Applications in the social sciences range from aspects at the individual level to the study of large scale sociopolitical and economic structures, including those of the past. One of the applications that we can already consider as traditional in complex system science is economy and finance. But the activities of the institute aim to open up other fields of applicability. For example, concepts such as coordination dynamics and other characteristics of networks are being applied to the study of behaviors related to sports, both individually and at team level. Similarly, we are also working on issues related to the biological nature of human language ability, its development at the individual level, its emergence in species, and its implementation at the brain level. In the same way, the complex perspectives we are adopting illuminate more thoroughly the dynamics of the sociocomunicative and sociopolitical factors influencing language use, evolutionary change and maintenance and replacement phenomena.
Psychology and Behavior
Social dilemmas and game theory provide tools and strategies for measuring and quantifying an individual’s social traits based on their actions when these individuals confront their own benefit with another’s interest or with the collective interest. These dilemmas therefore make it possible to analyze, for example, the levels of cooperation, trust, reciprocity,…
Economy and Finance
Stock markets exhibit several universal statistical stylized facts and patterns that can be studied and modelled thanks to the large data sets available. Relevant issues can therefore be studied to obtain a better understanding of stock price movements and a better description of risk.
Linguistics
Linguistics is a diverse field of research, and several different disciplines within it relate to the notion of complex systems. The study of language can be used to access information about human behaviour, the human brain and its processes, and about social and cultural structures on a larger scale.
HISTORY
The trade system of the Roman Empire is one of the first recognized networks of interaction and interdependence between the Mediterranean basin and northern Europe and is considered to be the first complex European trade network. In the last fifty years, many theories about the organization of the Roman Empire trade system have been proposed but these theories continue to be speculative.