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Selection pressure and organizational cognition: implications for the social determinants of health

Wallace, Rodrick (2001) Selection pressure and organizational cognition: implications for the social determinants of health. [Preprint]

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Abstract

We model the effects of Schumperterian 'selecton pressures' -- in particular Apartheid and the neoliberal 'market economy' -- on organizational cognition in minority communities, given the special role of culture in human biology. Our focus is on the dual-function social networks by which culture is imposed and maintained on individuals and by which immediate patterns of opportunity and threat are recognized and given response. A mathematical model based on recent advances in complexity theory displays a joint cross-scale linkage of social, individual central nervous system, and immune cognition with external selection pressure through mixed and synergistic punctuated 'learning plateaus.' This provides a natural mechanism for addressing the social determinants of health at the individual level. The implications of the model, particularly the predictions of synergistic punctuation, appear to be empirically testable.

Item Type:Preprint
Keywords:evolutionary punctuation, health, inequality, information theory, phase transition, renormalization, social networks
Subjects:Psychology > Applied Cognitive Psychology
ID Code:1526
Deposited By: Wallace, Rodrick
Deposited On:30 May 2001
Last Modified:11 Mar 2011 08:54

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