Participate in a Cambridge University study: Who Should Rule the Seven Kingdoms?
Many Game of Thrones fans would surely like to inject their day jobs with a healthy dose of Westeros. Friedrich Götz has made that dream a reality. Friedrich is a PhD student at the Department of Psychology at Cambridge University, and he and his collaborators are calling on Game of Thrones to help with a new research project. I had the chance to talk to him about it. If you want to go straight to his survey, please click here. Or check out what Friedrich had to say below.
Winter is Coming: Would you call yourself a fan of Game of Thrones? Or would that be too unscientific a label?
Friedrich Götz: Well, I haven’t been officially diagnosed. :) But if binge-watching the series, having withdrawal symptoms between seasons and getting goosebumps whenever somebody plays, hums or sings the iconic main theme counts then yes, I am definitely a fan.
WiC: Do you remember when you first heard of Game of Thrones? Did you discover it from a researcher’s perspective or had you already been watching before?
FG: That must have been in early 2013. I was a freshman at university and could hardly call myself a researcher back then. The exam period was approaching rapidly and I was running out of series to unwind with after a long day of cramming. Fortunately a friend suggested Game Of Thrones to me and fortunately they had only released two seasons at that point. I don’t think my exams would have gone too well if there had been more.
WiC: Have you also read the books?
FG: Nope, shame on me. To be quite honest it was only after I had devoured the first two seasons that I consciously heard of George R.R. Martin and realized it was based on a series of books. By that time I was already too hooked to the TV adaptation. It’s a pity, but I think that is always a risk if you watch the movies / series first. I handled this much better when I read Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter, both of which were highly addictive as well, but here I clearly failed.
WiC: Do you have a favorite character? Why do you like him/her?
FG: That’s a great question. Yes, at first I guess I allowed myself to really root for single characters as you usually would in any other series. But Game of Thrones is not like any other series. I had naively admired Ned Stark, a man of many virtues and even less flaws than the series made you believe at the time. However, when his head got chopped off only one season into the show it dawned on me that killing off your favorite characters when you least expect it is pretty much what Game of Thrones does best. So I learned my lesson and no longer grow that attached to single characters if I can help it. Despite my best efforts, I am rather fond of Sansa and have been siding with her for a while. But generally, these days I am supporting camps / alliances rather than individuals, reasoning that they won’t wipe out the entire Stark clan at once. But then again, who knows what they are up to now – it wouldn’t be the first time that everything is turned upside down…
WiC: Why did you choose Game of Thrones for your project?
FG: There are many reasons. First off, one of the things I really like about being a social scientist is that every once in a while, you get this great opportunity to combine things you love in your private life with your research interests, and while I never lack motivation for my work, that definitely gives me a special boost. Secondly, Game of Thrones is currently one of the – arguably THE hottest series out there and has been a global phenomenon for a few years now. In other words, I you want to draw large crowds and get people from all sorts of cultural, social, economic and political backgrounds to take part in your research, Game of Thrones is where it’s at right now. Thirdly, knowing first-hand how tedious it can be to participate in research I always try to make my own work as appealing, engaging and rewarding for my participants as I possibly can. People donate their time to advance science and most often we are so severely underfunded that we can’t even offer any compensation. Yet, they still do it. That is extremely generous and highly appreciated. I care about my participants and while I can’t compromise on my research I am committed to try my utmost to make it as interesting for them as possible. That said, I am sure you – of all people – will agree that there are few things to jazz up your research like it being Game of Thrones themed.
WiC: What is this project about? Can you tell our readers what kind of insight you hope to derive from it?
FG: Unfortunately, at this stage I can’t reveal too much as long as the study hasn’t been completed. However, in a nutshell we are interested in perceptions of different leadership styles. GoT characters, but also modern-day leaders differ greatly in their approach to power and how to use it. Think about the Iron Throne – if Cersei ends up ruling the Seven Kingdoms she would do so in a very different way than if Daenerys becomes queen. And that’s something that we find really fascinating and we would like to learn more about how different leaders resolve ethical dilemmas and how that affects the way they are perceived by others. From the Game of Thrones side of things, we want to be able to match people to their rightful ruler, the character they should pledge allegiance to, based on how well their own perceptions fit the characteristic behaviour of the respective character.
WiC: Can you tell us more about the size and scope of your project at Cambridge?
FG: Of course. First and foremost, I’d like to credit my collaborators. This is a large-scale effort and we hope to attract many people who will hopefully really enjoy participating in our study. To that end, I have teamed up with two esteemed colleagues of mine from the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign and the University of Mainz in Germany. Once we will have designed the final quiz, based on the responses that we get a the current stage (and hopefully before any of the characters that are in there die) – it will be launched via TIME Magazine which has kindly partnered with us and helps to promote the quiz so as to reach as many Game of Thrones enthusiasts out there as possible.
WiC: What are you looking for from participants in your survey?
FG: Essentially, this is a two-stage process. In order to be able to match people to their rightful ruler of Westeros in the final survey, we need to know how the respective potential rulers would actually behave in the situations that we are looking at. In other words, we need to have baseline values on our measures that capture the characteristic profile of, say, Cersei, Daenerys or Jon. And who better to ask to help with that than real Game of Thrones experts? Put differently, in this first stage, we need you guys to walk a mile in the shoes of your favorite character and do the quiz on their behalf (e.g. “what would Jon Snow think / do?”). As more and more experts do that clearly distinguishable profiles will emerge for the characters and it’s these profiles that the main survey in stage two will be based on. So you guys really make a vital contribution to this project and help us to ensure that our matching is as accurate as it can be.
WiC: Have you been in contact with researchers who study Game of Thrones or A Song of Ice and Fire?
FG: We know of a study at the University of Würzburg in Germany, but haven’t really been in touch with them. All the researchers I know personally who are also working on this are the ones I recruited to our team when we first started planning this specific study last summer.
WiC: Are you planning to continue doing work related to Game of Thrones in one way or another?
FG: As a researcher, my primary motivation is to conduct sound and proper science and I can only venture into the realm of pop culture if I can convincingly justify to myself and my fellow researchers that this doesn’t compromise the validity and quality of my work. Thankfully, nothing keeps me from indulging in Game of Thrones fandom as a private individual though. But to answer your question: yes, if an opportunity arises to follow-up on this work I would be absolutely thrilled and delighted to continue to work on Game of Thrones related stuff.
I you want to help out Friedrich Götz and his collaborators, make sure to check out his survey here!
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