Heterophily is the opposite of homophily. Heterophily is the tendency of individuals to collect in diverse groups. Heterophily is also noticed in successful organizations. In Twitter we see both heterophily and homophiliy. Given the way Twitter works, inevitably people find themselves following or being followed by those with both dissimilar and similar interests. Heterophily is defined as the degree to which pairs of individuals who interact are different in certain attributes. Heterogamy is contrasted with Homogamy. Heterophily also may be mentioned in areas such as homogamy, exogamy, and endogamy.
An homophily-heterophily Index indicates the degree to which an individual communicates with others who are either similar or dissimilar to himself on certain variables. Heterophily, the tendency to interact with others of different type, also exists in nature. Research on collaboration networks suggests that people are likely to form heterophilic task-related ties with those who are complementary to their own skill sets. Hunter-gatherer society life is also characterised by long-term imbalances in productivity and consumption, and by the division of labour.
Everett Rogers in his book 'Diffusion Of Innovations' wrote "Heterophily, the mirror opposite of homophily, is defined as the degree to which pairs of individuals who interact are different in certain attributes". Through his work Rogers showed that heterophilious networks were better able to spread innovations. An illustration of homophilous and heterophilous diffusion networks is provided by Rao, Rogers, and Singh (1980), who studied two Indian villages. One village was very innovative, while the other village had more traditional norms. Diffusion networks for a new rice variety were more homophilous in the traditional village. In comparison, the opinion leaders in the innovative village were younger, highly educated, and of a high social caste. In the more traditional village, diffusion network links were highly homophilous; Brahmins talked to Brahmins, Harijans talked to Harijans, and so forth. But the heterophilous network links aided rapid diffusion.
Coevolutionary networks with homophily and
heterophily - Daichi Kimura and Yoshinori Hayakawa.
We have investigated a simple coevolutionary network model incorporating three processes,
changes of opinions, homophily, and heterophily. In this model, each node holds one of G
opinions and changes its opinion, as in the voter model. Homophily is the tendency for connections to form between
individuals of the same opinions and heterophily is the opposite effect. If there is no
heterophily, this model corresponds to the Holme and Newman model. We show that the
behavior of this model without heterophily can be understood in terms of a mean field
approximation. We also find that this model with heterophily exhibits topologically
complicated behavior such as the small-world property.
Knowledge
sharing, heterophily, and social network dynamics - Muneta Yokomatsu,
Hitomu Kotani.
Abstract: This study formulates a model where (i) players are
characterized by a knowledge set that changes endogenously by communication and
(ii) some players have homophily preferences, while others have heterophily
preferences. The study thus demonstrates that heterophilous players bridge
different components and extend networks in an early stage and, subsequently,
homophilous players take the role of a network hub that maintains network ties.
It also illustrates the long-run knowledge distribution.
Heterophily in
social groups formation: a social network analysis
Oriol Barranco,
Carlos Lozares & Dafne Muntanyola-Saura, Quality & Quantity Volume 53, pages 599-619 (2019).
Abstract: Research on
heterophily as a relational phenomenon is mostly limited to specific
professional contexts which do not include knowledge about status or value
heterophily as a possible group-generating principle. This article tries to
close this gap by proposing and applying a new method of data analysis to
investigate this possible role of heterophily. We apply
social network analysis
to personal network data. As a preliminary, we introduce a conceptual
distinction between two types of heterophily, what we call intra-category
heterophily and inter-category heterophily, and we validate the adjusted
residuals of contingency tables to measure these two types of heterophily. Then,
we reconstruct the relational space of these heterophilous relations among
categories or attributes defined by socio-demographic and status
characteristics. Finally, we group by faction algorithm the categories or
attributes that maintain denser heterophilous relationships with each other than
with the rest.
Customer Preferences for Frontline Employee
Traits: Homophily and Heterophily Effects. Sandra Streukens Tor W.
Andreassen.
Abstract:
Although previous research has underscored the significance of the personality
traits of frontline employees in employee service behaviors, knowledge about
customer preferences for frontline employees personality traits is lacking. This
study responds to this gap in the literature, empirically assessing customers’
preferences for frontline employees personality traits. The main research
objective is to investigate whether and how these preferences vary with the
customer's own personality. The study proposes and tests a conceptual framework
that reconciles two opposing theoretical perspectives, homophily and
heterophily. The existing research in interpersonal psychology has only given
limited support to the heterophily effect, whereas it has consistently evidenced
the homophily effect.
A ‘Different Class’? Homophily and Heterophily in
the Social Class Networks of Britpop
Peter Millward, Paul Widdop, Michael HalpinFirst Published July 13, 2017.
Abstract: In this article we examine the individuals who were the cultural
workforce that comprised the ‘Britpop’ music scene of the 1990s. The focus of
our analysis is homophily and heterophily to determine whether the clusters of
friendships and working relationships of those who were ‘best connected’ in the
scene were patterned by original social class position. We find that Britpop’s
‘whole network’ is heterophilic but that its ‘sub-networks’ are more likely to
be social class homophilic. The sub-networks that remain heterophilic are likely
to be united by other common experiences that brought individuals in the network
to the same social spaces.
Heterophily in social groups formation: a social
network analysis
Oriol Barranco, Carlos Lozares, Dafne
Muntanyola-Saura.
Abstract: Abstract Research on heterophily as a relational
phenomenon is mostly limited to specific professional contexts which do not
include knowledge about status or value heterophily as a possible
group-generating principle. This article tries to close this gap by proposing
and applying a new method of data analysis to investigate this possible role of
heterophily. We apply social network analysis to personal network data. As a
preliminary, we introduce a conceptual distinction between two types of
heterophily, what we call intra-category heterophily and inter-category
heterophily, and we validate the adjusted residuals of contingency tables to
measure these two types of heterophily.