@misc{cogprints1526,
month = {May},
title = {Selection pressure and organizational cognition: implications for the social determinants of health},
author = {Rodrick Wallace},
year = {2001},
keywords = {evolutionary punctuation, health, inequality, information theory, phase transition, renormalization, social networks},
url = {http://cogprints.org/1526/},
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.}
}