Departmental Papers (ASC)
Document Type
Journal Article
Date of this Version
9-3-2010
Publication Source
Science
Volume
329
Issue
5996
Start Page
1194
Last Page
1197
DOI
10.1126/science.1185231
Abstract
How do social networks affect the spread of behavior? A popular hypothesis states that networks with many clustered ties and a high degree of separation will be less effective for behavioral diffusion than networks in which locally redundant ties are rewired to provide shortcuts across the social space. A competing hypothesis argues that when behaviors require social reinforcement, a network with more clustering may be more advantageous, even if the network as a whole has a larger diameter. I investigated the effects of network structure on diffusion by studying the spread of health behavior through artificially structured online communities. Individual adoption was much more likely when participants received social reinforcement from multiple neighbors in the social network. The behavior spread farther and faster across clustered-lattice networks than across corresponding random networks.
Recommended Citation
Centola, D. (2010). The Spread of Behavior in an Online Social Network Experiment. Science, 329 (5996), 1194-1197. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1185231
Date Posted: 21 June 2018
This document has been peer reviewed.
Comments
This is the manuscript version of the article.