model that combines dynamic hazard and emotional contagion frameworks to investigate the effect of panic on pedestrian evacuation dynamics under heterogeneous personality trait distributions. First, the emotional contagion framework was improved, and an updated emotional model was developed considering personality characteristics. Second, the individual self-driving force in the social force model was transformed from a physical drive mode to a psychological drive mode by introducing panic factors. Lastly, new rules for the spread of panic within small groups were formulated based on the important influence of small group behavior on evacuation. The simulation results confirmed the feasibility of analyzing crowd evacuation from the perspective of social psychology, and revealed that the spread of panic was closely related to the distribution of personality characteristics, individual walking speed, exit usage, evacuation efficiency, and small groups. In addition, the model could reproduce self-organizing behavior in crowd evacuation, such as fast is slow and herd behavior. Further, the results revealed that moderate panic can help improve evacuation efficiency, whereas excessive panic can result in uneven utilization of exits. In addition, the presence of small groups in panic crowds increased the crowd evacuation time.

Pedestrian small group behaviour and evacuation dynamics on metro station platform

Crowd at metro stations is usually a mixture of individuals and small groups of families or friends. However, limited research has focused on small group behaviours for metro safe evacuation evaluation and planning. In this study, a field observation at metro stations and a questionnaire survey were conducted to reveal the small group behaviour characteristics with different decision patterns and compactness. A cellular automaton (CA) based simulation model was proposed to reproduce small group behaviours of independent or joint decision pattern, with loose or close contact, reflecting the real-time trade-off between individual efficiency and group coherence. Impacts of small group behaviours on crowd dynamics were investigated by simulation experiments under diverse scenarios. Simulation experiments revealed that joint decision pattern and close contact of small groups were more likely to lead to longer evacuation time, lower average speed and stronger interference on the individuals. Deviations of estimated evacuation time due to small group behaviours were investigated and found to be common and widespread with different group decision pattern and compactness, congestion levels, proportions of groups in the crowd and exit layouts.

Ten Isn’t Large! Group Size and Coordination in a Large-Scale Experiment

We provide experimental evidence on coordination within large groups that could proxy the atomistic nature of real-world markets. We use a bank run game where the two pure-strategy equilibria can be ranked by payoff and risk dominance and a sequence of public announcements introduces stochastic sunspot equilibria. We find systematic group size effects that theory fails to predict. When the payoff-dominant strategy is risky enough, the behavior of small groups is uninformative of the behavior in large groups: unlike smaller groups of size ten, larger groups exclusively coordinate on the Pareto-inferior strategy and never coordinate on sunspots. (JEL C92, D83, D91, G21)

Expansion of fuzzy sets to account for doubts and uncertainty of experts based on a modified aggregation operator

Quantification in collective behavior and decision-making in fuzzy conditions is crucial to ensure the health and safety of the population. The task of modeling and predicting behavior in fuzzy conditions, as is known, has increased complexity due to a large number of factors from which an NP-complete multi-criteria problem is formed. There is a difficulty in quantifying the impact of fuzzy factors using a mathematical model. In this regard, the paper proposes a stochastic model of human decision- making to account for doubts and uncertainty of experts based on a modified aggregation operator. The developed fuzzy model combines fuzzy logic into a conventional model of social behavior. Unlike existing models and applications, this approach uses fuzzy sets and membership functions to describe the evacuation process in an emergency situation. The purpose of this work is to expand fuzzy sets to account for doubts and uncertainty of experts based on a modified aggregation operator and analysis of existing solutions. The problem statement in this paper is as follows: to form a set of fuzzy sets to account for doubts and uncertainty of experts based on a modified aggregation operator. The scientific novelty lies in the formation of a set of factors that form fuzzy rules for making dynamic decisions. The practical value of the work lies in the creation of fuzzy sets to account for doubts and uncertainty of experts based on a modified aggregation operator [1-3]. To implement the proposed model, the process of social behavior during evacuation, independent variables are determined. These variables include measurements related to social factors, in other words, the behavior of individual subjects and individual small groups, which are fundamental at an early stage of evacuation.

