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Workshop

Narrative Structure as a Predictor of Information Diffusion

  • Joshua Introne (Syracuse University)
E1 05 (Leibniz-Saal)

Abstract

In this talk, I'll present emerging findings from a large-scale online study examining how narrative structure and social influence jointly shape the diffusion of narrative information. Our experimental framework takes the form of a multiplayer game where participants collaborate in a social network to reconstruct a narrative by selectively adopting information items from their neighbors. Drawing on established psychological models of narrative coherence and work in information diffusion, we explore how individuals' prior knowledge influences their adoption of new narrative elements.

I will focus on two key preliminary findings. First, our analysis reveals that a model of "narrative intensity"-based on an individual's previously adopted story elements-strongly predicts subsequent adoption decisions. This suggests that people actively seek narrative coherence when constructing stories, even in social contexts. Second, we uncover an unexpected interaction between social influence and individual adoption tendencies: while social pressure appears to motivate hesitant adopters to embrace new information, it paradoxically discourages early adopters from incorporating items with low narrative intensity into their story constructions.

These findings contribute to our understanding of how narrative structures shape information diffusion processes, with potential implications for how stories-from news to misinformation-spread through social networks. As this research is ongoing, I look forward to engaging with the audience to deepen our collective understanding of these phenomena and explore their broader implications.

Katharina Matschke

Max Planck Institute for Mathematics in the Sciences Contact via Mail

Jürgen Jost

Max-Planck-Institut für Mathematik in den Naturwissenschaften

Eckehard Olbrich

Max Planck Institute for Mathematics in the Sciences

Marjan Horvat

IRRIS Institute

Tom Willaert

Vrije Universiteit Brussel

Armin Pournaki

Max Planck Institute for Mathematics in the Sciences