Dynamics of two-group conflicts: A statistical physics model

TL;DR

This paper introduces a statistical physics model to analyze two-group conflicts, capturing individual preferences, interactions, and social temperature effects to understand conflict dynamics.

Contribution

It develops a novel social physics model incorporating individual preferences, inter-group interactions, and social temperature to study conflict behavior.

Findings

Model describes conflict dynamics with preference and interaction parameters

Examples illustrate how conflict can evolve under different conditions

Framework links social conflict to statistical physics principles

Abstract

We propose a "social physics" model for two-group conflict. We consider two disputing groups. Each individual i in each of the two groups has a preference si regarding the way in which the conflict should be resolved. The individual preferences span a range between +M (prone to protracted conflict) and --M (prone to settle the conflict). The noise in this system is quantified by a "social temperature." Individuals interact within their group and with individuals of the other group. A pair of individuals (i, j) within a group contributes-si * sj to the energy. The inter-group energy of individual i is taken to be proportional to the product between si and the mean value of the preferences from the other group's members. We consider an equivalent-neighbor Renyi-Erdos network where everyone interacts with everyone. We present some examples of conflicts that may be described with this model. PACS numbers: 89.65.-s Social and economic system, 89.75.-k Complex systems, 05.90.+m Other topics in statistical physics, thermodynamics, and nonlinear dynamical systems