Society of self: The emergence of collective properties in selfstructure

Using cellular automata, the authors show how mutual influences among elements of self-relevant information give rise to dynamism, differentiation, and global evaluation in self-concept. The model assumes a press for integration that promotes internally generated dynamics and enables the self-structure to operate as a self-organizing dynamical system. When this press is set at high values, the self can resist inconsistent information and reestablish equilibrium after being perturbed by such information. A weak press for integration, on the other hand, impairs self-organization tendencies, making the system vulnerable to external information. Paradoxically, external information of a random nature may enhance the emergence of a stable self-structure in an initially disordered system. The simulation results suggest that important global properties of the self reflect the operation of integration processes that are generic in complex systems. When people think about or describe themselves, any number of specific thoughts, memories, fears, and feelings may come to mind. By themselves, however, the cognitive and affective elements that arise during self-reflection do not provide for a sense of self. Rather, a person has a self-concept to the extent that he or she has a relatively coherent structure within which the multitude of self-relevant thoughts and feelings achieve organization. In this sense, the self represents a society of autonomous, yet interdependent and interacting agents. Like a society of individuals, the self can be viewed as a complex dynamical system, with interactions among system elements promoting the emergence of macro-level properties that cannot be reduced to the properties of the elements in isolation. It is only at the level of such emergent properties that one can meaningfully characterize the structure as a whole. People can be said to have high or low self-esteem, for example, only because their thoughts and feelings about themselves are organized in a manner that indicates a relatively coherent evaluation, in much the same way that societies can be said to have norms only because the behaviors of individuals in a population are coordinated in a relatively coherent fashion. This reasoning does not mean that the self is not a unique cognitive structure or that the specific elements of self- by virtue of being the largest structure in the cognitive system, encompassing all personally relevant information derived throughout one's life (e.g., None of these defining aspects and processes of the self would be possible without at least some semblance of integration among self-relevant elements. Before one can verify one's self-concept or maintain a level of self-esteem, after all, one must have a relatively coherent perspective on the vast number of features relevant to self-understanding. It is critical, then, to appreciate the means by which specific cognitive and affective elements are integrated in service of coherent self-understanding. Processes of integration are not unique to the self-system. To the contrary, the issue of how distinct elements become coordinated to form a coherent structure constitutes one of the main challenges facing contemporary science (cf. 3

Agent-based Modeling: A Guide for Social Psychologists

Agent-based modeling is a longstanding but underused method that allows researchers to simulate artificial worlds for hypothesis testing and theory building. Agent-based models (ABMs) offer unprecedented control and statistical power by allowing researchers to precisely specify the behavior of any number of agents and observe their interactions over time. ABMs are especially useful when investigating group behavior or evolutionary processes and can uniquely reveal non-linear dynamics and emergence—the process whereby local interactions aggregate into often surprising collective phenomena, such as spatial segregation and relational homophily. We review several illustrative ABMs, describe the strengths and limitations of this method, and address two misconceptions about ABMs: reductionism and “you get out what you put in.” We also offer maxims for good and bad ABMs, give practical tips for beginner modelers, and include a list of resources and other models. We conclude with a 7-step guide to creating your own model

Monochrome Forests and Colorful Trees: The Effect of Black-and-White versus Color Imagery on Construal Level

Business: 1st Place (The Ohio State University Edward F. Hayes Graduate Research Forum)Research suggests that whereas black-and-white (bw) imagery enhances perception of essential form, color imagery enhances perception of specific detail. Drawing from construal level theory, the present research extends this work by proposing and demonstrating that the focus on form (vs. detail) prompted by bw (vs. color) imagery promotes a tendency to construe or represent the depicted objects in an abstract, high-level (vs. concrete, low-level) manner. Three experiments examine the impact of bw versus color imagery on construal level, as assessed by action identification (Experiment1), sensitivity to essential vs. superficial features (Experiment 2), and behavior segmentation (Experiment 3). Two additional experiments explore the consequences of this basic effect on product feature evaluation (Experiment 4) and product choice (Experiment 5). We discuss how this work advances construal level theory and visual perception research, and explore practical implications for marketing.A five-year embargo was granted for this item

Product and Consumer Characteristics as Moderators of Consumer Response to Sustainable Products

This dissertation consists of two essays. In both, product sustainability is broadly focused on the environmental and social performance (Luchs et al. 2010) of a product. The first essay explores the role of firm sustainability reputation in behavioral intentions for sustainable products. Additionally, this essay applies construal level theory (Liberman and Trope 1998; Vallacher and Wegner 1985, 1987) and addresses the situation that exists wherein sales of sustainable products produced by firms founded under sustainability principles are more stable than those produced by traditional firms (Clifford and Martin 2011). The second essay introduces a measure of consumer perceived product sustainability (CPPS) for food and beverage products. The impact of consumer perceptions of environmental and social performance on willingness to pay and purchase intentions is explored. Both consumer characteristics (i.e., construal level) and product characteristics (i.e., utilitarian versus hedonic product types) are studied as moderators

Proverbial Economies: How an Understanding of Some Linguistic and Social Features of Common Sense Can Throw Light on More Prestigious Bodies of Knowledge, Science for Example

An evaluative contrast between learned expertise and lay knowledge is a pervasive and longstanding feature of modern culture. Occasionally, the learned have pointed to folkish proverbs to illustrate the inadequacies of common-sense reasoning and judgement. Proverbs are said perspicuously to display the superficiality, the imprecision, and even the logical contradictions of common-sense thinking. I offer an interpretation of proverbs in their naturally occurring settings as epistemically powerful, mnemonically robust, practically pertinent, and referentially flexible. My purpose is not just to recuperate the value of proverbial reasoning but, ultimately, to show the relevance of such reasoning to a revised appreciation of modern technical practices, including science, technology and medicine. To that end, the paper concludes with some speculative remarks about the linguistic forms in which the heuristics of present-day technical practices are expressed and transmitted.History of Scienc