Center for the Dynamics of Social Complexity (DySoC)

DySoC promotes transdisciplinary research into the origins, evolution, and futures of human social complexity. We study human behaviors and social interactions that underlie past and present societies in the pursuit of transformative discovery. Through theory, data, and synthesis, we help realize evidence-based innovations to address grand challenges of our time.

We pursue our mission through distinctive evolutionary and quantitative approaches. Considering human cognition, culture, and societies as evolved – and evolving – phenomena opens new frontiers in the exploration of human psychology, behavior, and social organization. It also gives fresh insight into the diverse world around us. Drawing comparisons between humans and other biological organisms or between past and present societies can reveal parallels that promote greater understanding of general principles, which in turn can reframe understanding of cooperation and conflict in contemporary societies. Use of mathematical models enables us to delve further into biological, cultural, and social evolution to explore foundational and new ideas. This can not only increase predictive capacity, it can also afford invaluable opportunities to train our intuition and interpretation of social complexity.