Showing papers in "Systems Research and Behavioral Science in 1971"

Collective action as an agreeable n‐prisoners' dilemma

Abstract: The problem of collective action to produce a group collective good is analyzed as the game of Individual vs. Collective and then as an n-person game to show that, under the constraints of Mancur Olson's analysis, it is an n-prisoners' dilemma in the cases of latent and intermediate groups. The usual analysis according to which noncooperation is considered the rational strategy for classical 2-prisoners' dilemma is logically similar to Olson's analysis, which suggests that rational members of a latent group should not contribute toward the purchase of the group collective good. However, in the game analysis it is clear that the latent and intermediate groups are not logically different, but rather are distinguishable only statistically. Some prisoners' dilemma experimental results are used to suggest how the difference might arise and how the vast prisoners' dilemma literature can be related to the problem of collective action. The game of collective action is then analyzed not from the view of strategies but of outcomes. There is presented a theorem which states that the outcome in which all player-members of a group pay and all benefit is a Condorcet choice from the set of realizable outcomes for the game. Hence the cooperative outcome in such a game would prevail in election against all other outcomes.

Modification of memory storage processes.

Abstract: It seems most fitting that the first of a series of symposia commemorating G. Stanley Hall’s contribution to psychology is devoted to the topic of memory. Memory processes are central to all aspects of psychological functioning: Our consciousness and our actions are shaped by our experiences. And our experiences shape us only because of their lingering consequences, which we term, collectively, memory. Memory is, of course, not the sole determiner of our experience and behavior. But in bridging the past and the present, memory serves a central coordinating role. Thus, understanding of the nature and bases of memory is essential for understanding of the broad range of problems that interested G. Stanley Hall. An analysis of memory processes seems appropriate as a beginning.

Changes in sensory and motor systems during centrally elicited attack.

Abstract: While emotion can be a subjective experience and emotions are revealed to some extent by facial expressions and changes of respiration, heart rate and other autonomic states, behavior itself is a primary indicator of emotions. The present work deals with a form of emotional behavior, specifically attack, which is one component of fighting. Since the work of Cannon, it has been acknowledged that sympathetically and hormonally mediated changes occur that prepare the organism for fight and flight. It is the thesis of this article that sensory and motor systems are similarly readied to act in specific ways under the influence of electrical stimulation of the brain that induces attack behavior. Specifically electrical stimulation of the hypothalamus that elicits attack influences the visual system. This is shown by the difference between the frequency of lunges directed towards a mouse when it is presented to the eye ipsilateral and to that contralateral to the side of the hypothalamus stimulated. The contralateral eye mediates more lunges. The visual system is also gated by hypothalamic stimulation. A bite ensues in some instances after section of the trigeminal nerve, but not in others. After the successful cats are blindfolded they no longer bite. The tactile system around the mouth and lips is also influenced by hypothalamic stimulation. A more extensive region around the mouth and lip on the contralateral side than on the ipsilateral side responds to touch by eliciting head turning and jaw opening. The motor system for jaw closure and for striking are similarly influenced by hypothalamic stimulation. Reflexes become functional under the influence of stimulation. In the case of attack behavior, the organism's sensory and motor systems are primed to bring about patterned reflexes, which constitute at least in part the overt behavior when suitable stimuli are present in the environment.

