Social Dynamics: Emergence of Language

Our social behaviour has evolved primarily through contact with a limited number of other individuals. Yet as a species we exhibit uniformities on a global scale. This kind of emergent behaviour is familiar territory for statistical physicists.

The role of topology on the dynamics of the Naming Game

The Naming Game captures the essential features leading a population to agree on the use of a semiotic convention (or, more in general, an opinion). Consensus emerges through local negotiations between pairs of agents, in the absence of any central co-ordination. Thus, it is natural that topology, identifying the set of possible interactions, plays a […]

Non-equilibrium phase transition in negotiation dynamics

We introduce a model of negotiation dynamics whose aim is that of mimicking the mechanisms leading to opinion and convention formation in a population of individuals. The negotiation process, as opposed to “herdinglike” or “bounded confidence” driven processes, is based on a microscopic dynamics where memory and feedback play a central role. Our model displays […]