Emergence of simple and complex contagion dynamics from weighted belief networks

TL;DR

This paper introduces a model of interacting beliefs that naturally generates both simple and complex social contagion dynamics, linking cognitive mechanisms to observed social phenomena.

Contribution

It presents a novel belief-based model that explains the emergence of diverse contagion behaviors from cognitive processes.

Findings

Both simple and complex contagion dynamics can emerge from the model.

The model explains how resistance, a key aspect of complex contagion, arises from cognitive mechanisms.

The framework unifies different contagion types within a single belief interaction model.

Abstract

Social contagion is a ubiquitous and fundamental process that drives individual and social changes. Although social contagion arises as a result of cognitive processes and biases, the integration of cognitive mechanisms with the theory of social contagion remains an open challenge. In particular, studies on social phenomena usually assume contagion dynamics to be either simple or complex, rather than allowing it to emerge from cognitive mechanisms, despite empirical evidence indicating that a social system can exhibit a spectrum of contagion dynamics -- from simple to complex -- simultaneously. Here, we propose a model of interacting beliefs, from which both simple and complex contagion dynamics can organically arise. Our model also elucidates how a fundamental mechanism of complex contagion -- resistance -- can come about from cognitive mechanisms.