SoCS: Tipping Collective Action in Social Networks

当代社会面临的许多挑战，例如减少排放或接种传染病疫苗，都是集体行动问题。为了应对这些挑战，需要新的方法来理解、刺激和维持大量异质人群的集体行动。为了促进大规模的合作行为，该项目将开发计算工具，以促进在小规模案例研究和实地实验中观察到的合作环境——同质性、有效沟通。调查人员将测试使用移动应用程序和社交媒体增加集体行动的新方法。该项目将使用控制决策实验来测试是否可以通过向正确的人提供正确的信息来增加对集体行动的贡献，这样合作行为就可以通过社会网络进行级联。实证研究表明，如果个人期望其他喜欢自己的人参与，他们就更有可能参与集体行动。实验将在亚利桑那州立大学学生的在线社交网络中进行，以测试在大学社区内实现集体行动的建议方法。实验数据将用于开发社交网络中集体行为的数学模型。更广泛的影响：这项研究将为理解集体行动提供新的理论框架，并为应用这些见解提供具体的工具。关于什么样的反馈对增加集体行动最有效的见解可能使社交媒体成为组织潜在的有效政策工具。该项目还可能通过促进医疗保健、选民参与和节能等重要领域的集体行动，产生社会影响。

Many of the challenges facing contemporary society, such as emission reductions or vaccination for infectious diseases, are collective action problems. To address these challenges, new approaches are needed to understand, stimulate and sustain collective action in large heterogeneous populations. To promote cooperative behavior at large scales, this project will develop computational tools to facilitate the context for cooperation - homogeneity, effective communication - observed in smaller scale case studies and field experiments. The investigators will test new ways to increase collective action using mobile applications and social media. The project will use controlled decision-making experiments to test whether contributions to collective action can be increased by providing the right messages to the right people, such that cooperative behavior can cascade through a social network. Empirical research has shown that individuals are more likely to participate in collective action if they expect others like them to participate. Experiments will be performed in online social networks of students at Arizona State University to test the proposed approach to actualizing collective action within the university community. Data from the experiments will be used to develop mathematical models of collective action in social networks. Broader impacts: The research will lead to new theoretical frameworks for understanding collective action and provide concrete tools to apply these insights. Insights about what kind of feedback to whom is most effective for increasing collective action may make social media a potential effective policy tool for organizations. Potentially, the project will have societal impact by promoting collective action in important areas such as healthcare, voter participation, and energy conservation.