How Behavior Spreads - (Princeton Analytical Sociology) by Damon Centola

Book Synopsis

A new, counterintuitive theory for how social networks influence the spread of behavior

New social movements, technologies, and public-health initiatives often struggle to take off, yet many diseases disperse rapidly without issue. Can the lessons learned from the viral diffusion of diseases improve the spread of beneficial behaviors and innovations? How Behavior Spreads presents over a decade of original research examining how changes in societal behavior--in voting, health, technology, and finance--occur and the ways social networks can be used to influence how they propagate. Damon Centola's startling findings show that the same conditions that accelerate the viral expansion of an epidemic unexpectedly inhibit the spread of behaviors. How Behavior Spreads is a must-read for anyone interested in how the theory of social networks can transform our world.

From the Back Cover

"Well-organized and well-written, How Behavior Spreads shows that complex and simple contagion processes are different, and that these differences are important for understanding a wide class of diffusion outcomes. This is a fine book."--Peter Bearman, Columbia University

"Developing an original perspective on diffusion via networks, this book's model and evidentiary approach are distinctive."--Peter Marsden, Harvard University

Review Quotes

"Winner of the Harrison White Book Award, Mathematical Sociology Section of the American Sociological Association"

About the Author

Damon Centola is professor of communication, sociology, and engineering at the University of Pennsylvania, where he is also senior fellow at the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics and director of the Network Dynamics Group.