In human physics, Katarzyna Sznajd-Weron (1971-), or “Kasia Sznajd” as Dietrich Stauffer refers to her, is a Polish physicist noted for a number of social physics theories, since circa 2000, such as a “sociomagnetism” theory of how opinions form and change, an Ising model of human behavior, the model that people are like atoms (human atoms) or electrons (human electrons) (free electron) rather than individuals with feelings and free will—although noting, curiously, that she is well aware that people recoil when told this. [1]
Overview
The following is one of the slides from Sznajd-Weron's 2011 presentation “Social Physics or Sociophysics?”, on the difference between the older term social physics and the newer term sociophysics, on the validity of the human particle model:
wherein she discusses: Pierre Laplace, Adolphe Quetelet, James Maxwell, Auguste Comte, Ludwig Boltzmann, Wilhelm Lenz and Ernst Ising, Thomas Schelling, wherein she claims that sociophysics was “born” with Serge Galam’s 1982 “Sociophysics: A New Approach of Sociological Collective Behavior” article, which is incorrect (see: two cultures namesakes), among a few other recent topics: [3]
Romanian sociophysicists Gheorghe Savoiu and Ion Siman (2012) compare Sznajd-Weron to Serge Galam as one of the pioneers of sociophysics in the last decades. They state: [2]
“Some of the most remarkable pioneers of sociophysics probably are Serge Galam (“Sociophysics: A Personal Testimony”), Dietrich Stauffer (“Sociophysics Simulations I: Language Competition), Paris Arnopoulos (Sociophysics: Chaos and Cosmos in Nature and Culture), and Katarzyna Sznajd-Weron (“Sznajd Model and its Applications”).”
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Education
Sznajd-Weron is currently associated with the Complex Systems and Nonlinear Dynamics Division Institute of Theoretical Physics, University of Wrocław, Poland.
References
1. Siegfried, Tom. (2006). A Beautiful Mind: John Nash, Game Theory, and the Modern Quest for a Code of Nature (§: Sociomagnetism, pgs. 169-). National Academies Press.
2. (a) Savoiu, Gheorghe and Siman, Ion. (2012). “Sociophysics: A New Science or a New Domain for Physicists in a Modern University”, in: Econophysics: Background and Application in Economics, Finance, and Sociophysics (§10, pgs.149-68; “famous”, pg. 154; quote, pg. 156). Academic Press.
(b) Sznajd-Weron, Katarzyna. (2004). “Dynamical Model of Ising Spins” (abs), Physics Review E, 70, 037104.
(c) Sznajd-Weron, Katarzyna. (2005). “Sznajd Model and its Application”, Acta Phys. Pol B, 36(8):2537-47.
3. Sznajd-Weron, Katarzyna. (2011). “Social Physics or Sociophysics?” (pdf), Presentation, 16 Sep, Uniwersytet Wroclawski.
External links
● Katarzyna Sznajd-Weron (faculty) – University of Wrocław, Poland.
● Sznajd-Weron, Katarzyna (1971-) – WorldCat Identities.
