collective effects

Collective effects occur when a group of individuals or elements influence each other, leading to a behavior or outcome that emerges from their interactions rather than from any single one alone. Think of a flock of birds or a school of fish moving in harmony; their coordinated actions result from simple rules followed by each member, creating complex patterns. Similarly, in systems like social networks, weather patterns, or particles in physics, the interactions among components can produce new behaviors or properties that wouldn't exist individually. These effects highlight how collective dynamics can shape the behavior of complex systems.