What is small world theory?

The origin of the small world theory

Decades ago, a Frankfurt food store owner made a request to a newspaper, hoping to get acquainted with the then-big star Marlon Brando.

The food store owner is an unknown person. He has been running a Turkish kebab restaurant and inherited it from his father. The boss admired the movie star Marlon Brando very much. He dreamed of meeting him in his store every day. However, as an internationally renowned movie star, it was impossible for Marlon Brando to walk into such a small restaurant to dine. So when people hear the boss's wish, they always laugh at him for not overestimating his abilities: "One is in heaven and the other is on earth, how can they meet? And Marlon Brando will never take you seriously."

But the stubborn barbecue restaurant owner was unwilling to give up. Amidst everyone’s sarcasm, he suddenly thought of newspapers. Maybe through the power of the media, he could become friends with this big star. .

After receiving this request, this newspaper initially thought it was very ridiculous. Making friends with big stars is an unattainable luxury for little people. Many people just think about it. But seeing the applicant's sincere eyes, the newspaper director decided to give it a try.

A human relations agency became a partner of the newspaper. They investigated the barbecue restaurant owner's interpersonal network in the hope of finding a breakthrough point. First, the researchers discovered that the barbecue restaurant owner was an Iraqi immigrant. He also had many friends who immigrated with him and were scattered in various states in the United States. Following this clue, the researchers found an Iraqi immigrant living in California who was a friend of the barbecue restaurant owner.

After finding this friend in California, the research agency began to explore the interpersonal network around him and found that one of his friends was recently dating a girl, and this girl had a very good friend who was The daughter of a film producer. The filmmaker once produced a movie called "A Better Day" in which Marlon Brando was the leading actor.

After discovering this interpersonal connection, everyone was surprised. Although the earth we live on is so big, the United States alone is so vast, and the distance from Frankfurt to California is also very far. Among the hundreds of millions of square kilometers of the earth's surface, among six to seven billion human beings , trying to find a connection between a person and another person who is far away is like looking for a needle in a haystack, but there are only so many people between this little barbecue restaurant owner and the big star Marlon Brando.

The "Marlon Brando" incident led to a famous interpersonal theory: the six degrees of separation theory. Although it seems a bit incredible, practice has proven this fact: on this huge blue planet, everyone’s relationship network is complex and intertwined. They can all reach a communication network through 6 people. To be precise, they belong to the same circle and only need 6 people to get to know each other. This theory is also known as the "small world theory". It was proposed in 1967 through the analysis of American social psychologist MilColon and became a famous theory with worldwide reputation. No matter which country or what skin color, there will be no relationship between any two people in the world. The only distance between them is six people.