1,115 research outputs found
Statistics of opinion domains of the majority-vote model on a square lattice
The existence of juxtaposed regions of distinct cultures in spite of the fact
that people's beliefs have a tendency to become more similar to each other's as
the individuals interact repeatedly is a puzzling phenomenon in the social
sciences. Here we study an extreme version of the frequency-dependent bias
model of social influence in which an individual adopts the opinion shared by
the majority of the members of its extended neighborhood, which includes the
individual itself. This is a variant of the majority-vote model in which the
individual retains its opinion in case there is a tie among the neighbors'
opinions. We assume that the individuals are fixed in the sites of a square
lattice of linear size and that they interact with their nearest neighbors
only.
Within a mean-field framework, we derive the equations of motion for the
density of individuals adopting a particular opinion in the single-site and
pair approximations. Although the single-site approximation predicts a single
opinion domain that takes over the entire lattice, the pair approximation
yields a qualitatively correct picture with the coexistence of different
opinion domains and a strong dependence on the initial conditions. Extensive
Monte Carlo simulations indicate the existence of a rich distribution of
opinion domains or clusters, the number of which grows with whereas the
size of the largest cluster grows with . The analysis of the sizes of
the opinion domains shows that they obey a power-law distribution for not too
large sizes but that they are exponentially distributed in the limit of very
large clusters. In addition, similarly to other well-known social influence
model -- Axelrod's model -- we found that these opinion domains are unstable to
the effect of a thermal-like noise
Mass media destabilizes the cultural homogeneous regime in Axelrod's model
An important feature of Axelrod's model for culture dissemination or social
influence is the emergence of many multicultural absorbing states, despite the
fact that the local rules that specify the agents interactions are explicitly
designed to decrease the cultural differences between agents. Here we
re-examine the problem of introducing an external, global interaction -- the
mass media -- in the rules of Axelrod's model: in addition to their
nearest-neighbors, each agent has a certain probability to interact with a
virtual neighbor whose cultural features are fixed from the outset. Most
surprisingly, this apparently homogenizing effect actually increases the
cultural diversity of the population. We show that, contrary to previous claims
in the literature, even a vanishingly small value of is sufficient to
destabilize the homogeneous regime for very large lattice sizes
Andreas Vesalius as a renaissance innovative neuroanatomist: his 5th centenary of birth
The boomerang effect of radicalism in Discursive Psychology: A critical overview of the controversy with the Social Representations Theory.
This article provides a critical overview of the controversy between the Radical approach to Discursive Psychology (RDP) and the Social Representations Theory (SRT) and aims: a)?to show what is potentially complementary and contradictory in Discursive Psychology (DP) and the Social Representations Theory, when and why they are incompatible, and whether and how it is possible and/or desirable to integrate these two approaches. b)?to describe how the radicalism of the socio-constructionist thesis upheld by Discourse Analysis can give rise to several hard-to-solve problems, which may then be translated into a boomerang effect. In the final section, it highlights interest in dialog and “cross-fertilization” between researchers inspired by the less radical approach to discursive psychology and those inspired by the Social Representations Theory, pointing out the effect of methodological implications that would ensue
Climate Policies with Burden Sharing: The Economics of Climate Financing
The maintenance of a favorable climate accounts for the most challenging contemporary global governance predicament that seems to pit today’s generation against future world inhabitants. In a trade-off of economic growth versus sustainability, a broad-based international coalition could establish climate justice. As a novel angle towards climate justice, the following paper proposes (1) a well-balanced climate mitigation and adaptation public policy mix guided by micro- and macroeconomic analysis results, and (2) a new way of funding climate change mitigation and adaptation policies through carbon tax and broad-based climate bonds that also involve future generations. Contemporary climate financing strategies (e.g., Sachs Model) are thereby added into Integrated Assessment Models of the Nordhaus Type. Overall, the paper strives to delve deeper into a discussion of how market economies can be brought to a path consistent with prosperity and sustainability. Finding innovative ways how to finance climate abatement over time coupled with future risk prevention as well as adaptation to higher temperatures appears as an innovative and easily-implementable solution to nudge overlapping generations towards climate justice in the sustainability domain
Heroes and villains of world history across cultures
© 2015 Hanke et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are creditedEmergent properties of global political culture were examined using data from the World History Survey (WHS) involving 6,902 university students in 37 countries evaluating 40 figures from world history. Multidimensional scaling and factor analysis techniques found only limited forms of universality in evaluations across Western, Catholic/Orthodox, Muslim, and Asian country clusters. The highest consensus across cultures involved scientific innovators, with Einstein having the most positive evaluation overall. Peaceful humanitarians like Mother Theresa and Gandhi followed. There was much less cross-cultural consistency in the evaluation of negative figures, led by Hitler, Osama bin Laden, and Saddam Hussein. After more traditional empirical methods (e.g., factor analysis) failed to identify meaningful cross-cultural patterns, Latent Profile Analysis (LPA) was used to identify four global representational profiles: Secular and Religious Idealists were overwhelmingly prevalent in Christian countries, and Political Realists were common in Muslim and Asian countries. We discuss possible consequences and interpretations of these different representational profiles.This research was supported by grant RG016-P-10 from the Chiang Ching-Kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange (http://www.cckf.org.tw/).
