Understanding Traitors: Exploring the Intersection of Forensic Psychology and Evolutionary Biology

Food -up, torch light, knife Sharp: Viewers in the UK are ready for different delicious finale Traitor Tonight, at a video game show, a TV game show is trying to drive away the ruthless (strictly non -realistic) murderers walking between them.

For psychologists -Experts and armrests- Traitor This is the gold mine of the unauthorized human behavior, which is disassembled and analyzed. And it's not just psychology. Game theory, human evolution, and criminal science are only a few of the scientific fields that provide clues to Makabeli's dynamics.

I found something that I really needed to win to investigate a betrayal (academically speaking …) Traitor。 Warning: If there is no latest information on the show, there is a spoiler first.

Please be careful about compatible bias

“Having a strong feature seems to be that others are influential and potentially intimidating,” says a forensic psychologist. Kuala LightHost A Podcast About Traitor With a colleague at the British Chester University. She selects contestants such as shadows (too intelligent), Ellen (too emotional), and Armani (too much confidence).

Their falls are likely to be linked Compatible biasThe characteristics of human beings that most of us comply with social norms. Individuals who do not fit may be hated or distrustful.

This is not a place of altruism

Emily EmotThe London University College's evolution anthropologist says that players should not be able to “do not actually exist in evolutionary literature.”

“Remember, it's not a cooperative game,” she says. “It's a deceptive game, a survival game. You need to be there to win, so it's a mistake to commit some players because they trust the nearby people. “

Emot says that we have evolved to go ahead of others. Therefore, altruistic behaviors found in the show are said to have selfish benefits behind them. And such obvious altruism is not a bad tactic, whether you are faithful or traitor.

“In the context of the game, cooperative is functioning as a signal for reliability. A good example may not be open to the shield. [which protects you from the next murder] During the show task. “

However, here is Makabeli's intelligence. Because everyone knows the rules of the game, excellent players do not take altruistic actions at face value. “In this game, you may have an impure motivation for you, so it’s not a honest signal,” says Emot.

So be careful of wonderful people. an Thousands of messages analysis Between players DiplomacyGames that share similarities TraitorExcessive polite players have discovered that they are more likely to betray others.

Be careful of bias in the group

“We know from social psychology that they have what they are called when they form a social group. Bias in the groupAnd this can really accelerate TraitorLight says. “”[Contestants] Display priority actions to those in the group with them. This is why everything did not work for Mina after recruiting Charlotte as a traitor.

For Mina, who was always looking for a female traitor, her group was a so -called sister relationship she created. “She identified it as a sister relationship. She used this word well,” says Light. “The problem is that Charlotte had already had a faithful person and a strong group's identity, and when she was hired by her will, she did not have the loyalty to the new group. did.”

And what happened? Charlotte immediately crossed Mina, and Mina was voted the next night.

Light says that the same group's bias can lead to a flock thinking when the player is voting, which can lead to an unrogical trust in people in the game.

What is a good liar?

A nervous or inconsistent answer to the question is generally considered doubtful, even if someone tells the truth. That's because these actions are tied to a stereotype about what a liar is doing. The better gifts are always those who say the same thing. Emma BarrettPsychologist and criminal scholar at the University of Manchester University.

“One of the most notable things is the same story in the exact same way, and they don't really explain it in detail when they re -speak it,” she says. The story may sound plausible, but repeatedly adds details as you remember. “People sometimes make a mistake in consistency, but that's not a way to work with real memories.”

Think like a scientist

Faithful people are not very good at it TraitorBut another tactic that they can use is to encourage suspicious traitor to speak more than they want. Barrett says.

“If you are faithful, the good strategy to detect a traitor is to subtly encourage them as they speak.” “For example, if you want to know if you are a police officer and someone gave you a false address, one of the questions you might ask is,” Oh, how do you get there? What is your nearest station?

If you are suspicious, try a game theory?

The majority of information is always lost to the minority based on sufficient information. Based on this, it was created by Russian psychologist Dimitry Davidoff mafia -Which parlor game Traitor Based on the 1980s. since then, mafia It is used as the basis of many game theory experiments and models.

The good news is that Davidoff is not correct at all. He believed that the probability of a faithful person to keep the bad guys away is better than a coincidence. But many the study The model discovered that the possibility of victory was almost equal, and was leaned in support of people who were faithful to live games for the weight of the lie that the traitor had to talk about.

In other words, forget cold mathematics. If you really want to win TraitorYou must be just injustice than anyone else.