Attractor Neural Net Program for Structural Learning Network Model
Michael W. Macy
Professor of Sociology
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853
Voice: (607) 255-4555
Fax: (607) 202-4913
Email: mwm14@cornell.edu
Why does our world not degenerate into the world of Mad Max? And why does it sometimes seem as if it may? Social order among interdependent agents can be imposed "from above" by a global policing mechanism or it can emerge "from below" through local interactions among adaptive agents with no centralized coordination. Suppose no member of the population has the ability to identify or impose a global solution. How then is social order possible? My current research explores the emergence of norms and conventions through local interaction. The problem is one that defines the human condition: the overwhelming need for norms that constrain aggressive and mutually destructive behavior is no guarantee that such rules will emerge or be obeyed by anyone except a few "suckers." On the contrary, norms can even make matters worse, by obligating people to engage in behaviors that are individually and collectively harmful. It is not hard to explain why people comply with socially undesirable norms in the face of social pressure, but why would a skeptical population enforce these norms in the first place? My research team uses computational models and laboratory experiments with human subjects to look for elementary principles of social interaction that may yield clues about possible answers. Recent studies have focused on the importance of cascades on networks. We found that "small world" networks that are optimal for the spread of information and disease can inhibit the spread of risky or costly collective behaviors characterized by high thresholds of adoption. A new project funded by NSF uses data from the Internet Archive to track the spread of social contagions through on-line networks.
Click here for Networks and Social Dynamics at Cornell
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Areas of interest: collective action, noms, intergroup conflict, diffusion on complex networks, social influence. Methods: Agent-based modeling, laboratory experiments, analysis of on-line networks.
Current projects:
- Next Generation Cyberinfrastructure (with William Arms, Geri Gay, Dan Huttenlocher, Jon Kleinberg, and David Strang)
- Non-monotonic effects of similarity on attraction (with Balazs Kovacs)
- Status, expertise, and social influence (with Gueorgi Kossinets)
- Dynamics of high-threshold cascades (with Vladimir Barash and Chris Cameron)
- Popular enforcement of unpopular norms (with Ko Kuwabara and Robb Willer)
- Cultural differentiation and assimilation in dynamic networks (with Andreas Flache)
- Social dilemmas (with Arnout van de Rijt)
I have archived or linked some of my recent papers that you are welcome to read. If you "click" on the highlighted words in the title, you can read orprint the paper on-line. Linked papers require access to JSTOR or INGENTA; if your university does not provide access, please email me and I will send you a digital copy.
Please note: Unpublished papers are not to be cited without permission.
Complex
Contagions and
the Weakness of Long Ties
Damon Centola and Michael W. Macy
American Journal of Sociology 2007, 113:702-34.
Culture,
Identity, and
Structure in Social Exchange: A Web-based Trust Experiment in the U.S.
and
Japan
Kuwabara,
K., R. Willer,
M. Macy, R. Mashima, S. Terai,
and T. Yamagishi
Social Psychology Quarterly, 2007, 70:461-79.
Collective
Action and the Empirical Content of Stochastic Learning Models
M. Macy and A. Flache
American Journal of Sociology, 2007,
112: 1546-54.
Cascade
Dynamics of
Complex Propagation
Damon Centola, Victor M. Eguiluz,
and Michael W. Macy
Physica A 2007, 374: 449-456
Power and Dependence in Intimate Exchange
Arnout van de Rijt, and Michael W. Macy
Social Forces 2006, 84:1455-70.
The Emperor’s Dilemma: A Computational Model of Self-Enforcing Norms
Damon Centola,
Robb Willer, and Michael W. Macy
American Journal of Sociology 2005, 110:1009-40.
Social Life in Silico: The Science of Artificial Societies
Damon Centola and Michael W. Macy
Handbook of Group Research and Practice 2005, pp. 273-281.
Polarization in Dynamic Networks: A Hopfield Model of Emergent Structure
Michael W. Macy, James Kitts,
Andreas Flache, and Steve Benard
Dynamic Social Network Modeling and Analysis,
Learning Dynamics in Social Dilemmas
Michael W. Macy and Andreas Flache
Proceedings of the
Stochastic
Collusion and the Power Law of Learning
Andreas Flache and Michael W. Macy
Journal of Conflict Resolution, October, 2002.
From
Factors to Actors: Computational Sociology and Agent-Based Modeling
Michael W. Macy and Robert Willer
Annual Review of Sociology, Vol. 28, 2002
Trust and
Market
Formation in the U.S. and Japn
Michael W. Macy and Yoshimichi Sato
Proceedings of the
'In Search ofExcellence': Fads, Success Stories, and Adaptive Emulation*
David Strang
and Michael W. Macy
Best Paper Proceedings of the 1999 Academy of Management Conference, Chicago,IL
American Journal of Sociology, July, 2001.
