Complex contagion

Complex contagion

Complex Contagion refers to the phenomenon in social networks in which multiple sources of exposure to an innovation are required before an individual adopts the change of behavior.[1] This differs from simple contagion in that, unlike a disease, it may not be possible for the innovation to spread after only one incident of contact with an infected neighbor. The spread of complex contagion across a network of people may depend on many social and economic factors; for instance, how many of one's friends adopt the new idea as well as how many of them don't can influence the individual, as well as their own disposition in embracing change.

Contents

Mechanisms of Complex Contagion

Complex Contagion and the Weakness of Long Ties by Damon Centola of Harvard University and Michael Macy of Cornell University suggests four mechanisms of complex contagion. These properties explain the need for multiple exposures in the spread of contagion.

  1. Strategic complementarity. Many innovations are costly, especially for early adopters but less so for those who wait. The same holds for participation in collective action.
  2. Credibility. Innovations often lack credibility until adopted by neighbors. Hearing the same story from different people makes it seem less likely that surprising information is nothing more than the fanciful invention of the informant.
  3. Legitimacy. Knowing that a movement exists or that a collective action will taken place is rarely sufficient to induce bystanders to join in. Having several close friends participate in an event often greatly increases an individual’s likelihood of also joining, especially for high-risk social movements. Innovators risk being shunned as deviants until there is a critical mass of early adopters, and non-adopters are likely to challenge the legitimacy of the innovation.
  4. Emotional contagion. Most theoretical models of collective behavior – from action theory to threshold models to cybernetics share the basic assumption that there are expressive and symbolic impulses in human behavior that can be communicated and amplified in spatially and socially concentrated gatherings.[1]

Contested vs. Uncontested

Uncontested
The spread of the contagion is dependent solely on the number of people you are connected to who are different from your own state. You are not hindered whatsoever by the number of people in the same state as you. Generally, the more neighbors an individual has, the greater the chance of the individual adopting the innovation if the spread is uncontested.[1]
Contested
The spread of the contagion is dependent on both the adamancy of those who are in a different state from your own as well as the countervailing influence of those who share your current state. In this case, the more neighbors an individual has, the smaller the chance of the individual adopting the innovation.[1]

Diffusion and Cascading Behaviors in Networks

Consider a graph of any reasonable size. Node v’s neighbors can be split into 2 sets: Set A contains v's neighbors who have adopted a new behavior and B is the set of those behaving conservatively. Node v will only adopt the behavior of those in A if at least a q fraction of neighbors follow behavior A.[2]

  • if q is small, the behavior is easily adopted and easily spread
  • if q is large, B is an attractive behavior and it takes more friends to engage in A before v will switch.[2]
Cascading - diffusion over the entire network 
Consider a set of initial adopters who start with a new behavior A, while every other node starts with behavior B. Nodes then repeatedly evaluate the decision to switch from B to A using a threshold of q. If the resulting cascade of adoptions of A eventually causes every node to switch from B to A, then we say that the set of initial adopters causes a complete cascade at threshold q. Clusters of density d > 1-q are obstacles to cascades across the entire network.[2]

Application and Examples

Many of our interactions with the rest of the world happen at a local, rather than a global, level - we often don't care as much about the full population's decisions as about the decisions made by friends and colleagues. For example, in a work setting we may choose technology to be compatible with the people we directly collaborate with, rather than the universally most popular technology. Similarly, we may adopt political views that are aligned with those of our friends, even if they are nationally in the minority.[2]

Examples of Complex Contagion

  • The credibility of an urban legend
  • Willingness to participate in migration - (participating in a collective action)
  • Incentives to exit formal gatherings
  • What clothing to wear, hairstyle to adopt, and what part of the body to pierce[1]
Gaming as a complex contagion 
Argument: The act of gaming is a complex contagion; demonstrations, conventions, ongoing games, etc. are responsible for producing new gamers.[3]

Examples of Simple Contagion

  • The spread of disease
  • The spread of information[1]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Centola, Damon; Macy, Michael. "Complex Contagions and the Weakness of Long Ties." University of Chicago, 2007.
  2. ^ a b c d Easley, David; Kleinberg, Jon. Networks, Crowds, and Markets: Reasoning about a Highly Connected World. Cambridge University Press, 2010.
  3. ^ RPG.net. Thread: Gaming is a Complex Contagion

Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем решить контрольную работу

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Contagion — may refer to: In medicine Infectious disease, also known as contagious disease, with infection, or the infectious agent, also known as (a) contagion In media Batman: Contagion, a story arc in the Batman comic book series Contagion (novel), a… …   Wikipedia

  • Contagion (film) — Contagion Theatrical release poster Directed by Steven Soderbergh …   Wikipedia

  • Economic Affairs — ▪ 2006 Introduction In 2005 rising U.S. deficits, tight monetary policies, and higher oil prices triggered by hurricane damage in the Gulf of Mexico were moderating influences on the world economy and on U.S. stock markets, but some other… …   Universalium

  • Medicine in medieval Islam — In the history of medicine, Islamic medicine or Arabic medicine refers to medicine developed in the medieval Islamic civilization and written in Arabic, the lingua franca of the Islamic civilization. Despite these names, a significant number of… …   Wikipedia

  • Late-2000s financial crisis — The TED spread (in red) increased significantly during the financial crisis, reflecting an increase in perceived credit risk …   Wikipedia

  • Max Scheler's Concept of Ressentiment — Max Scheler (1874 1928) Max Scheler (1874–1928) was both the most respected and neglected of the major early 20th century German Continental philosophers in the phenomenological tradition.[1] His observations and insights concerning a special… …   Wikipedia

  • Timeline of Islamic science and engineering — This timeline of Islamic science and engineering covers the general development of science and technology in the Islamic world during the Islamic Golden Age, usually dated from the 7th to 16th centuries.From the 17th century onwards, the advances …   Wikipedia

  • Viet Cong and PAVN strategy, organization and structure — US caricature of Ho Chi Minh During the Second Indochina War, better known as the Vietnam War, a distinctive land warfare strategy and organization was used by the Main Force of the People s Liberation Armed Forces (better known as the Viet Cong… …   Wikipedia

  • Memetics — This article is related to the study of self replicating units of culture, not to be confused with mimetics. Memetics is a theory of mental content based on an analogy with Darwinian evolution, originating from Richard Dawkins 1976 book The… …   Wikipedia

  • Leadership — Leader redirects here. For other uses, see Leader (disambiguation). For other uses, see Leadership (disambiguation). Psychology …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”