Slashdot Mirror
VR Study Says 40% of Us Are Paranoid
Roland Piquepaille writes "UK researchers have recently used virtual reality to check if people had paranoid thoughts when using public transportation. Their VR tube ride experiment revealed that 40% of the participants experienced exaggerated fears about threats from others. Until now, researchers were relying on somewhat unreliable questionnaires to study paranoid thoughts which are often triggered by ambiguous events such as someone laughing behind their back. With the use of VR, psychiatrists and psychologists have a new tool which can reliably recreate social interactions. As the lead researcher said, VR 'is a uniquely powerful method to detect those liable to misinterpret other people.'."
Maube I am being paranoid here, but 40%????
That would explain a lot of the stupidity going on with terrorism and other tools uses to manipulate the public.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
I'm sure these statistics are going to be used against us by the government to push some new laws to will limit our freedom.
Who's paranoid? Are you accusing me of something? Are you???
I'm currently receiving CBT "Cognitive Behaviour Therapy" can't wait till the next session: just put on this helmet and relax while I switch you onto the matrix!!
The ratio of people to cake is too big
* looks shiftily around the room *
not me
* more shiftiness *
its you. you that are paranoid. Your all paranoid
* mummbling to himself and biting a fingernail *
no not me. im normal.
Paraonia is an opinion. If someone's laughing right behind you, it's 100% normal to wonder if it's about you. That's basic social interaction and everyone who's paying enough attention SHOULD be concerned. If you completely ignore it or assume it's not about you, you're a sociopath. The morons that ran these experiments probably started with the basis that nobody should be worried about anything ever unless they're being attacked by a tiger or something. Apparently they forgot that if I take one step towards a bird without even looking at it or intending to eat it, it flies away. It's not paranoia, it's normal.
Google's Super Secret Search Algorithm: SELECT @search_results FROM internet WHERE @search_results = 'good'
No, Roland, we really do hate you that much! *twitch*
I find solace knowing that the more paranoid and fearful I am, the less likely things will happen to me.
.. ohh nooo!
.. hmm nooo!!
I'm paranoid, so that means I have nothing to worry about!
No wait, now I'm not
Better, better
They really are out to get me.
This study is just trying to make me seem like a lunatic.
* looks shiftily around the room *
its not me. im normal
* more shiftiness *
its you, you who is paranoid. your all paranoid
* backs away, speaks to himself and bites a fingernail *
im normal, its them. im normal
It's kind of silly to report things like this. How'd that study go?
Pollster: Mind if I ask you some questions?
Person: Sure.
Pollster: Do you like sausage?
Person: Yeah, it's good.
Pollster: Patty or link?
Person: Patty please, something bothers me when it's in the casing of-
Pollster: Are you afraid I'm going to kill you?
Person: I... what? Are you?
Pollster: Thank you for your time.
-------------
Just because you're not paranoid doesn't mean they're not after you - Kurt Cobain
A lifelike VR simulation is likely to be more creepy than reality because of the "Uncanny valley" effect
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncanny_Valley
Aberrations have appeared in my destiny prognostication engine!
This is nothing less than Jeff Cooper's Color Code in action.
"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."
"Just because I'm paranoid, doesn't mean they're not after me..."
I think the real headline should be 60% of people riding the tube are sheep waiting to be harvested.
It's not exaggerated when they really are out to get you.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
This is Britain they're talking about. If you live in Britain today and you're not paranoid, you're crazy.
First of all, what pretense was given to the test subjects for the experiment? Obviously you can't tell them "we're going to see if you're paranoid", so what did they tell them? The very act of being in an experiment where you're put in a VR environment is likely to affect behavour and the way you interpret people.
Secondly, put this in context of the location used for the experiment. A VR reproduction of the London underground? A place where you're crowded by people, a place which in all honesty does have a reputation for being a haven for pickpockets (whether that's deserved or not I don't know), and oh yes, one other thing - the site of the last major (successful) terrorist attack on Britain. Gee, do you think any of this might make people a little more wary when put into that environment for an experiment?
