Knowledge acquisition as a social phenomenon

The acquisition of knowledge, the development of the individual's knowledge bases, does not occur in a vacuum. The social context, both social structure (the perceived regularities in the social network) and social knowledge, appears to be related to the individual's acquisition of knowledge. In this article, the relationship between the social world and individual knowledge acquisition is explored. A general theory is postulated and then formulated as a model. The basic theory is predicated on the assumption that social interaction is the driving force behind knowledge acquisition.A selection of results pertaining to social learning will be presented. These include, but are not limited to the following:• Social structure affects knowledge acquisition; e.g., individuals in tightly knit social groups develop similar cognitive structures, but not necessarily similar evaluations of those structures.• Social knowledge evolves slowly and relative to shared experience.• Individual knowledge acquisition is limited; e.g., individuals and groups talk past each other because of the lack of critical paths in their respective knowledge bases.

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