A new mathematical model reveals that watching other people's choices in a line actually makes you more likely to join the slower queue.
March 31, 2026
Original Paper
A Framework for Exploring Social Interactions in Multiagent Decision-Making for Two-Queue Systems
arXiv · 2603.27972
The Takeaway
While we think we pick supermarket lines logically, this study shows that 'social opinions' and group dynamics can override our rational brains. It explains how looking at what others are doing creates a collective behavior that draws crowds into the same inefficient line, even when a faster alternative is clearly visible nearby.
From the abstract
We introduce a new framework for multiagent decision-making in queueing systems that leverages the agility and robustness of nonlinear opinion dynamics to break indecision during queue selection and to capture the influence of social interactions on collective behavior. Queueing models are central to understanding multiagent behavior in service settings. Many prior models assume that each agent's decision-making process is optimization-based and governed by rational responses to changes in the q