Some of this is addressed in TFA of course, but it doesn't correspond to the sensational headlines this peice has been getting in tabloids and on the Internet. Being somewhat cautious in that particular situation is a world away from the headlines implicating that 40% of us are clinically paranoid all the time.
Spelling mistakes, grammatical errors, and stupid comments are intentional.
They're just pretending to be paranoid as part of a plot to undermine confidence in public transportation.
Did nobody else notice that Dr Freeman did this study? I, for one, welcome it as an absolute truth. The "one free man" deserves no less.
REALLY have the world against them.
"Cognitive Behavior Therapy"? Is that what they're calling it these days?
It seems to me that it would be impossible to extrapolate this VR study to real life. I mean, you strap on virtual reality goggles, and are presented with a scene from riding the tube (subway). It's like a video game, so of course you think the characters in it are about to pull out an AK47 and start shooting at you. Plus you are doing it as part of some experiment. What are you told before you strap on the goggles?
But in a an actual ride on the tube, you would be thinking about something else -- you wouldn't be watching all the people, trying to figure out what is going on, as you would during some VR lab test...
Deconstruct the State
"VR is a uniquely powerful method to detect those liable to misinterpret other people."
Why not simply "detect the average tendency to misinterpret"? Why the need to classify people into liable and not liable to misinterpret?
What purpose could be served by this?
Perhaps you would like to explain, mister Head Researcher, IF THAT IS YOUR REAL JOB TITLE?!!?
1- Sell tin foil hats at subway stations
2- ?????
3- 40% Profit!
home
... The government! Who wouldn't be paranoid of Big Brother?
40% of us are paranoid, but the other 60% *know* Roland does need to be taken out back and shot.
"As a woman I'm a lot more suspicious of men. Didn't like the close proximity of the men. The guy opposite may have had sexual intent, manipulation or whatever."
This woman should never, ever go to 4chan. Could be fatal.
I don't get cautious around most black people, but you better believe I get cautious around ones that look like they've bought into the thug culture. Is that paranoid? How do I know that they aren't in fact some wannabe gangbanger? Saying "don't judge a book by its cover" toward people is irrational. Appearances are one of the most effective ways to gauge what sort of person you are dealing with.
It's a *virtual reality* subway ride. The other passengers are AI. The carriage contained neutral computer people (avatars) that breathed, looked around, and sometimes met the gaze of the participants. One avatar read a newspaper, another would occasionally smile if looked at. A soundtrack of a train carriage was played. Even if none of these participants have *ever* played a video game (which would obviously tend to prime them for something nasty coming up), this sounds creepy just from the description.
People who will feel perfectly normal taking a subway ride with human beings who occasionally meet your gaze or smile, or even talk to themselves.. will be royally spooked if you replace those human passengers with Uncanny Valley inhabitants: not human enough to fool you, but human enough to seem like an animated corpse.
The article completely ignores this effect. It could be useful research -- one can find out useful information about people with the ability to put different people in identical situations -- but it's absolute nonsense to say "wow, 40% of people have paranoid thoughts on a simple subway ride". Go figure, but virtual reality and reality are not, in fact, the same.
When the military performed a psychiatric review of Feynman, and labelled him as a nut bar for answering innocient questions in an honest way. (For example: "Are people staring at you?" "Yes, since the chap lined up behind me has little else to do." Or something to that effect.)
....60% are naive.
Its healthy to be a bit paranoid when using public transportation as it is probably creates a safer environment.
Imagine the criminal mentality increasing the crime rate if their was no paranoia and resulting actions in effect.
The more repressive and invasive a government or other powerful entity gets, the more paranoid people become.
I don't get cautious around most white people. Being a US academic I'm surrounded by them. They are my friends and colleagues. However, in every city I've lived in except Los Angeles, I have had whites yell "nigger" at me as they drive by in cars. In three places spanning a dozen years, drunken young white male students have challenged me to fight (tried to provoke an excuse to beat me); so far, I open my mouth, they see I'm intelligent, and they go away.
These white men look like any thousands of white men I've seen all my life. Appearances count, in my case, for absolutely nothing.