The nature of living systems

Abstract: General living systems theory is concerned with seven levels of living systems—cell, organ, organism, group, organization, society, and supranational system. An exposition of the basic concepts in this theory appeared in “Living Systems: Basic Concepts,” Behavioral Science, 1965, 10, 193–237. (See also “Living Systems: Structure and Process,” and “Living Systems: Cross-Level Hypotheses,” Behavioral Science, 1965, 10, 337–411.) A condensation of the basic concepts also appeared in “The Nature of Living Systems,” Behavioral Science, 1971, 16, 277–301, which is reprinted beginning on the next page. Following that is an analysis in terms of this conceptual system of present knowledge concerning one level of living system—the society. In order to emphasize the cross-level formal identities among levels of living systems, this article follows exactly the same outline as other articles written by the author on the cell (“Living Systems. II. The Cell,” Currents in Modern Biology, 1971, 4, 78–206), the organ (“Living Systems. III. The Organ,” Currents in Modern Biology, 1971, 4, 207–256), the organism (“Living Systems. II. The Organism,” Quarterly Review of Biology, 1973, 48: 1 (Pt 2), 92–276), the group (“Living Systems: The Group,” Behavioral Science, 1971, 16, 302–398), and the organization (“Living Systems: The Organization,” Behavioral Science, 1972 17, 1–182). Their subheadings and section numbers are identical. All these articles will also be published as chapters of the author's forthcoming book Living Systems (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1976). Another chapter in that book, also following the same outline, will analyze current knowledge about the highest level of living systems—the supranational system. Since anatomists and physiologists are usually laymen in organization theory or international relations, psychologists are commonly laymen in economics, and social scientists are ordinarily laymen in cellular biology, all parts of the book, including the article published here, are necessarily written for intelligent laymen rather than experts, even though the articles deal with many technical topics. Some statements in them will seem to experts to be too elementary to be worth repeating. If a fact is fundamental and may not be known to specialists in other fields, it is stated here, even if it is elementary to the experts. The complex division of labor of modern science, often characterized by pluralistic insularity, requires this. The multitude of detailed and specialized experiments and studies that have been carried out provide the substance of the scientific investigation of organizations. Their findings constitute the trees. But an overview of these results and of the relationships among them—a view of the forest—is also essential. Such a telescopic rather than a microscopic view may suggest the proper balance for research on various aspects of society and clarify the priorities for future efforts. Many ideas presented here are not original with the author, though the arrangement is. Unless several persons have wrestled with an idea it is often not fundamental. The author has necessarily selected only a few researches to discuss out of the vast published repertoire, and so his selection has necessarily been arbitrary. Experts in each special field might agree on other studies as more important. Some of the author's statements may be wrong and his analysis ill advised. If so he would appreciate corrections—it is hard to cover such a wide range and still make no errors. The discussion of the processes of each subsystem ends with a number of examples of the variables of that subsystem which can be observed and measured. These variables make concrete the content of science at this level. They appear also to be common for a particular subsystem at multiple levels of living systems. Measurement of these variables, therefore, can be one way to determine whether cross-level formal identities exist. Throughout the text there are numerous references to cross-level hypotheses. These are mentioned for a similar purpose—to show that propositions possibly valid at other levels may also apply to societies. These hypotheses, numbered to indicate the section of the article to which they apply, appear on pages 366–368 of the article on the society. Many of them have been shown in other articles to be relevant to other levels of living systems as well. At each level there are scientists who apply systems theory in their investigations. They are system theorists but not necessarily general systems theorists. They are general systems theorists only if they accept the more daring and controversial position that—though every living system and every level is obviously unique—there are important formal identities of large generality across levels. These can potentially be evaluated quantitatively, applying the same model to data collected at two or more levels. This possibility is the chief reason why the author has used the same outline with identically numbered sections to analyze the present knowledge about each of the seven levels of living systems. The following survey of what is known about societies as systems, therefore, is to be read as a single segment of a larger, integrated whole.

Some mathematical remarks on the paradox of voting

Abstract: When a group of m individuals endeavours to choose a winner from a set of n alternatives by making all possible pairwise comparisons among the alternatives (using simple majority rule), there exists the possibility that no outright winner will emerge, e.g., a beats b, b beats c, c beats a. This phenomenon is called the paradox of voting, and it has been shown to have relevance in many contexts in the behavioural sciences. In the first part of this paper, we prove the conjecture that the paradox probability tends to unity as n ∞ for all m(m ≧ 3): however, this limit is seen to be attained very slowly when m is small. We also note that the paradox probability is exactly doubled when the number of alternatives increases from 3 to 4, irrespective of the value of m. This work is restricted to the conventional case of an impartial culture, wherein all alternatives are intrinsically equally favoured. In the second part, we give a simple yet accurate approximate formula for the paradox probability with n = 3 in a quite arbitrary culture, when the individual alternatives are not intrinsically equally favoured. The character of these results is discussed, and some specific examples are considered in detail.

A comparative analysis of group decision methods

Abstract: This paper examines some explicit social choice functions that are generalizations of the simple majority decision rule. Two different classes of such functions for choice from among two or more alternatives are summation procedures and completions of Condorcet's criterion (an alternative with a simple majority over each other alternative shall win). A condition of permuted dominance satisfies typical summation methods, and a reduction principle is consistent with the Condorcet criterion. The permuted dominance condition and the reduction principle are incompatible with one another. A summation method (Borda) and a Condorcet completion method (Copeland) were compared by computer simulation. With the number of voters varied from 3 to 21 and the number of alternatives varied from 3 to 9, about 90 percent of the 70,000 cases examined had a common winner for the two methods.

