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College notes Complex System Theory (SOW-PWM020)
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Weblecture Complex System TheoryWeblecture Diversities A
Why care about diversity?
• Almost everything you’ve learned so far is based on population statistics
• Interventions are effective on average
• But they are not effective for everyone…
Paul, (1967) What works best for whom, with what conditions, under what set of
circumstances?
Diversity as Error (traditional view)
• Mean = Norm(al)
• Deviation (i.e., diversity) = Error
• Average represents most people
What is happening here?
• Dimensionality
o Average size includes:
▪ Length
▪ Arm length
▪ Leg length
▪ Neck circumference
▪ Thigh circumference
▪ Wrist circumference
▪ …
• Nobody scores average on multidimensional constructs!
• Other examples of dimensions: symptoms, IQ subdomains
Main message 1: the average person does not exist
Nobody scores average when there are many dimensions involved
Diversity as rank: the case of correlation
• Individuals are deviations from average with a certain rank
• Two variables are positively correlated when a high rank in
X is associated to a high rank in Y
,Misleading correlations: typing speed
Main message 2: group differences do not generalize to individual processes
• Between-subject and within-subject variation are different
• Between-subject results have no reliable implications for interventions
• All research questions concerning change demand within-subject analysis
The study of processes
Following something (word knowledge, mood, motor behavior, etc…) over time
Main message 3: there is diversity in individual processes
• Equifinality: different trajectories with the same outcome
(Multiple ways to Rome)
o E.g., learning to walk
• Multifinality: similar starting points but different trajectories & outcomes
(Start from Rome but different outcomes)
o E.g., outcomes after childhood maltreatment (anxiety, aggression,
adjustment)
Summary
• The average person does not exist
• Group-level difference do not generalize to individual processes
• There is diversity in individual processes
• Massive implications for pedagogics and education!
What works best for whom, with what conditions, under what set of circumstances?
,Weblecture Diversities B
Principles of individuality in relation to complex systems
1. Principle of jaggedness
2. Principle of context
3. Principle of pathways
1. Principle of jaggedness
No individual corresponds to average
• A quality is jagged when
o It consists of multiple dimensions
o These dimensions are only weakly correlated to each other
2. Principle of context
No behavior is context independent
• Individual behavior cannot be explained or predicted apart from a particular situation
• In complex system terms: system-environment coupling
System-environment coupling
DIY Example: ‘cultural diseases’
• Mental disorders are for a large extent influences by culture
o Hallucinations during psychosis have different content and prevalence
, o Somatization differs among cultures
• Or… different mental disorders may exist in different cultures
o Depression is not a word in native African languages
o Depression symptoms exist but are attributed to a disturbed relation between
the individual and the whole
Changes in context can have strong effects on individuals
An example: intervention in nursery home
• Participants got a plant, either to take care of by themselves or by the staff
• Significant effect on mortality
o 30% in control group and 15% in experimental group
Nonlinearity in cause-effect relations
• Linear systems
o Small influences have small effects and large influences have large effects
• Complex systems
o Small influences can have extreme effects and large influences can have no
effect
3. Principle of Pathways
Multiple trajectories to ‘success’
• For any given outcome, there are many, equally valid
ways to reach the same outcome
• The particular pathway that is optimal for you
depends on your own individuality.
Equifinality and Multifinality
• Equifinality = different trajectories with same outcome
• Multifinality = similar starting point but different trajectories & outcomes
Pathways do not necessarily ‘settle’
• Difference between skill acquisition (e.g., learning to walk) & more fluid psychological
constructs (e.g., mood swings)
• Difference between pathways on different timescales
DIY Example: sexual orientation
Yearly longitudinal same-sex attraction for 4 women
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