ОПРЕДЕЛЕНИЕ НЕЧЕТКИХ УСЛОВИЙ И АНАЛИЗ СУЩЕСТВУЮЩИХ РЕШЕНИЙ В ЗАДАЧЕ ЭВАКУАЦИИ ПРИ ЧРЕЗВЫЧАЙНЫХ СИТУАЦИЯХ

Quantification in collective behavior and decision-making in fuzzy conditions is crucial toensure the health and safety of the population. The task of modeling and predicting behavior infuzzy conditions, as is known, has increased complexity due to a large number of factors fromwhich an NP-complete multi-criteria problem is formed. There is a difficulty in quantifying the impact of fuzzy factors using a mathematical model. In this regard, the paper proposes a stochasticmodel of human decision-making to describe the empirical behavior of subjects in an experimentsimulating an emergency scenario. The developed fuzzy model combines fuzzy logic into aconventional model of social behavior. Unlike existing models and applications, this approachuses fuzzy sets and membership functions to describe the evacuation process in an emergencysituation. The purpose of this work is to define fuzzy rules and analyze existing solutions. The scientificnovelty lies in the formation of a set of factors that form fuzzy rules for making dynamicdecisions. The problem statement in this paper is as follows: to form a set of factors affecting thebehavior of pedestrians, which are modeled as fuzzy input data. The practical value of the worklies in the creation of a new set of fuzzy rules that allows them to be used in the evacuation algorithmfor the effective solution of the task. The fundamental difference from the known approachesis in the application of a new set of fuzzy rules, which contains factors: perception, intention, attitude.To implement the proposed model, the process of social behavior during evacuation, independentvariables are determined. These variables include measurements related to social factors,in other words, the behavior of individual subjects and individual small groups, which are fundamentalat an early stage of evacuation.

Social grounds for criminal responsibility for violation of the established rules of drug turnover

The spread of drug addiction is a danger to both public order and public health. Persons under the influence of drugs can be a danger to themselves and to others, so the effect of some drugs on the body leads to dependence and even death. The state is called upon to protect its population from the spread of this phenomenon. One of the ways to achieve this goal is the criminal legal protection of legal relations defined by the state as possible and desirable. If a person commits acts that distort such legal relations, then the state, protecting a lawful model of behavior, imperatively gives a criminal legal assessment of the actions of this person.
 The object of the research is the social relations accompanying the illegal circulation of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances, regulated by the legislation of Ukraine. These social relations arise as a result of the following actions: inducement to the consumption of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances; illegal cultivation of plants containing such substances; organization or maintenance of dens or systematic provision of premises for their (narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances) consumption; illegal issuance or forgery of prescriptions or other documents giving the right to receive them.
 The issue of criminalization and decriminalization is a specific link in the system of criminal law policy functions. It constitutes a complex mechanism that includes a series of successive decisions and subsequent actions, which in the end lead to the emergence of grounds for applying to persons guilty of certain actions, criminal liability or the abolition of the latter [2, p. 131]. Criminalization or decriminalization of actions is determined by social conditioning.
 Considering the multicomponent nature of the problem and its social prevalence (since it is a mass behavior of certain small social groups and even transforms the social structure), it can be concluded that effective counteraction to such a negative social phenomenon as drug addiction and drug crime is possible only with an integrated approach.

Pedestrian Small Group Behaviour and Evacuation Dynamics on Metro Station Platform

Pedestrian Small Group Behaviour and Evacuation Dynamics on Metro Station Platform

Small increases in group size improve small shoals' response to water flow in zebrafish.

Social context may influence the perception of sensory cues and the ability to display refined behavioral responses. Previous work suggests that effective responses to environmental cues can be contingent on having a sufficient number of individuals in a group. Thus, the changes in group size may have profound impacts, particularly on the behavior of small social groups. Using zebrafish (Danio rerio), here we examined how changes in group size influence the ability to respond to changes in water flow. We found that fish in relatively larger groups displayed stronger rheotaxis even when comparing pairs of fish with groups of four fish, indicating that a small increase in group size can enhance the responsiveness to environmental change. Individual fish in relatively larger groups also spent less time in the energetically costly leading position compared to individuals in pairs, indicating that even a small increase in group size may provide energetic benefits. We also found that the shoal cohesion was dependent on the size of the group but within a given group size, shoal cohesion did not vary with flow rate. Our study highlights that even a small change in group size could significantly affect the way social fish respond to the changes in water flow, which could be an important attribute that shapes the resilience of social animals in changing environments.