Some implications of conditioning theory for problems of drug abuse.

Abstract: Viewing the development of drug cults as a conditioning process, examples are given of specific effects of alcohol, barbiturates, opioids, amphetamines, cocaine, marihuana, LSD and other psychotomimetic drugs that can reinforce continued use of the drug in question through facilitation of specific patterns of behavior that serve to gratify specific biological and socio-culturally generated human needs. It is hypothesized that, through repeated temporal contiguity between such primary reinforcement and the performance of rituals prescribed by those who are already members of the drug cult, novitiates eventually learn to perceive the magical drug-effects defined by the cult and to experience them even without benefit of the drug when the rituals are performed (secondary reinforcement), thereby becoming a new, full-fledged member of the cult. It is suggested that the maintenance of secondarily reinforced behavior in the absence of further programmed reinforcement by the drug is a consequence of previous classical conditioning of primary drug effects and possibly, of interoceptive conditioning. Some therapeutic applications of conditioning theory are indicated, with special reference to the possible use of specific drug antagonists to facilitate extinction of drug-seeking behavior. Expansion of basic psychopharmacological research as well as of educational and social ameliorative efforts are stressed as desiderata for eventual control of the problem of drug abuse.

A programming language for on‐line control of psychological experiments

Abstract: A problem-oriented computer programming language has been developed for on-line sequence control of psychological experimentation. The language consists of nested blocks of simple English statements whose function is to produce an Automated Contingency Translator (ACT) which periodically samples and updates up to eight independent time-shared experimental environments. Experimental procedures are mapped by the ACT compiler from the English statements into a probabilistic finite state network in list structure format. An independent operating system then executes the list structure automata: that is, runs the experiments, records and retrieves data, and admits low priority background programs in any available idle time.

Games of status

Abstract: In a study intended to point toward possible applications of game-theoretic reasoning to sociological problems, mathematical models are used initially to examine the results of two-person nonconstant sum games in which a single value, status, is maximized, and subsequently to examine the results of multi-person games. The two-person, single-value-maximizing game quickly demonstrates behavior to be purely competitive. The multi-person game illustrates possibilities of coalition behavior, as demonstrated elsewhere in game theory, which includes the possibility of combinations against individual players, but the outcomes are highly sensitive to the values assigned to status factors, as in peck orders and potlatches. The relationship between games of status and simple games is examined also.

A feedback model for behavior: application to a rat experiment.

Abstract: Stimulus-response laws can be rendered trivial when environmental feedback exists from R to S. An input quantity (qi), defined as the actual environmental quantity or event that leads to a response, is a function of both the applied stimulus (S) and the feedback from the related ongoing behavior (R): qi = h(R, S). The observed behavior is dependent on actual input stimulation via the organism function: R = g(qi). Hence R = g(h(R, S)), and not R = g(S). Analysis of a shock-avoidance experiment done by Verhave illustrates a method for taking environmental feedback effects into account; the resulting model fitted to the behavior of one rat predicts the behavior of another rat in an altered experiment with an RMS error of less than one bar-press per minute. Graphical solutions to a range of possible functions g and h (as above) show why this type of experiment reveals more about the experimental apparatus than about the rats. When environmental feedback is significant (and negative) one must characterize the organism's actions as behavioral control of stimulation and not stimulus control of behavior.

Drugs alter web-building of spiders: A review and evaluation

Abstract: Twenty-two years of investigation of spider-web-building and its sensitivity to drugs has produced insight into this invertebrate behavior pattern and its vulnerability. Most data were collected by measuring and analyzing photographs of webs built under different circumstances; groups of web data were subjected to statistical comparisons. Another approach was through analysis of motion pictures of the construction of orbs, built with or without interference. Drugs (chlorpromazine, diazepam, psilocybin), as well as temperature and light conditions could prevent onset of web-building and pentobarbital sodium could cause end of radius construction before completion. D-amphetamine caused irregular radius and spiral spacing, but showed regular execution of probing movements; the severity of the disturbance in geometry corresponded to drug concentration in the body. Scopolamine caused wide deviation of spiral spacing distinctly different from amphetamine, while LSD-25 application resulted in unusually regular webs. Size of catching area, length of thread, density of structure, thread thickness, and web weight were varied in different ways through treatment with cholinergic and anticholinergic drugs, tranquilizers, etc. Glandular or central nervous system points of attack for drugs are identified, and disturbed webs regarded as the result of interference at any of several levels which contribute to the integrated pattern. Web-building as a biological test method for identification of pathogenic substances in patients' body fluids is evaluated.

