Loren Demerath
Biographic Data
| ID | 173392 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Loren Demerath |
| GIVEN NAMES | Loren |
| FAMILY NAME | Demerath |
| SIGNATURE | DEMERATH L |
| AFFILIATIONS | Centenary College of Louisiana |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 7 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 29 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 7 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1993 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2015 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
The Importance of Gossip Across Societies
This article presents a cross-cultural analysis that explores the relationship between the importance of gossip and institutionalization. It is reasoned that as institutionalization increases, so does the difficulty of attaining direct information about events and people that would be consequential for any given individual. As a result, gossip should increase with institutionalization, and complexity generally. This general hypothesis is tested a…
Explaining Culture
This book is about our appreciation for order and meaningfulness. It offers a new theory of that feeling inspired by Durkheim and Marx, then derives other theories to answer a range of questions: why we like to make ourselves orderly (in Chapter Three’s theory of identity and commitment), why create shared orders of meaning (in Chapter Four’s theory of culture); how we create those orders collaboratively through conversation (Chapter Five), and a…
Epistemological Identity Theory
This article presents Epistemological Identity Theory (EIT) that explains how individuals enhance their knowledge of self and the world by creating and maintaining identities. Using cognitive and affective processes previously ignored by identity theorists, this theory reconceptualizes commitment to an identity as the degree to which that identity organizes and clarifies one's experience of the world and him/herself. The theory is derived from tw…
The Social Qualities of Being on Foot
This article presents a theoretical framework for explaining how pedestrian activity broadens people's access to cultural meaning‐making processes. A lack of vital pedestrian activity constitutes a social problem because of lost opportunities for social interaction. According to a theory of the micro‐level production of culture, “Epistemological Culture Theory,” collaborative self‐expression in the course of interaction with others is essential f…
Epistemological Culture Theory
This paper presents a new 'epistemological' theory of culture that explains how individuals enhance their sense of security in the world by creating and maintaining culture as knowledge of the world. Using cognitive and affective processes previously ignored by culture theorists, the theory posits three dimensions of cultural production: we articulate, typify, and orient our experiences to make them meaningful. The theory asserts that we produce …
Researching Culture
Knowledge-Based Affect
A theory of knowledge-based affect is proposed, which posits that the significance of experiences depends on their frequency, stability, and impact. Any change in a highly significant meaning that is caused by a new perception evokes an intense affective response. When knowledge is increased, predictability is enhanced and the affective response is positive. When knowledge is decreased, predictability is reduced and the affective response is nega…
The Social Qualities of Being on Foot
This article presents a theoretical framework for explaining how pedestrian activity broadens people's access to cultural meaning‐making processes. A lack of vital pedestrian activity constitutes a social problem because of lost opportunities for social interaction. According to a theory of the micro‐level production of culture, “Epistemological Culture Theory,” collaborative self‐expression in the course of interaction with others is essential f…
Knowledge-Based Affect
A theory of knowledge-based affect is proposed, which posits that the significance of experiences depends on their frequency, stability, and impact. Any change in a highly significant meaning that is caused by a new perception evokes an intense affective response. When knowledge is increased, predictability is enhanced and the affective response is positive. When knowledge is decreased, predictability is reduced and the affective response is nega…
Epistemological Culture Theory
This paper presents a new 'epistemological' theory of culture that explains how individuals enhance their sense of security in the world by creating and maintaining culture as knowledge of the world. Using cognitive and affective processes previously ignored by culture theorists, the theory posits three dimensions of cultural production: we articulate, typify, and orient our experiences to make them meaningful. The theory asserts that we produce …
Explaining Culture
This book is about our appreciation for order and meaningfulness. It offers a new theory of that feeling inspired by Durkheim and Marx, then derives other theories to answer a range of questions: why we like to make ourselves orderly (in Chapter Three’s theory of identity and commitment), why create shared orders of meaning (in Chapter Four’s theory of culture); how we create those orders collaboratively through conversation (Chapter Five), and a…
Epistemological Identity Theory
This article presents Epistemological Identity Theory (EIT) that explains how individuals enhance their knowledge of self and the world by creating and maintaining identities. Using cognitive and affective processes previously ignored by identity theorists, this theory reconceptualizes commitment to an identity as the degree to which that identity organizes and clarifies one's experience of the world and him/herself. The theory is derived from tw…
Knowledge-Based Affect
A theory of knowledge-based affect is proposed, which posits that the significance of experiences depends on their frequency, stability, and impact. Any change in a highly significant meaning that is caused by a new perception evokes an intense affective response. When knowledge is increased, predictability is enhanced and the affective response is positive. When knowledge is decreased, predictability is reduced and the affective response is nega…
Researching Culture
Epistemological Culture Theory
This paper presents a new 'epistemological' theory of culture that explains how individuals enhance their sense of security in the world by creating and maintaining culture as knowledge of the world. Using cognitive and affective processes previously ignored by culture theorists, the theory posits three dimensions of cultural production: we articulate, typify, and orient our experiences to make them meaningful. The theory asserts that we produce …
The Social Qualities of Being on Foot
This article presents a theoretical framework for explaining how pedestrian activity broadens people's access to cultural meaning‐making processes. A lack of vital pedestrian activity constitutes a social problem because of lost opportunities for social interaction. According to a theory of the micro‐level production of culture, “Epistemological Culture Theory,” collaborative self‐expression in the course of interaction with others is essential f…
Epistemological Identity Theory
This article presents Epistemological Identity Theory (EIT) that explains how individuals enhance their knowledge of self and the world by creating and maintaining identities. Using cognitive and affective processes previously ignored by identity theorists, this theory reconceptualizes commitment to an identity as the degree to which that identity organizes and clarifies one's experience of the world and him/herself. The theory is derived from tw…
Explaining Culture
This book is about our appreciation for order and meaningfulness. It offers a new theory of that feeling inspired by Durkheim and Marx, then derives other theories to answer a range of questions: why we like to make ourselves orderly (in Chapter Three’s theory of identity and commitment), why create shared orders of meaning (in Chapter Four’s theory of culture); how we create those orders collaboratively through conversation (Chapter Five), and a…
The Importance of Gossip Across Societies
This article presents a cross-cultural analysis that explores the relationship between the importance of gossip and institutionalization. It is reasoned that as institutionalization increases, so does the difficulty of attaining direct information about events and people that would be consequential for any given individual. As a result, gossip should increase with institutionalization, and complexity generally. This general hypothesis is tested a…
Sociology (6 works) · Psychology (5 works) · Social Psychology (5 works) · Epistemology (4 works) · Philosophy (4 works) · Social Psychology (4 works) · Meaning (existential (3 works) · Philosophy (3 works) · Aesthetics (2 works) · Identity (music (2 works)