Unit 7: People Are Social Animals

100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know About People (Voices That Matter) by Susan Weinschenk, Ph.D.

Chapter 7: People Are Social Animals

A "strong tie" group size limit is 150 according to Dunbar's number. Robin Dunbar, the creator of a formula to calculate the limit previously stated, designed said formula based on the size of an organism's brain (specifically the neocortex).

Immediately, I though of social media and how ridiculous it must be to think that we have hundreds and hundreds of friends. However, the reading continues with Jacob Morgan's argument about how "weak ties" can be just as beneficial and attractive. To think that every person on our Facebook friends list is apart of our close relationships is ridiculous. But that's exactly it, weak ties are easy to control and limit. They don't involve direct communication and take very little work.

Mirror neurons, which is an event where one reflects a similar action of another based on the neurons in our premotor cortex, reminds me of interacting with children. The reading mentions this too, but I still wonder if our interactions with children are simply mirrored, or if children do feel the same emotion.

The same way social interactions have rules, so too do online interactions. Users have assumptions about how a website should respond, function, and show information.

Did you know that people lie more depending on their medium of communication? I had no idea. And apparently, people who lie using email write 28 percent more words than people who don't.

Communication and brain functions are interestingly integrated during the speaking and listening process. In fact, studies show that brains sync during said process. On a similar subject, we are programmed to pay special attention to people we are close to. Regardless of how similar one is to another, our brains function differently depending on how close we are to that person. This can be related to social media and allow predictability when looking for loyalty in a customer.

Laughter, which is a universal activity, brings people together. I can especially appreciate this when relating it to games and narrative. I think that connecting to viewers through humor (even though the reading says that laughter isn't about humor) is a great way to improve the user's experience.

Duchenne's supposed 80 percent of people not being able to produce a fake smile, seemed to be quickly disproved. Krumhuber's test revealed that 83 percent of people could produce fake smiles that others believed.

Dunbar’s number: A number defining the limit to strong relationships derived from a formula created by Robin Dunbar based on the brain size of an organism.

Mirror neurons: Watching someone take action can cause some of the same neurons in our premotor cortex to fire.

Synchronous activity: Actions you take together with others that are the same and within close proximity to on another.

Duchenne smile: Refers to a study done by Guillaume Duchenne where several tests were done where electrical currents were sent through the muscles on the face to conduct a smile. These smiles were seen as genuine because a supposed 80 percent of people can't control those muscles in their face, resulting in the inability to fake a smile.