title: Mapping collective behavior--beware of looping.
abstract: We discuss ambiguities of the two main dimensions of the map proposed by Bentley and colleagues that relate to the degree of self-reflection the observed agents have upon their behavior. This self-reflection is a variant of the "looping effect" which denotes that, in social research, the product of investigation influences the object of investigation. We outline how this can be understood as a dimension of "height" in the map of Bentley et al.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biomedical Ethics, University of Zurich, CH-8032 Zurich, Switzerland. christen@ethik.uzh.ch http://www.ethik.uzh.ch/ibme/team/mitarbeitende/markuschristen.html.
authors.forename: Markus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Christen
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Neuropsychology Unit, University Hospital Zurich, CH-8091 Zurich, Switzerland. peter.brugger@usz.ch http://www.neuroscience.ethz.ch/research/neural_basis/brugger_p.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Brugger
mesh_terms: D003625:Data Collection; D003657:Decision Making; D006801:Humans; D012919:Social Behavior; D060756:Social Networking