You very welcome Birgitt. Thanks for your interest.
Damon Centola argues that simple contagions, which are akin to how
viruses spread, have become the go-to model for innovation and change
campaigns. However, the emerging field of social networks research
suggests that the spread of behaviors and beliefs, including social
change technologies, occurs differently. Centola highlights that social
change technologies have always followed different dynamics than simple
contagions, as revealed by the new science of social networks. I hope
this clarifies your inquiry on the spread of social change technologies.
Please see below for further details.
https://ndg.asc.upenn.edu/book/how-behavior-spreads-the-science-of-complex-contagions/
More Fun and Less Stuff, :joy:
Until next time, Tony Budak,
on behalf of our Learning Network :thinking:
On 4/17/2023 1:40 PM, Birgitt Williams via OSList wrote:
Thank you Tony and Dorian for this contribution. I enjoyed
contemplating what was written, running each point by my truth meter.
One of my reflections is that some decades ago, Harrison was talking
about the power of edgewalkers in bringing about transformation. This
much earlier observation by Harrison sums up some of the points made.
I now have a question. I am looking at the point made
"Therefore, *a key strategy for spreading new norms and behaviours in
networks is to foster tightly-knit groups of adopters in a local,
peripheral setting,* who will mutually reinforce each others’ choices
as they cultivate social change."
My question: does anyone have experience in which the above is true? I
am thinking about the spread of OST, Appreciative Inquiry, Genuine
Contact etc, all social change technologies. I believe it to be true
that they, and other social technologies, didn't grow locally from
tightly knit groups of adopters...they each gathered people from a
number of countries, even if just one or two per country, and
strengthened the concepts from there. They were helped along by good
publications.
Thoughts?
in genuine contact,
Birgitt
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On Sun, Apr 16, 2023 at 2:18 AM Tony Budak via OSList
<[email protected]> wrote:
*
Summaries on Complex Contagions & Behavior Change*
There are two books by Damon Centola
(https://www.damoncentola.com/), both of which Tom Woodroof have
written summaries of:
•
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZOK6Hv9i1sM7uPd8Xjk6qbJySapPRnimnErL-0cKl4w/edit#
•
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1--NlCdnbYu7I1F0Img5iE1afXdnsqo903zf3jnfCkOY/edit#heading=h.qve2gb7t94qm
[dorian] dorian <https://community.deepadaptation.info/u/dorian>
Community Weaver
April 14
Sorry I wasn’t able to join your event, @tonyb
<https://community.deepadaptation.info/u/tonyb>. But thanks a lot
for sharing these summaries :raised_hands:
Here are the key takeaways I’m drawing from these two docs:
*
*Tightly-knit, clustered social groups (such as groups of
mutual friends) fostering strong relational ties are key to
the spread of new norms and complex behaviours.* Conversely,
weak ties connecting huge numbers of less-familiar people
across a network are mostly useful to spread information,
memes, or viruses (via simple contagion) - but not the
adoption of new norms, behaviours or practices that entail
some element of risk. Overcoming this risk requires constant
affirmation, ongoing maintenance, and reinforcement from
multiple points of contact around oneself who are undertaking
the same changes - otherwise it’s easy to grow discouraged and
abandon the change. *Creating a sense of social confirmation
is critical to the spread of “complex contagions”.*
*
*For a contagion to spread from one clustered group to
another, “wide bridges” (multiple interpersonal ties between
people in different groups, neighbourhoods, etc.) are
essential.* “Narrow bridges” (connecting just one broker from
one group with another broker from another group) are not
enough. In fact, brokers’ privileged structural position can
actually hinder the spread of innovative practises.
*
So i*t is much more efficient to cultivate social incubators
of innovation locally, than to try relying on central
influencers to spread complex changes in behaviour.*
*
*Participants who start off most resistant to embracing a
complex change often become the most committed to this change
once they do embrace it:* the same factors that make a
behaviour complex also make it “sticky.”
*
*The more connected people are, the less likely they are to
adopt a new idea of behaviour* - because humans tend to assess
ideas/behaviours in terms of the fraction of people in our
network who have already adopted it (not by the absolute
number). So if I’m connected to thousands of people, and only
a small percentage of them have embraced this idea, it has
very little legitimacy for me: the non-adopters act as
countervailing influences on me.
*
So *it is much more likely that someone at the periphery of a
network, with a more modest number of connections, will
embrace a complex change:* their adoption threshold will be
lower. It is therefore possible for an innovation to take
hold, gain momentum, and spread through the periphery until it
becomes impossible to ignore, even for people at the network’s
centre. *Across a variety of contexts, the network periphery
is needed to spark and support meaningful social change.*
*
Therefore, *a key strategy for spreading new norms and
behaviours in networks is to foster tightly-knit groups of
adopters in a local, peripheral setting,* who will mutually
reinforce each others’ choices as they cultivate social
change. Then, wide bridges with other tightly-knit groups
should be built for these social innovations (or social
movements, like the #BLM example) to spread more widely.
*
For innovations that require more social proof that something
will be useful, or else emotional excitement, loyalty, or
solidarity, then *similarity* among reinforcing contacts is
key. But for change that requires legitimacy (the sense that
sth is widely accepted), then *diversity* among adopters is
critical: otherwise it will look like the innovation only
concerns a particular clique/type/social class.
*
*When the proportion of activists committed to overturning a
particular norm in a network exceeds 25% of the population,
they succeed every time*. A social tipping point then occurs.
*
*Teams of diverse, complementary people who function in
clusters that do not exchange information so freely among
themselves, are much more innovative than teams in which
everyone is connected to everyone else:* this leads to
everyone looking at the problem in the same way by focusing on
“easy/obvious” solutions.
*
*Overly centralised networks tend to allow the people at the
centre to spread their biases (as memes/viruses/information)
across entire populations*. In contrast, challenging ideas, as
complex contagions, typically emerge at the egalitarian,
moderately-connected network periphery**, away from the
overwhelming countervailing influences faced by those at the
centre. *Influencers can spread simple contagions, but not
complex ones.*
*
*Egalitarian network structures for exchanging opinions can
have incredibly powerful effects in helping people overcome
their biases.* This is all the more noticeable when voices are
brought in from the network periphery.
This provides food for thought and confirmation in terms of what I
think many of us have been doing in DAF… :thinking:
For example:
* fostering small crews, communities of practice, and local
community groups appears essential to cultivating social
innovation and nurturing the spread of a “DA mindset”.
Conversely, if one is left on their own, it is easy to grow
discouraged by all the people around who are /not/ embracing
this change;
* if innovations are to travel from DAF into other places,
network-weaving between our networks/community and others
should not be left to just one or two people, but should
involve multiple people creating mutually reinforcing
relationships;
* having a less centralised network structure in DAF also
appears essential to foster social learning and creativity
across various clusters doing their thing.
Lots more to explore I’m sure. Any comments/feedback welcome
:slight_smile:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Visit Topic
<https://community.deepadaptation.info/t/damon-centola-two-book-summaries-on-behavior-change/1601/3>
to respond.
@dorian <https://community.deepadaptation.info/u/dorian> Your
rigorous summary of Centola’s work is exactly what we need to
improve our community practices and develop a better understanding
of the concepts Centola presents. I’m so grateful for your work,
sharing your time, and talent. Thanks again and again.
More Fun and Less Stuff,
Until next time, Tony Budak,
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