SocialTHOI · Temporal higher order interactions in social dynamics: From theoretical models to controlled experiments

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Project objective

This project investigates how group interactions, also known as higher-order interactions (HOIs), shape individual traits/opinions, witha particular focus on online social media environments. While traditional network science has largely focused on pairwise interactions,evidence from sociology, experimental psychology and complex systems theory suggests that group-level dynamics play a criticaland qualitatively different role in shaping opinions, beliefs, and behaviors. Understanding these dynamics is essential for explainingphenomena such as polarization, radicalization, and fake-news diffusion, as well as for designing interventions to foster civicengagement and social cohesion.To capture the complexity of group interactions, the project will adopt higher-order network (HON) representations and developnovel methods to infer genuine HOIs from social media data using tools from multivariate information theory. These methods willenable the construction of realistic HONs that reflect actual group dynamics, overcoming limitations of current models that rely onsimplified assumptions.The project will then analyze how group-level properties, such as size, internal communication patterns, and trust, affect individualattributes, including political leaning or stance on controversial topics. Building on these findings, a mechanistic model grounded in sociological theory will be developed and validated against empirical data.To ensure causal validity, the project will also include online social experiments with a control group, designed to isolate and test the mechanisms assumed in the model.By integrating theoretical modeling, empirical data analysis, and experimental validation, the project will contribute to a deeperunderstanding of online social dynamics and inform practical strategies to mitigate polarization and fragmentation in digital societies.

Original text from CORDIS.

Participants

• UNIVERSIDAD POMPEU FABRA · BarcelonaCoordinatorSpain
• IT-UNIVERSITETET I KOBENHAVN · KOBENHAVNDenmark

Links

• View on CORDIS
• DOI: 10.3030/101281714