Blog: Virtual Universe Study Proves 80 Year Old Theory on How Humans Interact

Virtual Universe Study Proves 80 Year Old Theory on How Humans Interact
Imperial College London (07/19/10) Goodchild, Lucy

A study by Imperial College London (ICL), in conjunction with the Medical University of Vienna and the Sante Fe Institute, offers large-scale evidence to prove the psychological theory called Structural Balance Theory (SBT), which suggests that some relationships are more stable than others in a society. In the ICL study, information about interactions between players in a virtual universe game called Pardus is more detailed than that from other electronic sources because it includes data on the types of relationships and whether they are positive or negative. The research shows that positive relationships form stable networks in society, proving SBT for the first time. "Our new study reveals in more detail than ever before the key ingredients that make these networks stable," says ICL's Renaud Lambiotte. The researchers analyzed the data from the game by examining individual networks and the interplay between all the networks. The researchers are now using the tools developed for the study to examine large, complex networks for patterns of communication between millions of people using mobile phone data.

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