Title |
The dynamics of audience applause
|
---|---|
Published in |
Journal of The Royal Society Interface, August 2013
|
DOI | 10.1098/rsif.2013.0466 |
Pubmed ID | |
Authors |
Richard P. Mann, Jolyon Faria, David J. T. Sumpter, Jens Krause |
Abstract |
The study of social identity and crowd psychology looks at how and why individual people change their behaviour in response to others. Within a group, a new behaviour can emerge first in a few individuals before it spreads rapidly to all other members. A number of mathematical models have been hypothesized to describe these social contagion phenomena, but these models remain largely untested against empirical data. We used Bayesian model selection to test between various hypotheses about the spread of a simple social behaviour, applause after an academic presentation. Individuals' probability of starting clapping increased in proportion to the number of other audience members already 'infected' by this social contagion, regardless of their spatial proximity. The cessation of applause is similarly socially mediated, but is to a lesser degree controlled by the reluctance of individuals to clap too many times. We also found consistent differences between individuals in their willingness to start and stop clapping. The social contagion model arising from our analysis predicts that the time the audience spends clapping can vary considerably, even in the absence of any differences in the quality of the presentations they have heard. |
X Demographics
Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
India | 81 | 30% |
United States | 24 | 9% |
Mexico | 9 | 3% |
United Kingdom | 6 | 2% |
Netherlands | 4 | 1% |
Canada | 4 | 1% |
Germany | 3 | 1% |
United Arab Emirates | 2 | <1% |
Brazil | 2 | <1% |
Other | 19 | 7% |
Unknown | 113 | 42% |
Demographic breakdown
Type | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Members of the public | 242 | 91% |
Science communicators (journalists, bloggers, editors) | 11 | 4% |
Scientists | 11 | 4% |
Practitioners (doctors, other healthcare professionals) | 2 | <1% |
Unknown | 1 | <1% |
Mendeley readers
Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
United Kingdom | 5 | 4% |
United States | 4 | 3% |
Brazil | 2 | 2% |
Italy | 1 | <1% |
Austria | 1 | <1% |
France | 1 | <1% |
Germany | 1 | <1% |
Netherlands | 1 | <1% |
Japan | 1 | <1% |
Other | 1 | <1% |
Unknown | 100 | 85% |
Demographic breakdown
Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Student > Ph. D. Student | 31 | 26% |
Researcher | 27 | 23% |
Student > Bachelor | 12 | 10% |
Student > Master | 12 | 10% |
Professor | 6 | 5% |
Other | 15 | 13% |
Unknown | 15 | 13% |
Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Psychology | 25 | 21% |
Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 19 | 16% |
Physics and Astronomy | 10 | 8% |
Engineering | 9 | 8% |
Computer Science | 8 | 7% |
Other | 29 | 25% |
Unknown | 18 | 15% |