Physics Model Determines Dynamics of Friends and Enemies
Wednesday, December 2, 2009 - 10:00
in Psychology & Sociology
(PhysOrg.com) -- Sometimes friends can become enemies and enemies become friends, and it`s difficult to understand exactly how or why the changes took place. A new study shows that when the shifting of alliances and rivalries is interpreted using principles from social psychology, the overall behavior can be modeled as arising from an energy minimization process. The work is part of a growing line of research that uses tools from physics to analyze complex social systems.