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Diffusion

 

Disciplines > Communication > Diffusion

 

How do ideas spread? How does one person convince another and that person spread the word? Diffusion of ideas can be critically important for mass persuasion and is consequently of interest to marketers, politicians and more.

The idea of diffusion originated in 19th century European studies of cultural change, for example as summarized in Durkheim's (1897) summary of research into suicide epidemics.

In the 20th century the fascination of how people connect and spread ideas continued. For example Tarde (1903) described imitation, Pemberton (1936) further described the spread of ideas and Rogers (1962) brought the principle to wider attention, defining diffusion as:

"the process by which an innovation is communicated through certain channels over time among the members of a social system"

In 1935 Zipf coined the term 'acteme', which was revised to 'meme' by Dawkins (1976).

See also

Groups, Theories about groups, Small World Theory, Weak Ties Theory, Culture, Simplicity Principle, Mainstreaming, How to make a video go viral

 

http://creatingminds.org

 

Dawkins, R. (1976). The Selfish Gene, Oxford University Press, Oxford.

Durkheim, E. (1897, 1952). Suicide: A Study in Sociology, Routledge, London

Pemberton, H. E. (1936) 'The Curve of Culture Diffusion Rate', American Sociological Review, 1 (4): 547-556

Rogers, E.M. (1962). Diffusion of Innovations. Glencoe: Free Press

Tarde, G. (1903, 1963). The Laws of Imitation, Peter Smith, Clouchester, MA.

Zipf, G. K. (1935, 1965). Psychobiology of Languages, The M.I.T. Press, Cambridge, MA.

 

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Site Menu

| Home | Top | Quick Links | Settings |

Main sections: | Disciplines | Techniques | Principles | Explanations | Theories |

Other sections: | Blog! | Quotes | Guest articles | Analysis | Books | Help |

More pages: | Contact | Caveat | About | Students | Webmasters | Awards | Guestbook | Feedback | Sitemap | Changes |

Settings: | Computer layout | Mobile layout | Small font | Medium font | Large font | Translate |

 

 

Please help and share:

 

Quick links

Disciplines

* Argument
* Brand management
* Change Management
* Coaching
* Communication
* Counseling
* Game Design
* Human Resources
* Job-finding
* Leadership
* Marketing
* Politics
* Propaganda
* Rhetoric
* Negotiation
* Psychoanalysis
* Sales
* Sociology
* Storytelling
* Teaching
* Warfare
* Workplace design

Techniques

* Assertiveness
* Body language
* Change techniques
* Closing techniques
* Conversation
* Confidence tricks
* Conversion
* Creative techniques
* General techniques
* Happiness
* Hypnotism
* Interrogation
* Language
* Listening
* Negotiation tactics
* Objection handling
* Propaganda
* Problem-solving
* Public speaking
* Questioning
* Using repetition
* Resisting persuasion
* Self-development
* Sequential requests
* Storytelling
* Stress Management
* Tipping
* Using humor
* Willpower

Principles

+ Principles

Explanations

* Behaviors
* Beliefs
* Brain stuff
* Conditioning
* Coping Mechanisms
* Critical Theory
* Culture
* Decisions
* Emotions
* Evolution
* Gender
* Games
* Groups
* Habit
* Identity
* Learning
* Meaning
* Memory
* Motivation
* Models
* Needs
* Personality
* Power
* Preferences
* Research
* Relationships
* SIFT Model
* Social Research
* Stress
* Trust
* Values

Theories

* Alphabetic list
* Theory types

And

About
Guest Articles
Blog!
Books
Changes
Contact
Guestbook
Quotes
Students
Webmasters

 

| Home | Top | Menu | Quick Links |

© Changing Works 2002-
Massive Content — Maximum Speed