How many people need to go first?
Threshold decisions create feedback: adoption changes what the next person sees.
Inside this model
One hundred agents have fixed personal thresholds spread evenly over threshold ±20 points. At each round, all remaining agents whose threshold is at or below last round's adoption share adopt. The seed share starts adopted. The plot runs 20 simultaneous rounds.
Out in the world
A practical use
A new workplace practice can remain rare until enough colleagues use it visibly.
A useful lens. Not a universal law.
- People differ only in one threshold and have identical visibility; real networks are not fully mixed.
Associated thinkers
Further reading
Explore the original research or the teaching reference behind this experiment.
Thomas Schelling — Micromotives and Macrobehavior ↗