Information integration theory, was proposed by Norman H. Anderson to describe and model how a person integrates information from a number of sources in to make an overall judgment. The theory proposes three functions.
The valuation function V(S) is an empirically derived mapping of stimuli to an interval scale. It is unique up to an interval transformation (y = ax + b).
The integration function r = I{s1,s2, .., sn} is an algebraic function combining the subjective values of the information. "Cognitive algebra" refers to the class of functions that are used to model the integration process. They may be adding, averaging, weighted averaging, multiplying, etc.
The response production function R = M(r) is the process by which the internal impression is translated into an overt response.
Information integration theory differs from other theories in that it is not erected on a consistency principle such as balance or congruity but rather relies on algebraic models. The theory is also referred to as functional measurement, because it can provide validated scale values of the stimuli. An elementary treatment of the theory, along with a Microsoft Windows program for carrying out functional measurement analysis, is provided in the textbook by David J. Weiss.
Read more about Information Integration Theory: Integration Models
Famous quotes containing the words information, integration and/or theory:
“But while ignorance can make you insensitive, familiarity can also numb. Entering the second half-century of an information age, our cumulative knowledge has changed the level of what appalls, what stuns, what shocks.”
—Anna Quindlen (b. 1952)
“The only phenomenon with which writing has always been concomitant is the creation of cities and empires, that is the integration of large numbers of individuals into a political system, and their grading into castes or classes.... It seems to have favored the exploitation of human beings rather than their enlightenment.”
—Claude Lévi-Strauss (b. 1908)
“The weakness of the man who, when his theory works out into a flagrant contradiction of the facts, concludes “So much the worse for the facts: let them be altered,” instead of “So much the worse for my theory.””
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)