Connectionist Models of Social Reasoning and Social Behavior

Connectionist Models of Social Reasoning and Social Behavior
Author: Stephen John Read
Publisher: Psychology Press
Total Pages: 404
Release: 2014-01-14
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 1317716957

Although neural network models have had a dramatic impact on the cognitive and brain sciences, social psychology has remained largely unaffected by this intellectual explosion. The first to apply neural network models to social phenomena, this book includes chapters by nearly all of the individuals currently working in this area. Bringing these various approaches together in one place, it allows readers to appreciate the breadth of these approaches, as well as the theoretical commonality of many of these models. The contributors address a number of central issues in social psychology and show how these kinds of models provide insight into many classic issues. Many chapters hint that this approach provides the seeds of a theoretical integration that the field has lacked. Each chapter discusses an explicit connectionist model of a central problem in social psychology. Since many of the contributors either use a standard architecture or provide a computer program, interested readers, with a little work, should be able to implement their own variations of models. Chapters are devoted to the following topics and models: * the learning and application of social categories and stereotypes; * causal reasoning, social explanation, and person perception; * personality and social behavior; * classic dissonance phenomena; and * belief change and the coherence of large scale belief systems.

Connectionist Models of Social Reasoning and Social Behavior

Connectionist Models of Social Reasoning and Social Behavior
Author: Stephen John Read
Publisher: Psychology Press
Total Pages: 397
Release: 2014-01-14
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 1317716965

Although neural network models have had a dramatic impact on the cognitive and brain sciences, social psychology has remained largely unaffected by this intellectual explosion. The first to apply neural network models to social phenomena, this book includes chapters by nearly all of the individuals currently working in this area. Bringing these various approaches together in one place, it allows readers to appreciate the breadth of these approaches, as well as the theoretical commonality of many of these models. The contributors address a number of central issues in social psychology and show how these kinds of models provide insight into many classic issues. Many chapters hint that this approach provides the seeds of a theoretical integration that the field has lacked. Each chapter discusses an explicit connectionist model of a central problem in social psychology. Since many of the contributors either use a standard architecture or provide a computer program, interested readers, with a little work, should be able to implement their own variations of models. Chapters are devoted to the following topics and models: * the learning and application of social categories and stereotypes; * causal reasoning, social explanation, and person perception; * personality and social behavior; * classic dissonance phenomena; and * belief change and the coherence of large scale belief systems.

Computational Social Psychology

Computational Social Psychology
Author: Robin R. Vallacher
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 382
Release: 2017-05-25
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 1351701681

Computational Social Psychology showcases a new approach to social psychology that enables theorists and researchers to specify social psychological processes in terms of formal rules that can be implemented and tested using the power of high speed computing technology and sophisticated software. This approach allows for previously infeasible investigations of the multi-dimensional nature of human experience as it unfolds in accordance with different temporal patterns on different timescales. In effect, the computational approach represents a rediscovery of the themes and ambitions that launched the field over a century ago. The book brings together social psychologists with varying topical interests who are taking the lead in this redirection of the field. Many present formal models that are implemented in computer simulations to test basic assumptions and investigate the emergence of higher-order properties; others develop models to fit the real-time evolution of people’s inner states, overt behavior, and social interactions. Collectively, the contributions illustrate how the methods and tools of the computational approach can investigate, and transform, the diverse landscape of social psychology.

Cognitive Consistency

Cognitive Consistency
Author: Bertram Gawronski
Publisher: Guilford Press
Total Pages: 514
Release: 2012-01-27
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 1609189485

This volume provides an overview of recent research on the nature, causes, and consequences of cognitive consistency. In 21 chapters, leading scholars address the pivotal role of consistency principles at various levels of social information processing, ranging from micro-level to macro-level processes. The book's scope encompasses mental representation, processing fluency and motivational fit, implicit social cognition, thinking and reasoning, decision making and choice, and interpersonal processes. Key findings, emerging themes, and current directions in the field are explored, and important questions for future research identified.

