Small University Experiment Part I
Comm 481: Social Networks
Ashley Gray
1) At first, it seems like personal characteristics of the first person that receives the folder should not matter very much. After all, Penn seems to be pretty diverse and there are many connections between males and females, students and instructors, and so on. Yet upon looking back on the possible individuals that I could have chosen to pass the folder to, most of those individuals are also females. While this could show a bias on my part, Stanley Milgram in “Small World Problem” also notes “a very pronounces tendency in our Kansas Study for females to send the folder to females, and males to send it on to males.” (65) If participants were three times as likely to give their folder to a member of the same sex than a member of the opposite sex, gender and other factors do have a large influence a participant’s choice.
University affiliation does play some role in the choice of the first individual in the experiment as well. While a student may not consider any faculty members acquaintances, it is still important to choose an individual that has access to the network of the target recipient. Choosing an individual who is highly involved in many aspects of the Penn community such as organizations or clubs, athletics, or research should also increase the likelihood of the folder reaching an unfamiliar target. I chose a teammate of mine who I think is well-connected and interacts with a number of people from different areas of the Penn community.
2) The relationship with the first person is the most important factor in the success of this experiment. If you chose an individual with whom you share a close tie, they are more likely to care about the success of the experiment because they care about you and you are closely linked. While most sociologists assert that close ties are not the easiest way to reach a large network because you share the close tie with that individual and, in turn, many of their other ties, it makes most sense to reach out to someone responsible and trustworthy in this situation. Also, people with whom we form close ties usually share many of the same values as you do so that may also add to the success of the folder reaching the target.
3) The personal characteristics of my target may make my chain longer than someone who shares more similarities with the target. I do not know anyone in the School of Education so her structural position makes her on the outside of my network. The folder undoubtedly will have to cross more barriers because of the distance.
4) I believe the folder will pass from my teammate, Maria, to any one of her other friends that she knows through Engineering, or another athlete from the University. I am sure that one of her friends will either know a student in the School of Education, or will know another graduate student. My guess is that the path will be exclusively female, and will consist of more students than faculty or staff. Malcolm Gladwell in “Six Degrees of Lois Weisberg” suggests that an individual who belongs to a variety of worlds like Lois’ eight will have access to a wider and more diverse network. I think that each individual will belong to many small networks because of the first individual that I passed my folder to.
5) I think that the folder will pass through up to four individuals. There could be an infinite number of intermediaries but because of the time constraints of students, but I am guessing that the first person on the roster will choose someone who they think is a very direct link to the target in order to decrease the possibility of the folder getting lost.