I wonder, how may times have you been accosted by a black, gangbanger lookalike or otherwise?
blog
This paranoia article loads fine with Tor! /me closes tin foil curtains
Here's a video from the first of April. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/help/3681938.stm This is one of the three they published then and my favourite, because it contains it contains a quote something along the lines of "The tube is actually rather busy..." I haven't seen it that quiet since...well...ever.
The study mentions "exaggerated fears" of the threats from others. Sure, it pays to be a bit overly-cautious with strangers on public transportation. That doesn't translate into "extreme, irrational, psychotic, they're-all-out-to-get-me" paranoia... I think "mistrust" is a far more accurate term.
Love many, trust a few, do harm to none.
Sounds like John Nash's game "Fuck You Buddy" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/So_Long_Sucker, which was invented in the 1950's. So they put you in a subway the game is the same...
A computer once beat me at chess, but it was no match for me at kick boxing. Emo Philips
Either people tend to get on with things without really thinking about the consequences (even if they're insignificant) or 40% is far too low a number. I'm pretty sure > 40% of people in the West could be classified as "paranoid" about something.
Heck, I can't even wear two earphones at the same time because I'm responsible for the security of the family home. That kinda sucks for being able to listen to music at night, but seems pretty sensible really. Humans are built to be paranoid and protective of themselves and their families.
George Orwell/Eric Blair was British. I think its safe to assume that was the primary reason he chose England. After that I would actually put forth that the UK was the least totalitarian power in Europe and especially so given the recent history at the time of the writing (1948). If he intended to chose a society where one would be 'justifiably paranoid', the UK would have been a very odd choice given the other nations he had available to him (Communist Eastern Europe especially but also Franco's Spain, the recently fallen fascist Italy or Japan, etc). I'm pretty sure you couldn't be more wrong.
Or Feminisation, as this was done in the UK. Shame on you for paying attention to instincts which protected your particular history of DNA for millions of years to the present. The government says you must not resist your mugger, your assailant, your attacker. Sit there and take it or be branded mentally divergent.
Don't trust anyone under thirty.
I knew it!
But in a an actual ride on the tube, you would be thinking about something else
Perhaps velociraptors? In that case at least there are some solutions.
Bitter and proud of it.
Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean that they aren't out to get you.
"I'm making perfect sense, you're just not keeping up."
Didn't they have a few bombs go off not long ago? Paranoia? I think not.
Where I live, public transportation is the domain of the lower socio-economic classes (as opposed to places like London, New York, etc. where its use is more widespread). Our fear is of the (sadly common) incidence of transit riders off their meds.
Have gnu, will travel.
Doesn't mean no-one's following you...
Science advances one funeral at a time- Max Planck
First thing I thought upon reading this was "Great, now they're going to want all of us on anti-paranoia drugs."
This is the UK we are talking about after all...
UK 'unsafe, dirty and anti-family'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/2980028.stm
I don't even live there and I think the same
The other 60% are out to get me.
In this life, you can be paranoid, or in denial, or always know exactly what is happening. Exact knowledge is hard to come by even under the best circumstances, let alone on the subway. So 40% paranoia probably means close to 60% denial. Which is exactly what you need to keep it together on the subway, surrounded by the public, strangers you'll never see again.
--
make install -not war
Just because you are paranoid doesn't mean everyones not out to get you.
It seems to me that it would be impossible to extrapolate this VR study to real life.
I have to wonder how they accounted for the Uncanny Valley.
We are all just people.
I'm not paranoid, just nervous because the government and aliens are watching me.
Chewbacon
The Bible is like Wikipedia: written by a bunch of people and verifiable by questionable sources.
If you persistently tell people they should be afraid -- they WILL be. It matters not at all whether they SHOULD be.
Witness that, lacking both better things to do and the ethics to do better things, our American news media plays up every negative incident as OMG the sky is falling, run for your lives!! Consequently, ask the average American (or any of our detractors) whether they think violent crime is out of control in the U.S., and they will uniformly declare that it is -- despite that the *actual* incidence of violent crime has been dropping steadily for almost two decades.
See stats at http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/gvc.htm
~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
I have to go. They're listening
40% sounds low to me. I wonder why they are understating the results?
Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
And this is based on your how many years as a cognitive psychologist? The time I consult Slashdot for anything remotely insightful with regards to psychology will be about the same time I start turning here for dating advice.
