Social Gestalt Research Articles

Grasping the Situation: analyzing how situational dynamics shape agency.

Despite the intimacy between the situation and our agency, "situation" remains an ambiguous concept in theory. Even within the context of situated theories of cognition and agency that take the organism-environment system as central in their investigations, the notion of "situation" has been undertheorized. Yet, whether affordances are relevant depends on the situation. Therefore, Van Dijk and Rietveld argue that we must understand the practical situation in which behavior occurs in order to know how we respond to the affordances that the materials and other people offer. Taking John Dewey's notion of "situation" as the basis for investigation, I follow Shaun Gallagher's analysis of how we are not just part of a situation, but we understand what an action is only in relation to a situation. Situations act like large-scale affordances, but this does not mean that affordances are inviting or soliciting as such. Because of the situational transactions with the environment that an agent has, the environment pushes and pulls the agent from and toward certain actions. This means that environments have expressive qualitative features that are non-subjective emotional qualities and social gestalt. I propose four overlapping but distinct features or axes of analysis of situations that can be identified and analyzed in terms of how they shape our agency: complexity, determinedness, the establishment of expectations, and restrictiveness. Situations can be more or less complex in a spatial, temporal, or layered way. They can also be more or less determined, meaning that the agent's actions are more or less obvious. Third, they can be characterized as socially established, meaning that certain behavior is expected. Finally, situations are more or less restricted, denoting the number of activities available to an agent.

The Shitposting of Jazz to Come: Virtual Communities, Internetworks, and the Dank Jazz Meme

ABSTRACT This article is a virtual ethnography of an online community of jazz fans and musicians that engage in the consumption and dissemination of internet memes about jazz. It argues that internet memes are not, or are not merely, trivial funny images shared online – that memes matter in the social study of jazz. I explore the position of memes in the contemporary jazz milieu, finding them to play an active role in a variety of community functions including evaluating authenticity, enculturating members, and interacting with familiar and unfamiliar individuals on- and offline. They are a window into the discursive practices of jazz communities, a credible pathway of jazz pedagogy, and possess genuine artistic credentials, bringing them within the remit of jazz practice itself. Jazz memes are what I call internetworks, an ontological and aesthetic term that projects them into the future of jazz and positions them firmly within its social gestalt. For ordinary jazz enthusiasts, memeing is a meaningful activity.

Representation of Marhaenism Ideology in Joko Widodo's News Photos In Online Media

Photography is a form of nonverbal communication in visual form, and an intermediary medium to interpret something, a form of expression, and to create, produce, and change meaning or reality. On this basis, this study examines the representation of President Jokowi's photographic text in online media news. The purpose in the photography represents the similarity of meaning patterns to photography in the era of President Sukarno, who always carried the ideology of marhaenism, which took the concept of creativity. Through qualitative text analysis on photography in online media, we will examine the image of the marhaenis ideology that underlies President Jokowi's populist concept. The purpose of this study is to disassemble the representation of the meaning of the ideology of marhaenism in Joko Widodo's photo in Online Media and to examine the design of an image that is full of imagery meaning in influencing choices in the presidential election that has been held and won by Jokowi. The theories used in this research are social semiotics (Theo van Leeuwen and Gunter Kress) and gestalt theory. The approach in this research is qualitative text analysis with exploratory type. The method used is the method of critical social semiotic analysis. This research data was obtained directly from the observation of the research object by downloading, observing, and analyzing photo data of Joko Widodo and Sukarno, which had visual similarities in online media. Next, the researcher observes, records the signs, analyzes, and discusses the selected photos. The results of this study indicate that Joko Widodo has since started his presidential candidacy campaign until now with the help of the success team or communication team or consistently reproduces images from Sukarno's photographs. Sukarno's picture and the concept of marhaenism have been adopted, produced, and harmonized with Joko Widodo. Joko Widodo, through his photo, managed to bring back memories of the steps of the proclaimer of the Republic of Indonesia Sukarno and the ideology of marhaenism he created.

