What forensic psychology and evolutionary biology tell us about how to win The Traitors

Hoods up, flashlights on, knives sharpened: UK audiences are ready for another mouth-watering finale The traitors This evening, the televised games show contestants trying to be merciless (not resistant) killers walking among them.

For psychologists – professional and armchair alike – The traitors it is the gold of defiant human behavior, to be distinguished and analyzed. And it’s not just psychology. Game theory, human evolution and criminology are some of the scientific fields that offer clues about the show’s model dynamics.

We’ve had experts on traitors (academically speaking…) to find out what it takes to win The traitors. Warning: spoilers ahead if you’re not up to date with the show.

Beware of perverse consent

“Having a strong personality seems to be something that other people notice, and potentially as a threat,” says the forensic psychologist. Clea Wrightwho organizes baby about them The traitors With colleagues from the University of Chester, UK. It divides competitors such as Yin (very intelligent), Elen (also Executive) and Armani.

Their declines may be linked Consent BiasMost of us, the majority of human beings, conform to social norms. People who don’t conform can be liked or distrusted.

This is no place for altruism

Emily EmmottAn evolutionary anthropologist at University College London, said that players should remember that “evolutionarily in this literature, altruism does not exist.”

“Remember, it’s not a cooperative game,” he explained. “It’s a game of deception, a game of survival. You have to be in the end to win. That’s because some players rely on people close to them.”

Emmott said we evolved to help others, so any altruistic behavior seen on the show is behind it. And feigned altruism isn’t a bad tactic, whether you’re loyal or treacherous.

“In the context of the game, being cooperative serves as a sign of trustworthiness. A good example would be overdoing looking for the shield (protecting you from the next kill) in the tasks of the show.”

This is where Machiavellian Intelligence lies, everyone knows the rules of the game, a good player will not take altruistic behavior at face value. “In this game, it’s not an honest sign because there could be cooperative motives,” says Emmott.

So watch out pretty boys. – Analysis of thousands of messages among the players diplomacygame that shares similarities The traitorsfound that players who were overly polite were more likely to betray others.

Beware of group bias

“We know from social psychology when people form social groups, so-called Group biasand that can be very fast The traitors“, says Wright. “(The contestants) display preferential behavior to the people in that group.” That’s why everything went wrong for Mina after Charlotte was hired as a traitor.

Mina, who always hired female traitors, was the so-called sister who founded her own group. “She identified a lot as a sister, she used the word a lot,” Wright says. “The problem was, Charlotte already had a strong group identity with the faithful. So when they hired her, against her will, she had no loyalty to the new group.”

And what happened? Charlotte double-crossed right away, and Minah was voted off the next night.

Wright said the same team bias can lead to herd mentality when players are voting, and illogical confidence within the game.

What makes a good lie?

Nervous or incoherent answers to questions are generally suspicious, even if someone is telling the truth. That’s because these behaviors are linked to stereotypes about what makes people lie. A better opinion is people who always say the same thing, he says Emma BarrettPsychologist and Criminologist at the University of Manchester, UK.

“One thing to look for is someone who tells the same story in the same way, and doesn’t really elaborate when they do it,” he explained. A story may be plausible, but when we repeat it we usually add details as we remember them. “Sometimes people mistake the consistency for honesty. But that’s not how they’re remembered in real memories.”

Think like a scientist

“The mark of a good detective is a high tolerance for ambiguity. They won’t jump to conclusions,” says Barrett. It’s similar to thinking like a scientist: “You may have a plausible hypothesis about something. Then you ask yourself about the assumptions you’re making and the gaps in your understanding. You need to turn on the evidence that disconfirms the hypothesis you’re forming.”

Fidelis are not very good The traitorsbut another tactic that could be used is to encourage the alleged traitor to talk more than he would like. It’s about giving Barrett enough rope to hang himself.

“If you are a believer, a good strategy for detecting a traitor is to encourage them to speak,” he explained. “For example, if you were a police officer and you wanted to know if someone had given a false address, one question you could ask is, ‘Oh, how do you get there, what’s your nearest station?’

When in doubt, try game theory?

An uninformed majority will always lose an informed minority. It was founded by psychologist Dimitry Davidoff The mafia – What is the station? The traitors is based – in the 1980s. Since then, The mafia It has been used as the basis for many game theoretic experiments and models.

The good news is that Davidoff wasn’t all right. He believed that the probability that believers would turn out the wicked is not a better option. But a lot studies This model is based on the fact that the chances of winning are about the same, and is faithful in live games, and perhaps because of the lies that traitors have to tell.

In other words, forget the cold math. If you really want to win The traitorsyou just have to be more cunning than everyone else.