Welcome to Peepworld. In this world, only two things matter: how much you like apples, and how much you like bananas.

We can draw these two traits as a 2D graph, and with each Peep's fruit-affinities as a point on that graph. Here, you can see a single Peep whose preferences change slowly and randomly over time.

Drag the Peep to change its preferences.
Drag the slider to change the simulation speed.

Of course, it's not the only Peep here. They're one of a hundred Peeps who live in this very contrived town of Exampleville, Peepworld.

(note: you can still drag peeps around)

Right now, they're all just shuffling around randomly, not really caring about each other. But Peeps are social critters, they do care about each other, they all want to feel like they belong to a group. We'll see what happens then...

Let's focus on a single Peep. Each Peep considers those who most closely shares its values to be part of its "in-group", its tribe. Peeps also have a sense of what's normal for their group, the group norm, drawn as a star.

Click a Peep to focus on what it sees as its ingroup.

Drag the second slider to adjust how many Peeps a Peep will consider part of its ingroup.

Right now, the Peeps don't care about moving toward their groups' norm, but now, let's see what happens when they do...

With just a few rules, Peepworld now shows lots of the complex group dynamics we know in our own world. Groups forming spontaneously, from small differences. Groups shifting, splitting apart, swapping members, and coming back together again.

(note: you can still drag Peeps and speed up the simulation)

Now, group formation is not a bad thing. Most of us want a sense of belonging, and in more practical terms, trust and collective action is easier within a strong ingroup.

But there are some dark flipsides to ingroups-and-outgroups, like the "us vs them" mentality, group polarization, and groupthink. And with the help of these Peeps, I think we can explore and understand that fine line.

Every prototype is a question, embodied.

My first big question is does this model make sense? It's a very rough interpretation of self-categorization theory. Is my model too abstract or bizarre? Is the interaction compelling?

My other question is: what could/should I explain with this? The social psychology of groups underlies a lot of important issues, but maybe I should just focus on one or a few. Multiculturalism? Political polarization? Collective action? Reconciling opposed groups? The human need for belonging?

You can give your thoughts & other feedback right here!

Anyway, thanks for playtesting! You're all in my ingroup. ;)

<3,
~ Nicky