Balanced triadic relationships in social groups, such that friends of friends are considered friends, are at the heart of stable human societies. Computational models of the origins of social balance typically assume that people attend to the indirect relationships between their direct social contacts. This assumption may be of limited plausability but there have been no experimental comparisons of models using different assumptions.

We compare one model that assumes that people pay attention only to their direct social relationships¹, and another that assumes they try to minimize imbalance in their triadic relationships².

In a longitudinal group experiment with 480 interacting participants, we find that triadic social balance can be achieved even if people pay attention only to their dyadic relationships. Such empirical studies are essential for discerning between the many existing models of social dynamics and identifying the most promising pathways for further theoretical development.

M. Galesic, H. Olsson, T.M. Pham, J. Sorger, S. Thurner, Experimental evidence confirms that triadic social balance can be achieved through dyadic interactions, npj Complexity 2 (2025).