Showing papers in "Systems Research and Behavioral Science in 1992"

A cognitive-systemic reconstruction of Maslow's theory of self-actualization

Abstract: Maslow's need hierarchy and model of the self-actualizing personality are reviewed and criticized. The definition of self-actualization is found to be confusing, and the gratification of all needs is concluded to be insufficient to explain self-actualization. Therefore the theory is reconstructed on the basis of a second-order, cognitive-systemic framework. A hierarchy of basic needs is derived from the urgency of perturbations which an autonomous system must compensate in order to maintain its identity. It comprises the needs for homeostasis, safety, protection, feedback and exploration. Self-actualization is redefined as the perceived competence to satisfy these basic needs in due time. This competence has three components: material, cognitive and subjective. Material and/or cognitive incompetence during childhood create subjective incompetence, which in turn inhibits the further development of cognitive competence, and thus of self-actualization.

Greater than the sum of its parts, I: subsystems which process both matter-energy and information

Abstract: Behavioral science theory has changed greatly since 1978, when Miller's Living Systems was published. Much of the change represents progress, particularly in the biological fields. During that time, living systems theory (LST) developed in many ways. Among the most significant developments have been the addition of another level, the community, to the seven levels previously included in LST and the addition of another subsystem, the timer, to become the 20th subsystem. The present article is the first of three to be published in this journal which describe relatively briefly and simply the current state of scientific knowledge about the subsystems of living systems. It deals with the two subsystems in LST that process both matter-energy and information, the reproducer and the boundary.

After two centuries, should condorcet's voting procedure be implemented?

Abstract: This paper focuses on decision-making by voting in systems at all levels: the grass-root organization, the community, the nation and the international system. It examines several possible reasone why Condorcet's rule for electing m out of n candidates (where 1 ≤ m < n and n ≥ 3) has hitherto not been implemented in any public elections, despite the fact that this rule was proposed over 200 years ago and is recognized in the social-choice literature as superior to all other known majoritarian voting procedures, in terms of the normative criteria used for evaluating such procedures. It is argued that although some of the objections to implementing Condorcet's proposal may have been valid in the past, none seems to be valid any longer. In connection with one of these objections — the possible existence of cycles in the social preference ordering — we describe three solutions that refine Condorcet's original proposal. A call is made for the actual implementation of Condorcet-type procedures.

Cyclicity of vocal activity increases during conversation: support for a nonlinear systems model of dyadic social interaction

Abstract: Chapple's model of dyadic face-to-face social interaction describes how conversation partners develop mutually entrained activity cycles over time. Past applications of frequency domain analysis to noncontent vocal activity in adult conversations document that vocal activity and other behavioral and physiological processes do tend to vary cyclically during social interaction, as Chapple's theory predicts. However, the observed cycles in amount of talk are irregular, and it has been suggested that they represent only a stochastic variation rather than the operation of deterministic mechanisms. The present study demonstrates that cyclicity in amount of talk increases over time as a conversation progresses, possibly because of mutual entrainment between partner activity rhythms. Periodogram analysis of 83 conversations in opposite sex adult stranger dyads indicated that the average percent of variance due to cyclicity increased from 37% in the first ten minutes to 42% in the last ten minutes of forty-minute get-acquainted conversations; this increase was statistically significant, p < .05. No gender differences in cyclicity were found. Results were interpreted as support for Chapple's nonlinear systems model of social interaction, which describes dyadic social interaction as a loosely coupled ensemble of physiological and behavioral rhythms.

Normative properties of four single-stage multi-winner electoral procedures

Abstract: This article focuses on decision-making by voting in systems at the levels of the organization, the community, the society, and the international system. It examines the compatibility of four voting procedures (plurality, approval voting, Borda's count, and Hare's single transferable vote) with ten normative properties commonly used to evaluate the desirability of voting procedures by social choice theorists. The analysis alternately assumes that one candidate, as well as more than one candidate, must be elected under each of the procedures. It thus extends previous analyses of the same issues which were mainly restricted to situations where only a single candidate must be elected. We show that: (i) under all four procedures, if a property is violated when only a single candidate must be elected it is also violated when more than one candidate must be elected; (ii) all properties that are satisfied under the AV procedure when a single candidate must be elected are also satisfied when more than one candidate must be elected; (iii) at least one property that is satisfied under each of the remaining three procedures when only a single candidate must be elected, may be violated when the number of available slots is larger than one. Theoretical issues and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

A mathematical model for attitude formation by pair interactions

Abstract: Two complementary mathematical models for attitude formation are considered: Starting from the model of Weidlich and Haag (1983), which assumes indirect interactions that are mediated by a mean field, a new model is proposed, which is characterized by direct pair interactions. Three types of pair interactions leading to attitude changes can be found: First, changes by some kind of avoidance behavior. Second, changes by a readiness for compromises. Third, changes by persuasion. Different types of behavior are distinguished by introducing several subpopulations. Representative solutions of the model are illustrated by computational results.