Interview with Avner Gvaryahu and Avihai Stollar, directors of Breaking the Silence

Following a roundtable discussion at the University of Coimbra on the situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and Israel regarding the perspectives and activity of the organisation Breaking the Silence, the journal Estudos do Século XX [20th Century Studies], published periodically by the Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies of the University of Coimbra, deemed this interview worthy of inclusion. This first conversation aims therefore to allow the two ex-soldiers and directors of Breaking the Silence to respond to questions posed by four researches from Group 1 – History, Memory, and Public Policy, of the Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies of the University of Coimbra. Unlike sections such as the “Thematic File”, ‘Interdisciplinary Dialogue” and “Critical Reviews”, which are aimed at publishing humanistic, artistic, scientific or technological texts, the “Interviews” section proposes to share civic-minded or memorialistic responses to questions regarding current but relevant issues in broader intellectual and social terms. Such is the intention, whether by bringing more civilian narratives into an academic journal, or simply noting correlations between humanistic, artistic, scientific or technological knowledge and civic intervention. This interview was documented, on the one hand, due to the ethical and geostrategic importance of the ongoing situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and Israel; and, on the other hand, to highlight the main features and discursive strategy of Breaking the Silence. It is important to remember that this organisation is made up solely of Israeli citizens who have carried out mandatory military service in the Occupied Palestinian Territories; and that their discursive strategy prioritises characterising and contextualising/comparing specific situations in order to explain value judgements and suggestions for how to bring about drastic change. We value the existence of such an organisation within Israeli society that, in view of the grave problems in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, explicitly assumes the status of an association of ex-perpetrators. From this standpoint, Breaking the Silence defends: a) that Israeli soldiers describing in their own words what is really happening is one way of contributing to ending the ongoing systematic violation of human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories; b) that victims and ex-perpetrators are entitled to support, should they so wish, in their efforts to overcome the effects of the mass violence that has occurred. Avner Gvaryahu and Avihai Stollar’s answers are especially poignant. Whether consciously or not, their respective intellectual rigour and ethical self-expectations seem to correlate somehow with the likes of Benedict de Spinosa and Hannah Arendt. The options set forth are also important owing to both the complexity and lengthy duration of the Israeli-Arab and Israeli-Palestinian conflicts, and from the contradictions experienced in Israel, the Occupied Palestinian Territories, and in neighbouring countries such as Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt and Syria. Also considered were the verifiable connections with the overall mindset of the Cold War and the Post-Cold-War period, as well as phenomena such as the Jewish diaspora, anti-Judaism, anti-Semitism and the Holocaust. As researchers, we try above all to recreate and analyse, to contextualise and compare how communities handle and manage situations in which human rights are violated systematically, even when those responsible for such processes of mass violence are countries under liberal-democratic or democratic regimes. As citizens, we also recognise how important it is to highlight the individual (or small group) behaviour of those notable for their profound intellectual rigour and heightened self-expectations. As has sometimes happened in the past, we hope that, both now and in the future, the example set by the fairer minority will be followed by the majority; a majority composed of perpetrators and those who are indifferent to such events.

Sentinels in Salmon Aquaculture: Heart Rates Across Seasons and During Crowding Events.

