How Social Psychologists Are Gathering Evidence of the Hive Mind

[n2doc]

A long held view among certain scientists is that each individual is isolated within his or her own head, that there is no collective mind or any sense of social understanding in which the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. For them, this kind of “hive mind” is firmly part of science fiction.

And yet, a growing number of cognitive psychologists are beginning to recognise a phenomenon called social cognition, which has more than a passing resemblance the idea of a hive mind of collective intelligence. The idea behind social cognition is that each individual mind gains a certain amount of information about a social situation. But when two minds work together, they can end up with more information than the sum of their parts.

The problem of course is in measuring this phenomenon. How do you measure social cognition, the information gathered by two minds, and analyse it?

Today, Takashi Ikegami at the University of Tokyo and a couple of pals say they’ve devised an experiment that does just this. These guys have created a simplified virtual environment in which two people meet and interact in a way that allows ther esulting information to be evaluated.

Ikegami say the work shows clear evidence that the combined information gathered by two minds is greater than the sum of the parts. And they say this throws into question the traditional boundaries of what we think of as mind.

more

https://medium.com/the-physics-arxiv-blog/974a204427ca

[hedda_foil]

1. Interesting. VERY interesting indeed.

Almost, but not quite, comprehensible.

[Adsos Letter]

2. LOL!

I was afraid I was the only one...

[qazplm]

7. yeah not really

such an extraordinary claim is going to require extraordinary evidence, and it isn't remotely present here.

[tavalon]

3. Jung was a bit ahead of this guy. Collective unconscious and all.

I've just always assumed that some sort of link exists because of morphogenic fields. As an abused child, I honed my emotional reading skills (not woo woo, just social cognition taken to extreme) and it's my sixth sense, one I would feel lost without, like someone who became blind late in life. One of the reasons I need down time after I've been with a large group of people is that I've been bombarded with other people's emotions. They call me an introvert but I'm highly gregarious once I've taken the emotional tenor of the group I'm hanging out with. Actually, my extra social cognition has been an overall plus in my life. I've cursed it a time or two but I no longer try to block it. That was even more work.

I would love to see research done on my cohort. We know there are a lot of abused children and they all develop coping mechanisms (so some had to develop a heightened emotional/social awareness). Heck, I'd just love to meet some from my tribe. I know one other but I know I would love to know more. They understand without all this explaining, you know.

Anyway, this is a nice start. Kudos to Takashi Ikegami.

[applegrove]

4. It may feel great but the nazis used that

Last edited Tue Jan 21, 2014, 09:19 PM - Edit history (1)

sense of greatness to lure otherwise normal people into being patsies and pawns. The Germans who followed the nazis thought they were well informed and that they were the only "good germans". I think if you think and feel great things the trick is to feel humble and share your gifts. That way you are grounded. I worry about any group who thinks they are simply amazing. I hope this hive research keeps the bad side of groups and greatness in mind.

That being said looking at things from more than one perspective is the smartest way to be.

[siligut]

5. Yes, the group I experienced this with were power hungry

And they wanted to instill that egocentric mindset in their recruits.

[Javaman]

6. Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated. nt