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Contributions to the theory of imitative behavior

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Abstract

The imitation effects in a social group depend both on the size of the group and on the distribution of a certain psychobiological quantity ϕ which measures the tendency of an individual towards a given behavior. The distribution function of ϕ determines the ratio μ of the individuals in the society who adopt a given behavior. When the size of the social group is not too large, the actual distribution of ϕ will deviate from the most probable one, and therefore communities of the same size and having the same parameters may have different values of μ. Approximate equations are developed which give the probability of a given μ for a group of a given size. Possible effects of interactions of communities of different sizes are briefly discussed. A generalization of the theory of imitative behavior to any number of mutually exclusive behaviors is given, and its possible sociological implications are discussed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Committee on Mathematical Biology, The University of Chicago, Chicago, USA

    N. Rashevsky

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  1. N. Rashevsky
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Rashevsky, N. Contributions to the theory of imitative behavior. Bulletin of Mathematical Biophysics 19, 91–119 (1957). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02477882

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02477882

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