On Social-Process Models and Behavioral Inertia

A discrete-time dynamic model of an n-party social process is formulated that enables attention to be focused on the influence of each party's memory of her own past responses. It is shown that, for the model described, under certain reasonable assumptions, concerning, for example, the vector of initial reactions, an equilibrium point is approached by the successive vectors of responses generated by the model, and the equilibrium point is in fact independent of the specifics associated with the way in which memory is modeled (i.e., is, for example, independent of the degree to which the behavior of the various parties is conservative), even though the dynamic process by which the equilibrium point is approached is, in general, dependent on these specifics. An application concerning a model of the growth of Picturephoneg® service is discussed.