Technical Assistant I (Lab Manager - Cognitive Construction Lab) - Amherst, Massachusetts, United States Title: Technical Assistant I (Lab Manager - Cognitive Construction Lab) Executive Area: Academic Affairs College/School/MBU: College of Natural Sciences Department: Psychology and Brain Sci Work Locat...

The Cognitive Construction Lab is hiring a full-time lab manager! Come work with me at UMass Amherst, starting this Fall. Apply here: tinyurl.com/3dpz5m3j

A special issue of Social Networks on Agent-based modelling for social network research
www.sciencedirect.com/special-issu...

The deadline to submit an 800-word extended abstract is approaching (1 April)
forms.gle/BqTts4hEQjEB...

Edited by me, Andreas Flache, @squazzoni.bsky.social, Károly Takács

sixteen panels that show the influence curves fitted for each of the studies included in the re-analysis of experimental data

Third, we apply the framework to a large re-analysis of experimental data:

📊 ~300,000 choices in
🧪 15 experimental studies spanning
⚙️ 300 unique conditions

This reveals how influence curves vary across different choice settings.

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four panel figure of influence curves that shows two cases (in columns) and how many equilibria there are (top row) and what the metrics then report (bottom row)

Second, we introduce metrics that capture the long-term consequences of social influence.

Does a small early advantage get amplified? → dominance and lock-in
Will the superior option prevail? → regression

These metrics connect individual responses to collective outcomes.

3/4

figure that shows the three model parameters delta M (social influence potential), omega (maximum leverage point) and c (s-shapedness)

First, we introduce a model of social influence with meaningful parameters that can be interpretable building blocks for social science theory.

Instead of just fitting behavior, the model lets us describe how people respond to social information.

2/4

How does social influence shape collective outcomes? When does it lead to lock-in on inferior options?

In our 🚨 new preprint 📝 osf.io/preprints/so... we make three contributions

w/ @alexgelas.bsky.social Alex Jochim @leostnbrk.bsky.social Peter Steiglechner & @pantelispa.bsky.social

🧵1/4

1/ Why do inferior but popular things remain popular?

Excited to share our new paper with @pantelispa.bsky.social, @glemens.bsky.social & @arnoutvanderijt.bsky.social

"The marginal majority effect: When social influence produces lock-in"
www.science.org/doi/epdf/10....

In Mannheim weint man zweimal...

The lineup is amazing by the way 🔥
@pantelispa.bsky.social @baronca.bsky.social @jennabednar.bsky.social Cristina Bicchieri @smconstantino.bsky.social @kaledadenton.bsky.social @charlesefferson.bsky.social Vincenz Frey, Mirta Galesic, Thomas Morgan,
and some IAST folks!

Poster of 13th Econ and Bio workshop on 'social influence and it's macro consequences'

Travel grants 📣

For the 13th Toulouse Economics & Biology Workshop (June 1–2, 2026, @IAST) we have travel fellowships for PhDs & early-career researchers presenting a poster. Apply by Feb 27! Details: www.iast.fr/conferences/...

Postdoctoral researcher on applications of AI in sociological research Are you able to lead sociological research into the AI age?

📢WORK! At the Sociology department of @utrechtuniversity.bsky.social we are hiring a postdoc who will work on applications of AI in sociological research. Join our vibrant-yet-cohesive research community doing cutting-edge research. Please share or apply! www.uu.nl/en/organisat...

Computational Social Science of Social Cohesion and Polarization The emergence of Computational Social Science (CSS) marks a transformative shift in the study of social phenomena, triggered by advancements in computational technology and large-scale collection of (...

Huge thanks to my wonderful co-editors @mbojan.bsky.social and @janlo.de for all editorial work and for writing the intro chapter with me (doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-01373-6_1). Also lots of gratitude to the team at Springer and to all contributors for the ideas, energy, and collaboration 🙌

(3/3)

The book brings together creative, computational work on cohesion and polarization, with a strong presence of early-career scholars trying new ideas and methods💡📊 We hope it inspires others to further study, understand and perhaps even repair the social fabric

(2/3)

Computational Social Science of Social Cohesion and Polarization This open access book explores the decay of social cohesion in democratic societies through the lens of Computational Social Science (CSS)

📖 Our book is out! 🎉

Computational Social Science of Social Cohesion and Polarization
is published, openly and freely available at doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-01373-6

(1/3)

#ComputationalSocialScience #Polarization #SocialCohesion #NetworkScience #ABM #TextAnalysis

Computational Social Science of Social Cohesion and Polarization This open access book explores the decay of social cohesion in democratic societies through the lens of Computational Social Science (CSS)

Today Springer published an Open Access book edited by @janlo.de , Marijn Keijzer and myself covering a diverse range of Computational Social Science approaches to questions about social cohesion and polarization. Come and get it at link.springer.com/book/10.1007...
🧵1/4

Linguistic Polarization in Minority Representation: Analyzing Parliamentary Speeches in Germany and the UK (1980–2021) Political polarization shapes how minority issues are discussed in public and parliamentary discourse, with implications for representation and policy. We examine the representation of migration and s...

How do parties debate minorities? New study based on all parliament speeches in Germany and the UK 1980-2021, with @younghyunlee52.bsky.social , F. #Piñeyrúa, & @max-web.bsky.social, published in the edited volume Computational Social Science of Social Cohesion and Polarization:

The end, and the start of an era!

Research Fellowships Each year, IAST invites applications for post-doctoral Research Fellowships, which offer candidates an opportunity to devote themselves full-time to their research at the start of their careers. Fello...

Our annual post-doctoral research fellowships campaign at the Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse (IAST) is now open.

We welcome applications from researchers from a wide range of disciplines in the social and behavioral sciences.

Please share!

www.iast.fr/research-fel...

Toulouse Summer School in Quantitative Social Sciences

As a PhD student, there are worse places than the (fully funded) interdisciplinary Summer School in Quantitative Social Sciences at IAST and TSE, next June 🇫🇷☀️🎓
Two sessions: evolution & identity
Few days left to apply. Please share with all talented, broadly interested social scientists you know! 🙏

Never knew that blurred noise could be so pretty

Glorious 🥂 #neverforget