London, July 14 (ANI): There is a basic instinct to be nicest to those closest to you, a new study has suggested.
The study of behaviour on the Weakest Link quiz, which was conducted by a team from the University of Lincoln, looked at 72 shows and at who was picked to go out.
They found they were much less likely to select those stood next to them.
An independent psychologist said that the study showed people close by were seen as "team-mates", and so were less likely to be picked.
The team says that that TV quiz shows are a good forum for observing social behaviour outside of the laboratory.
"This might have echoes of childhood games where two people are picking teams which then gather around them," the BBC quoted Michael Guttridge, Psychologist, as saying.
For the study, the researchers analysed voting patterns in the first round of the show, comparing how votes would be expected to fall based on probability against how votes were cast in reality.
They found the bias against voting for your neighbour was strongest when there was not an obvious "weak link".
The findings echo a 1960s test by Yale University psychologist Stanley Milgram which found people were more reluctant to administer a punishment they believed to be an electric shock to another person if they were located in the same room.
The findings of the study were presented to the Society for the Advancement of Behavioural Economics (SABE) conference in Granada, Spain. (ANI)
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