Welcome
Welcome to the bs4 output from my thesis, based on Ulrik Lyngs’ oxforddown thesis template for R Markdown.
To view/download the PDF output, click here (or click the cover image).
Enjoy!
Abstract
This thesis explores two questions: does the way individuals seek advice produce echo chamber-like networks; and is the well-established phenomenon of egocentric discounting explicable as a rational process? Both parts are presented within a framework of advice as information transfer; the implications for wider interpretations of advice are discussed in the conclusion. Both parts are investigated with a mixture of computational simulations and behavioural experiments.
For the first question, behavioural experiments implementing a Judge-Advisor System with a perceptual decision-making task and a date estimation task are used to characterise people’s propensity to use agreement as a signal of advice quality in the absence of feedback. These experiments provide moderate evidence suggesting that people do do this, and that experience of agreement in the absence of feedback increases their trust in advisors. Agent-based computational simulations take the results of the behavioural experiments and simulate their effects on trust ratings between agents. The simulations indicate that including the kind of heterogeneity seen in the participants in the behavioural experiments slows down the formation of echo chambers and limits the extent of polarisation.
In the second part, I argue that egocentric discounting deviates from a normative model of advice-taking because it is a rational response to concerns that always accompany advice: that the advice might be deliberately misleading, lazily researched, or misunderstood. Evolutionary computational simulations of advice-taking illustrate that when any of these circumstances might be true, egocentric discounting emerges as an adaptive response. Behavioural experiments using a date estimation task within a Judge-Advisor System test whether people respond adaptively to alterations in the circumstances explored in the evolutionary simulations. These experiments show that people respond flexibly to changes in the probability that their advisor will attempt to mislead them. Experiments attempting to explore people’s ability to flexibly respond to acquiring information about an advisor’s confidence calibration were inconclusive.
A web-book version of this thesis is available at https://mjaquiery.github.io/oxforddown/. Its RMarkdown source code is available at https://github.com/mjaquiery/oxforddown.
Acknowledgments
It almost feels dishonest to check the little box on the submission form that claims this work as wholly my own when so much thanks and credit is due to others who have helped along the way. The greatest contributions are due to my supervisor, Nick, without whose gentle wisdom, perspicacious comments, and apparent ability to read limitless text of ludicrous density without losing concentration this thesis would be very much the worse. Many of the best ideas in this thesis arose from our discussions, if they didn’t come from him directly, and every part of this thesis has been improved by his suggestions at one point or another.
I have enjoyed similarly helpful discussions with members of our Attention and Cognitive Control (ACC) Lab, especially with Joshua, Linda, Sarah, Maja, and Raj. Between journal clubs, maths clubs, lab socials, and side projects they’ve always been there to help me learn, think, and reflect. Similarly, members of the Oxford Experimental Psychology ReproducibiliTea journal club have inspired me – I’ve enjoyed our discussions immensely when we agreed and still more when we found points of difference to investigate. Special mentions must go to Dorothy, Laura, and Malika. Mentions also to Sam and Amy, for those journal clubs and also for welcoming me to the ReproducibiliTea Core Team. Likewise, Marcus, Jackie, Emma, and the UK Reproducibility Network for helping me wield my experience with open research practices for a practical purpose.
I thank my collaborators on non-thesis projects for all the discussion and support. Alex, whose academic companionship has been invaluable since Sussex. Olly and Lisa, whose willingness to listen to me ramble about things has saved me many hours of draft-writing and whose friendship has brought me joy. Jools, Marwa, and Danielle, whose work on our various projects has always constituted the lion’s share – I’m sorry for all the times I’ve kept them waiting for something or had to rely on them catching some mistake I’ve made! Balazs, Marton, and Mate, whose response when we found a critical analysis bug while the proofs for our paper were with the editor was nothing short of exemplary.
My family, Gran, Caroline, and Edd, who kept a place for me to go to when breaks were needed, and to mum for meeting me there when she could. To Jo, whose support during this thesis is appreciated, and whose support in the years before I began studying was invaluable. The chance to unwind playing basketball, ultimate, volleyball, and anything else that came my way was appreciated, too – thanks to Maarten, Richard, the Wolfson Ultimate Frisbee squad, and the West Oxford Dads. Thanks to the Film and Discussion Night crew for opportunities to relax in a less active but equally fun way. Some of the best discussions were about the films I liked the least!
On a less personal but equally important note, I thank the Medical Research Council for funding my studentship, and the very many programmers on whose work this thesis relies. Notable amongst the latter group is Ulrik Lyngs, whose work on the Oxforddown thesis template has saved many hours of fiddling about with code and made writing in RMarkdown a practical option. And thank you to anyone who has tried to read this thesis, proofreaders and reader-readers alike. Even if you only get this far.
Finally, thanks to Frances and Savvy. They enrich and enliven my life. One of them painstakingly proof-read every word and found several errors while the other lay around on the sofa and occasionally demanded to be fed. Thankfully, neither of them brought me too many mice in the middle of the night. Love and gratitude to them both.