Advances in tag technology now make it possible to monitor the behavior of small groups of individual fish as bioindicators of population wellbeing in commercial aquaculture settings. For example, tags may detect unusual patterns in fish heart rate, which could serve as an early indicator of whether fish health or welfare is becoming compromised. Here, we investigated the use of commercially available heart rate biologgers implanted into 24 Atlantic salmon weighing 3.6 ± 0.8 kg (mean ± SD) to monitor fish over 5 months in a standard 12 m × 12 m square sea cage containing ∼6,000 conspecifics. Post tagging, fish established a diurnal heart rate rhythm within 24 h, which stabilized after 4 days. Whilst the registered tagged fish mortality over the trial period was 0%, only 75% of tagged fish were recaptured at harvest, resulting in an unexplained tag loss rate of 25%. After 5 months, tagged fish were approximately 20% lighter and 8% shorter, but of the similar condition when compared to untagged fish. Distinct diurnal heart rate patterns were observed and changed with seasonal day length of natural illumination. Fish exhibited lower heart rates at night [winter 39 ± 0.2 beats per min (bpm), spring 37 ± 0.2 bpm, summer 43 ± 0.3 bpm, mean ± SE] than during the day (winter 50 ± 0.3 bpm, spring 48 ± 0.2 bpm, summer 49 ± 0.2 bpm) with the difference between night and day heart rates near half during the summer (6 bpm) compared to winter and spring (both 11 bpm). When fish experienced moderate and severe crowding events in early summer, the highest hourly heart rates reached 60 ± 2.5 bpm and 72 ± 2.4 bpm, respectively, on the day of crowding. Here, if the negative sublethal effects on fish that carry tags (e.g., growth rate) can be substantially reduced, the ability to monitor diurnal heart rate patterns across seasons and detect changes during crowding events, and using heart rate biologgers could be a useful warning mechanism for detecting sudden changes in fish behavior in sea cages.

Examining learning coherence in group decision-making: triads vs. tetrads

This study examined whether three heads are better than four in terms of performance and learning properties in group decision-making. It was predicted that learning incoherence took place in tetrads because the majority rule could not be applied when two subgroups emerged. As a result, tetrads underperformed triads. To examine this hypothesis, we adopted a reinforcement learning framework using simple Q-learning and estimated learning parameters. Overall, the results were consistent with the hypothesis. Further, this study is one of a few attempts to apply a computational approach to learning behavior in small groups. This approach enables the identification of underlying learning parameters in group decision-making.

Dishonesty and risk-taking: Compliance decisions of individuals and groups

• Unethical behavior is usually associated with the risk of negative consequences. • However, the experimental literature so far focused mainly on environments that involve no fines. • We study ethical behavior of individuals and small groups in a compliance setting. • Our results show that groups are clearly less compliant than individuals. • The risk of being detected is the most important aspect in the group communication. Unethical behavior in organizations is usually associated with the risk of negative consequences for the organization and for the involved managers if being detected. The existing experimental literature in economics has so far focused mainly on the analysis of unethical behavior in environments that involve no fines or similar monetary consequences. In the current paper, we use a tax compliance framework to study (un-)ethical behavior of individuals and small groups. Our results show that groups are clearly less compliant than individuals. The risk of being detected is the most important aspect in the group communication process when deciding on compliance.

A critique of serious leisure as theory

ABSTRACT The Serious Leisure Perspective (SLP) divides leisure activity into three forms: serious, casual and project-based, each with a number of distinguishing qualities, rewards, costs and benefits. It is presented by its creator, Robert Stebbins, as both a classification system and a theoretical framework. In its early history, it was seen as a micro-level, or at most meso-level, construct concerned with the behaviour of individuals and small groups. More recently claims have been made that its theoretical reach extends to the macro-level, encompassing broad societal issues. This paper evaluates these claims in three parts: first, examining existing macro-level critiques of the SLP in the research literature; second, assessing claims of macro-level relatedness in SLP publications; and third, considering the extent to which generic macro-level social and leisure theory has been, or could be, related to the SLP. Under-explored or neglected opportunities for macro-level theoretical analysis are identified but, when examined, they invariably expose the theoretical weakness of the SLP, particularly regarding any distinctive role for serious as opposed to casual leisure. This leads to the conclusion that the claim that the SLP offers a viable macro-level theoretical framework for the study of leisure is questionable.

