Conformity Bias and Catastrophic Social Change

E‐cigarette smoking with peer pressure

“…Function is suggested by Lehmann and Feldman and by Lachlan et al and is extensively analysed in an SIS model by Walters and by Walters and Kendal . Function is suggested by Nakahashi and is analysed by Bissell . Note that when D = 0 or ξ = 1, then f becomes the linear function f ( e ) = e , and we have the classical peer pressure term.…”

“…Our objective here is to present and analyse an SIR or SI like ODE model for non‐smokers, tobacco smokers, and those who smoke e‐cigarettes, incorporating peer pressure in the switch from tobacco to e‐cigarette smoking. We note that differential equation models have been used extensively in modelling social problems and related issues, including the spread of infections; see, eg, Bissell, Bissell et al, Buonomo et al, Caiado, Ciarcia et al, Giacobbe and Mulone, Giacobbe et al, Gonzalez et al, Guo et al, Hethcote et al, Huo and Song, Huo and Wang, Jung et al, Mulone and Straughan, Mulone et al, Mushanyu et al, Nyabadza et al, Pomeroy, Sharomi and Gumel, Srivastava and Günerhan, Straughan, Takeuchi et al, Usaini et al, Walters, Walters and Kendal, Wang, Wang et al, Wang and Mulone, Wang and Zhao, Wang and Zou, and Zhou et al …”

“…In particular, SIR models and ramifications thereof, such as those involving conformity bias (Walters, Walters and Kendal, and Bissell), incorporating external information (Buonomo et al and Giacobbe et al), and allowing for multi‐patch models (Wang and Mulone), have been employed in modelling alcohol studies (Mulone and Straughan,) Huo and Song, Huo and Wang, Giacobbe et al, and Walters, in drug models (Mushanyu, Nyabadza, Mulone and Straughan), in smoking (Sharomi and Gumel, Bissell, Caiado, and Bissell et al), in bulimia studies (Gonzalez et al and Ciarcia et al), in modelling possible eradication of polio (Pomeroy), in analysing rabies in dogs (Ruan), in childhood disease (Srivastava and Günerhan), in academic underachievement (Usaini et al), and many others.…”

Understanding Mass Panic

“…We thus posit that a threshold exists during a crisis in which, if sufficient stimuli are present, and transformed by sufficient individuals into individual panic behaviors, the population at large will, through imitative behavior, start to exhibit those same behaviors, leading to a mass panic. (Bissell 2015;Granovetter 1978 Figure 1 shows the conceptual model through which we can understand how the discovered set of factors might facilitate mass panic arising from a biological, financial, or economic crisis. The model suggests that various external factors influence an individual's decision-making, categorized here as financial, economic, biological, and social.…”