We will also stream this seminar via Zoom.
For the link, please email: pennmindcore@sas.upenn.edu
Join us for short talks given by our new MindCORE Fellows.
“Dynamic search and decision properties in decision making process”
Decision making is not instantaneous. Instead, it is a dynamic process with information collected and aggregated over time. In decisions with multiple attributes and multiple options, the dynamics can be reflected in the weighting of the attributes and considerations of the options. For example, when choosing whether to travel and risk getting COVID or to stay home and be safe, people who are risk averse may put more weight on safety; when recommending a restaurant for a friend, some restaurants may come more easily to mind than others.
In this presentation, I’ll be discussing how I use dynamic choice models, combined with measures of how people search through options visually or in memory, to delve into the mechanisms underlying everyday decision making.
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“Collective Minds in the Digital Age”
How do human collectives behave, evolve, and adapt in an era increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence? In this talk, I will introduce my research on human collective behavior, with a particular focus on the emerging concept of machine culture, i.e., the interplay between human culture and intelligent algorithms. Building on this framework, I will present results from two recent studies. First, an empirical investigation into algorithmic amplification on TikTok, revealing how recommender systems rapidly reinforce user interests while narrowing content diversity. Second, a theoretical model exploring how algorithmic curation shapes humans’ ability to create complex cultural artifacts, suggesting that traditional social learning and algorithmic mediation may complement each other in unexpected ways. Together, these studies demonstrate the need for both empirical and theoretical approaches to fully understand the evolving dynamics of human culture in the digital age.
A pizza lunch will be served. Please bring your own beverage.