A program of research on heredity in schizophrenia.

Abstract: For good and various reasons, though not compelling ones, American behavioral scientists have long shown a remarkable indifference to the possible role of heredity in the etiology of behavioral disorders. The reasons included: a healthy skepticism regarding the validity and reliability of assessing traditionally defined diagnostic categories, such as schizophrenia, manic-depressive psychosis, psychoneurosis, psychopathy, and others; the association offallacious, hereditary theories with the political ideology of the Nazis; the fact that genetic research has sometimes been linked to the suppression of black people; the repugnance to Americans of any theory that implied a genetic determination of behavior, even in part, in that it threatened to delimit our concept of personal freedom as well as our subjective or collective consciousness of such freedom; the fact that so-called genetic research has often been cavalier in its disregard of basic, accepted methodological practices, such as the use of a control group, or making assessments while blmd with respect to the relationship between a subject and the index case in a given study; the popular but mistaken belief that if a disorder had a genetic basis, it was ipso facto untreatable; the absorption of psychologist in psychodynamic explanations of psychopathology and in principles of learning left little room for an ego-alien notion such as genetics in their conceptualization of behavioral disorder; and the fact that none of the behavioral disorders followed any clear Mendelian distribution.

A note on probability matching and rational choice

Abstract: For two decades many scholars have considered the behavior of human subjects in two-choice noncontingent probability learning experiments as evidence that subjects' choices are not optimal in a decision theoretic sense. In this paper we argue that experimenters have made a crucial logical error in forming the sequences of events for the two-choice experiments. The probability of occurrence of each of two events is not constant over the sequence but instead varies considerably from trial to trial, in violation of noncontingency. This experimental procedure has at least three important consequences: (1) Most experimenters test the wrong hypothesis. (2) Subjects are justified in departing from a maximizing strategy at certain points in the schedule of events. (3) The gambler's fallacy is sometimes less a fallacy than an astute choice of strategy.

Prediction of anxiety and depression patterns among coronary patients using a markov process analysis

Abstract: A Markov process analysis was applied in a study of anxiety and depression patterns among 31 male patients with coronary heart disease and 46 healthy male controls. Anxiety and depression were measured at six- to eight-week intervals over a period of 15 months by the subjects' completion of shortened versions of the Bendig Anxiety and Welsh Depression subscales of the MMPI. The sequence of anxiety and depression states for each subject at each examination was used as input to the Markov analysis system. Patients had significantly higher anxiety scores over time than the controls. Patients under age 50 showed a fivefold greater incidence of anxiety and a higher degree of retention of high anxiety over time than controls in the same age group. The anxiety level of controls was low irrespective of age. While depression was a more persistent state among patients than controls, it was not found to be age-related among either patients or controls. The implication of these findings in planning strategies of therapeutic intervention to circumvent the cumulative effects of anxiety and depression is discussed.

Biochemical factors in anxiety neurosis

Abstract: This selective review delineates the history of the development of the concept of anxiety neurosis and details the clinical picture and natural history of the disorder. Many studies of physiological and biochemical differences between anxiety neurotics are briefly reviewed. The production of anxiety attacks in susceptible individuals with the infusion of β-adrenergic agonists (isoproterenol, epinephrine) and the end-product of their activation of the anaerobic glycolytic pathway (lactate) is covered in detail, with emphasis on the evidence for this phenomenon. The prevention of such episodes by calcium ion and β-adrenergic blockade by propranolol is discussed. The challenging prospects for the future clarification of the chemical mechanism of expression of anxiety symptoms (and attacks), as well as the future of chemotherapy of anxiety, is examined.

Hearing and the neural detection of acoustic patterns.

Abstract: The neurophysiology of perception is discussed in terms of hearing and its role in adaptive behavior. The complexity which characterizes sounds of biological significance is contrasted with the emphasis on simple stimuli in the historical development of hearing theories and auditory neurophysiology. The auditory pathway is compared with the visual pathway for the purpose of deriving relationships between its information-processing task and its neurophysiological organization. Two concepts of the acoustic message are contrasted in relation to the question of how sound inputs are able to influence behavior.

