An introduction to sociophysics

Complexity has become an inspiring scientific topic in the 21st century. Sociophysics takes the approaches developed in physics to deal with the complex problems in social systems, and has seen many achievements. This article presents a brief review of the history of socialphysics, and an introduction to current research topics and progress. It includes three parts: pedestrian dynamics, social network analysis, and opinion formation dynamics. In pedestrian dynamics, the social force model and its description of collective behavior is introduced. Some basic concepts in social networks, especially community analysis, are also briefly described. Opinion formation models based on Ising spin interactions and corresponding critical phenomena are also included.