Math model helps explain how conformity works
Wednesday, March 11, 2015 - 07:30
in Mathematics & Economics
(Phys.org)—A pair of anthropologists has come up with a math model to help better understand individual conformity and how it relates to groups and societies as a whole. In their paper published in Royal Society Open Science, Paul Smaldino and Joshua Epstein with Johns Hopkins University describe the mathematical model they created to help show why it is that so often those who attempt to look or behave differently, wind up looking or behaving the same as others—the so-called hipster paradox.