An exponential discrepancy model for attitude evaluation

Abstract: A model based on an exponential decay function is formulated to deal with evaluation based on discrepancy. This evaluation concerns discrepancy based on attitudes and specifically hypothesizes that as discrepancy from one’s ideal point increases, evaluation of a multidimensional stimulus object will decrease. The model is applied to experimental data dealing with the evaluation of political candidates and is found to give a good fit for the obtained data. In addition, the parameters of the model are shown to be related to the intensity of an attitude, and it is further shown that the results could be interpreted in terms of the psychological concepts of latitudes of acceptance, rejection, and noncommitment.

Surfeit of attractive information inputs: a hallmark of our environment.

Abstract: A set of principles are presented relating to the effects of a salient feature of the social environment prevalent in affluent, industrial societies. It is proposed that such societies provide their members with a surfeit or overload of attractive information inputs. Such inputs arouse appetitive responses and approach tendencies in the recipients. One consequence of this is that many persons suffer from a high degree of psychological conflict among incompatible alternative options. Such conflict may be psychologically stressful and provoke coping strategies to reduce the intensity of ensuing unpleasant feelings and frustration. The psychosocial effects of both the stimulus surfeit per se, the resulting conflicts and failure of their successful resolution are serious and widespread. It is postulated that these consequences are most far-reaching for contemporary youth and contribute to the alienation, unrest, and confusion which is common among them. This conclusion calls into question the capacity of the affluent society to survive the psychosocial complications of its own making.

The physiology of dreaming.

Abstract: This is a critical examination of present evidence concerning the physiological basis of dreaming. First reviewing accumulated knowledge about the rapid eye movement (REM) state, it emphasizes hazards of inference across species from the highly revealing neuro-physiological observations possible in lower animals to the only available source of information about the subjective experience of dreaming, i.e., human introspection. That gulf might be narrowed if more of the same findings obtained in laboratory cats could be extended to higher primates, where the surface manifestations of REM are almost indistinguishable from those of humans. The discussion next elaborates the complex chain of inference involved in any psychophysiological hypothesis about dreaming even within the realm of human studies. Considering the inherent limitations of applicable methods, physiological understanding of dreaming can only be presumptive. Despite so many uncertainties, the conclusion is drawn that the unique bodily condition of the REM state probably is a necessary physical basis for dreaming while by no means is it sufficient explanation.

Voting on issues and on platforms

Abstract: If a social decision has to be made regarding a number of independent issues, then it makes a crucial difference if the issues are voted on singly or jointly. It is shown that the platform that takes on each issue the least preferred alternative may be Pareto superior, i.e. preferred by every voter, to the platform which takes the most popular alternative on each issue. Some normative implications of these results are explored.

Minimal requirements for a biobehavioral paradigm

Abstract: Following Landau's suggestion as to due process of inquiry, this paper attempts to integrate several domains of inquiry generally considered separate on the basis of Ross Ashby's model of the ultrastable system. Following the elucidation of the model, various researches in evolutionary biology, neurophysiology, psychological learning theory, and dyadic and small group transactions in psychotherapy are examined. It is suggested that they may all be considered in terms of Ashby's model, and that the model, being hierarchical in structure, may be extended in both directions to problems both macroscopic and microscopic to those discussed, so as to constitute the beginnings of a general systemic paradigm.

The new Puritans: Achievement and power motives of New Left radicals.

Abstract: A pilot study of full-time radical activists and matched controls shows that radical males are higher in achievement motivation and lower in power motivation than controls, while radical females are higher in achievement and affiliation motivation than controls. A subsequent nonreactive study of male undergraduates who participated in occupation of a university office as compared with those who did not and those who opposed the occupation confirms the pilot study results for power motivation and gives some support to the results for achievement motivation. These data support previous observations about many radical activists and their family backgrounds, and suggest new interpretations and hypotheses about the role of dissent in history.

Reliability of recording instructions: Multivariate agreement for nominal data

Abstract: A method is proposed for evaluating the reliability of the details of such recording instructions as may be given to coders in content analysis or to observers of social interaction. The method is applicable to situations in which (1) the data to be generated are nominal, (2) the number of coders or observers are variable during the process, and (3) the instructions specify a multilevel decision process. The chief aim of the analysis is to detect and evaluate sources of unreliability in complex recording instructions and to predict by computational means the reliability of data when parts of a recording instruction are deleted. In contrast to other aims of data quality control, the term instruction reliability is used to designate the results. The method provides several coefficients and an accounting scheme for amount of disagreement. The power of the method is demonstrated by a computational example, and the relation of the proposed measures to other known reliability coefficients is discussed.

