The Balance Theory of Sentiment Relations

• In Event: 597 - Section on Altruism, Morality and Social Solidarity Paper Session. Emotion and Social Solidarity (co-sponsored with Section on Sociology of Emotions)

Abstract

The sentiment relation exists in all human interactions as a signed cognitive orientation of one individual toward another, and it exists in all groups of acquainted individuals as a network of signed cognitive orientations among the group’s members. Balance theory attends to network structures of sentiments and posits that these structures alter over time in response to individuals’ efforts to locate themselves in social positions that are tension free. In small social groups, where all individuals have a positive or negative orientation toward every other member of the group, these efforts are constrained to sign changes of orientation. Balance theory presents the surprising claim that negative sentiments may be tension free. The theory is structural in its treatment of tension as a property of the configuration of sentiments, and is supported by a body of empirical findings. However, the findings do not include supports for the theory’s postulate that changes of sentiment are triggered by the interpersonal tensions of particular configurations of sentiment relations. This paper advances balance theory with a unique set of findings obtained with longitudinal data on sentiment structures and measures of interpersonal tensions.

Authors

• Craig M. Rawlings, University of California-Santa Barbara

• Noah E. Friedkin, University of California-Santa Barbara