Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jan 18, 2026

A Psychophysics Paradigm for the Collection and Analysis of Similarity Judgments
Published on: March 1, 2022
Self-Reinforcing Cascades: A Spreading Model for Beliefs or Products of Varying Intensity or Quality
Laurent Hébert-Dufresne1,2,3, Juniper Lovato1,2, Giulio Burgio1
1University of Vermont, Vermont Complex Systems Institute, Burlington, Vermont, USA.
Abstract:
Models of how things spread often assume that transmission mechanisms are fixed over time. However, social contagions-the spread of ideas, beliefs, innovations-can lose or gain in momentum as they spread: ideas can get reinforced, beliefs strengthened, products refined. We study the impacts of such self-reinforcement mechanisms in cascade dynamics. We use different mathematical modeling techniques to capture the recursive, yet changing nature of the process. We find a critical regime with a range of power-law cascade size distributions with nonuniversal scaling exponents. This regime clashes with classic models, where criticality requires fine-tuning at a precise critical point. Self-reinforced cascades produce critical-like behavior over a wide range of parameters, which may help explain the ubiquity of power-law distributions in empirical social data.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Group Polarization
Self-Evaluation Maintenance Model
Self-Evaluation: Self-Enhancement and Self-Verification
Routes of Persuasion
Social Proof
Theories of Dissolution: Diffusion Layer Model
This process starts with a thin layer, saturated with the drug, forming at the interface between the solid and liquid. The solute then diffuses from this layer into the main solution. The Noyes-Whitney equation suggests that the rate of dissolution relies on the diffusion...

