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Alexithymia and reaching group consensus.
Hila Zahava Gvirts1, Lihi Dery2
1Department of Behavioral Sciences and Psychology, Ariel University, Ariel, Israel.
Cognition & Emotion
|October 12, 2019
Summary
Individuals with alexithymia struggle with social alignment, particularly in reaching group consensus with humans. This difficulty stems from the cognitive component of alexithymia, but not when interacting with rational bots.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive psychology
- Social psychology
- Neuroscience
Background:
- Human behavior is characterized by social alignment.
- Alexithymia, a condition marked by difficulties in identifying and expressing emotions, has been linked to poor communication skills.
- This suggests a potential deficit in social alignment principles among individuals with high alexithymia.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the association between alexithymia and consensus-reaching abilities.
- To explore the impact of alexithymia on cognitive social alignment within a group setting.
Main Methods:
- 122 participants completed the Toronto Alexithymia Scale.
- Participants engaged in a "Consensus under a deadline" game, playing with either seven rational bots or seven other humans.
- Participants were unaware of their group members' nature (human or bot).
Main Results:
- A significant link was found between alexithymia and impaired cognitive social alignment.
- The cognitive component of alexithymia (EOT) correlated with deficits in reaching consensus with human players.
- This association was not observed when participants played with consistently rational bots.
Conclusions:
- Alexithymia is associated with difficulties in cognitive social alignment, specifically in achieving group consensus with humans.
- The impairment appears related to the cognitive aspects of alexithymia and the unpredictable nature of human interaction.
- Rational, predictable group members (bots) did not elicit the same consensus deficit in individuals with alexithymia.
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