*HTML Preprint not identical to published version.
TheEvolution of Trust and Cooperation between
Strangers:
A Computational Model*
Michael W. Macy and John Skvoretz
American Sociological Review, October, 1998.
Presented at the Sante Fe Institute,
August 6, 1996
*HTML Preprint not identical to published version.
Social
Simulation
Michael W. Macy
In N. Smelser and P. Baltes,
eds., International Encyclopedia of the Social
and Behavioral Sciences, Elsevier, 2002
Power,
Identity, and
Collective Action in Social Exchange
Brent Simpson and Michael W. Macy
Social Forces, June, 2004.
Collective
Action and Power Inequality: Coalitions in Exchange Networks*
Brent Simpson and Michael W. Macy
Social Psychology Quarterly, March, 2001.
*Preprint not identical to published version.
Dependence
and
Cooperation in Fuzzy Dilemmas:
The Effects of Environmental and Endowment Uncertainty
R. Thomas Boone and Michael W. Macy
In R. Suleiman, D. Budescu, & D. Messick, eds., ContemporaryPsychological
Research on Social Dilemmas
Cambridge University Press, 2002.
The Weaknessof Strong Ties II:
Collective Action Failure in a Self-Organizing Social Network
Michael W. Macy , James Kitts, and
Andreas Flache
Presented at American Sociological Association,
Structural
Learning: Attraction and Conformity in Task-Oriented Groups
James Kitts, Michael W. Macy, and Andreas Flache
Computational and Mathematical Organization Theory, 1999,
vol. 5(2):129-45.
Identity,
Interest, and Emergent Rationality: An Evolutionary Synthesis
Michael W. Macy
Rationality and Society, vol. 9, 1997.
Dependence
and
Cooperation in the Game of Trump
R. Thomas Boone and Michael W. Macy
Presented at International Conference on Group Process, Krakov,Poland,
August, 1996
Advances in Group Processes, vol. 15, 1998.
Dependence,
Selectivity, and Cooperation
R. Thomas Boone and Michael W. Macy
Presented at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association,
Social Psychology Quarterly, March, 1999.
Social
Order and Emergent Rationality.
Michael W. Macy
Presented at ASA Theory Section Miniconference,1996.
In A. Sica, ed. Whatis
Social Theory: The Philosophical Debates, 1998, Blackwell.
Social
Order in an Artificial World.
Michael W. Macy
Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation,
January, 1998.
TheWeakness of Strong Ties:
Collective Action Failure in a Highly Cohesive Group
Andreas Flache and Michael W. Macy
Journal of Mathematical Sociology, June, 1996
Natural
Selection
and Social Learning in Prisoner's Dilemma:
Co-adaptationwith Genetic Algorithms and Artificial
Neural
Networks
Michael W. Macy
Sociological Methods and Research, Vol
25,
August, 1996, pp. 103-137
Beyond
Rationality in Models of Choice
Michael W. Macy and Andreas Flache
Annual Review of Sociology, Vol. 21, 1995
PAVLOV
and the Evolution of Cooperation: An Experimental Test
Michael W. Macy
Social Psychology Quarterly, June, 1995
Artificial
Social Intelligence
William Bainbridge, Edward Brent, David Heise,
Michael Macy, Barry Markovsky, & John Skvoretz
Annual Review of Sociology, Vol. 21, 1995
Once Upon a
Time
There Was a Suboptimal Equilibrium
Michael W. Macy
The Agora, June, 1996
Cowardly
Lions:
Genetic Programming or Social Learning?
Michael W. Macy
The Agora, December,
1995
Social
Class
Michael W. Macy
The Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics
Backward-Looking
Social Control
Michael W. Macy
American Sociological Review, 1993, Vol. 58:819-36.
Chains
of Cooperation: Threshold Effects in Collective Action
Michael W. Macy
American Sociological Review, 1991, Vol. 56:730-47.
Learning to Cooperate: Stochastic and Tacit Collusion in
Social
Exchange
Michael W. Macy
American Journal of Sociology, 1991, Vol. 97:808-43.
Learning
Theory and the Logic of Critical Mass
Michael W. Macy
American Sociological Review, 1990, Vol. 55:809-26.
Value Theory and the Golden Eggs: Appropriating the Magic of Accumulation
Michael W. Macy
Sociological Theory, 1988, Vol. 6: 131-52.