From Meaning to Behavior: Mental Representation, the Patterning of Social Life, and Cultural Analysis

• In Event: 481 - Theory Section Paper Session. Theory, Method, Data, and Representation

Abstract

This paper looks at the relationship between mental representation processes and the emergence of profiles of human action and statement that are detectable via methods currently favored “big data” analyses. In particular, this paper begins with the role of mental associative networks in shaping not only humans’ sense-making in situations but also in generating their repertories of observable behaviors. After delimiting the basic mechanics of this process, this work then considers the implications of it for classic sociological issues of polysemy, socially shared (i.e. collective) vs. idiosyncratic representations, and representational/cultural change. In its final section, the paper uses the examples of cluster analysis, multiple correspondence and principle component analysis, and topic modeling to show how forging this link between behavior and mental representations can greatly increase the analytical leverage of our existing approaches to the empirical study of culture. It also then goes a step forward to demonstrate how even with these methods, traditional, qualitative approaches remain necessary.

Authors

• Lynette Shaw, University of Washington

• Nina Lyn Cesare, University of Washington

• Michael Hughes Esposito, University of Washington