Doctoral Dissertation: A Sociological Analysis of Generalized Information Exchange

本论文研究的目的是理解当信息作为交换对象产生集体商品时，广义信息系统是如何出现并持续存在的。在这种广义的交换中，个人为集体利益(信息池)做出贡献，而参与者获得的回报来自于集体利益。因为搭便车是理性的，从公共信息池中获得奖励，而不是为之做出贡献，理解普遍的信息交换是如何出现和持续的，需要个人克服一个社会困境。我提出了一个理论论证，具体说明了社会心理过程如何作为选择性激励，增加个人对公共信息池的贡献。特别是，当与提供信息相关的成本很小时，社会心理因素，如个人信息的受欢迎程度和与遵守合作行为相关的规范义务，可能会对合作产生相对深刻的影响。这项研究的数据将在斯坦福大学社会学系的社会研究实验室收集。大约150名实验对象将参加五个实验条件中的一个，这些条件使用专门为这项研究开发的计算机化交换程序。这项研究的更广泛的影响包括：在一个信息的即时传输对世界商业、教育、经济和政治至关重要的世界里，了解信息交换系统如何出现并持续存在是我们日益互联的社会的一个中心问题。本研究的结果对广义交换理论和现实世界的广义信息交换系统都有更广泛的意义。本文对广义交换、集体行动和社会困境的理论和研究成果进行了扩展，重点研究了作为交换对象的信息和社会心理选择性激励在广义交换系统中的作用。此外，这项研究还可以帮助我们理解导致真实世界普遍信息交换出现的潜在过程，例如在互联网上的对等网络中发现的那些信息交换。

The goal of this dissertation research is to understand how generalized information systems emerge and persist when information, as the object of exchange, produces a collective good. In this type of generalized exchange, individuals contribute to a collective good (pool of information), and the rewards that an actor receives come from this collective good. Because it is rational to free ride by receiving rewards from the public pool of information while not contributing to it, understanding how generalized information exchange emerges and persists requires individuals to overcome a social dilemma. I develop a theoretical argument that specifies how social psychological processes act as selective incentives that increase individual contributions to a public pool of information. In particular, when the costs associated with contributing information are small, social psychological factors such as the popularity of one's own information and the normative obligation associated with observing cooperative behavior can have a relatively profound effect on cooperation. The data for this research will be collected at the Stanford University Laboratory for Social Research in the Department of Sociology. Approximately 150 experimental subjects will participate in one of five experimental conditions that use a computerized exchange program that was developed specifically for this research. The broader impacts of this research include the following: In a world where the instantaneous transfer of information is crucial to world business, education, economics, and politics, understanding how information exchange systems can emerge and persist is a central problem for our increasingly interconnected societies. The results of this study have broader implications for both generalized exchange theory and real world generalized information exchange systems. This dissertation extends theory and findings on generalized exchange, collective action, and social dilemmas by focusing on information as the object of exchange and the role of social psychological selective incentives in generalized exchange systems. Additionally, this research can help us to understand the underlying processes that lead to the emergence of real-world generalized information exchanges such as those found in peer-to-peer networks on the Internet.