The architecture of small networks: Strong interaction and dynamic organization in small social systems

A new theoretical model of social interaction, conceptualized here as a hyp erstructure, provides the basis for simulation experiments designed to expl ore the network effects of high frequency social dynamics, or strong intera ctions. Based on neurophysiological discoveries of brain-behavior mechanism s at work in attachment, the theoretical model provides a nonreductionistic understanding of how biological forces constrain social interaction and yi eld effects that propagate beyond dyads into wider social networks. The net work effects of the model are equivalent to patterns long recognized in soc iological research on personal networks, showing that the model can reprodu ce empirically familiar and sometimes surprising bottom-up discoveries abou t network dynamics. Additionally, the model provides sociological theory wi th a straightfoward computational approach to discovering how deep structur al principles at work in all complex systems also yield a social architectu re-specifically, how a system/subsystem architecture; first described by He rbert Simon, emerges when strong interactions partition persons into natura lly occurring subsystems.