From physical to social interactions: The relative entropy model

Abstract

complex social systems at various scales of analysis (e.g. dyads, families, tribes, etc.) are formed and maintained through verbal interactions. Therefore, the ability to (1) model these interactions and (2) to use models of interaction for identifying significant relations may be of interest to the social sciences. Adopting the perspective of social physics, we present a general approach for modeling interactions through relative entropy. For illustrating the benefits of the approach, we derive measures of "perspective-taking" and use them for identifying significant-romantic relations in a data set composed of the verbal interactions taken place at the famous tV series "Sex and the city". Using these measures, we show that significant-romantic relations can be identified with success. These results provide preliminary support for the benefits of using the proposed approach.Interactions are the hallmark of complex systems 1 but in the social context, interactions are totally different from those evident among the particles of non-living matter 2 . This difference calls into question the general meaning of the term "interaction" and points to the need to better understand social interactions while still using physics as "point de repère". In trying to address this challenge, one must be careful in bridging the gap between physics and the social sciences, as these two fields are not theoretically aligned and there is always the danger of using misleading analogies. In this context, one should also recall that in the social sciences the concept of interaction has been mostly used in a very general sense, covering a huge variety of instances from hugging to arguing. While there are some good reasons for this variety, it seems that it may be useful to use a general and physically motivated concept of interaction together with measures that are clearly derived from it. Adopting such an approach, may be relevant for the task of identifying significant relations/interactions. Not all social interactions are significant to the same extent and being able to identify significant interactions may be of interest both from a purely theoretical perspective and from a practical perspective (e.g. the development of interactive technologies such as Chatbots).The aim of the current paper is to introduce a general conceptualization of interaction which is accompanied by operationalization through the use of relative entropy.

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