I think it's more based on his experience reading "studies". It doesn't take a PhD to be wary of studies from random experts on the internet.
Write your own Choose Your Own Adventure. http://www.freegameengines.org/gamebook-engine/
...being normal is not normal. People must be changed and medicated to live up to act like normal human beings.
Any guest worker system is indistinguishable from indentured servitude.
That's funny. I was thinking if xkcd came up here, it would be referencing this one.
Man, you shove a million people into a little tube, all on the way to get humiliated for 8 hours a day, to get your job outsourced to some bunch of dudes in Manila, and then come home and get bitched at by the old lady when she's not slobbing the neighbor's knob. If you don't come through that being paranoid, then, man, you are retarded. "Ride choo choo train... look at pretty lights..." Keep riding, dude, and enjoy the lights.
This is my sig.
You are "testing" their new VR tech. Easy.
than "Paranoid" is the wrong adjective. The proper adjective is "normal".
I know what you mean about nature out to get you.
Whenever we go hiking, I'm always the only one the mosquitoes target for a blood meal. Also, since it's the females that bite, that just reinforces my paranoia that all female are out to get me.
I'm also still paranoid about my inevitable alien abduction and anal probing (Ouch! Maybe they work for the IRS...)
only 40% of us are alert to possible threats.
It seems to me to be a straight forward evolutionary development, right? Animals which are insufficiently alert get eaten, while there is no penalty for being "too" alert.
Clear, Dark Skies
but should NOT be conclusion to any kind
feeling paranoid or being paranoid doesn't mean anything meaningful
sorry
for such a meaningless study done to get paid
it's no right or wrong topic - being paranoid or not (u think u can trust the whole world? never.....u think u have to destroy the whole world? never either...)
shxt
I'm sure there were plenty of people from 200 years ago posting on today's Slashdot.
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
That's just perfectly normal paranoia. Everyone in the universe has that.
... but have they tested this on a large group of kids playing games at mid-night without their parents knowing?
-Aegis Runestone-
It's not paranoia if everyone really is out to get you!
Does this rag smell like chloroform to you?
So the definition of Paranoia is clinical, political, helpful, fearful all at the same time. That's more or less the point of England nowadays.
You know, the "ohnoitsroland" one. In fact, I'm paranoid that there's some sort of conspiracy to silence his detractors...
"don't judge a book by its cover". Judging a book by its freaking cover probably saved my skin a few time, because it gave me a few second split start when I started running away.
C. Sagan : A demon haunted world:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345409469/
visit randi.org
Allow me to expand for our newer PC (politically correct) and city-bred youngsters.
1. We have established ourselves at the top of the food chain on land.
2. Competition of the same species has resulted into numerous conflicts on Earth. Geographical and climate differences seem to back up sociological diff's, thus establishing a basis for conflict: after all, who wants to be wrong?
3. No threat groups: company picnic, or similar like a LUG.
You may not know all of the people there, but they all seem to fall into a 'known' category, where on the tubes/subway, it is an unknown category that requires som awareness, some observation, and some training/knowledge on how to deal with the situation. YMMV
4. Why are sports and other forms of competition so popular (business world, etc.) if not for #2 above? It's our nature...society and civilizations would have you forget we were programmed to climbing to the top of our perceived food chain.
We will conquer and exploit the oceans and seas of this world sooner or later.
5."...becomes "law enforcement" or maybe "military training."
Circa 1977-79, some of our military training trumps all in a conflict.
My experiences with USA law enforcement has left me with less than sterling respect. (with the exception of the Tishomingo, Oklahoma/Murray State College Sheriff Department.
The top end of the department was made up of old, experienced war horses of various conflicts and filled out with recruits by way of the old guys.
Thoroughly capable and professional outfit.
I helped them set up a 'Hogan's Alley' type reactive Close Quarters Combat course, and acted as instructor for several months, then enough qualified, good people were able to shove me out. (no, I am 'old as dirt', a good student SHOULD usurp his teacher/master!- no bitterness except from resenting getting old!)
I served with the US Army from 1977-1981 in and around Berlin. We were a 6 man team that were tasked to exfiltrating political, industry, and science bigwigs from E. Berlin into W. Berlin so they could be sent on westward.
