Chaos Catastrophe And Human Affairs

Whether talking about steering a wheelbarrow over rugged terrain or plotting the course of international relations, human performance systems involve change. Sometimes changes are subtle or evolutionary, sometimes they are catastrophic or revolutionary, and sometimes the changes are from periods of relative calm to periods of vibrant oscillations to periods of chaos. As a general rule, more complex systems are likely to produce more complex forms of change. Although social scientists have long acknowledged that change occurs and have considered ways to effect desirable change, the dynamical processes of change have been poorly understood in the past. This volume combines recent advances in mathematics and experimental design with the best available social science theories to produce a new, integrated, and compact theory of work, organizations, and social evolution. The domains of application extend from human decision-making processes to personnel selection and work motivation, work performance under conditions of stress, accident and health risk analysis, the development of social institutions and economic systems, creativity and innovation, organizational development and group dynamics, and political revolutions and war. Relative to other literature on nonlinear dynamical systems theory (NDS), this book is unique in that it integrates new developments in NDS with substantive psychological theory. It builds on many recent developments in organizational theory to show that nonlinear dynamics were often implicit in those works all along. The result is an entirely new way of viewing social events, understanding change processes, and asking questions about social systems. This book also contains much new empirical work and explains the newly developed methods for testing these new hypotheses.

The Routledge International Handbook of Changes in Human Perceptions and Behaviors is the first edited volume to present multidisciplinary perspectives on various aspects of changes that humans experience. The handbook is designed to highlight the different contents, types, ways, meanings, applications, and moments of changes that have been recognized by experts in various fields within the life and social sciences. Comprised of four sections, the chapters address changes in a variety of contexts related to human perceptions and behaviors; the moment of change and fluctuations; changes in applied settings; and the meaning of changes, including resistance to change. Written by a range of expert international contributors, the book brings together discussions and insights about how different levels and types of changes in human perceptions, attitudes, beliefs, values, and behaviors have been studied and considered in diverse fields. It also explores the various mechanisms that account for changes, exploring how and when changes occur and what changes mean to humans. Relevant for empirical and theoretical work, the handbook will be of great interest to researchers, academics, and postgraduate students across psychology, behavioral sciences, and social sciences.

This book presents leading-edge research on artificial life, cellular automata, chaos theory, cognition, complexity theory, synchronisation, fractals, genetic algorithms, information systems, metaphors, neural networks, non-linear dynamics, parallel computation and synergetics. The unifying feature of this research is the tie to chaos and complexity.

This textbook comprehensively covers the basic principles and most recent advances regarding visual displays, auditory and tactile displays and controls; psychophysics; cognitive processes; human-computer interaction, artificial intelligence and artificial life; stress and human performance; occupational accidents and prevention; human group dynamics and complex systems; and anthropometry, workspace and environmental design. The systems perspective emphasizes nonlinear dynamics for system performance changes and emergent behaviours of complex person-machine systems. This book- • Surveys principles of conventional and computer-based machine interaction. • Assesses the relative effectiveness of accident analysis and prevention strategies. • Highlights nonlinear dynamics for system performance changes. • Examines artificial intelligence and complex systems. • Investigates sources of cognitive workload and fatigue. The textbook will be a valuable resource for advanced undergraduates and graduate students in diverse fields including ergonomics, human factors, cognitive science, computer science, operations management, and psychology. The textbook brings together core principles of person-machine interaction, accident analysis and prevention strategies, risk analysis and resilience, artificial intelligence, group dynamics, and nonlinear dynamics for an enhanced understanding of complex person-machine systems.

Are conflict situations such as the ethnic clashes in Yugoslavia or Rwanda, terrorist attacks and riots, the same kind of social crises as those generated by natural and technological happenings such as earthquakes and chemical explosions? In What is a Disaster?, social science disaster researchers from six different disciplines advance their views on what a disaster is. Clashes in conceptions are highlighted, through the book's unique juxtaposition of the authors separately advanced views. A reaction paper to each set of views is presented by an experienced disaster researcher; in turn, the original authors provide a response to what has been said about their views. What is a Disaster? sets out the huge conceptual differences that exist concerning what a disaster is, and presents important implications for both theory, study and practice.

Provides an insight into the nature of change and transition. Considers which principles govern change, what structural features and processes define it and whether there are any forces which drive and shape change. Examines a variety of change phenomena in the natural and physical world, and how they apply to our understanding of change within organizations.

This handbook is the first to provide comprehensive coverage of original state-of-the-science research, analysis, and design of integrated, human-technology systems.