Exploring the Group Mind with Mass Participation Experiments. (360G-Wellcome-105128_Z_14_Z)

Our goal is to provoke and engage the audience with a simple, compelling question: What is more fundamental to being human: the I of an individual person, or the we of a group, family or society? Scientifically, there are two ways to understand human behaviour. On the one hand, psychological models focus on the individuals thoughts and beliefs. On the other hand, sociological and biological models often understand human collective behaviour in the same way as they model insects and herds. Which of these approaches gives a better insight into how we vote in elections, riot on the streets, experience a concert, or support a football team? In our public engagement events, audience members will explore these issues by taking part in unique mass participation experiments. By downloading a simple application to their phones, they will be able to connect to a screen at the front of the theatre, museum or festival space. Together they will play video games, make music, resolve disagreements and take difficult decisions. Will people perform better when they compete against each other as individuals, or when they cooperate together as a group? How does it change our feelings about ourselves and each other to act with or against the groups interests? At the end of each event, the audience members will have a new appreciation of the science behind collective behaviour, and understand the conditions under which we act better as individuals, and the times we are stronger as a group.