Network Inequality and Fairness Group

We’re excited to share that Samuel Martin-Gutierrez, Mauritz N. Cartier van Dissel, and Fariba Karimi have published a new paper in Communications Physics, introducing MAPS (Multidimensional Aggregation of Preferences in Social Ties) — a model for how people combine multiple identity dimensions when deciding who to connect with. 🎉

Validating the model against 41,800 high-school friendships from the Add Health study and marriage records from the 50 largest US cities, the team found that people are highly selective: rather than forming ties based on a single shared trait, we evaluate potential connections across all our identity dimensions at once, and only form ties when someone checks out favorably across the board. The finding has real implications for understanding segregation and designing interventions that promote cross-group interaction.

📖 Read the paper — Communications Physics, 9, 142 (2026)
📰 TU Graz press release
📰 Coverage on Phys.org

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