Why Do People Follow Someone? | Akari Research Institute - Research Guide

Good morning. ☀️
I am Akari the Traveler.

For the first time in a while, I am beginning a new observation at the Akari Research Institute.

The research theme this time is,

Why do people follow someone?

.

When you hear about ways to increase followers, in most cases,

• post every day

• craft your titles

• interact in the comments

• polish your profile

• write information useful to readers

are the kinds of methods introduced.

Of course, none of these are wrong.

However, every time I, the traveler, learned of these methods, something felt a bit off.

Why do people open an article when you change the title?

Why does a name you see repeatedly gradually turn into someone you 'know'?

Why does pressing 'like' on an article not necessarily mean you will follow that person?

And why are only some creators remembered by many, and their presence spread from person to person?

...Methods alone could not reveal what lies beneath. (゜-゜)

So this time, I will think about this not just using general communication know-how, but by usingcognitive scienceas a clue.

Before follower counts, there is awareness

Increasing followers may seem like directly increasing a number.

However, people do not just press the follow button out of the blue.

First, they notice the person's existence.

They remember the name or icon.

They understand what kind of topics the person writes about.

They read a few articles and feel that "something relevant to me will likely arrive next time."

Beyond that, there is the follow.

In other words, before followers increase, there is

Attention
→ Awareness
→ Memory
→ Understanding
→ Expectation
→ Trust
→ Follow

a change occurring within the person, isn't there?

In this research, we will observe these changes one by one.

Not leaving cognitive science in difficult terms

In this series, we will also handle technical terms related to cognitive science.

For example,

• Selective Attention
  Selective Attention

• Cognitive Resources
  Cognitive Resources

• Cognitive Load
  Cognitive Load

• Categorization
  Categorization

• Repeated Exposure
  Repeated Exposure

• Predictive processing
  Predictive Processing

and so on.

However, I will not make this an article that just lists technical terms.

After introducing the terms,

I will think about these using familiar examples.

The traveler himself is not in a position to teach completed knowledge.

I will study cognitive science and use those insights to observe what is happening in my own posts and daily life.

I plan to record everything, including failures, hesitations, and the results when my hypotheses are wrong (´・ω・｀)

What I will observe this time

In this research, I will address the following questions.

Why do people overlook most information?

What is displayed on the screen is not the same as what is actually noticed.

I will consider why only some articles are chosen amidst a massive amount of information.

Why do people categorize content creators in an instant?

"The game person," "the AI person," "the writing person."

To understand others, we quickly categorize who they are.

I will observe whether someone with many themes can still be remembered if they have a single perspective.

Why do we remember people we see repeatedly?

Is there really any meaning in increasing the number of posts?

We consider the difference between simply being displayed many times and being remembered as someone with specific value.

Why do people not follow even after reading an article?

I pressed the like button. I was satisfied with the content.

Even so, there are times when I do not follow.

We observe the difference between evaluating an article and having expectations for the creator's future.

How does the recognition of one person spread to the world?

Introductions, shares, joint projects, comments, and communities.

How do existence and trust spread when people other than yourself talk about you?

Ultimately,

We examine this hypothesis.

Communicating in both Japanese and English, through text and images

At Akari Research Institute, we value not passing on complex structures while they remain difficult.

The main text is written primarily in Japanese, but English is also provided for important technical terms and diagrams.

Images are not just illustrations for atmosphere, but are designed to:

• Allow the structure to be understood the moment you see it

• Allow the meaning to be grasped in both Japanese and English

• Deepen understanding after reading the text

We aim to do this.

Being professional is different from writing in a difficult way.

Translating into a form where the same structure can be understood, even if the language is different.

That is the stance we want to cherish at the Akari Research Institute.

About free and paid articles

In this series, we will first provide the following in the free articles:

• The existence of the problem

• Basic concepts of cognitive science

• New perspectives for observing phenomena

• Observation results for each session

We will deliver these thoroughly.

We will ensure that you can understand one question even with just the free articles.

On top of that, in the paid articles, we plan to go deeper into:

• Analysis connecting multiple cognitive structures

• Concrete applications to communication and daily life

• The traveler's own case studies and experiments

• Diagnostic and observation methods that readers can use

• Diagrams and research materials

We plan to go even deeper into these topics.

We have no intention of holding back in the free articles.

For free, you can change your perspective, and for a fee, you can apply that perspective to your own actions.

I aim to accumulate research that achieves this.

The first research is here.

In the first installment,

Why is my existence unknown even though I write every day?

will be observed.

People do not see all the information that enters their field of vision.

Even if an article is displayed on the screen, if the reader does not notice its existence, the content will not even be evaluated.

In the first installment,

• What is cognition?

• What is attention?

• What is selective attention?

• Why does attention become scarce as information increases?

• The significance of having people remember not just your name, but 'what kind of person you are'

will be considered through familiar examples.

From Akari Research Institute

The traveler has written about various subjects so far, including games, AI, creation, emotions, information fatigue, and dissemination.

At first glance, they may seem like separate topics.

However, there was one question at the heart of it all.

I think travelers have always been observing how people see the world, rather than the world itself.

This time, I have given that perspective the name 'cognition'.

From here on, I will continue to build up my research while learning as a traveler myself.

I am not starting this because I know the answer.

I investigate because I do not know.

I observe because I am curious.

And I will transform the structures I find into words and images that anyone can understand and deliver them to you.

Now, for the new research at Akari Research Institute.

Why do people follow that person?

Let's begin the observation.

About updates

The first installment of this research series will be published around 5:00 PM today.

From the second installment onwards, I plan to update around 12:30 PM every day.

While learning about cognitive science insights one by one, I will connect them to what is happening in communication and daily life, and observe one question each time.

The update time may shift slightly depending on the status of research and production.