Social balance

It is a theory that describes the stability of social configurations. When we think about a triangular relationship between three people as well as signed relationships (i.e., positive means friendly), then there are two stable (all are friends, or the enemy of the enemy is a friend) and two unstable states.

Marvel2011continuous proposes a continuous-time version of the structural balance model.

This can be used to model Cognitive dissonance and internal coherence. See Rodriguez2016collective

Articles

• The Enemy of My Enemy by Steven Strogatz

Talks

• 2011 Simons Lectures - Steven Strogatz, Social networks that balance themselves

References

• http://prl.aps.org/abstract/PRL/v103/i19/e198701
• http://www.pnas.org/content/108/5/1771.short
• Social Balance on Networks: The Dynamics of Friendship and Enmity - analyzing the World War social network between countries.
• Structural balance in the social networks of a wild mammal
• The Structure of Negative Social Ties in Rural Village Networks