Statistical Mechanics and Attitudes | 55sec snip from COMPLEXITY

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Jonas Dalege on The Physics of Attitudes & Beliefs

COMPLEXITY

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Statistical Mechanics and Attitudes

Attitudes can be conceptualized in two levels: fine-grained beliefs and general attitude, with a connection between lower and higher level properties. Statistical mechanics framework is apt for this concept, linking lower level properties to emergent ones. Entropy, viewed as a statistical concept, is relevant in psychology as it can explain inconsistent and unclear attitudes.

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Human relationships are often described in the language of “chemistry” — does that make the beliefs and attitudes of individuals a kind of “physics”? It is, at least, a fascinating avenue of inquiry. In particular, the field of statistical mechanics offers potent tools for understanding how exactly people form their views and change their minds. From this perspective, everyone is a dynamic network of opinions and values, in a tense and ever-changing balance both with others and ourselves. The “chemistry” of social life, then, arises from multilevel interactions in our noisy minds and how they influence each other.

Welcome to Complexity, the official podcast of the Santa Fe Institute. I’m your host, Michael Garfield, and every other week we’ll bring you with us for far-ranging conversations with our worldwide network of rigorous researchers developing new frameworks to explain the deepest mysteries of the universe.

In this conversation, we speak with SFI Postdoc Jonas Dalege about how his research uses physics models to understand the emergence of higher-level behaviors from lower-level behaviors, both within and between people. We discuss the role of entropy in the formation of individual beliefs; statistical approaches to the study of ambivalence and cognitive dissonance; the wisdom (and challenge) of tolerating ambiguity; and the social consequences when we try to minimize internal conflict…

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Podcast theme music by Mitch Mignano.

Key Links:

Jonas’s Website | Google Scholar Page

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