Application of the synoptics model for the social analysis of small and large groups - synoptics part II

Having laid out the synoptics approach in part I (which might be useful to keep roughly in mind to understand the specific research procedures here, where basic concepts and procedures for small and large groups are the topic of interest), the specific social systems of small and large groups are investigated empirically in this part II. The case studies are rather meticulously produced to dig towards the 'social gestalt' of a specific scenario and its embedding sovereign social system. The empirical investigations meant going into factories or coming closer and closer into the core of families with children. The large group was object of ten experiments (engaging 22 persons per setting); each experiment was using the exact same context (i.e., four hours of psychological testing and four hours of debating given the absolutely same instruction text and participation-fee, the latter only handed out if the demanded decisions were reached (trying to simulate realistic decision-reaching stress).

Application of the synoptics model for the social analysis of small and large groups - synoptics part II

Having laid out the synoptics approach in part I (which might be useful to keep roughly in mind to understand the specific research procedures here, where basic concepts and procedures for small and large groups are the topic of interest), the specific social systems of small and large groups are investigated empirically in this part II. The case studies are rather meticulously produced to dig towards the 'social gestalt' of a specific scenario and its embedding sovereign social system. The empirical investigations meant going into factories or coming closer and closer into the core of families with children. The large group was object of ten experiments (engaging 22 persons per setting); each experiment was using the exact same context (i.e., four hours of psychological testing and four hours of debating given the absolutely same instruction text and participation-fee, the latter only handed out if the demanded decisions were reached (trying to simulate realistic decision-reaching stress).

The beauty of crystals mirrored in collaboration networks of science

Most complex systems are often random and unpredictable. But the emergence of spatial order and special symmetry in the regular shapes of crystals is a constant source of fascination for people of all over the world. In comparison, the emerging “Social Gestalts” offer the evidence that large collaboration networks are self-organizing given the high degree of spatial order and special symmetry in the regular shapes of the manifold 3-D graph images of the “Social Gestalts”. The “Social Gestalt” model is a new parametric model visualizing 3-D graphs on the level of large networks, using animation to show these graphs from different points of view. The emerging spatial (3-D) order and special symmetry in the regular shapes of both crystals and “Social Gestalts” offer a new question for interdisciplinary studies in future.

Three-dimensional visualization and animation of emerging patterns by the process of self-organization in collaboration networks

The "Social Gestalt" model is a new parametric model visualizing 3-D graphs, using animation to show these graphs from different points of view. A visible 3-D graph image is the emerging pattern at the macro level of a system of co-authorships by the process of self-organization. Well-ordered 3-D computer graphs are totally rotatable and their shapes are visible from all possible points of view. The objectives of this paper are the description of several methods for three-dimensional modelling and animation and the application of these methods to two co-authorship networks selected for demonstration of varying 3-D graph images. This application of the 3-D graph modelling and animation shows for both the journal "NATURE" and the journal "Psychology of Women Quarterly" that at any time and independently on the manifold visible results of rotation, the empirical values nearly exactly match the theoretical distributions (Called "Social Gestalts") obtained by regression analysis. In addition the emergence of different shapes between the 3-D graphs of "NATURE" and "Psychology of Women Quarterly" is explained.

Who is collaborating with whom? Part I. Mathematical model and methods for empirical testing

Abstract There are two versions in the literature of counting co-author pairs. Whereas the first version leads to a two-dimensional (2-D) power function distribution; the other version shows three-dimensional (3-D) graphs, totally rotatable around and their shapes are visible in space from all possible points of view. As a result, these new 3-D computer graphs, called “Social Gestalts” deliver more comprehensive information about social network structures than simple 2-D power function distributions. The mathematical model of Social Gestalts and the corresponding methods for the 3-D visualization and animation of collaboration networks are presented in Part I of this paper. Fundamental findings in psychology/sociology and physics are used as a basis for the development of this model. The application of these new methods to male and to female networks is shown in Part II. After regression analysis the visualized Social Gestalts are rather identical with the corresponding empirical distributions ( R 2 > 0.99). The structures of female co-authorship networks differ markedly from the structures of the male co-authorship networks. For female co-author pairs’ networks, accentuation of productivity dissimilarities of the pairs is becoming visible but on the contrary, for male co-author pairs’ networks, accentuation of productivity similarities of the pairs is expressed.

Who is collaborating with whom? Part II. Application of the methods to male and to female networks

Abstract The theoretical approach of the mathematical model of Social Gestalts and the corresponding methods for the 3-D visualization and animation of collaboration networks are presented in Part I. The application of these new methods to male and female networks is shown in Part II. After regression analysis the visualized Social Gestalts are rather identically with the corresponding empirical distributions (R2 > 0.99). The structures of female co-authorship networks differ markedly from the structures of the male co-authorship networks. For female co-author pairs’ networks, accentuation of productivity dissimilarities of the pairs is becoming visible but on the contrary, for male co-author pairs’ networks, accentuation of productivity similarities of the pairs is expressed.

Co-authorship pair distribution patterns by gender

This paper examines impact of gender both on publication productivity and on patterns of scientific collaborations in social sciences in Turkey. The research is based on bibliographic data on national level publications in Turkey. It consists of 7,835 papers written by 6,738 scientists. The findings suggest that (1) there are gender differences at publication productivity, participation, presence and contribution; that (2) there are significantly different tendencies at keeping established co-authorship ties for inter-gender and intra-gender pairs; that (3) there are significant regularities exhibited by coauthor pairs based on each partner author's publication productivity and findings further show that (4) regularities are different for inter-gender and intra-gender co-authorships. This study contributes to literature by exemplifying an integrated approach to better examine role of gender in scientific collaborations. In addition to descriptive social network analysis methods, it exploits and adopts parametric models from the literature: (1) Social Gestalt theory, a model based on bi-variate distributions of co-author pairs' frequencies; (2) Lotka's power law distribution on publication productivity of single authors; (3) Power law distributions of co-author pairs' frequencies.

Who Is Collaborating with Whom in Science? Explanation of a Fundamental Principle

Since many decades power functions are well-known in counting single scientists or co-author pairs in social networks. However, in this paper a developed procedure for visualizing a bivariate distribution of co-author pairs’ frequencies hence producing three-dimensional graphs is presented. This distribution is explained by a fundamental principle of social group formation and described by a mathematical model. This model is applied to 52 co-authorship networks. For 96% of them the squared multiple R is larger than 0.98 and for 77% of the 52 networks even larger than 0.99. The visualized social Gestalts in form of three-dimensional graphs are rather identically with the corresponding empirical distributions. Question: Can we expect a general validity of this mathematical model for co-authorship networks?

Co-author Pairs’ frequencies of the National Physical Laboratory India

Special collaboration structures (Gestalts) are studied on the basis of the publications data on papers published by the National Physical Laboratory, India, during 1997–2008. The corresponding three-dimensional distribution of the co-author pairs’ frequencies is compared with the distribution of the National Physical Laboratory, UK, as well as with distributions of two journals. The regularities for these four three-dimensional distributions are described by the same mathematical model (Social Gestalts). The varying shapes of these distributions are probably caused by the different research conditions. These new empirical results should initiate future research about the corresponding theoretical background followed by further empirical studies.

Distribution of Co-Author Pairs’Frequencies in Energy Science and Technology

Compared with Lotka’s law, H. Kretschmer has referred to that the distribution of co-author pairs’ frequencies could be ideally reflected by a social gestalt. Among the former studies, small data sets from one journal and large data from several journals were investigated to verify these assumptions. In the present study, we will examine the data sets from a certain scientific subject “Energy Science and Technology” and its subfield “Solar Energy”, in order to testify that different configurations of social gestalt could reflect the characteristics of the cooperation in social networks, and meanwhile the data size as one of the factor will be proved, which could cause the convex or concave configurations of social gestalt.

Studies in Co-authorship Pairs Distribution: Part-1

There are different versions of counting co-author pairs. We refer to two of them in the present paper including two corresponding hypotheses. Whereas the first version leads to a power function distribution of the co-author pairs the other version shows a bivariate distribution of co-author pairs’ frequencies hence producing threedimensional graphs. The regularities for the second kind of distributions are very different from simple power law distributions. These new regularities may be described by a model for the intensity function of interpersonal attraction (Social Gestalt). Complementarities are a crucial determinant of this model. In conjunction with these complementarities, various shapes of the distribution of observed co-author pairs’ frequencies emerge. As the difference between the two shapes increases, the correlation between these two shapes decreases. After mixing these two shapes a new shape of social Gestalt emerges which can be successfully described with the help of the mathematical function for a social Gestalt. The change of any shape to any other shape of the social Gestalt can be shown by simulation (or morphing). For comparison of two or more shapes the overlay of these shapes into a single frame is possible: either overlay of standardized shapes or of the originals. The present paper is focused on a theoretical approach verified by empirical studies explained in two papers published in this issue (Guo et.al.[1] and Kundra et.al[2]).

Studies in Co-authorship Pairs Distribution: Part-2

Previous studies have presented well-ordered collaboration structures of co-author pairs. Kretschmer and Kretschmer have shown that, for high impact SCI journals, the distributions of co-author pairs’ frequencies can be considered to be a reflection of a social Gestalt. This study is an extension of that work to the social sciences, namely eleven journals in women’s and gender studies. After overlapping or mixing the eleven distributions of co-author pairs, the data reveal the same tendency to a social Gestalt. However the shapes of social Gestalts for gender studies differs markedly from the corresponding shapes of the high impact SCI Journals. Simulation shows that the change of the shape from the Gestalt of the mixed journals of gender studies towards the shape of the four mixed SCI journals could be continuous.

Distribution of Co-Author Pairs’ Frequencies of the Journal of Information Technology

Lotka’s Law originally calculated only the frequencies of single or first authors. However, given the growth and popularity of scientific collaboration, the distribution of co-author pairs’ frequencies should also be considered. Based on the previous researchers’ results, this article will demonstrate that the distribution of co-author pairs’ frequencies can be reflected by a social gestalt and that there are different shapes of this social gestalt. Results for the distribution of co-author pairs in journals are shown for the co-authorship data of the Journal of Information Technology (1994–2007).

Distribution of Co-Author Pairs’ Frequencies of the Journal of Biological Chemistry Explained as Social Gestalt

In single authored bibliographies only single scientist distribution can be found. Wheras in multi-authored bibliographies single scientists distribution, pairs distribution, triples distribution, etc., can be presented. Whith regard to Lotka’s law single scientists P distribution (both in single authored and in multi-authored bibliographies) is of interest. In the future pairs P,Q distribution, triples P,Q,R distribution, etc. should be considered. Starting with pair distribution, the question arises: Is there any regularity or well-ordered structure for the distribution of co-author pairs in the journals on the analogy to Lotka’s law for the distribution of single authors? Usually, “laws” or “regularities” in information science (for example Lotka’s law) have their mathematical descriptions of observed the data in form of functions. The explanations of these phenomena are, however, mostly missing. By contrast, the derivation of a formula for describing the distribution of the number of co-author pairs is presented on the basis of well-known regularities in socio-psychology or sociology in conjunction with Gestalt theory, as an explanation for well-ordered collaboration structures and production of scientific literature. The assumed regularities for the distribution of co-author pairs in journals could be shown in the co-authorship data (1980–1998) of the Journal of Biological Chemistry.

Lotka's distribution and distribution of co-author pairs’ frequencies

The original Lotka's Law refers to single scientist distribution, i.e. the frequency of authors A i with i publications per author is a function of i: A i = f( i). However, with increasing collaboration in science and in technology the study of the frequency of pairs or triples of co-authors is highly relevant. Starting with pair distribution well-ordered collaboration structures of co-author pairs will be presented, i.e. the frequency of co-author pairs N ij between authors with i publications per author and authors with j publications per author is a function of i and j: N ij = f( i, j) using the normal count procedure for counting i or j. We have assumed that the distribution of co-author pairs’ frequencies can be considered to be reflection of a social Gestalt and therefore can be described by the corresponding mathematical function based on well-known general characteristics of structures in interpersonal relations in social networks. We have shown that this model of social Gestalts can better explain the distribution of co-author pairs than by a simple bivariate function in analogy to Lotka's Law. This model is based on both the Gestalt theory and the old Chinese Yin/Yang theory.

Developing IT Design Ability Through Repertoires and Contextual Product Semantics

A rich repertoire of templates and a developed language for design qualities are two essential components of professional design ability. We discuss ‘tools’ for the individual designers development of a repertoire and a use—quality language. Three examples are presented of how IT artifacts can be described and analysed in a way that is conducive to repertoire development. In our sample analyses, we identify a number of genre‐bound, contextual use qualities that represent steps toward a use‐quality language for IT design. These qualities are social action space, tight coupling, dynamic Gestalt, autonomy, intrinsic motivation and playability. We discuss how these tentative steps relate to product semantics in more mature design fields, and provide examples of exercises in repertoire and use‐quality language development for classroom and individual use.

Book Notes

Book NOTES BOOK REVIEWS 105 Ralph Waldo Emerson. By Josephine Miles. Univ. of Minn. Pamphlets on American Writers, 41. (Minneapolis: Univ. of Minn. Press, 1964. Pp. 48. Paper, $.65) This "pamphlet" by Professor Josephine Miles is a substantial essay on Emerson, relating his Essays to his life and his style to his thought. It is supplemented by a useful bibliography. --H. W. Scm,mm~ Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society, IV, I (Winter 1968). Ed. Edward C. Moore (Amherst: Univ. of Mass. Press, 1968. Pp. 58) Periodicals are not ordinarily reviewed in this journal. However we call attention to the exceptional unity and importance of the contents in this one. It contains Murray G. Murphey's Presidential address, "Kant's Children: The Cambridge Pragmatists," in which he develops in detail the emergence of Peirce's philosophy of science and conceptions of truth and reality within the framework of phenomenalism and transcendental idealism. This essay is followed by "Existence, Reality and Objects of Knowledge: A Defense of C. S. Peirce as a Realist" by B. Gresham Riley, which shows the relation of Peirce's pragmaticist philosophy of science to his realistic ontology. Then Douglas Greenlee mediates between these rival interpretations by showing the double function of "Peirce's Hypostatic and Factorial Categories." The reader would do well to supplement his study of these excellent papers by reading also Max Fisch'.~ recent work on the steps by which Peirce shifted from his early "nominalism" to a modified Seotist "realism." This analysis brings out the complications involved in Peirce's accepting a general logical realism, but repudiating the Scotist doctrine of real "supposits" because he wished to locate reality not in substance but in the future reference of judgments. This adds a further complication to a very complicated analysis. --H.W.S. Selected Writings. By George Herbert Mead. Ed. with intro. Andrew J. Reck. The Library of Liberal Arts, 177. (New York: Bobbs-Merrill, 1964. Pp. lxxiiq-416. Paper, $2.45) This is a most welcome and useful collection of Mead's basic writings, arranged chronologically . Thus the volume shows how Mead's social psychology developed gradually into a theory of the social gestalt of self-consciousness and of knowledge until it finally suggested a philosophy of history and a reafistic ontology of objective relativity. It provides, therefore, what Mead in his life-time failed to achieve--a fairly complete system of philosophy. The editor's well-organized introduction supplies an excellent outline of this system in ils development. In view of the scattered sources from which these writings are gathered, it is a great service that this volume renders not only to students of Mead, but to historians who, realizing the growing significance of Mead's work, need to have the source-material for reaching an understanding of how the distinctive traits of recent American philosophy took shape. For Mead had one of the most original and constructive minds among those who shaped this history. He seemed to sense, more than most of his colleagues, the radical implications of behavioral sociology and psychology for the general philosophy of science and of culture. He was pre-occupied much of his time with "movements of thought in the nineteenth century," but out of this historical study he arrived at critical insights that have proved to be basic in the development of twentieth-century thought. One of the most striking achievements was Mead's alertness in generalizing the theory of relativity. --H.W.S. The Philosophy o! No: A Philosophy of the New Scientific Mind. By Gaston Bachelard. Trans. G. C. Waterstou. (New York. Grossmann Publishers, 1968. Pp. xi+123. $6) This is a translation of a volume first published by the Presses Universitaires de France in 1940 under the title La Philosophic du non. The following titles of the six chapters indicate the subject matter: "The Various Metaphysical Explanations of a Scientific Concept,.... The 106 HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY Notion of an Epistemological Profile," "Non-substantiaIism, the Preliminaries of a NonLavoisian Chemistry," "The Elementary Spatial Connections of Noa-analytics," "Non-Axistotelian Logic," and "The Synthetic Value of the 'philosophy of No."" --H. W. S. Pleasure and Pain: A Study in Philosophical Psychology. By J...