Social Science

1506 Submissions

[2] viXra:1506.0200 [pdf] replaced on 2018-09-08 06:03:55

Understanding Social-Force Model in Psychological Principles of Collective Behavior

Authors: Peng Wang
Comments: 20 Pages.

To well understand crowd behavior, microscopic models have been developed in recent decades, in which an individual’s behavioral/psychological status can be modeled and simulated. A well-known model is the social-force model innovated by physical scientists (Helbing and Molnar, 1995; Helbing, Farkas and Vicsek, 2000; Helbing et al., 2002). This model has been widely accepted and mainly used in simulation of crowd evacuation in the past decade. A problem, however, is that the testing results of the model were not explained in consistency with the psychological findings, resulting in misunderstanding of the model by psychologists. This paper will bridge the gap between psychological studies and physical explanation about this model. We reinterpret this physics-based model from a psychological perspective, clarifying that the model is consistent with psychological studies on stress, including time-related stress and interpersonal stress. Based on the conception of stress, we renew the model at both micro-and-macro level, referring to agent-based simulation in a microscopic sense and fluid-based analysis in a macroscopic sense. Existing simulation results such as faster-is-slower effect will be reinterpreted by Yerkes–Dodson law, and herding and grouping effect are further discussed by integrating attraction into the social force.  In brief the social-force model exhibits a bridge between the physics laws and psychological principles regarding crowd motion, and this paper will renew and reinterpret the model on the foundations of psychological studies.
Category: Social Science

[1] viXra:1506.0053 [pdf] submitted on 2015-06-07 04:17:28

Histo-Physics: Social Systems & Human Narratives

Authors: Stephen I. Ternyik
Comments: 2 Pages.

This brief paper explores the physical theory of human history and the deep interplay of social systems evolution & human narratives, i.e. history as the psychophysical record of human development via free choice vs. all forms of 'slavery'.
Category: Social Science