The thermodynamics of psychotherapeutic communication

Abstract: Given five quantified measures of emotional communication within a psychotherapy session and definitions of work, force and temperature drawn from classical physics, this paper presents calculations of patient and therapist entropy using both the traditional, caloric definition and Shannon's definition, grounded in the work of Boltzmann. Our results depend on the assumption that the patient/therapist system is closed and non-dissipative. We present models for reversible heat absorption and frictional heat dissipation — within the system — which have meaning in emotional communication and psychotherapy. Both calculations of entropy produced a lawful dependence on ln(1 + t), where t is time into the session in seconds. The two calculations are essentially the same, verifying in the behavioral domain a law of physics held to be true of material nature. We also verify empirically that the limiting form of the caloric entropy for a purely silent therapist replicates the Shannon entropy for an individual in a monologue. The force field that moves the representations of patient and therapist in 5-dimensional space defines an irreversible process. Thus there are moments of disequilibrium change with respect to the measured variables of emotional communication and at least one moment of disequilibrium between every return to a prior state. This moment may be creative or traumatic. The force field is non-conservative, implying the existence of modalities of heat absorption for patient and therapist which may relate to individual characteristics and reflect human psychological variety. The force field constrains motion to an ellipsoidal shell whose geometry explains the logarithmic growth of Shannon entropy and the finding that the system's absolute temperature grows linearly with respect to time. The finding that the models and methods of physics reveal a degree of lawfulness in the mental/communicative domain as compared to the material speaks strongly for the isomorphic qualities of divergent levels of nature.

Dysfunctional conglomerates: an explanation provided by linking ontological individualism to social relationships within an open systems context

Abstract: The arguments presented in this paper regarding the widespread failure of the most recent American experiment with conglomeration link psychoanalytic, sociological, and open systems literature. Executive decision-making is proposed to affect social relationships within an organization and between the open systems organization and other organizations in its environment. Specifically, dysfunctionality on the individual living systems level (on the executive level) is postulated to create dysfunctional relational patterns that can be generalized across a hierarchy of nonliving organizational systems that, in turn, contain living systems. An understanding of Laing's (1959) description of a schizoid process for individuals guides our construction of a dynamic model of dysfunctional organizational states (MODOS, Figure 1). The MODOS depicts unsuccessful conglomerate organizations as dysfunctional nonliving relational systems with tendencies toward pro-entropic, systemic deterioration.

Neural network formalization of the Hungarian party-state system

Abstract: A description of the decision-making structure of the Hungarian Party-state system, based on empirical studies, is offered. The structure is divided into three parts: the formal hierarchies, the interlinking threads, and the feedback connections. The working mechanism, the sources of cohesion, and the maintenance of the system are explained. The working mechanism of the structure reveals pattern-recognition-type decision making and close similarity to the adaptive resonance theory (ART) of competitive learning. The observed analogy is followed throughout the structure. Based on the ART model, we offer a mathematical description of the properties of the structure that could, in principle, be quantified if the model parameters were to be determined by further empirical studies. Properties of the structure are qualitatively analyzed with the help of this mathematical model. The self-similar or fractal property of the structure makes it possible to analyze some features of other Party-state systems.

Toward a new paradigm for marketing: the evolutionary exchange paradigm

Abstract: The paper presents a platform for marketing theory development and programmatic research. This platform fits marketing into a universal and evolutionary exchange paradigm that integrates human exchange with that of other living and nonliving systems. Importantly, it is shown how marketing exchange is itself a part of evolving exchange systems that are commonly discussed in the natural sciences. It is proposed that exchange systems, at all levels, evolve as part of a definable pattern. The integration of marketing exchange with exchange in all natural systems may afford a means for enhancing both the study and practice of marketing.

Information technology and social change: An evolutionary systems analysis

Abstract: It is known that technology plays a major role in catalyzing change in contemporary societies, but current empirical studies do not clearly elucidate the generic role of technology as a social change agent This study seeks clarification by adopting an evolutionary systems perspective in light of which societies are complex and open dynamical systems in constant interaction with other societies as well as their natural environment Technology is an indigenous factor shaping this interaction and prompting modification in societal structures Information technology, in rapid development for the past hundred years and in explosive evolution during the last decade, constitutes a variety of technological innovation that specifies as well as intensifies the historical impact of the operative technologies on the societal structures exposed to them

Microstructures and organizational patterns in the evolution of firms

Abstract: The development of two Hayekian concepts as heuristic principles is presented as an exploration of relations between technological processes and firms' organizational systems. This is done by analyzing, within the decisional processes of the economic unit, the forms of technical-organizational configuration that firms must have in order to produce satisfactory performances as to the control and management of input and output flows (materials and information), which originated from technical-economic contexts subject to more or less accelerated transformations. The results, reached through developing the reflections set out subsequently, are as follows: 1) from a theoretical and abstract viewpoint, there exist at least two types of technical-information configuration which firms can adopt; 2) the evolutionary processes of the configuration towards two general patterns may be founded in theory (“explanation of principle”.)

LST general research hypotheses

Abstract: One way to apply living systems theory (LST) to traditional disciplines and specific empirical studies is by testing hypotheses derived from LST. This article discusses the process of deriving testable specific hypotheses from the LST conceptual framework and illustrates that process with the development of actual testable hypotheses that concern accounting information systems of organizations.

How to affect effectively undesirable effects

Abstract: This paper presents an attempt to formulate universal, context-free normative rules for selecting remedies for undesirable events like diseases, malfunctions, conflicts etc. A formal model meant to compare remedies in view of a number of properties of the effect, the causes, and the remedies, is developed. Several conclusions that do not depend on assessments of costs and probabilities are derived. Two of them are incompatible with two myths of everyday thinking: (a) that preventing is better than curing, (b) that it is best to strike at the root of an evil.