Religion
Culture
Entropy
China
Democracy
Economic histor
Lay People Representations on the Common Good and Its Financial Provision
The financial contribution to the common good is a relevant issue to contemporary societies, especially in the wake of the Global Financial Crisis. In the economic literature, taxes and monetary donations have been regarded as two complementary ways of financially providing for the common good. In the psychological literature, instead, they have not been studied in conjunction. In-depth interviews have been conducted using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) approach and a photo-elicitation technique to investigate the representations people share on the financial provision for the common good. Results suggest that both taxes and donations are seen as indirect, rather than direct, ways of providing for the common good. From a formal and cognitive level, paying taxes and making donations can be seen as two sides of the same coin, but they present differences at the affective level. When paying taxes, people are concerned mostly about the effects and expect a material exchange in return; when making a monetary donation, people are concerned mostly about the motivations and expect an emotional exchange in return
Interwoven migration narratives: identity and social representations in the Lusophone world
First published online: 17 Oct 2016This article provides an exploratory analysis of the life narratives of migrants in the Portuguese-speaking world. By interweaving the life experiences of eight participants in three thematic clusters – ‘shared past’, language and sense of community – we propose a critique of the deep-seated idea of the Lusophone space as a community constructed by the harmonious conviviality of different countries and people. Drawing on contributions from cultural studies, social psychology, anthropology and sociology, we first aim to give voice to the human subjects who embark on migrations and then to understand how the engendered process of identity construction is framed by their social world, simultaneously reframing it. Thus, we aim at shedding light on the ways in which aspects of the political discourses on Lusophony are used (and are instrumental) to the migrants’ identity narrative (re)construction.This work was supported by Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia: [Grant Number PTDC/CCI-COM/105100/2008]
Concepções de agricultores ecológicos do Paraná sobre alimentação saudável.
OBJETIVO: Descrever as concepções de agricultores ecológicos sobre alimentação saudável.
MÉTODOS: Estudo com abordagem qualitativa. Entre janeiro e fevereiro de 2007, foram realizadas entrevistas em profundidade com o apoio de um roteiro com 11 mulheres e um homem residentes em comunidade agrícola de Rio Branco do Sul, PR, selecionados aleatoriamente dentre as 20 famílias de agricultores ecológicos desse município.
RESULTADOS: Três categorias de análise foram identificadas: "tomada de consciência da alimentação saudável", "capacidade de compra" e "terra saudável". O significado da alimentação saudável para as mulheres agricultoras envolve a ideia de que os alimentos devem ser naturais, sem agrotóxicos nem produtos químicos industrializados. Cotidianamente o consumo de frutas, verduras e legumes somado ao básico feijão, arroz e carne deve ser abundante e a composição do prato deve visar à prevenção de obesidade e doenças crônico-degenerativas. O cuidado com os recursos naturais para garantir a produção de alimentos saudáveis, a segurança alimentar, a sustentabilidade do meio ambiente e a vida futura do planeta integram o conceito de alimentação saudável.
CONCLUSÕES: O conhecimento, a autocrítica e o discernimento acompanharam as concepções em relação à alimentação saudável
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