A study of a large sociogram III. Reciprocal choice probabilities as a measure of social distance

Abstract: The reciprocation of friendship choices as revealed in a sociogram may be used to describe the social distance between persons in a large group. The probability of reciprocation is shown to be the result of a sequential choice process in which the best friend is chosen first, then second best, and so on, with the probability decreasing linearly with decreasing rank. The model derived from this process completely specifies the entire 8 by 8 matrix of reciprocations to the eighth friend level.

A comparison of performances of danish and american students in a “threat game”

Abstract: Two experiments comparing the strategy choice behavior of American and Danish male college students were conducted. In the first experiment bona fide pairs of American and Danish subjects played repeated trials of a variety of 2 × 2 nonzero sum threat games. The results of this first study indicated a number of differences between the two populations in terms of their use of and response to threats. The general pattern of results seemed to support the conjecture that, in the underdog role of the game, Danes are more submissive than Americans. In the top dog role of the game Americans are somewhat more fair than Danes. In the second experiment, 60 Americans and 60 Danish subjects played repeated trials of a variety of threat games against a programmed stooge opponent. Several different stooge strategies were employed so as to systematically vary the behavior of the other. A number of systematic differences between the American and Danish players emerged in terms of their responses to the different stooge strategies. These differences between Americans and Danes playing against the stooge player were consistent with those observed in the bona fide pairs.

Multiple channel direct digital recording of EEG data.

Abstract: A system is described for recording EEG or other psychophysiological data directly on digital computer tape at the time of data acquisition. This system has been designed to study the time-amplitude relationships of signals from the various brain areas through analyses of Fourier transform, coherence, and phase angle.

Computer Simulation of Small Group Decisions: Model Three.

Abstract: In a test of three computer models to simulate group decisions, data were used from 31 American and Austrian groups on a total of 307 trials. The task for each group was to predict a series of answers of an unknown subject on a value-orientation questionnaire after being given a sample of his typical responses. The first model which used the mean of the individual opinions as a simulation of the group judgment simulated exactly over half of the trials. The simulation was improved in Model Two, which also used the mean, when individuals' opinions were weighted according to their total participation in the discussion and “learning” was added. This was especially true when the cutting points were changed so that the mean would represent more extreme opinions. The best simulation occurred with Model Three which used the median of the individual opinions as a simulation of the group decisions. Using this model, over 75 percent of the trials were accurately simulated.

Cooperative and competitive price bidding in a duopoly game

Abstract: Nine dyads played 20 trials of a duopoly price bidding game. On each trial Ss submitted bids and received information about their own profits and the other's bid. Both Ss had identical cost and revenue functions and the payoff relation between dyad members was symmetrical. Over 60 percent of the price bids in the game were at or below the zero profit point and only 12 percent of the bids were at the cooperative maximally profitable price. Structurally and empirically the game had characteristics similar to the mixed motive Prisoner's Dilemma. Although Ss followed a strategy recommended by economic theory, the dilemma characteristics forced Ss to carry the strategy into the bid region below the lower limit suggested by economic considerations. Directions of bid shifts were strongly influenced by relative position (high or low bidder) on the previous trial and by both the player's own previous bid and the other's previous bid. Bids tended to shift gradually to the next higher or lower bid or were maintained and responses to other's previous bid showed a similar pattern. Ss in dyads who won more or lost less money than their partners chose lower bids and responded differently to bids than did the other dyad member. Bidding was used as a signalling channel to the other subject to overcome the lack of overt communication between dyad members.

A Language Pattern Co-Occurring with Violence-Permissiveness.

Abstract: This paper describes a cross-cultural study comparing features of grammatical structure and features of social structure. The linguistic variable is the degree to which subject pronouns are pre-posed to predicating elements. The cultural variable is the relative amount of legal control of homicide. It was hypothesized that in a society providing a greater degree of personal protection to its members, individuals will have a relatively greater sense of personal security, and this attitude may be expressed in the associated language by a greater emphasis on self (i.e., pre-posing subject pronouns more than post-posing them). Arguments from anthropology, linguistics, and information theory are given to support the possibility of a correlation between these variables. To test the hypothesis, data was collected on 60 world cultures and the associated languages. The two variables were separately rated on scales of one to ten. These ratings were subjected to a correlation coefficient test.