Unit 7: People Are Social Animals

Dunbar's number is the formula that Robin Dunbar came up with for calculating different groups' limits for the number of stable relationships. Dunbar calculated that 150 people is the social group size limit for humans. Your relationships with larger number of people through social media are likely weak ties.

When designing something that has social connections, decide whether those interactions are for strong or weak ties. 

Research shows how our imitation behavior works and you can use this in your design to influence behavior.

Mirror neurons are a subset of neurons that light up when you watch other people take an action. If you want to influence someone's behavior, then show someone else doing the same task.

Synchronous activities are actions you take together with others, where everyone is doing the same thing at the same time in physical proximity to one another. People who engage in synchronous activities were more cooperative in completing subsequent tasks, and more willing to make personal sacrifices in order to benefit the group. Wiltermuth and Heath's research showed that you don't even  have to feel good about the group or the activity in order to be more cooperative.

Depending on the media there are differences in how honest we are. According to Jeff Hancock's research, people lie the most on the phone, and least in email, with face-to-face and instant messaging interactions equal and in the middle of the other techniques. 

Listening to someone talk creates a special brain syncing that helps people understand what is being said. Presenting information through audio and/or video where people can hear someone talking is an especially powerful way to help people understand the message. 

People can tell when a smile is real or fake more accurately with video. Guillaume Duchenne identified two different types of smiles. Smiles that contract both the zygomatic major muscle and the orbicularis oculi muscle are called Duchenne smiles, while the non-Duchenne smiles only contract the zygomatic major muscle.