Dynamical Systems in Social Psychology

Dynamical Systems in Social Psychology
Author: Robin R. Vallacher
Publisher: Academic Press
Total Pages: 338
Release: 1994-01-11
Genre: Medical
ISBN:

A dynamical system refers to a set of elements that interact in complex, often nonlinear ways to form coherent patterns. Because of the complexity of these interactions, the system as a whole may evolve over time in seemingly unpredictable ways as new patterns of behavior emerge. This metatheory has proven useful in understanding diverse phenomena in meteorology, population biology, statistical mechanics, economics, and cosmology. The book demonstrates how the dynamical systems perspective can be applied to theory construction and research in social psychology, and in doing so, provides fresh insight into such complex phenomena as interpersonal behavior, social relations, attitudes, and social cognition.

Chaos And Complexity

Chaos And Complexity
Author: Michael R. Butz
Publisher: CRC Press
Total Pages: 312
Release: 2018-05-11
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 1351461869

The nature of this book is to emphasize the inherent complexity and richness of the human experience of change. Now, the author believes there to be an acceptable "scientific" explanation for this phenomona. Explored here are 30 years of studies to describe nonlinear dynamics, today termed either chaos theory or complexity theory. The connotations of both theories are discussed at length. Offering social scientists validation in their attempts to describe and define phenomona of a previously ineffable nature, this book explores chaos' implications for psychology and the social sciences. It describes the benefits psychology can glean from using ideas in chaos theory and applying them to psychology in general, individual psycho-therapy, couples therapy, and community psychology, and also considers possible directions for research and application.

Chaos in Discrete Dynamical Systems

Chaos in Discrete Dynamical Systems
Author: Ralph Abraham
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 282
Release: 1997
Genre: Computers
ISBN: 9780387943008

Chaos Theory is a synonym for dynamical systems theory, a branch of mathematics. Dynamical systems come in three flavors: flows (continuous dynamical systems), cascades (discrete, reversible, dynamical systems), and semi-cascades (discrete, irreversible, dynamical systems). Flows and semi-cascades are the classical systems iuntroduced by Poincare a centry ago, and are the subject of the extensively illustrated book: "Dynamics: The Geometry of Behavior," Addison-Wesley 1992 authored by Ralph Abraham and Shaw. Semi- cascades, also know as iterated function systems, are a recent innovation, and have been well-studied only in one dimension (the simplest case) since about 1950. The two-dimensional case is the current frontier of research. And from the computer graphcis of the leading researcher come astonishing views of the new landscape, such as the Julia and Mandelbrot sets in the beautiful books by Heinz-Otto Peigen and his co-workers. Now, the new theory of critical curves developed by Mira and his students and Toulouse provide a unique opportunity to explain the basic concepts of the theory of chaos and bifurcations for discete dynamical systems in two-dimensions. The materials in the book and on the accompanying disc are not solely developed only with the researcher and professional in mind, but also with consideration for the student. The book is replete with some 100 computer graphics to illustrate the material, and the CD-ROM contains full-color animations that are tied directly into the subject matter of the book, itself. In addition, much of this material has also been class-tested by the authors. The cross-platform CD also contains a software program called ENDO, which enables users to create their own 2-D imagery with X-Windows. Maple scripts are provided which give the reader the option of working directly with the code from which the graphcs in the book were

Qualitative Theory of Dynamical Systems, Tools and Applications for Economic Modelling

Qualitative Theory of Dynamical Systems, Tools and Applications for Economic Modelling
Author: Gian Italo Bischi
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 338
Release: 2016-06-02
Genre: Science
ISBN: 3319332767

The book presents the lectures delivered during a short course held at Urbino University in summer 2015 on qualitative theory of dynamical systems, included in the activities of the COST Action IS1104 “The EU in the new economic complex geography: models, tools and policy evaluation”. It provides a basic introduction to dynamical systems and optimal control both in continuous and discrete time, as well as some numerical methods and applications in economic modelling. Economic and social systems are intrinsically dynamic, characterized by interdependence, nonlinearity and complexity, and these features can only be approached using a qualitative analysis based on the study of invariant sets (equilibrium points, limit cycles and more complex attractors, together with the boundaries of their basins of attraction), which requires a trade-off between analytical, geometrical and numerical methods. Even though the early steps of the qualitative theory of dynamical systems have been in continuous time models, in economic and social modelling discrete time is often used to describe event-driven (often decision-driven) evolving systems. The book is written for Ph.D. and master’s students, post-doctoral fellows, and researchers in economics or sociology, and it only assumes a basic knowledge of calculus. However it also suggests some more advanced topics.

Integrated Developmental and Life-course Theories of Offending

Integrated Developmental and Life-course Theories of Offending
Author: David P. Farrington
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 281
Release: 2017-07-05
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1351512234

Developmental and life-course criminology aims to provide information about how offending and antisocial behavior develops, about risk and protective factors at different ages, and about the effects of life events on the course of development. This volume advances knowledge about these theories of offender behavior, many of which have been formulated only in the last twenty years. It also integrates knowledge about individual, family, peer, school, neighborhood, community, and situational influences on offender behavior, and combines key elements of earlier theories such as strain, social learning, differential association, and control theory.Contributors Benjamin B. Lahey and Irwin D. Waldman focus on antisocial propensity and the importance of biological and individual factors. Alex R. Piquero and Terrie E. Moffitt distinguish between life-course-persistent and adolescent-limited offenders. David P. Farrington presents the Integrated Cognitive Antisocial Potential (ICAP) theory, which distinguishes between long-term and short-term influences on antisocial potential. Richard F. Catalano, J. David Hawkins, and their colleagues test the Social Development Model (SDM).Marc Le Blanc proposes an integrated multi-layered control theory, in which criminal behavior depends on bonding to society, psychological development, modeling, and constraints. Robert J. Sampson and John H. Laub hypothesize that offending is inhibited by the strength of bonding to family, peers, schools, and later adult social institutions such as marriage and jobs. Terence P. Thornberry and Marvin D. Krohn propose an interactional theory, of antisocial behavior. Per-Olof H. Witkstrom's developmental ecological action theory emphasizes the importance of situational factors: opportunities cause temptation, friction produces provocation, and monitoring and the risk of sanctions have deterrent effects.

Psychological Jurisprudence

Psychological Jurisprudence
Author: Bruce A. Arrigo
Publisher: State University of New York Press
Total Pages: 252
Release: 2012-02-01
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0791484734

Psychological jurisprudence—or the use of psychology in the legal realm—relies on theories and methods of criminal justice and mental health to make decisions about intervention, policy, and programming. While the intentions behind the law-psychology field are humane, the results often are not. This book provides a "radical" agenda for psychological jurisprudence, one that relies on the insights of literary criticism, psychoanalysis, feminist theory, political economy analysis, postmodernism, and related strains of critical thought. Contributors reveal the roots of psycholegal logic and demonstrate how citizen justice and structural reform are displaced by so-called science and facts. A number of complex issues in the law-psychology field are addressed, including forensic mental health decision-making, parricide, competency to stand trial, adolescent identity development, penal punitiveness, and offender rehabilitation. In exploring how the current resolution to these and related controversies fail to promote the dignity or empowerment of persons with mental illness, this book suggests how the law-psychology field can meaningfully contribute to advancing the goals of justice and humanism in psycholegal theory, research, and policy.