Empirical research

Putting the assumptions about social influence and the macropredictions of social-influence models to the empirical test is very challenging. Here, we point to work that uses different approaches.

Laboratory experiments

• Friedkin, N. E., & Johnsen, E. C. (2011). Social Influence Network Theory. New York: Cambridge University Press.

• Lorenz, J., Rauhut, H., Schweitzer, F., & Helbing, D. (2011). How social influence can undermine the wisdom of crowd effect. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 108(22), 9020-9025.

• Mäs, M., & Flache, A. (2013). Differentiation without distancing. Explaining bi-polarization of opinions without negative influence. PLoS ONE, 8(11).

• Banisch, S., & Shamon, H. (2021). Biased Processing and Opinion Polarization: Experimental Refinement of Argument CommunicationTheory in the Context of the Energy Debate. Sociological Methods & Research, 00491241231186658.

Field experiments

• Clemm von Hohenberg, B., Mäs, M., & Pradelski, B. S. R. (2017). Micro Influence and Macro Dynamics of Opinion Formation (SSRN). 

• Bail, C. A., Argyle, L. P., Brown, T. W., Bumpus, J. P., Chen, H., Hunzaker, M. F., ... & Volfovsky, A. (2018). Exposure to opposing views on social media can increase political polarization. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 115(37), 9216-9221.

Survey data

• Chattoe-Brown, E. (2014). Using Agent Based Modelling to Integrate Data on Attitude Change. Sociological Research Online, 19(1).

• Brousmiche, K.-L., Kant, J.-D., Sabouret, N., & Prenot-Guinard, F. (2016). From Beliefs to Attitudes: Polias, a Model of Attitude Dynamics Based on Cognitive Modeling and Field Data. Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation, 19(4).

• Huet, S., Deffuant, G., Nugier, A., Streith, M., & Guimond, S. (2019). Resisting hostility generated by terror: An agent-based study. PLOS ONE, 14(1), e0209907. 

SIENA Modeling

• Lewis, K., Gonzaleza, M., & Kaufman, J. (2012). Social selection and peer influence in an online social network. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 109(1), 68–72.

• Stark, T. H., & Flache, A. (2012). The double edge of common interest: Ethnic segregation as an unintended byproduct of opinion homophily. Sociology of Education, 85(2), 179–199. 

Observational data

• Chavalarias, D., Bouchaud, P., & Panahi, M. (2024). Can a Single Line of Code Change Society? Optimizing Engagement in Recommender Systems Necessarily Entails Systemic Risks for Global Information Flows, Opinion Dynamics and Social Structures. Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation, 27(1).