The Galam Model of Minority Opinion Spreading and the Marriage Gap

In 2002, Serge Galam designed a model of a minority opinion spreading. The effect is expected to lead a conservative minority to prevail if the issue is discussed long enough. Here we analyze the marriage gap, i.e. the difference in voting for Bush and Kerry in 2004 between married and unmarried people. It seems possible to interpret this marriage gap in terms of the Galam model.Comment: 6 page

Saturation of a spin 1/2 particle by generalized Local control

We show how to apply a generalization of Local control design to the problem of saturation of a spin 1/2 particle by magnetic fields in Nuclear Magnetic Resonance. The generalization of local or Lyapunov control arises from the fact that the derivative of the Lyapunov function does not depend explicitly on the control field. The second derivative is used to determine the local control field. We compare the efficiency of this approach with respect to the time-optimal solution which has been recently derived using geometric methods.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures, submitted to new journal of physics (2011

Attitudes Toward Organizational Change among Public Middle Managers

Positive attitudes toward change (PATC) are an important current issue in public organizations facing profound financial and managerial reforms. This study aims to identify social and organizational antecedents of PATC. The investigated population is composed of middle managers working in Swiss public hospitals (N = 720), which are currently being confronted by major reforms. Partial mediation effects of organizational commitment (OC) in the relationships between independent variables and PATC are also controlled. The findings show that perceived social support (work relationships with colleagues and supervisors) as well as perceived organizational support (employee voice and participation, information and communication, work-life balance) are positively and significantly related to PATC. Stress perception is shown to have a negative impact on PATC. This article provides valuable contributions with respect to antecedents of attitudes toward change in a population of public middle managers

Longitudinal Peer Network Data in Higher Education

This chapter employs a longitudinal social network approach to research small group teaching in higher education. Longitudinal social network analyses can provide in-depth understanding of the social dynamics in small groups. Specifically, it is possible to investigate and disentangle the processes by which students make or break social connections with peers and are influenced by them, as well as how those processes relate to group compositions and personal attributes, such as achievement level. With advanced methods for modelling longitudinal social networks, researchers can identify social processes affecting small group teaching and learning

The personal norm of reciprocity

Reciprocity is here considered as an internalized social norm, and a questionnaire to measure individual differences in the internalized norm of reciprocity is presented. The questionnaire, Personal Norm of Reciprocity (PNR), measures three aspects of reciprocity: positive reciprocity, negative reciprocity, and beliefs in reciprocity. The PNR has been developed and tested in two cultures, British and Italian, for a total of 951 participants. A cross-cultural study provides evidence of good psychometric properties and generalizability of the PNR. Data provide evidence for criterion validity and show that positive and negative reciprocators behave in different ways as a function of the valence (positive or negative) of the other's past behaviour, the type of feasible reaction (reward versus punishment), and the fairness of their reaction. Copyright (C) 2002 John Wiley Sons, Ltd

The Problem of Experience in the Study of Organizations

This paper deals with the fact that we cannot experience large organizations directly, in the same way as we can experience individuals or small groups, and that this non-experientiability has certain implications for our scientific theories of organizations. Whereas a science is animated by a constructive interplay of theory concepts and experience concepts, the study of organizations has been confined to theory concepts alone. Implications of this analysis for developing a science of organizations are considered.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/68303/2/10.1177_017084069301400102.pd

Cooperation, Norms, and Revolutions: A Unified Game-Theoretical Approach

Cooperation is of utmost importance to society as a whole, but is often challenged by individual self-interests. While game theory has studied this problem extensively, there is little work on interactions within and across groups with different preferences or beliefs. Yet, people from different social or cultural backgrounds often meet and interact. This can yield conflict, since behavior that is considered cooperative by one population might be perceived as non-cooperative from the viewpoint of another. To understand the dynamics and outcome of the competitive interactions within and between groups, we study game-dynamical replicator equations for multiple populations with incompatible interests and different power (be this due to different population sizes, material resources, social capital, or other factors). These equations allow us to address various important questions: For example, can cooperation in the prisoner's dilemma be promoted, when two interacting groups have different preferences? Under what conditions can costly punishment, or other mechanisms, foster the evolution of norms? When does cooperation fail, leading to antagonistic behavior, conflict, or even revolutions? And what incentives are needed to reach peaceful agreements between groups with conflicting interests? Our detailed quantitative analysis reveals a large variety of interesting results, which are relevant for society, law and economics, and have implications for the evolution of language and culture as well