Social Tipping Points Analyzed Using an Econochemical Approach
Open Access
- Author:
- Alberti, Ellie
- Area of Honors:
- Chemical Engineering
- Degree:
- Bachelor of Science
- Document Type:
- Thesis
- Thesis Supervisors:
- Darrell Velegol, Thesis Supervisor
Darrell Velegol, Thesis Honors Advisor
Themis Matsoukas, Faculty Reader - Keywords:
- Econochemistry
Tipping points
Cooperative binding
Micellization
Threshold models
Decision making - Abstract:
- The purpose of this thesis is to introduce a new model for predicting social behavioral tipping points. Information theory, first introduced by Claude E. Shannon, suggested that analogies can be drawn between chemical phenomena and social actions observed in the physical world. This model will integrate concepts from social psychologists such as Sakoda, Schelling, and Granovetter, with the chemical phenomena of micellization and cooperative binding. These concepts were applied to the mask-wearing problem that has developed since the beginning of the SARS-CoV2 pandemic. Mask-wearing data was processed to analyze how people make decisions based on their surroundings, analogous to how molecules interact based on surroundings. Additional data about the perceptions of the population in question was used to test the stability and versatility of the model. It was found that this mask-wearing model was able to accurately predict the outcome of mask-wearing decisions 74.68 ± 0.48% of the time with a 90% confidence interval, and was most effective when the group size was larger than 2. Further extensions and refinements of the model are also discussed to evaluate how this model can be used to provide insight into different populations.