Change: How to Make Big Things Happen by Damon Centola

 

It is a well and clearly written book, so I could finish reading it quite fast. As a renowned expert on the dynamics and influences of the social network, the author conveyed his major experiment findings and relevant important concepts interestingly and concisely. Unlike simple information transfer or viral infection (‘simple contagion’), meaningful social changes or innovations (‘complex contagion’) have to overcome people’s inertia to keep the status quo, so the author mentioned that such social changes start in the periphery of the networks, against our expectations. Good innovations require isolation or protection from the skepticism of non-adopters (“countervailing influences”), and also need reinforcement from surrounding people (“relevances”), which require redundancies of connectedness or clustering. It is said that the periphery or outer rim of social networks fulfills such conditions that social changes are actually initiated by people in the periphery, not by highly connected influencers. Besides such an unconventional story, this book contains several insightful knowledge about human minds and behaviors.

 

As we are social beings, everyone has a fear of being treated as a social outcast. So we instinctively ‘coordinate’ with other people and social norms, and avoid ‘miscoordination’. We do many things just as others do, but we rationalize our behaviors superficially with plausible reasons.  We want to look appropriate to people, so we hesitate to initiate something unfamiliar alone. To make innovative changes and reduce bias, the author suggested seven useful strategies in a sort of summary at the end of the book. Mentioned strategies can be used by readers interested in spreading complex contagions. In the age of social connection, this book deals with an important topic scientifically.

Written by Shim G.