Social Physics
What is Social Physics?
Social physics is the study of how individual behaviors and social interactions within networks influence the behavior of larger groups, communities, and societies. This approach analyzes data from sources like social media, mobile devices, and communication patterns to reveal the fundamental principles of human behavior. This interdisciplinary field blends sociology, psychology, and data science to predict trends, improve community dynamics, and guide decision-making in areas such as public health, education, and urban planning.
The Basic Idea
Although humans fancy themselves unique beings and life can seem random, in reality, the collective behavior of societies can be quite predictable.
That’s why, in recent decades, researchers have begun to apply traditional physics methods, such as data analysis and mathematical models, to study societal phenomena. While physics examines how matter influences each other, social physics examines how humans influence each other. Consider a cluster of particles as an analogy—if one moves and hits another, then that second particle will move and hit a third one, and so on. Social physics suggests this type of chain reaction can be seen in humans as well when considering the spread of ideas.1
Social physics seeks to understand how collective behaviors such as group decision-making, cooperation, and innovation are sparked by individual actions. Using this lens, we can better grasp how information and ideas flow from person to person, and how these ideas shape societal norms and drive collective action. Researchers can observe individuals in group settings—including workplaces, social gatherings, or public spaces like parks or transit—to draw conclusions on how individual behavior is informed through social interactions.
In the age of big data, this flow of information can be illustrated by the way we interact through social media. Let’s take the example of a popular TikTok video. How does a video go viral in the first place? Well, it starts with individuals liking, commenting, and sharing the video, which spreads it to a wider group of users. Then some of those people in the wider group will share it with their own networks. Through interactions with one individual at a time, the video spreads the content far beyond the original source. In the end, the clip has reached a vast audience all across the internet, and “everyone” has seen or heard of it.
By analyzing individual actions such as shares, likes, or comments, social physics can trace how these small, seemingly isolated actions contribute to large-scale phenomena, revealing how information or behavior—whether that be in-person or online—propagates through society.
Humans, as a species, are on a continual search for new opportunities, for new ideas, and their social networks serve as a major, and perhaps the greatest, resource for finding opportunities. It is the flow of ideas and opportunities between people that drives society, providing quantitative results at scales ranging from small groups to companies, cities, and even entire countries. We can no longer think of ourselves as only rational individuals reaching carefully considered decisions; we must include the dynamic social networking effects that influence our individual decisions and drive economic bubbles, political revolutions, and the internet economy
– Alex “Sandy” Pentland, author of Social Physics: How Social Networks Can Make Us Smarter2
About the Author
Emilie Rose Jones
Emilie currently works in Marketing & Communications for a non-profit organization based in Toronto, Ontario. She completed her Masters of English Literature at UBC in 2021, where she focused on Indigenous and Canadian Literature. Emilie has a passion for writing and behavioural psychology and is always looking for opportunities to make knowledge more accessible.
