Project:	Building computational models of first impressions.
Disciplines:	Computation and Neural Systems, Data Science
Mentor:	Ralph Adolphs, Bren Professor, (BBE), radolphs@caltech.edu, Phone: x4866
Mentor URL:	emotion.caltech.edu  (opens in new window)
AO Contact:	Nina Rouhani, ninarouhani@gmail.com
Background:	This is a collection of projects jointly supervised by two post-docs in the lab that investigates human social behavior. It involves people interacting through text or video as they form impressions of one another. We analyze the text or video data and try to predict from these features what psychological judgments somebody makes about another person, what decisions they might make, and how their brain responds.
Description:	The Adolphs lab is looking for summer students to contribute to a large-scale online experiments, where pairs of participants will be getting to know each other through video chat. The aim of this experiment is to analyze the components of real-world social interactions and how those experiences shape how we understand people. People interact online, e.g. through a variety of social media, and often form long-term relationships this way. What information does the human brain use in this process? Can we train machine learning algorithms to predict the evolution of an online relationship from analysis of the text data that subjects produce? The overall aims of this project are to identify the features (e.g., in text chats) that predict certain social relationships (e.g., long-term friendships), and to understand the individual differences (e.g., in personality) of the subjects that shape online social relationships.
Student Requirements:	Strong CS/math skills are required. It is essential to be fluent in Python and to have some machine learning experience. It is desirable to have some experience with AI/ large language models.
Programs:	This AO can be done under the following programs:   Program    Available To        Amgen Scholars    Non-Caltech students only          SURF    Caltech students only  Click on a program name for program info and application requirements.