Dynamics of Social Cohesion in Diverse Groups: A Wave-Interference Model of Social Processes

“All models are wrong, but some are useful.” — George E. P. BoxAgainst this background, the present study investigates the nonlinear dynamics of social cohesion in diversely composed groups using a newly developed wave interference model. The central research question is as follows:
 Can a wave-interference-based model be used to identify and quantify nonlinear scaling relationships between diversity, social cohesion, and intervention demand?Within a mathematical framework, group members are modeled as oscillators with individual phases, whose interference patterns determine the degree of group cohesion. Through numerical integration over the shared social reference space, both the total cohesive energy C(N) and the effective cohesive energy per member C_eff are quantified.The simulations demonstrate that the fundamental structure of cohesion dynamics remains stable across broad parameter ranges. While the absolute cohesion amplitude decreases with increasing diversity d, the location of the optimal group size N_opt remains largely invariant. Diversity thus acts primarily as an amplitude modulator: it affects the magnitude, but not the form, of the cohesion trajectories. Intervention I demand increases nonlinearly with growing diversity and exhibits step-like or plateau-shaped regions.Despite its simplifying assumptions, the interference model proves to be a useful theoretical instrument for describing and quantitatively investigating processes of social cohesion. It provides a structurally robust foundation for the analysis of diversity effects and opens up further avenues for empirical validation as well as for pedagogical and practical applications.