Berlin 2012 – scientific programme

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SOE: Fachverband Physik sozio-ökonomischer Systeme

SOE 20: Social Systems, Opinion and Group Dynamics III

SOE 20.5: Talk

Thursday, March 29, 2012, 15:00–15:15, H 0110

Interdependent choices under social influence — •Ana Fernández del Río, Elka Korutcheva, and Javier de la Rubia — Departamento de Física Fundamental (UNED), Madrid, Spain

Mean-field Ising equilibrium dynamics can be used to describe the collective properties of certain choice or decision making processes when we want to mimic a generic tendency of individuals to conform to the norm, understood in this case as the accurately perceived average behaviour of the group [2,3,4]. Even very simple models already have interesting interpretations in social contexts and direct parallelisms can be drawn between them and some utility maximising scenarios from traditional discrete choice theory in the social sciences literature [1]. Besides, they provide a framework in which to naturally introduce heterogeneity, characterising the group through probability distributions describing individual attitudes towards the particular choice. The study of the system at finite temperature allows for the consideration of fluctuations varying in time, which can encode lack of information or a more fundamental uncertainty on human nature concerning free will.

The use of two coupled Ising models to describe a group where individuals have to make two choices which affect each other is discussed, and the system's phase diagrams for some particular cases in the light of binary interdependent decisions described.

[1] Durlauf. PNAS, 96:10582-10584, 1999. [2] Föllmer. J.Math.Econ., 1:51-62, 1974. [3] Galam. Phys.A, 238:66-80 ,1997. [4] Gordon, Nadal, Phan and Semeshenko. M3AS, 19(1):1441-1481, 2008.