Pedestrian Small Group Behaviour and Evacuation Dynamics on Metro Station Platform

Pedestrian Small Group Behaviour and Evacuation Dynamics on Metro Station Platform

Agent-based simulation of hindering effect of small group behavior on elevated interval evacuation time along urban rail transit

Passenger evacuation on elevated rail lines has always been a challenge for rail transit safety operation and evacuation planning. Though the importance of passenger behavior to evacuation has been recognized gradually, limited research focused on the influence of small group behavior on evacuation of elevated rail transit system. This paper conducted a questionnaire survey about passenger willingness of small group behavior in elevated interval evacuation firstly. Then, an elevated interval evacuation with different small group proportions, small group gathering status and the design of interval evacuation platform was simulated using multi-agent-based model, and the influences of small group behavior on evacuation were analyzed quantitatively. Three types of evacuation time, namely t-train, t-risk, and t-total for passengers alighting from trains, leaving from risk area and exiting from the stations respectively, was calculated and compared in with and without small group conditions. Results indicated that the small group behavior show a stronger hindering effect on the long and narrow evacuation walkway platform which induced dramatical increase for total evacuation time. When the interpersonal maximum distance equaled 1 m, t-total could be increased by 64.9% in unidirectional evacuation and by 52.0% in bidirectional evacuation compared to where interpersonal maximum distance equaled 2 m. Besides, relatively narrow evacuation walkway may deteriorate unidirectional evacuation condition sharply than bidirectional evacuation. Considering the significantly hindering effect of small groups on elevated interval evacuation, it was suggested that small group behavior should be taken into consideration seriously in evacuation plan and evacuation facility design in the future.

The Effect of the Queen's Presence on Thermal Behavior and Locomotor Activity of Small Groups of Worker Honey Bees.

We examined effects of the queen’s presence on diurnal rhythms of temperature preference (TP) and locomotor activity (LA) in worker honeybees’ groups. TP and LA of six queenless and six queenright (with the queen) groups of bees, consisting of 7–8 worker bees, were recorded in a thermal gradient system for four days, under light to darkness (LD) 12:12 photoperiod. The same experiments were conducted on five virgin queens (of the same age as those in the queenright groups), which were placed individually in the gradient chambers. The single virgin queens showed signs of distress and no rhythms of TP and LA. In contrast, there were diurnal rhythms of TP and LA in both group variants with daytime activity and nighttime rest. However, the queen’s presence exerted a strong calming effect, reducing LA of bees both at day- and nighttime. The nighttime minimum LA of queenright groups was five times lower than that in queenless groups. Moreover, there was a reversal of the diurnal pattern of TP in queenright groups. The results are discussed in terms of the bee colony organization as a superorganism.

Experience and Meaning in Small-Group Contexts

Self-report data have contributed to a rich understanding of learning and motivation; yet, self-report measures present challenges to researchers studying students’ experiences in small-group contexts. Rather than using self-report data alone, we argue that fusing self-report and observational data can yield a broader understanding of students’ small-group dynamics. We provide evidence for this assertion by presenting mixed-methods findings in three sections: (a) self-report data alone, (b) observational data alone, and (c) the fusion of both data sources. We rely on 101 students’ self-reported experiences as well as observational (i.e., audio) data of students working in their group (N = 24 groups). In section order, we found that (1) students’ self-reported small-group behavior predicted their end-of-study reported anxiety and emotion; (2) coded observational data captured five types of group dynamics that students can engage in; and (3) students’ initial group-level characteristics predicted their real-time group dynamics, and observed group regulation activity predicted students’ self-reported anxiety, emotion, and regulation moving forward. Thus, while self-report and observational data alone can each increase our understanding of student motivation and learning processes, pursuing both in tandem more effectively captures the give-and-take among students, how these experiences evolve over time, and the personal meanings they can afford.

Grouping Methods for Facilitating Emergency Evacuations

Abstract It is widely believed that the motion of crowds can be described by the “social force” model, and small group behaviors have great impacts on evacuation efficiency as a common phenomenon in pedestrian evacuations. Some previous works have modeled group behaviors in social force models by depicting group members’ interaction forces. However, the impacts of different grouping schemes have not been considered and evaluated. This paper proposes four different grouping methods to explore the evacuation dynamics of different group structured pedestrians. Results show that group evacuations based on the spatial partitioning outperform those clustering-based schemes with the larger group number. More importantly, simulations indicate that the number of groups also highly affects the evacuation efficiency, and the larger the number of groups, the more efficient the evacuation.