You know that saying, “the enemy of my enemy is my friend”? Well, researchers at Northwestern University just gave it a big thumbs up using some fancy math.
Back in the 1940s, this psychologist named Fritz Heider came up with this idea called social balance theory. Basically, it says we humans like to keep things harmonious in our social circles. According to Heider, there are four rules that help explain this: if someone’s enemies with my enemy, they’re my friend; if they’re friends with my friend, they’re also my friend; if they’re friends with my enemy, they’re my enemy; and if they’re enemies with my friend, they’re my enemy too.
Now, lots of studies have tried to prove this theory using math and stuff, but they always came up short because real-life relationships are way messier than what those models could handle. People don’t always know each other, and some folks are just naturally friendlier than others.
But these researchers at Northwestern cracked the code by considering both of these factors at the same time. By doing that, they finally got the math to line up with what Heider proposed all those years ago.
This breakthrough isn’t just about confirming an old theory. It could help us understand all sorts of social stuff better, like why politics get so polarized or how countries interact. Plus, it might even come in handy for things like figuring out how different drugs work together or understanding how our brains are wired.
As István Kovács from Northwestern put it, “We always kinda knew this social stuff worked, but now we’ve got the math to back it up. Turns out, life’s just really complicated, and we needed to tackle it from all angles.”
