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14 pages, 2703 KiB

Open AccessArticle

by Wolfgang Tschacher and Hermann Haken

Entropy 2023, 25(2), 341; https://doi.org/10.3390/e25020341 - 13 Feb 2023

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 4263

A common assumption of psychological theories of humor is that experienced funniness results from an incongruity between stimuli provided by a verbal joke or visual pun, followed by a sudden, surprising resolution of incongruity. In the perspective of complexity science, this characteristic incongruity-resolution sequence is modeled by a phase transition, where an initial attractor-like script, suggested by the initial joke information, is suddenly destructed, and in the course of resolution replaced by a less probable novel script. The transition from the initial to the enforced final script was modeled as a succession of two attractors with different minimum potentials, during which free energy becomes available to the joke recipient. Hypotheses derived from the model were tested in an empirical study where participants rated the funniness of visual puns. It was found, consistent with the model, that the extent of incongruity and the abruptness of resolution were associated with reported funniness, and with social factors, such as disparagement (Schadenfreude) added to humor responses. The model suggests explanations as to why bistable puns and phase transitions in conventional problem solving, albeit also based on phase transitions, are generally less funny. We proposed that findings from the model can be transferred to decision processes and mental change dynamics in psychotherapy. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Guided Self-Organization)

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27 pages, 3083 KiB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Information and Self-Organization II: Steady State and Phase Transition

by Hermann Haken and Juval Portugali

Entropy 2021, 23(6), 707; https://doi.org/10.3390/e23060707 - 2 Jun 2021

Cited by 18 | Viewed by 4644

Abstract

This paper starts from Schrödinger’s famous question “what is life” and elucidates answers that invoke, in particular, Friston’s free energy principle and its relation to the method of Bayesian inference and to Synergetics 2nd foundation that utilizes Jaynes’ maximum entropy principle. Our presentation reflects the shift from the emphasis on physical principles to principles of information theory and Synergetics. In view of the expected general audience of this issue, we have chosen a somewhat tutorial style that does not require special knowledge on physics but familiarizes the reader with concepts rooted in information theory and Synergetics. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Information and Self-Organization II)

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13 pages, 8275 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

What Can Synergetics Contribute to Embodied Aesthetics?

by Hermann Haken

Behav. Sci. 2017, 7(3), 61; https://doi.org/10.3390/bs7030061 - 2 Sep 2017

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 7091

Abstract

I deal with perception and action (e.g., movements) using results from synergetics, a comprehensive mathematical theory of the self-organized formation (emergence) of spatial, temporal, or functional structures in complex systems. I illustrate basic concepts such as order parameters (OPs), enslavement, complexity reduction, circular causality first by examples of well-known collective, spontaneous modes of human behavior such as rhythmic clapping of hands, and so forth, and then by face recognition. The role played by OPs depends on context. In the case of face (or pattern) recognition an OP represents the concept of an individual face (action of mind) and it enslaves the action (firing rates) of neurons (body). This insight allows me to interpret syndromes as order parameters playing their mind/body double role. I present criteria for the identification of OPs and discuss their general properties including error correction and remedy of deficiencies. Contact is made with a recent paper by Sabine Koch on embodied aesthetics. My approach includes the saturation of attention at various time scales (ambiguous figures/fashion). Adopting a psychological perspective, I discuss some ingredients of beauty such as proportionality and symmetry, but also the importance of irregularities. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Embodied Aesthetics and Interpersonal Resonance)

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6 pages, 179 KiB

Open AccessEditorial

Information and Self-Organization

by Hermann Haken and Juval Portugali

Entropy 2017, 19(1), 18; https://doi.org/10.3390/e19010018 - 31 Dec 2016

Cited by 26 | Viewed by 9518

Abstract

The process of “self-organization” takes place in open and complex systems that acquire spatio-temporal or functional structures without specific ordering instructions from the outside. [...] Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Information and Self-Organization)

57 pages, 11424 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Information and Selforganization: A Unifying Approach and Applications

by Hermann Haken and Juval Portugali

Entropy 2016, 18(6), 197; https://doi.org/10.3390/e18060197 - 14 Jun 2016

Cited by 39 | Viewed by 9675

Abstract

Selforganization is a process by which the interaction between the parts of a complex system gives rise to the spontaneous emergence of patterns, structures or functions. In this interaction the system elements exchange matter, energy and information. We focus our attention on the relations between selforganization and information in general and the way they are linked to cognitive processes in particular. We do so from the analytical and mathematical perspective of the “second foundation of synergetics” and its “synergetic computer” and with reference to several forms of information: Shannon’s information that deals with the quantity of a message irrespective of its meaning, semantic and pragmatic forms of information that deal with the meaning conveyed by messages and information adaptation that refers to the interplay between Shannon’s information and semantic or pragmatic information. We first elucidate the relations between selforganization and information theoretically and mathematically and then by means of specific case studies. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Information and Self-Organization)

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