My primary MOS (Military Occupational Specialty) was a sniper. but as did all members of my team , I had multiple secondary MOS's. Mine were : Close Quarters Combat, Small Arms, Medic, and Demolitions.
As any combat vet can attest, having been there, done that, and wore the damned tee-shirt out...VR subways are an adrenaline letdown, as are the real thing.
Down With Slashdot BETA!!! I've been around the corner and seen the oliphant; you can only abuse me from your perspecti
40% of british residents believe they are being followed. This data is gathered by an analysis of phone calls, e-mail and sms traffic as well as of surveillance data from security cameras.
I can has cheeseburger?
I'm in ur computer! LOL!!!
Down With Slashdot BETA!!! I've been around the corner and seen the oliphant; you can only abuse me from your perspecti
Posting anonymously, as this is way too personal and deals with illicit substances.
I'm surprised no one has yet mentioned how a lot of individuals have horrible experiences after smoking pot in a roomful of people. How one becomes the subject of some vague collective conspiracy, compounded by a sense of impending doom, e.g. that the cops will surely burst in at any second. In effect, how pot makes one feel like the focus of the Universe's undivided attention, peering from behind the shadows, patiently waiting for the right moment to pounce.
The sensation, absurd while clean and sober, becomes terrifyingly real after lighting a toke. Throughout the years I've met others who've confided to having lived similar experiences. William S Burroughs had a name for it, The Fear, with weird variations. One guy told me that after lighting up once with his girlfriend, she transformed in front of his eyes into an old hag, the mystical forces of the Universe fucking with the science student's head.
Not coincidentally, most of them have given up pot for good. I didn't go to such an extreme, "Take the bull by the horns" I thought, occasionally lighting one up among a select few who I grew to trust, and gradually my irrational fears dissipated. I hardly smoke anymore, not out of an overriding fear or aversion, but out of personal preference. A gentle parting, not a jarring one.
Anyways, what is it about cannabis that makes this deep paranoia bubble to the surface in some people? It's strange, there's a sense of vanity and narcissism in feeling unique, special and they're all out to get you. As for me, I've since come to relish the unimpeachable evidence that I'm not of any particular interest to anybody outside my family and circle of friends and colleagues.
40% of us are paranoid, but its only because we know that the other 60% are out to get us.
i mean come on, dr. freeman on a subway...
What the article says (and what the poster exaggerates, in true /. style) is that, for a certain definition of "paranoid thoughts", 41% of people in a VR study experienced "paranoid thoughts". First note the grammatical tense: "experienced" - it may be correct to extrapolate from what happened in the past, but this study doesn't propose to do that. We have to wait to see what further studies reveal.
Next, these results were achieved using VR - maybe they give us a real insight into what people really feel during a ride on the London Underground, but that still has to be verified. And even if this checks out, we still only know what people feel on the Underground.
Finally, the definition of "paranoid thoughts" is very scientific, in that it 1) captures what seems to be an essential feature of paranoia, and 2) is miles away from what the general public imagines about paranoia. Perhaps a better name for it would be "anxious thoughts", except that these researchers appear to be studying paranoia, so to them it is perhaps most natural to use the term "paranoid thoughts".
I always like to look on the bright side. If my house was haunted by terrifying ghosts, what's the worst that they can do, kill me? Well, they're very existence would indicate that death isn't that much of a handicap.
Likewise, it's not so bad if "they" are out to get you. It means you must be doing something right. Clearly, you are not the insignificant little nobody you secretly feared you might be. I'd gladly accept a bit of persecution in return for external confirmation that I'm the most important person in the universe.
Being singled out is kind of an honor. It's being crushed by a Kafkaesque bureaucracy unthinkingly following some kind of mad procedural rules is what really sucks.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
In the UK you would be thinking is that police officer going to shoot me.
Where did they get this information!?!? I don't trust them. This can't be true. They're just trying to fool us into complying with them, no doubt.
