• Question: is there a pattern in how people behave?

    Asked by anon-237785 to Peter, Mhairi, Madeleine, Catherine, Andrew on 13 Mar 2020.
    • Photo: Catherine Talbot

      Catherine Talbot answered on 13 Mar 2020:

      Yes, in psychology we use these patterns to develop theories of how people behave! In my research, I look for patterns in people’s stories to see how they use technology such as social media

    • Photo: Mhairi Bowe

      Mhairi Bowe answered on 14 Mar 2020:

      So many patterns – social psychology tells us about the use of norms within social groups which are helpful for telling us how to behave in a way that is typically accepted within particular social contexts – think for example about the way people behave in lifts, in queues, in traffic, at the dinner table, when they are at a concert, when they are taking part in national or family traditions.

    • Photo: Andrew McNeill

      Andrew McNeill answered on 18 Mar 2020:

      Yes, I think there are patterns. But because humans are able to make decisions about what they want, it is often very difficult to predict how people will behave. But some behaviours are more predictable than other (e.g. it’s easy to predict how people will vote if you know what they believe about politics and where they live; it’s much harder to predict if people will trust health advice because there are so many complicating factors).

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