Using ratio methods developed in psychophysics, the determinants of local and professional status of professors were investigated. Local status among graduate students increased as teaching ability ...and professorial demeanor (outside the classroom) increased. Professional status increased with merit of publication, merit of teaching, negative cordiality (maintaining appropriate social distance), and length of service or experience in the discipline. The results suggest a multivariate stimulus (S)-response (R) law: R=cSn1
1. Sn2
2...Sni
ni. Using an appropriate test for this general relationship, the results for local and professional status explain about 98 per cent of the variance. It is assumed that the feelings of approval, respect, or esteem-the basis of a status-exchange-are non-voluntary responses and as such increase as a multivariate power function of the magnitude of the stimuli that have been conditioned to produce them.
The Interference-Aggression Law? Hamblin, Robert L.; Bridger, David A.; Day, Robert C. ...
Sociometry,
06/1963, Volume:
26, Issue:
2
Journal Article
Starting with the traditional interference-frustration-aggression hypotheses which involve linear functions, Fechner's and Stevens' psychophysical laws about perception are used to derive alternative ...hypotheses that aggression is a log and power function of interference. First, a series of simulation experiments on the computer were conducted to test methodological assumptions. Second, using designs loosely patterned after psychophysical experiments, two laboratory investigations were conducted as tests of the three alternative hypotheses. The data from both expreriments indicate that aggression is not a linear or a logarithmic, but a power function of interference. Furthemore, the power exponent is evidently a function of the strength of instigation to the goal-response which suffers interference.
An experiment among 42 M Coll S's to test the 3 critical hyp's derived from the 3 theories relating morale & the competence of the leader, thereby evaluating the theories themselves. The 3 theories ...are: (1) Lewin's theory that democratic leadership which involves decision-making by org members increases morale, whereas autocratic leadership which involves centralized decision-making decreases morale - the critical variable here is reinforcement, (2) the theory of Cooley & Simmel that morale in an org is a function of the relative technical competence, & (3) the theory derived from the combined theoretical frames of reference of (1) & (2) that if morale is negatively related to the number of conflicting suggestions & if the number of conflicting suggestions is negatively related to perceived competence, then morale will be positively related to perceived competence - the critical variable is conflicting suggestions by org'al members. Results indicated that while 'the observed is between the 3 critical variables & morale are signif & in the predicted direction,' a multiple regression analysis supports only the perceived-competence theory. It is suggested that theories involving reinforcement involve a psychologistic approach to group behavior, which 'may prevent a clear understanding of the functioning of org's as soc systems. By utilizing other bases of derivation involving structural variables such as the norm of reciprocity, we may uncover relationships that are not only signif but also important in terms of explairned variance.' I. Taviss.
Contends that the decision to close the sociology department at Washington University (Missouri) is best understood in a historical context of the administrative traditions of the institution. Traces ...the history of the department, concentrating on individual members of the department and the conflicts that arose through the years. (RW)
An investigation of emerging social orders as the outcome of stochastic processes, questioning how quantitative regularities may emerge from underlying social processes. Four nonlinear differential ...equations models are developed as alternative explanations of the time-paths of growth of individual firms. The models are tested & their assumptions analyzed using several data sets, which include yearly measures of growth for virtually every automotive world producer. The data give stronger support to the social learning model, which emphasizes the role of collective learning in innovation processes. The parameters of this model, for each firm's time-series data, measure different innovation & learning rates relative to competitors. A preliminary analysis with innovation & market data confirms the assumptions directly. The overall fit of the social learning model is quite accurate & its stochastic ingredient is negligible. This model describes two forms of emerging social order: at the microlevel, all automotive firms evidence a Gompertzian growth process; at the macrolevel, there are regularities in the distribution of model parameters, which are positively related to each other by a power function as predicted by past research on collective learning. The implications of these results for social theory & resarch are discussed, with special reference to the importance of modeling the dynamics of collective learning processes.
