Social balance theory is a class of theories within social network

Social network

A social network is a social structure made up of individuals called "nodes", which are tied by one or more specific types of interdependency, such as friendship, kinship, common interest, financial exchange, dislike, sexual relationships, or relationships of beliefs, knowledge or prestige.Social...

 theory

Theory

The English word theory was derived from a technical term in Ancient Greek philosophy. The word theoria, , meant "a looking at, viewing, beholding", and referring to contemplation or speculation, as opposed to action...

 which attempts to describe how individual desires to reduce affective cognitive dissonance

Cognitive dissonance

Cognitive dissonance is a discomfort caused by holding conflicting ideas simultaneously. The theory of cognitive dissonance proposes that people have a motivational drive to reduce dissonance. They do this by changing their attitudes, beliefs, and actions. Dissonance is also reduced by justifying,...

 influence in a gtant component among social agents is "sentiment". These sentiments can result in the emergence of two groups. Disliking exists between the two subgroups within liking agents.

Development of the Theory

This theory evolved over time to produce models more closely resembling real-world social networks. It uses a balance index to measure the effect of local balance on that of a global level and also on a more intimate level, like in interpersonal relationships. Cartwright and Harary introduced clustering to account for multiple social cliques. Davis introduced hierarchal clustering to account for asymmetric relations. Social balance theory later developed into what is now called transitivity

Transitivity

-In grammar:* Intransitive verb* Transitive verb, when a verb takes an object* Transitivity -In logic and mathematics:* Arc-transitive graph* Edge-transitive graph* Ergodic theory, a group action that is metrically transitive* Vertex-transitive graph...

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