Statistical mechanics of opinion formation and collective behavior: Micro‐sociology

The process of opinion formation leading to collective behavior in large groups is modeled with a probabilistic and statistical mechanical theory of micro‐sociological behavior. By assuming that the probability of making a given decision is proportional to the number of people who have made the same decision, this theory of micro‐interactions predicts the manner in which individuals will respond to groups, how groups will respond to individuals, and how minorities and majorities will respond to each other. In particular, the theory accurately predicts observations of chivalry, tip sizes, conformity, and gawking in groups. Guided by intuition of social behavior and analogies with physical theories, social forces and social temperatures have also been introduced as concepts relevant to group interactions. These parameters significantly improve the theory's fit to empirical data.

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Corresponding author. Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, Campus Box 450, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309–0450, USA.

E. Passerini was supported by National Science Foundation Grant CMS‐9312647 to the Natural Hazards Center at the University of Colorado, Boulder, USA.