Cernevicius, Benas (2022) Stochastic Catastrophe Theory Applications in the Social Sciences. Bachelor thesis, Psychology.
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A thesis is an aptitude test for students. The approval of the thesis is proof that the student has sufficient research and reporting skills to graduate but does not guarantee the quality of the research and the results of the research as such, and the thesis is therefore not necessarily suitable to be used as an academic source to refer to. If you would like to know more about the research discussed in this thesis and any publications based on it, to which you could refer, please contact the supervisor mentioned.
Abstract
Various phenomena in the social sciences show multistability and hysteresis, suggesting they can be formulated as stochastic dynamical systems. Catastrophe theory is a multifaceted and powerful mathematical tool to classify and study a certain class of smooth dynamical systems; however, its application to the social sciences has been controversial. This thesis introduces catastrophe theory at a conceptual level, discusses current limitations in social science applications, and examines the merit of currently published applications. We conclude that due to current methodological limitations and difficulty of model usage the application of stochastic catastrophe theory in the social sciences is a difficult, niche case.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Bachelor) |
|---|---|
| Supervisor name: | Bringmann, L.F. and Albers, C.J. |
| Degree programme: | Psychology |
| Differentiation route: | None [Bachelor Psychology] |
| Date Deposited: | 17 Jun 2022 10:19 |
| Last Modified: | 17 Jun 2022 10:19 |
| URI: | http://gmwpublic.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/528 |
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