Modeling other minds: Bayesian inference explains human choices in group decision-making.

ABSTRACT: To make decisions in a social context, humans have to predict the behavior of others, an ability that is thought to rely on having a model of other minds known as "theory of mind." Such a model becomes especially complex when the number of people one simultaneously interacts with is large and actions are anonymous. Here, we present results from a group decision-making task known as the volunteer's dilemma and demonstrate that a Bayesian model based on partially observable Markov decision processes outperforms existing models in quantitatively predicting human behavior and outcomes of group interactions. Our results suggest that in decision-making tasks involving large groups with anonymous members, humans use Bayesian inference to model the "mind of the group," making predictions of others

SUBMITTER: Khalvati K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6881156 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature