Social structure and the effects of conformity.

Conformity is an often criticized feature of human belief formation. Although generally regarded as a negative influence on reliability, it has not been widely studied. This paper attempts to determine the epistemic effects of conformity by analyzing a mathematical model of this behavior. In additio...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Publicado en:Synthese Vol. 172; no. 3; pp. 317 - 341
Autor principal: Zollman, Kevin
Formato: Artículo
Publicado: Springer Nature Feb2010
Materias:
Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
fields @attributes:
  recordID: 1
pdfLink:
plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=47260606&site=ehost-live
header:
  @attributes:
    shortDbName: hlh
    uiTerm: 47260606
    longDbName: Humanities International Complete
    uiTag: AN
  controlInfo:
    bkinfo:
    jinfo:
      jid:
        00397857
        4LI
      jtl: Synthese
      issn: 00397857
      maglogo: N
    pubinfo:
      dt: Feb2010
      vid: 172
      iid: 3
      pid: 237
      pub: Springer Nature
    artinfo:
      ui:
        47260606
        10.1007/s11229-008-9393-8
      ppf: 317
      ppct: 24
      formats:
        fmt:
          @attributes:
            type: P
            size: 542KB
      tig:
        atl: Social structure and the effects of conformity.
      aug:
        au: Zollman, Kevin
        affil: Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburg USA
      su:
        Conformity
        Social influence
        Attitude (Psychology)
        Influence
        Sociology of knowledge
        Social epistemology
      sug:
        subj:
          Conformity
          Social influence
          Attitude (Psychology)
          Influence
          Sociology of knowledge
          Social epistemology
      keyword:
        Agent based model
        Social network
        Social structure
      ab: Conformity is an often criticized feature of human belief formation. Although generally regarded as a negative influence on reliability, it has not been widely studied. This paper attempts to determine the epistemic effects of conformity by analyzing a mathematical model of this behavior. In addition to investigating the effect of conformity on the reliability of individuals and groups, this paper attempts to determine the optimal structure for conformity. That is, supposing that conformity is inevitable, what is the best way for conformity effects to occur? The paper finds that in some contexts conformity effects are reliability inducing and, more surprisingly even when it is counterproductive, not all methods for reducing its effect are helpful. These conclusions contribute to a larger discussion in social epistemology regarding the effect of social behavior on individual reliability.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype: Article
      src: R
    language: English
    refInfo:
    copyright:
      @attributes:
        flag: Y
      custom: Synthese is a copyright of Springer, 2010. All Rights Reserved.
      item: Synthese
      holder: Springer Nature
      dt:
        @attributes:
          year: 2010
    holdings:
      @attributes:
        islocal: N