11:00 am

Can an ecological fear reaction reduce chronic low-grade inflammation? (Seed funded project 2023)

Louise Bønnelykke-Behrndtz, Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University

Abstract: A fear reaction is fundamental for human survival and designed for escaping danger. This natural fear response is associated with healthy and transient activation of the immune system, thus providing effective mechanisms against potential trauma and pathogens. If activation of the immune system fails to resolve it results in continuous low-grade inflammation, which is present in around 10% of otherwise healthy individuals, and associated with the risk of several diseases.

In this study, we aim to investigate whether an ecological fear reaction can provide non-medical immune modulation and resolution of low-grade inflammation, including volunteers signing up for the Dystopia Haunted House event in 2023. Participants will have markers of fear and inflammatory levels estimated at baseline, on-site, and post-event, providing a better understanding of the dynamics and interaction between the adrenergic and immune systems.

11:30 am

The marginal majority effect: when social influence produces lock-in

Pantelis Analytis, Associate Professor, Department of Marketing and Management and the Danish Institute of Advanced Studies, University of Southern Denmark

Abstract: People are influenced by the choices of others, a phenomenon observed across contexts in the social and behavioral sciences. Social influence can lock in an initial popularity advantage of an option over a higher quality alternative. Yet several experiments designed to enable social influence have found that social systems self-correct rather than lock-in. Here we identify a behavioral phenomenon that makes inferior lock-in possible, which we call the 'marginal majority effect': A discontinuous increase in the choice probability of an option as its popularity exceeds that of a competing option. We demonstrate the existence of marginal majority effects in several recent experiments and show that lock-in always occurs when the effect is large enough to offset the quality effect on choice, but rarely otherwise. Our results reconcile conflicting past empirical evidence and connect a behavioral phenomenon to the possibility of social lock-in.

Free of charge - All are welcome