Skip to main content
Close Button
Donate
  • Replies 4 replies
  • Subscribers 38 subscribers
  • Views 214 views
  • Users 0 members are here
Options
Related
Hints and tips
  • To quote someone's message, first select/highlight the relevant text, and then use the Quote button that appears
  • To "mention" someone, type @ followed by the start of the forum name, and choose from the list; that person will get a notification of being mentioned

Musing on group dynamics

Whistler
5 days ago
Facebook asks me: what's on your mind? Better not ask, as this mind is odd! You might do well to "unfriend" me now.

It's still morning. I haven't had breakfast yet and I find myself contemplating a group dynamic, where in the simplest form each person in a group can communicate with every other.

2 people: 2 x 1 = 2 possible flows (2 people can each communicate with one other)
3 people: 3 x 2 = 6 flows
4 people: 4 x 3 = 12 flows
5 people: 5 x 4 = 20 flows
6 people: 6 x 5 = 30 flows
7 people: 7 x 6 = 42 flows
etc. ad infinitum

I'm tempted to describe this as exponential growth, but looking at the graph I created it clearly isn't *. What a relief!

Of course, that isn't how things work in practice. The model is wrong in that it assumes that one person communicates with just one other at one time. In reality any person may be talking to one or more people, and more than one person can speak at once, so one person allegedly may follow several conversations simultaneously (good luck with that!) I think there are groups within groups, which somehow spring up, dissolve and reconfigure. It's fluid. It's a maelstrom. It's nightmarish. I couldn't begin to try to calculate all the permutations for even a relatively small group (lie: I could, but we don't want to go there).

It's no wonder that autistic people can find this sort of situation overwhelming. You can't begin to make sense of what's going on. No thanks!


* I think this has to be quadratic growth because the formula is
x = a²-a
  • 4 days ago in reply to Whistler

    I've had a 'hippy moment' since I was about 6 and I still don't understand maths, mine is so poor I can't pass a GCSE at grade C even after specialist help.

  • 4 days ago in reply to TheCatWoman

    Ah... Sorry! I did wonder if that might be a problem for some. Others might like it. You never know. I always loved maths. I get it that not everyone does. 

  • 4 days ago
    Whistler said:
    It's no wonder that autistic people can find this sort of situation overwhelming. You can't begin to make sense of what's going on.

    I found the best way to cope with trying to build artificial rules around this sort of thing was to have a hippy moment and just think of it as organic - some stuff will be, some won't just go with the flow...

    It saves a huge amount of processing and lets you engage in the interactions with less distraction so you can feel more natural. Sure you may seem a bit odd with the masking on a low setting but with people you know it feels less judgmental and you eventually stop caring about the bigger groups opinions.

    It feels really weird to start doing it but I found it felt much more natural and way less stressful.

  • 5 days ago

    It's got equations and stuff thats overwhelming.