Social networks may have made it easier to converse, but collaborative research by math and public policy professors at West Virginia University indicates those conversations tend to occur among like-minded folks, limiting true dialogue.
Adam Henry, assistant professor with the Division of Public Administration, Cun-Quan Zhang, professor in the Department of Mathematics at WVU and Pawal Pralat, former professor of mathematics at the University analyzed trends on social networks and found that people make connections based on similarities between themselves and others.
“What (our model) shows is that social networks become increasingly clustered. New ideas stay in one little community, and it becomes hard to find news and information that competes with these ideas,” Henry said.
For instance, he said, supporters of legislation to reduce climate change tend to mostly discuss and debate their beliefs with people who share the same perspective on the issue. Climate change skeptics tend to only discuss their beliefs with other climate skeptics. The two sides then are not able to have meaningful dialogues about their positions or the science that supports their decision.
The collaboration between professors in the public administration division and the math department underscores the value WVU places on interdisciplinary research. Administrators said the research applied well-known mathematical tools to social science, but also enriched math as a subject.
“The Math Department benefits from a working relationship with many other departments at WVU,” said Edgar Fuller, chair of the math department.
“The tools and expertise in mathematics enhance the analysis of research from many disciplines, and those disciplines, in turn, show the applicability of math to real world problems.”
The three researchers were able to construct the model thanks to an ARTS grant awarded by the Eberly College of Arts & Sciences to support team-based or interdisciplinary research among its faculty. The funding is meant to initially support projects that are expected to be funded on a more long-term basis through other sources.
The group’s findings were published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
For more information, contact Henry at 304.293.7966 or adam.henry@mail.wvu.edu.
-WVU-
jl/08/19/11
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