Associative Diffusion and the Pitfalls of Structural Reductionism
针对DellaPosta和Davoodi的评论，作者纠正了关联扩散模型中偏好更新过程的错误实现，证明全连接网络中的文化分化更显著，并重新评估了基于传染的扩散模型的假设与适用范围。
In their insightful comment, DellaPosta and Davoodi argue that our finding (Goldberg and Stein 2018) that segmented networks inhibit cultural differentiation does not generalize to large networks. However, their demonstration rests on an incorrect implementation of the preference updating process in the associative diffusion model. We show that once this discrepancy is corrected, cultural differentiation is more pronounced in fully connected networks, irrespective of network size and even under extreme assumptions about cognitive decay. We use this as an opportunity to discuss the associative diffusion model’s assumptions and scope conditions, as well as to critically reassess prevailing contagion-based diffusion models.