Instruction: Rewrite a fairy tale “Three little piglets” into a methodology section of an article. Word limit: 1000 words.
Designed by Freepick (freepik)
Elena Shchur, ITMO University
Methods
Participants
A cohort of 3 young male individuals without any diagnosed neurological or psychiatric disorders, participated in the study. All participants signed an informed consent form to take part in the study.
Procedure
The experiment consisted of three stages: intelligence test specifically elaborated for the study, stress test, and the post-study session during which the participants filled out a set of questionnaires.
At the first stage participants were instructed to build a winter dwelling. A variety of building materials was provided including straw, sticks and bricks. All participants chose materials upon their free will and to the best of their consideration of what a proper winter house should look like.
At the second stage the participants were exposed to severe stress. They were not informed in advance of what was going to happen for the sake of unbiased experimental results. A specially trained wolf emerged unexpectedly at the front door of all participants in a row and threatened to eat them. After that the house was destroyed with the help of a strong wind gust produced by the fan imitating the wolf’s blow. The procedure was the same for the straw and the stick house. But the brick house failed to be destroyed due to its unique physical properties like durability and sturdiness.
Participants’ reaction to stress was assessed using the NoName smartwatch. The device features multiple sensors, including an accelerometer, gyroscope, geomagnetic sensor, ambient light sensor, air pressure sensor, capacitive sensor, and a photoplethysmographic (PPG) optical heart rate sensor. A special screen enables continuous heart rate monitoring and is designed to assess stress based on HRV derived from PPG signals.
At the final stage of the study stress-coping abilities including the presence of any PTSD symptoms were assessed with the help of two questionnaires. A separate questionnaire was designed to evaluate participants’ ability to adapt to new environment, namely fast-changing living conditions.
Yulia Ryabukhina, ITMO University
2. Methodology
This study used Strauss-Howe’s Generational theory as the basis for the behavioral analysis of the three representative characters of the Three Piglets vs. Big Bad Wolf case (Strauss-Howe, 1991). With all the limitations of the theory outlined in the criticisms of “generationalism” or “ageism” in (Wolf-Piglet, 2022), it provides a solid methodological foundation for studying the basic reasons for the Piglets’ behavior and for the overall “happy” outcome of the case. We discarded the exaggerated and non-empathetic versions where two of the three Piglets and/or the Wolf perished, all the three enduring indescribable sufferings, and chose only the version where all the parties involved survived.
2.1. Simulation and modeling
The inputs for computer simulation were the traits of character, values and dates of birth of the characters/agents. The values were those hypothesized as being essential for both the choice of materials for building the houses and the rationale for the agents’ posterior behavior. The stimulation was conducted in the PIGTRUE software specially modified for the study and referring to a large dataset of incidents reported to have been caused by some specific decisions or actions of porcine individuals (Suidae, 2021).
The simulation broadly revealed a direct correlation between the year of birth of the characters/agents and their actions in terms of designing their future homes.
A primary correlation was established between the Piglets’ generation and their actions. Simulation showed Fifer Pig (who built the straw house) as belonging to the older representatives of Alfa Generation (sometimes mistakenly interpreted as too young to act independently, but with their ready access to technologies). Fiddler Pig with their house of sticks was shown to act as a representative of the Z Generation, or that of Zoomers, the most widely discussed, envied and criticized these days. Finally, the Practical Pig who built the brick house and who ultimately saved his siblings and himself from the Big Bad Wolf, had a strong correlation with the Millennials sector of the dataset.
Based on the above preliminary hypothesis, the study then implemented agent-based modeling (ABM) as a tool for analyzing the diverse, divergent and interdependent behavior of the agents in a system seeking equilibrium. Game theoretically based ABM has been widely used for studying and predicting foraging behavior, ours being a specific case of the latter. We modelled the phenomena occurring at different spatial (place in the forest), temporal (season of the year) and organizational (basic building skills and experience) scales. In the resulting modular model, material choice, design and construction were described by a logical model, reaction to the Big Bad Wolf’s claims by constraint-based models, Piglet population dynamics by an agent-based model, and systemic outcomes by ordinary differential equations.
2.2. Interviews and psychological derivations
For a real-world verification of the simulation results, deep interviews were conducted with the surviving members of the Piglet population (the Piglets who perished according to some versions of the story were excluded from psychological testing for the obvious reason of their nonavailability).
Interviews were useful for gathering stories, deeply held beliefs, metaphors, and other knowledge and building one-to-one relationships with the community.
The topics evoked in the interviews were classified into the following four sections:
1) Values and ideals (tendency to stability, technological skills, self-expression);
2) Cultural background (influence of the events during their childhood, music, arts, internetculture);
3) Interaction with social, political or economic developments;
4) Way of life, habits, communication style.
The Piglet population were asked to answer questions related to the above topics based only on their personal experience rather than on any external knowledge.
The interviews involved the following procedures:
1) A guide was developed with the list of questions and topics to cover
2) The interviews were conducted by phone, as face-to-face offline interviews appeared to be difficult due to the specific living conditions of Piglets
3) The interviews were video-registered
4) The interviews were then transcribed; the key topics were specified, quotes were analyzed, and information was interpreted.
The main goal of the interviews was to check the hypothesis of the Three Piglet population belonging to one of the three groups:
1) Millennials generally characterized as being entrepreneurial, highly educated and flexible
2) Zoomers referred to as digitally native, socially and politically aware and in many ways diverse
3) Alpha known for their digital intuitiveness, human-AI collaborative, diverse and individualistic.
To summarize, a combination of the computer simulations and agent-based modelling on the one hand, and deep psychological interviews on the other hand, was used to check the hypothesis of the Three Piglets representing the three generations as follows:
Practical piglet is part of Millennials, valuing creativity, diversity, and inclusion, looking for professions that allow them to make a difference, to be part of the future, preferring collaborative and flexible work environments, where they can express their creativity and contribute to interesting projects. Their proficiency in technology and ability to adapt to change has paved the way for their innovative approaches to problem-solving, ultimately saving the whole Piglet population.
Fifer Pig is Generation Z. Their familiarity with technology positions them well for innovation and adaptability; however, they also face the pressures of mental health concerns and economic uncertainty. The frivolous behavior typical for Zoomers did not allow them build a house to withstand the forces of nature of the Big Bad Wolf.
Finally, Fiddler Pig is part of Alpha. Gen Alpha may experience behavioral issues like reduced attention spans and fewer in-person connections due to the reliability on technology. They prefer playing with technology rather than going outside for play and engaging in physical activity. This playing with technology and detaching themselves from real world resulted in the most unfavorable consequences in terms of the house built.
2.3. Computer modelling plotted against psychological interviewing
The analysis of the psychological interviews was then cross-validated with agentbased modelling to reveal the reasons underlying the Piglets’ choice of designing and implementing their houses to be related to their belonging to Piglet generationally conditioned behavior.
