IPB

episode 2

03. July 2020.

GARDEN OF PHYSICS: episode 2
“Hatred dynamics”
Guest: Dr Marija Mitrović Dankulov

In the second episode of the scientific-popular video series Dr Marija Mitrović Dankulov of the Institute of Physics, Belgrade talks about how physics and research methods developed for the study of collective phenomena in thermodynamics can be applied to the social network behavioural observations. The guest of the episode titled ‘Hatred dynamics’ speaks about how emotions spread on social networks, how they come to being, transform into avalanches and die, as well as why they are largely negative on social networks.

‘Emotion contagion can happen pretty quickly. One minor event can cause an entire avalanche, and unfortunately, we cannot predict its size’, says Dr Marija Mitrović Dankulov adding that physicists say that this kind of system is in the state of self-organized criticality, and it most frequently relaxes itself through a range of ‘avalanches’.

A well-known example of a system described by physicists as self-organized criticality is when we add grain by grain of sand onto a pile. ‘When its slope exceeds a critical point, relaxation kicks in and a certain number of grains which roll down from the pile have some distribution which is also observable in social systems’, details Dr Marija Mitrović Dankulov.

The environment also plays an important role in spreading information and content through social networks, and Dr Marija Mitrović Dankulov states that the manner of our presentation of a topic determines how the environment will experience it, however, we are also under the influence of our environment.

Realized in cooperation with the portal ’Science Through Stories’, each episode of ’The Garden of Physics’ is dedicated to one of the fundamental topics of modern science, whether it is the greatest secrets of our times or research indicating unexpected horizons in the perception of the world. New episodes are aired every Friday online and they are available on webpages of the Institute of Physics, Belgrade and the portal „Science Through Stories“, as well as on You are welcome to join us.


Authors: Marija Đurić and Slobodan Bubnjević
Scenario: ’Science Through Stories’
Camera/drone: Zoran Veljanoski, Bojan Živojinović (Twotech Solutions)
Production associate: Jovana Nikolić
Directing and editing: Bojan Živojinović

Produced by: Insitute of Physics, Belgrade, 2020