Norm breaking in a queue -- athermal phase transition

TL;DR

This paper models norm breaking as an athermal phase transition using an analogy with the Ising model, analyzing how crowd behavior shifts between cooperation and defection.

Contribution

It introduces a novel application of phase transition theory to social norm breaking, extending physical models to social dynamics.

Findings

Norm breaking can be described as an athermal phase transition.

Cooperation and defection strategies are analogous to spin orientations.

The model provides insights into crowd behavior at exits.

Abstract

Standard order-disorder phase transition in the Ising model is described in terms of rates of processes of spin flips. This formulation allows to extend numerous results on phase transition for sciences other than physics of magnetism. We apply it to the problem of norm breaking. Two strategies: to cooperate or to defect, form an analogy to two spin orientations. An example is a crowd at an exit, where to defect means to push others, and to cooperate is to move slowly together.