I'm sure that number is higher than that, more like 99.999%! This article was made to make it look like a smaller number by those who want to make us think we are still a minority, so they can have control over us!
it's 100%
Paranoia is not this. Paranoia is full-blown psychotic disorder where people affected check the drawers for bombs every hour and assume CIA puts the mind control pills in their (closed) bottled water(no paranoic would drink from the tap),build tinfoil hats and wear them, assume evething they are involved with is conspiracy against them or whole city,country,or mankind itself,etc.(unwarranted self-importance comes to mind) ,appearance and mannerisms.
You will see if a person is paranoid from their mood
What most people think of "paranoid behaviour'" is just excess caution and reliance on "safer choices" that most ordinary people caresessly discard if faced with a problem.Paranoid people on other hand are preooccupied with their fantasies and internal narrative so that they don't choose, they already selected for themself a course of action which minimizes the damage to their "safety" feeling and keeps their internall narrative less threatening.
you're a pansy ... buy a helmet and a vasectomy.
New Yorkers know what I'm talking about. In our subway system there's been this huge "If you see something, say something" campaign. It's either that slogan next to a picture of a backpack left under a subway seat, or blared out of the loud speakers roughly every 20 minutes (oddly with far more clarity than actual service announcements). I guess the idea was, we weren't paranoid on the subway enough after 9/11, or after they started posting soldiers with M-16's at many of the stops, so they had to get us up to "high alert" level.
Personally, I think the campaign would have been a little more effective if had been directed at airport security screeners. Perhaps they could have use a picture of a metal detector going off in response to someone carrying a box cutter. Or, 2 dozen people carrying box cutters.
But no, perhaps it really was better to have the president go on vacation when there was an actual terrorist threat, and then later try to make us all scared of abandoned back packs. So I'm doing *my* part. When I see something, I say something.
"I see a subway car!"
"I see an ad for Dr. Zizmore!!"
"I my sneakers!!!"
"I see a bunch of people looking at me funny!!!!"
And there've been no attacks since. You're welcome.
So rest easy virtual subway riders - me an' the GOP are on the job!
Dude, you need to know this.
It takes approximately 10 lbs. of pressure to fracture the human trachea. If you can lift your monitor, you can exert 10 lbs of pressure.
Do NOT get a gun. The people you'd need it against will not give you the chance to use it. And pulling it on anyone else will get you arrested.
If you get accosted like this again (hopefully you won't), concentrate on doing one thing and one thing only:
Getting one solid punch in to the guy's adam's apple.
This is much more effective than going for the nuts (which are frequently protected with those baggy pants) and don't rely on pain. Pain only stops certain people at certain times. Lack of oxygen stops everybody, all the time. It just takes a few seconds for it to be a factor.
In my dojo, some wisp of a girl once asked the sensei what to do if she got attacked by some huge guy with lots of muscles. His response was, "Don't hit him in the muscles".
That's the whole trick to self defense against a more physically imposing, and mentally prepared opponent (which is guarenteed to be the case - muggers and bigots who target stronger people than themselves don't last in that line of work long). Don't hit anything made of bone or muscle. Eyes are the next best choice - but not only do you have to hit twice as many of them as you do if you go for adam's apples, it takes a lot more to stop them from working, *and* you can still be very badly hurt by someone who can only feel you).
So that's all you have to know: A stranger hits me, I try to hit them in the adam's apple. And I don't stop until something stops me.
Which if you're lucky, will be the police, or a group of citizens informing you that he's dead already.
Good luck.
Yeah that one was on my mind too, but I just couldn't get the raptors out of my head ... cos you never know when they might come through a plate glass window next to you. 65 million years of separation isn't enough!
Bitter and proud of it.
If violent behavior is not an indicator of violent personality then what, pray tell, is? Alluding to yet undiscovered causes is disingenuous at best (the women analogy is flawed and reaching as maternal responsibilities comes to mind as an alternative).
Maybe they have "violence inducing chemicals" mixed with their food or (heaven forbid) you are implying that they have a JUSTIFICATION or RIGHT to being violent?
I think your heart just left a blood stain on my monitor.
surely it's more like > 90% of us who are paranoid, it's just that some of us recognize our paranoia for what it is and ignore it, I know I do.
in my life God comes first.... but Linux is pretty high after that
Francis Smit