Human Crowds as Social Networks

Collective Dynamics of Consensus and Polarization

Bibliographic Data

ID7519745
AuthorsWilliam H Warren (0000-0003-4843-2315, Brown University, corresponding author), J Benjamin Falandays (0000-0003-4251-1610, Brown University), Kei Yoshida (0000-0003-1096-3807, Brown University), Trenton D Wirth (0000-0002-2510-8603, Brown University), Brian A Free (0000-0003-3250-5575, Brown University)
Year2023
Volume19
Issue2
Pages522-537
Publication date2023-08-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenuePerspectives on Psychological Science (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1745-6916 • E-ISSN: 1745-6924
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/17456916231186406
PMID37526132
OpenAlexW4385442006
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited80

A ubiquitous type of collective behavior and decision-making is the coordinated motion of bird flocks, fish schools, and human crowds. Collective decisions to move in the same direction, turn right or left, or split into subgroups arise in a self-organized fashion from local interactions between individuals without central plans or designated leaders. Strikingly similar phenomena of consensus (collective motion), clustering (subgroup formation), and bipolarization (splitting into extreme groups) are also observed in opinion formation. As we developed models of crowd dynamics and analyzed crowd networks, we found ourselves going down the same path as models of opinion dynamics in social networks. In this article, we draw out the parallels between human crowds and social networks. We show that models of crowd dynamics and opinion dynamics have a similar mathematical form and generate analogous phenomena in multiagent simulations. We suggest that they can be unified by a common collective dynamics, which may be extended to other psychological collectives. Models of collective dynamics thus offer a means to account for collective behavior and collective decisions without appealing to a priori mental structures

Collective behavior · Collective motion · Crowd psychology · Crowds · Dynamics (music · Economics · Group Decision Making · Parallels · Social dynamics · Social science · Sociology · Complex Network Analysis Techniques · Computer Science · Evolutionary Game Theory and Cooperation · Opinion Dynamics and Social Influence · Psychology · Social Psychology · Artificial Intelligence

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Open DOIOpen Access