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Article Excerpt
ABSTRACT
BASED ON GESTALT THEORY, the author assumes the existence of a field-force equilibrium to explain how, according to the conciseness principle, mathematically precise gestalts could exist in coauthorship networks. A simple mathematical function is developed for the description of these gestalts which can encompass complementary tendencies (as in the principle of Yin and Yang) in their dynamic interplay and, thus, can reflect the change in gestalts. For example, "Birds of a feather flock together" and "Opposites attract" are explained as complementary tendencies.
The data are obtained by SCI. In analyzing the coauthorship networks, coauthorship relations Z between scientists (third dimension) are recorded from the point of view of every scientist with productivity X (first dimension) to all the other scientists with productivity Y (second dimension).
According to the conciseness principle, three-dimensional well-ordered gestalts from different science disciplines are presented. The results of the study have confirmed Metzger's conjectures that the conciseness principle also has validity for social systems, and is valid even with the same conciseness as in the psychology of perception.
It is possible that the presented mathematical function has assumed a more general character and, in consequence, is also more likely applicable to the description of citation networks or the spreading of information.
INTRODUCTION
In every science discipline, basic research and applied research are complementary tendencies interacting dynamically with each other. Progress in scientometrics and informetrics is possible only in this manner. Evaluation of research institutions by science indicators can be successful only with thorough basic knowledge. For example, citations and coauthorships are reflections of general social relations in networks of people.
The present study is basic research oriented. It will start with general theoretical considerations, followed by applications to coauthorship networks in science.
In the wake of a tangible change of paradigm in science, by the end of the twentieth century a number of holistic theories have emerged (e.g., Bohm, 1980; Stapp, 1993; Prigogine & Stengers, 1984; Sheldrake, 1988; Laszlo, 1997; just to mention a few) that operate on the idea of holographic interacting entities in the world, with several of them also implying a field concept. According to Pribram (1997, p. 12), field concepts are being used when remote-field effects have to be explained.
In psychology, the specialty "`Gestalt'-psychology" originated at the end of the nineteenth century, with due consideration of psychological processes and with holistic organizational patterns playing a role that comprised humanity and the environment. These holistic entities are often designated as psychological fields. Their tendency towards a stable state of order is called conciseness tendency, a "tendency towards a good gestalt." The stable final state is, if possible, built up in a simple, well-ordered, harmonic, and uniform manner in line with definite rules.
Metzger's definition of "gestalt" reads as follows (Metzger, 1954, quoted in line with Metzger, 1986):
The form of an object is called `gestalt' if it is not attributable to the rigidity of material and not based on fixing each individual point as such, but rather on an equilibrium of forces (tensions, etc.). In addition, the form of a process or its course is also called `gestalt' if it is not fixed by impenetrable conduits, or confined to one degree of freedom, but if it had emerged from the free play of field forces (in case of a diverse number of freedom degrees) ... Thus, we generally call such objects as gestalts which, as correctly noted by PIAGET, owe their gestalt to be balancing interactions of forces. In this context the opposite notion to gestalt would be the mosaic. While in a mosaic the individual parts are arranged within an externally defined array, with the parts `not knowing of each other' to a certain degree, the parts and points of a gestalt are to be found in a more or less close dynamic state of communication and interaction: every one interacts with every other and, if something like an ordered array is brought about, every part and point carried and keeps every other and is instantly carried and kept by the totality of the others. (pp. 130 f.)
The conciseness principle was discovered while studying the phenomena of perception: No doubt, perception is an active process; that is, the objects perceived represent a more regular entity than the physical objects existing in the environment. Metzger presumed that this conciseness principle could be generalized and applied to other fields of the psyche, and to socio-psychology as well. Here Metzger had in mind the succinct forms of group structure.
In 1967 Metzger wrote (quoted according to Metzger, 1986):
If the conciseness principle is validly applicable over the entire psychic sector, its efficacy could also be extended to those wholes, the natural parts of which are human beings: to social group formations, especially to the spontaneously configuring natural small-size groups. I cannot present here any accepted theses, but only preliminary presumptions. (p. 142)
Metzger (1986) mentioned:
An order of behaviour that without any constraints builds itself up due to internal vectors should qualify as an excellent, a succinct, like the order in the field of perception. (p. 203)
As for the structure of social groups, Metzger (1982, quoted by Metzger 1986, p. 196) suggested that already in the prehistoric times of higher vertebrates--birds and mammals--two succinctly distinguishable conciseness forms of group structures had apparently existed that are also identifiable in humans: Step structure and ring structure. The step structure reveals individual members arranged in an hierarchical sequence (pecking order of the chicken run), whereas the "ring"-members, with their common concern in the center, are distributed "over equal heights."
In his deliberations about the formation of a group, Metzger (1986, p. 222) also touched upon the proverb "Birds of a feather flock together," and gave it a grain of truth. At the same time, however, he suggested that similarity could only be viewed as one factor among many, irrespective of whether it may turn out to be an indispensable or just sufficient requirement for group formation.
This point of view was adopted and, in this study, extended to additional knowledge from the literature on the characteristics of structures in social systems. The results of studies, as contained below, indicate that Metzger's definition of gestalt, which implies the balancing interaction of forces (tensions, field forces, etc.), can be fully applied to social systems, even while retaining the validity of the conciseness principle in a still more precise form than it would have been thought possible by Metzger himself. Hence, there are structures existing in social systems that are strictly mathematically describable.
Without assuming the existence of a field-force equilibrium, it would be difficult to explain how such mathematically precise gestalts--which are thought to have been established by the free cooperation (self-organization) of scientists around the world--could exist. (Cf. all three-dimensional figures of gestalts in the coauthorship networks of this study.)
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF STRUCTURES IN INTERPERSONAL RELATIONS IN SOCIAL NETWORKS
When discussing the structural characteristics of interpersonal relations in social networks, the author references one of Wolf's works (1996), rather than the many studies conducted and contained in the literature. As a result, one can identify a definite structure underlying a great number of social processes of a distributive character, such as the spreading of diseases, the propagation of information, the change of views, or the distribution of innovations. A generalization of this structure reveals three pivotal aspects:
1. Over-coincidental similarity among persons in contact with each other ("Birds of a feather flock together")
2. Decrease of interpersonal relations...
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