The Spontaneous Emergence of Conventions: An Experimental Study of Cultural Evolution (1502.06910v1)

Abstract: How do shared conventions emerge in complex decentralized social systems? This question engages fields as diverse as linguistics, sociology and cognitive science. Previous empirical attempts to solve this puzzle all presuppose that formal or informal institutions, such as incentives for global agreement, coordinated leadership, or aggregated information about the population, are needed to facilitate a solution. Evolutionary theories of social conventions, by contrast, hypothesize that such institutions are not necessary in order for social conventions to form. However, empirical tests of this hypothesis have been hindered by the difficulties of evaluating the real-time creation of new collective behaviors in large decentralized populations. Here, we present experimental results - replicated at several scales - that demonstrate the spontaneous creation of universally adopted social conventions, and show how simple changes in a population's network structure can direct the dynamics of norm formation, driving human populations with no ambition for large scale coordination to rapidly evolve shared social conventions.

Emergence of Social Conventions in Networked Populations

The paper "The Spontaneous Emergence of Conventions: An Experimental Study of Cultural Evolution" by Damon Centola and Andrea Baronchelli explores the formation of social conventions in decentralized populations, particularly focusing on how local interactions within different network structures can spontaneously lead to the emergence of global social norms. This research addresses a significant gap in empirical studies regarding the genesis of social conventions absent formal institutional influence.

Experimental Framework and Methodology

The researchers conducted web-based experiments to observe the dynamics of convention formation in networked populations. Participants engaged in a naming game, attempting to coordinate on linguistic labels without incentives for global consensus or information about their social environment’s size or structure. The paper utilized three network configurations: spatially embedded, randomly connected, and homogeneously mixing populations. Each trial was designed to evaluate how these network structures affect the emergence of shared conventions.

Subjects were assigned randomly to network topologies and participated in rounds where they named an object hoping to coordinate with randomly selected neighbors. Success resulted in a small monetary reward, and convergence to a single norm was the primary indicator of a spontaneous social convention.

Key Findings and Results

The experiments reveal distinct dynamics across network structures:

1. Spatially Embedded Networks: Populations exhibited rapid local coordination but faced challenges achieving global consensus. Local conventions were maintained by clusters of coordinated neighborhoods, which inhibited widespread adoption beyond localized regions. This was evidenced by modest success rates that plateaued at approximately 75% and the largest convention being standard within only 45% of the population.
2. Random Networks: Similar to spatial networks, random networks favored the emergence of local conventions. However, these were more dynamic due to the absence of clustering, leading to transient group formations that did not culminate in global coordination within the observed timescale.
3. Homogeneously Mixing Populations: Contrary to other topologies, these populations rapidly achieved global consensus, with the success rate reaching 100% during the trial series. The dissolution of entrenched local behaviors catalyzed a swift transition to a single shared convention, demonstrating a 'winner-takes-all' dynamic that efficiently resolved into a unified norm.

The robustness of these findings was further tested by increasing the population size. Even in larger and more heterogeneously mixing populations, global conventions spontaneously emerged, illustrating that scale did not significantly impede the convergence dynamics observed in smaller populations.

Theoretical Implications

The results support the theory that social conventions can arise from purely local interactions without the need for institutional frameworks or external incentives. The paper underscores the critical role of network connectivity in shaping the pathways and velocity of convention formation. Specifically, high connectivity in homogeneously mixing networks facilitates rapid convergence due to the breaking of symmetry in competing norms.

Practical Significance and Future Directions

This research is pivotal for understanding how interconnectedness in online social networks might unintentionally foster homogenization of political, social, and economic behaviors. As societies become increasingly networked, insights gleaned from this paper can enrich our grasp of digital social dynamics, potentially informing the design of virtual platforms to manage or exploit these emergent conventions.

Future research could explore how varying levels of information and connectivity, coupled with different types of tasks or incentives, influence the speed and robustness of convention formation, expanding our understanding of social dynamics in digital and real-world environments alike.