Eugene C. Johnsen

Social influence and opinions

In this paper we describe an approach to the relationship between a network of interpersonal influences and the content of individuals’ opinions. Our work starts with the specification of social pr...

COMPARING FOUR DIFFERENT METHODS FOR MEASURING PERSONAL SOCIAL NETWORKS

Like many researchers, we want to know the rules that govern the formation of human social networks, their persistence and disappearance, and their effects (if any) on human behavior and thought. Even if it turns out that the rules governing social network formation and decay are relatively simple, the outcome of those rules is very complex. It is so complex, in fact, that at this stage of the effort we are still concentrating on basic questions like: How many people are there in

Estimating the size of personal networks

Abstract Some methods for estimating the total size of personal communication networks are presented. All involve the scaling-up of a reported network size by a factor proportional to the number of people whom informants can recall when they are presented with a representative list of last names from a telephone directory. Estimates from Jacksonville, Florida give network sizes of 1700±400; reevaluations of an estimate made for Orange County give 2025; and estimates from Mexico City give network sizes of about 600. The difficulties, and sources of error, in these estimates, are discussed. The estimates are compared with independent estimates based on the likelihood of informants knowing members of a small, countable subpopulation, which suggests for U.S. informants a network size of 1526. Thus consistent numbers are beginning to emerge, at least for U.S. informants.

Social influence network theory : a sociological examination of small group dynamics

mathematical models. Their disciplinary affiliations have included history, anthropology, sociology, political science, business, economics, mathematics and computer science. Some have made explicit use of “social network analysis,” including many of the cutting-edge and standard works of that approach, while others have eschewed formal analysis and used “networks” as a fruitful orienting metaphor. All have in common a sophisticated and subtle approach that forcefully illuminates our complex social world. Recent books in the series Philippe Bourgois, In Search of Respect: Selling Crack in El Barrio

ATTITUDE CHANGE, AFFECT CONTROL, AND EXPECTATION STATES IN THE FORMATION OF INFLUENCE NETWORKS

This paper works at the intersections of affect control theory, expectation states theory, and social influence network theory. First, we introduce social influence network theory into affect control theory. We show how an influence network may emerge from the pattern of interpersonal sentiments in a group and how the fundamental sentiments that are at the core of affect control theory (dealing with the evaluation, potency, and activity of self and others) may be modified by interpersonal influences. Second, we bring affect control theory and social influence network theory to bear on expectation states theory. In a task-oriented group, where persons’ performance expectations may be a major basis of their interpersonal influence, we argue that persons’ fundamental sentiments may mediate effects of status characteristics on group members’ performance expectations. Based on the linkage of fundamental sentiments and interpersonal influence, we develop an account of the formation of influence networks in groups that is applicable to both status homogeneous and status heterogeneous groups of any size, whether or not they are completely connected, and that is not restricted in scope to task-oriented groups.

A social network approach to corroborating the number of AIDS/HIV+ victims in the US °

Accurate estimates of the sizes of certain subpopulations are needed to inform important public policy decisions in the US. Laumann et al. (1989, 1993) have attempted to assess the accuracy of the reported data on the incidence of AIDS in the US, collected by the Centers for Disease Control and published in the AIDS Weekly Surveillance Reports (AWSR) and HIV/AIDS Surveillance Reports (HASR), by comparing these data with response data from the 1988, 1989, 1990 and 1991 General Social Surveys (GSSs). To establish reference comparison subpopulations, they did a similar assessment of the reported numbers of homicides during previous 12-month periods, published in the Unified Crime Report (UCR) and the Vital Statistics of the United States (VSUS), comparing these data with other response data from these same GSSs. The GSS data were compared with the AWSR, HASR, UCR and VSUS figures by sex, race, ethnicity, age, and region of the US. Their results for homicide victims are reasonably similar to the UCR and VSUS figures for these categories, while their results for AIDS victims are reasonably similar to the AWSR and HASR figures only for sex and age. There is then the question of whether reported total figures for the incidence of homicides and AIDS (as well as suicides during a previous 12-month period) are reasonably accurate. There is concern that there is significant undercounting of the total incidence of

Two interpretations of reports of knowledge of subpopulation sizes

We asked respondents how many people they knew in many subpopulations. These numbers, averaged over large representative samples, should vary proportionally to the size of the subpopulations. In fact, they do not. We give two different interpretations of this finding. The first interpretation notes that the responses are linear in subpopulation size for small subpopulations, but with a non-zero offset, and become noisier for larger subpopulations. Our explanation assumes that respondents both invent and forget members of their networks in the subpopulations, in addition to guessing when the number concerned becomes large. The second interpretation notes that the responses are well described by a power law response, in which the mean number of subpopulation members reported known varies as the square root of the subpopulation size. Despite the apparent implausibility of this, we suggest a psychological mechanism and a model which is able to reproduce the behaviour. Other recall data are shown to have similar properties, thus widening the relevance of the findings.

Investigating the variation of personal network size under unknown error conditions

This article estimates the variation in personal network size, using respondent data containing two systematic sources of error. The data are the proportion of respondents who, on average, claim to know zero, one, and two people in various subpopulations, such as “people who are widows under the age of 65” or “people who are diabetics.” The two kinds of error—transmission error (respondents are unaware that someone in their network is in a subpopulation) and barrier error (something causes a respondent to know more or less than would be expected, in a subpopulation)—are hard to quantify. The authors show how to estimate the shape of the probability density function (pdf) of the number of people known to a random individual by assuming that respondents give what they assume to be accurate responses based on incorrect knowledge. It is then possible to estimate the relative effective sizes of subpopulations and produce an internally consistent theory. These effective sizes permit an evaluation of the shape of the pdf, which, remarkably, agrees with earlier estimates.

Status, networks, and opinions: A modular integration of two theories

This chapter focuses on two theories in the landscape of research on social influence – status characteristics theory and social influence network theory – between which heretofore there has been little communication. We advance these two approaches by dovetailing them in a “modular integration” that retains the assumptions of each theory and extends their scope of application. Here, we concentrate on the extension of status characteristics theory to multiactor task-oriented groups and develop new insights on the effects of status characteristics in such groups. We address the implications for opinion changes of status differentiations in which some individuals are deemed more socially worthy and capable than others.

Two steps to obfuscation

This note addresses the historical antecedents of the 1998 PageRank measure of centrality. An identity relation links it to 1990-1991 models of Friedkin and Johnsen.