Scale-Independent Aggression: A Fractal Analysis of Four Levels of Human Aggression
Using fractal analyses to study events allows us to capture the scale-independence of those events, that is, no matter at which level we study a phenomenon, we should get roughly the same results because events exhibit similar structure across scales. This is demonstrably true in mathematical fracta...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Wiley
2020-01-01
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| Series: | Complexity |
| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2020/2047157 |
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| author | Julia J. C. Blau Alexandra Paxton |
| author_facet | Julia J. C. Blau Alexandra Paxton |
| author_sort | Julia J. C. Blau |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Using fractal analyses to study events allows us to capture the scale-independence of those events, that is, no matter at which level we study a phenomenon, we should get roughly the same results because events exhibit similar structure across scales. This is demonstrably true in mathematical fractals but is less assured in behavioral fractals. The current research directly tests the scale-independence hypothesis in the behavioral domain by exploring the fractal structure of aggression, a social phenomenon comprising events that span temporal scales from minutes of face-to-face arguments to centuries of international armed conflicts. Using publicly available data, we examined the temporal fractal structure of four scales of aggression: wars (very macrolevel, worldwide data), riots (macrolevel, worldwide data), violent crimes (microlevel, data gathered from cities and towns in the United States of America), and body movement during arguments (very microlevel, data gathered on American participants). Our results lend mixed support to the scale-independence hypothesis and provide insight into the self-organization of human interactions. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-3285b8ac716f473c98ea00546cb94334 |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 1076-2787 1099-0526 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2020-01-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Complexity |
| spelling | doaj-art-3285b8ac716f473c98ea00546cb943342025-08-20T03:20:27ZengWileyComplexity1076-27871099-05262020-01-01202010.1155/2020/20471572047157Scale-Independent Aggression: A Fractal Analysis of Four Levels of Human AggressionJulia J. C. Blau0Alexandra Paxton1Department of Psychological Sciences, Central Connecticut State University, New Britain, CT, USADepartment of Psychological Sciences, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USAUsing fractal analyses to study events allows us to capture the scale-independence of those events, that is, no matter at which level we study a phenomenon, we should get roughly the same results because events exhibit similar structure across scales. This is demonstrably true in mathematical fractals but is less assured in behavioral fractals. The current research directly tests the scale-independence hypothesis in the behavioral domain by exploring the fractal structure of aggression, a social phenomenon comprising events that span temporal scales from minutes of face-to-face arguments to centuries of international armed conflicts. Using publicly available data, we examined the temporal fractal structure of four scales of aggression: wars (very macrolevel, worldwide data), riots (macrolevel, worldwide data), violent crimes (microlevel, data gathered from cities and towns in the United States of America), and body movement during arguments (very microlevel, data gathered on American participants). Our results lend mixed support to the scale-independence hypothesis and provide insight into the self-organization of human interactions.http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2020/2047157 |
| spellingShingle | Julia J. C. Blau Alexandra Paxton Scale-Independent Aggression: A Fractal Analysis of Four Levels of Human Aggression Complexity |
| title | Scale-Independent Aggression: A Fractal Analysis of Four Levels of Human Aggression |
| title_full | Scale-Independent Aggression: A Fractal Analysis of Four Levels of Human Aggression |
| title_fullStr | Scale-Independent Aggression: A Fractal Analysis of Four Levels of Human Aggression |
| title_full_unstemmed | Scale-Independent Aggression: A Fractal Analysis of Four Levels of Human Aggression |
| title_short | Scale-Independent Aggression: A Fractal Analysis of Four Levels of Human Aggression |
| title_sort | scale independent aggression a fractal analysis of four levels of human aggression |
| url | http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2020/2047157 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT juliajcblau scaleindependentaggressionafractalanalysisoffourlevelsofhumanaggression AT alexandrapaxton scaleindependentaggressionafractalanalysisoffourlevelsofhumanaggression |