NEURAL AND SOCIAL NETWORKS the different provincial population based on their religion or

ethnic affiliations.
The world has become smaller for humanity because of the
major trends and developments in information and
communications technology in the 21st century. Because of the
links that technology has created into each of our lives, it is
inevitable that our actions can now influence those around us.
This chapter discusses the concept of relationships and
networks in society in the 21st century. It looks into the nature
of connections, relationships, social networks, and neural
networks.
Social units referred to in this context are called ACTORS.
ACTORS
- discrete individual or collective social units
- connotes "a social unit that is playing a role in a larger social
system"
In social network analysis, actors are called nodes and vertices.

CONNECTIONS, RELATIONSHIPS, AND NETWORKS Ego network

- made up of a focal actor or node called ego and the nodes to
Social relations link each of us to a particular group and these whom the node is connected are called alters
relations that connect us with others can produce diverse
consequences. Actor attributes
- attributes or characteristics that give additional information
NETWORKS about the actors
- set of units like nerves, species, individuals, institutions, or
states, and a rule that determines the "magnitude, and/or First-order egonet
direction of ties" that exist between two social entities or - states the ties that exist between alters
nodes. (Zeev Maoz, Network of Nations)
- shows the relationships that exist between nodes
- in most cases, the same nodes can be simultaneously related
to multiple networks with each network defined by a particular
set of rules. For example, a group of persons in a church
organization may be a member of different networks like a
friendship network, neighborhood network, or community-
based network.

Hypernetwork/multiplex - a set of networks that is made up of

the dame set of nodes

Second-order egonet
- shows the relationship between alters and other nodes in the
network

Types of Networks
1. Relational
- one-mode networks
- characterized by rules that determine the presence, direction,
and extent of a relationship between two units.
Examples of relational units
-neighborhood, friendship, alliance, or trade networks
2. Affiliational
- networks in which the rule determines an affiliation of a unit
with an event, organization or group.
Examples of affiliational networks
- membership in a professional organization, national
membership in international organizations or the distribution of
Connection Social networks, why important?
- refers to the tie that links actors to one another. It illustrates - because there is a need to look into how a group has made a
what links unit A to unit B decision on a particular issue
- looking into the outcome alone neglects the complex process
Dyad - made up of a pair of actors through which a consequence or decision has been made or
Triad - three actors are involved reached
- social network analysis allows us to systematically show how
Relationships these interactions among group members led to a particular
- the collection of ties among the actors in a group outcome or decision
- a collection of ties of a specific kind measured on pairs of
actors from a particular group of social entities

Graph/Diagraph
- a visual representation to understand networks
- actors are represented as nodes or vertices and the ties
(connections) represented as lines

Social network
- made up of a subset of nodes that are organized through their
ties with each other
- a set of relations made up of who knows whom, who is a
friend of whom, or who talks with whom.
- a set of relations that apply to a set of actors, as well as any
additional information on those actors and relations.

3 elements
1. It is made up of a set of actors
2. Every actor has a set of individual attributes
3. It has a set of ties or connections that define at least one
relation among others.

Social network analysis

- focuses on the measurement of the characteristics of linkages
between units whether individuals, groups, or organizations
that form a defined population
- analysis of social networks provide an increase understanding
of the morphological patterns within networks and it centres on
questions that explain why clusters and connections form
within a social life, and analyzes "network complexities and
directional asymmetries in network links.