My brand of social anxiety (so I’m assuming others have it too) might come from the combinatorial explosion of more people in a group—thus more paths of information flows. I find it very easy to talk to someone 1 on 1, and I can usually have a good conversation with anyone. But once the group gets a bit bigger, I think I get a bit scrambled by trying to simulate all of the potential flows of information and feedback loops.
I think this is where politics (at a very basic level) can come from—once you hit 4 people in a group, you have 24* different permutations/factions/sub-groups.
So my thinking here is that I might be using an inefficient “theory of mind simulator” for more complicated scenarios, but I’m also interested in the System Theory of small groups (like bands).
*(I think?)
That was tough! I took 7 minutes. Thank you for prompting me to think about that, I want to learn more and flesh it out. I’m circling around something but haven’t quite captured it yet.
You’re actually hitting on an academically acknowledged hard limit to the number of people whose mind states you can keep track of in conversation. Typically, when there are more than 4 people, you’ll see smaller groups form of 2, 3, and/or 4. It’s very noticeable at big parties. (So no need to be anxious!)
Dunbar talks about it in one of my favorite papers of all time The Anatomy of Friendship. Happy to send you a copy if you’re interested :D
Idea I haven’t had time to express:
My brand of social anxiety (so I’m assuming others have it too) might come from the combinatorial explosion of more people in a group—thus more paths of information flows. I find it very easy to talk to someone 1 on 1, and I can usually have a good conversation with anyone. But once the group gets a bit bigger, I think I get a bit scrambled by trying to simulate all of the potential flows of information and feedback loops.
I think this is where politics (at a very basic level) can come from—once you hit 4 people in a group, you have 24* different permutations/factions/sub-groups.
So my thinking here is that I might be using an inefficient “theory of mind simulator” for more complicated scenarios, but I’m also interested in the System Theory of small groups (like bands).
*(I think?)
That was tough! I took 7 minutes. Thank you for prompting me to think about that, I want to learn more and flesh it out. I’m circling around something but haven’t quite captured it yet.
You’re actually hitting on an academically acknowledged hard limit to the number of people whose mind states you can keep track of in conversation. Typically, when there are more than 4 people, you’ll see smaller groups form of 2, 3, and/or 4. It’s very noticeable at big parties. (So no need to be anxious!)
Dunbar talks about it in one of my favorite papers of all time The Anatomy of Friendship. Happy to send you a copy if you’re interested :D
Replying to add a link to the full paper: https://www.ericz.one/aof.pdf ← note, he only mentions it in this paper.
There’s a more detailed explanation in this one!
P.S. Thanks for your patience! Been a bit since I was on here.
Please do! That’s fascinating
I would be so interested in reading that paper, too, please?