Charla invitada: The dynamics of group formation in adaptive social networks

FEDERICO VAZQUEZ

Warwick

Workshop; Workshop on Opinion Dynamics and Models of Social Influence; 2011

Warwick Mathematics Institute

In this talk, I will discuss some of the adaptive network models that have beenproposed in order to explore the phenomena of group formation inhuman societies.  It is assumed that individuals shape their opinionsbased on their interacting partners (social pressure) and, at the same time,they have a tendency to drop ties with neighbors that don´t support theiropinion and form new ties with other like-minded individuals (homophily).  Inthis way, the dynamics of nodes (individuals) and links (interactions) in asocial network are not independent, but they coevolve.  When the evolution ofnetwork is fast compared to the rate at which nodes update their opinions,the network fractures into disconnected components, each representing a groupof nodes holding the same opinion.  An insight about this particular mechanismfor group formation can be obtained by studying a simple model, that possessesall the ingredients of related models, and has the advantage of beinganalytically tractable.