Social Psychology, Second Edition

Social Psychology, Second Edition
Author: Arie W. Kruglanski
Publisher: Guilford Publications
Total Pages: 1026
Release: 2013-10-21
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 1462514863

This book has been replaced by Social Psychology, Third Edition, ISBN 978-1-4625-4398-4.

Proceedings of the Twenty-second Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society

Proceedings of the Twenty-second Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society
Author: Lila R. Gleitman
Publisher: Psychology Press
Total Pages: 1108
Release: 2000
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9780805838794

Vol inclu all ppers & postrs presntd at 2000 Cog Sci mtg & summaries of symposia & invitd addresses. Dealg wth issues of representg & modelg cog procsses, appeals to scholars in all subdiscip tht comprise cog sci: psy, compu sci, neuro sci, ling, & philo

Attracted to Conflict: Dynamic Foundations of Destructive Social Relations

Attracted to Conflict: Dynamic Foundations of Destructive Social Relations
Author: Robin R. Vallacher
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 250
Release: 2014-07-08
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 3642352804

Conflict is inherent in virtually every aspect of human relations, from sport to parliamentary democracy, from fashion in the arts to paradigmatic challenges in the sciences, and from economic activity to intimate relationships. Yet, it can become among the most serious social problems humans face when it loses its constructive features and becomes protracted over time with no obvious means of resolution. This book addresses the subject of intractable social conflict from a new vantage point. Here, these types of conflict represent self-organizing phenomena, emerging quite naturally from the ongoing dynamics in human interaction at any scale—from the interpersonal to the international. Using the universal language and computational framework of nonlinear dynamical systems theory in combination with recent insights from social psychology, intractable conflict is understood as a system locked in special attractor states that constrain the thoughts and actions of the parties to the conflict. The emergence and maintenance of attractors for conflict can be described by means of formal models that incorporate the results of computer simulations, experiments, field research, and archival analyses. Multi-disciplinary research reflecting these approaches provides encouraging support for the dynamical systems perspective. Importantly, this text presents new views on conflict resolution. In contrast to traditional approaches that tend to focus on basic, short-lived cause-effect relations, the dynamical perspective emphasizes the temporal patterns and potential for emergence in destructive relations. Attractor deconstruction entails restoring complexity to a conflict scenario by isolating elements or changing the feedback loops among them. The creation of a latent attractor trades on the tendency toward multi-stability in dynamical systems and entails the consolidation of incongruent (positive) elements into a coherent structure. In the bifurcation scenario, factors are identified that can change the number and types of attractors in a conflict scenario. The implementation of these strategies may hold the key to unlocking intractable conflict, creating the potential for constructive social relations.

Handbook of Cultural Psychology

Handbook of Cultural Psychology
Author: Shinobu Kitayama
Publisher: Guilford Press
Total Pages: 913
Release: 2010-01-01
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 1606236113

Bringing together leading authorities, this definitive handbook provides a comprehensive review of the field of cultural psychology. Major theoretical perspectives are explained, and methodological issues and challenges are discussed. The volume examines how topics fundamental to psychology?identity and social relations, the self, cognition, emotion and motivation, and development?are influenced by cultural meanings and practices. It also presents cutting-edge work on the psychological and evolutionary underpinnings of cultural stability and change. In all, more than 60 contributors have written over 30 chapters covering such diverse areas as food, love, religion, intelligence, language, attachment, narratives, and work.

Simulating Prehistoric and Ancient Worlds

Simulating Prehistoric and Ancient Worlds
Author: Juan A. Barceló
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 405
Release: 2016-10-20
Genre: Computers
ISBN: 3319314815

This book presents a unique selection of fully reviewed, extended papers originally presented at the Social Simulation Conference 2014 in Barcelona, Spain. Only papers on the simulation of historical processes have been selected, the aim being to present theories and methods of computer simulation that can be relevant to understanding the past. Applications range from the Paleolithic and the origins of social life up to the Roman Empire and Early Modern societies. Case studies from Europe, America, Africa and Asia have been selected for publication. The extensive introduction offers a thorough review of the computer simulation of social dynamics in past societies as a means of understanding human history. This book will be of great interest to researchers in the social sciences, archaeology, evolutionary anthropology, and social history.