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The Theory of the Optimal Distribution of the Income


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Corporation for Social Assistance
Financial Aid Program for Families with many Children

Dear Sir or Madam:

The Corporation for Social Assistance (CSA) is a charitable, religious, non-profit organization. Its purpose is to provide financial aid to families that have seven or more children.
Families with seven children will receive a financial aid bonus of $80 dollars, families with eight children will receive a bonus of $90 dollars, and families with nine or more children will receive a bonus of $100. The bonus is not for families that have seven or more members, but specifically for families that have seven or more children per household. If in your family there are seven or more children you would qualify to receive this financial aid. In this case, you should fill out the enclosed form with your name, the number of children in your particular family, and the address to which the financial aid bonus should be sent. The form should be mailed to the address that appears on the back of the form. You may place the form in an envelope or fold it in the places indicated by the arrows, seal it, place a stamp on the corner, and deposit it in any mailbox.





The form for applying for the bonus could contain the following information:

Name: __________________________
(You will put the name to which the check will be made with the bonus.)
Address: _________________________
(The address where the check should be mailed)
The number of children the applicant has:
______
Please fold this form on the lines indicated by the arrows, seal it, place a stamp in the indicated corner, and deposit it in any mailbox.





To assure ourselves that the statistics obtained among different countries can be compared, we should make the level of temptation to which the subjects are subjected the same in each country. For example, $100 is not the same for a worker in The United States as it is for one in Peru. Consequently, a better criterion would be to select as the level of temptation for each country the equivalent of one week's worth of work. Even doing this, however, the real degree of need that individuals may have in different countries will still not be fully taken in to consideration. For example, once again, a day without work is not the same for a worker from the United States as it is for a Peruvian worker. For the former it could mean the loss of a day's wages, but for the latter it could mean going without food for one day.

All of this statistical noise or all of these variables would have a bearing on the level of temptation to which each subject in each country would be exposing himself. Trying to assure that the individuals that make up the sample in each country had the same power of acquisition, could improve the experimental model, but it would make it more difficult and expensive, in addition to introducing other noises or variables whose effects could have repercussions on the results. Statistical noise has the effect of hiding (reduce the correlation) the effect of the real relationships between the variables. In other words, even though the relationship between two variables is perfect, the estimated coefficient of correlation could be low due to the effect of the rest of the variables that have a bearing on the first ones. In these cases, the only thing that can improve the results is the perfectioning, in practice, of an experimental design that will manage to isolate the variables that interest us from the rest of the variables that affect them.

As may be seen, in spite of the fact that this index of acculturation, based on manifest behavior, is very simple to elaborate, it contains serious limitations due to the statistical noise we mentioned. In addition, we can expect the level of economic development to be related not only to the proportion of individuals that have installed a negative valuation/valorization towards stealing Pi, but also towards the average intensity with which the senergicon is activated before the presence of the abstract object "to steal," depending on the importance that has been given to the value "to steal is bad." Consequently, it is important to try to determine not only the presence of the senergicon (which reveals the installation of the value), but also the intensity with which this senergicon is activated before the presence of the object (importance that has been assigned to the value). In the acculturation index that we have described, based on the proportion of individuals in the population that violated that social norm for a pre-determined level of temptation, these two factors appear indistinguishably mixed. The ideal situation would allow us to be able to measure each factor separately: the proportion of individuals that have installed the value and the average intensity (importance) with which they respond to the value.

Another important factor is the following: what positions within the hierarchy of power in society occupy the persons that have values installed toward the abstract object "steal"? For example there may be a large proportion of individuals in the general population that have installed the value "to steal is bad," but if the small proportion of individuals that do not have installed that value occupies the positions of power and are the ones that make the important decisions in society, this will be reflected in the economic level of that society. In other words, it is important that the proportion of politicians with installed values be great. This acquires more importance as a determinant of economic development than the proportion of individuals in the population that have values installed. The same reasoning applies to any other positions of power in society, such as the individuals that direct businesses, institutions, the government agencies, etc.

We repeat once more, all of these variables or statistical noise will tend to hide the relationship that may exist between the economic development of a society and the attachment to the values that society has established and that it consecrates as norms of its culture. This attachment to cultural values is what we try to measure through the index of acculturation.1

19.6 A SIMPLE INDEX OF ACCULTURATION BASED ON THE NORMS "TO BE THRIFTY" AND "TO BE EFFICIENT"

Let us now consider the last two values of the four we are taking into account as indexes of acculturation. In order to obtain a measurement of the adherence of individuals to the value "to be thrifty is good" we can proceed in the following way:

First the representative sample or samples of the population are selected. Their addresses are located and a letter is sent to each with the following content:

Congratulations! You have won a $100 voucher from the Valentino sock company. There are 10 warehouses where you can obtain Valentino socks. The price of the valentino socks is $2.95 each. Nevertheless, this price may vary between $2.50 and $3.50 in some warehouses. We have included the addresses and telephone numbers of each warehouse where you can change your voucher. If you wish we can change your voucher ourselves for the price of $3.50 per sock. All you have to do is come by our offices. This will give you a right to 28 socks that at $3.50 per sock will be the sum total of your $100 voucher. If you wish, you may also send us the voucher by mail and we will send you the 28 socks in return.

Each one of these 10 warehouses should record the name of the person that calls asking for the price of the Valentino socks. It is to be expected that the more savings-conscious or thrifty the citizens of a country are, the greater will be the number of stores that they will call to ask the price. The average number of warehouses called by each person will be an index of the attachment of the individuals to the value "to be thrifty is good."

The proportion of individuals in the sample that decides not to call any of the warehouses and that prefers to obtain the socks at the $3.50 at the offices of the Valentino company, will be an index of the proportion Pi of individuals in the population that do not have the value "to be thrifty is good" installed. On the other hand, the average number of warehouses called will be a measure of the intensity with which the compulsive senergicon is activated by the value "to be thrifty is good" in that proportion of the population 1-Pi that do have the value installed.

No warehouse should have the price of $2.50 because if during the first calls a warehouse with this price were to exist, the individual would stop calling because he would know it was the lowest price he could find.

In order to find a measure of the adherence of the individuals to the value "to be efficient is good" we can proceed in the following way:

First we select the sample or samples that are representative of the population. Their addresses are localized and a letter is sent to them which says the following:

The AMEX company will soon open up a new branch in this city. With the goal of getting to know the local community we will be interviewing people to fill the more than 2000 positions that will be available soon. There are positions for skilled workers, unskilled workers, and for professionals. In order to interview the people who are interested in filling out applications we will be giving appointments. Your appointed will be on ______ at 12:00 pm.





When the person shows up for the appointment, because it is the middle of the day, he is invited to lunch. First he is told to go to the restroom to wash his hands and after he finishes everyone proceeds to the cafeteria. In the bathroom there will be a machine with paper to dry one's hands. The individual that is not efficient will use a great deal of paper to dry his hands without caring about what he wastes. On the other hand, the individual who is efficient will use much less paper, since the compulsive senergicon anxiety towards the object or goal "to be efficient" incites him not to waste this particular resource.

Once the individual has washed his hands and goes to the cafeteria, he is given lunch, then he fills out the application and he is said good-bye. Then, the amount of paper he used to wash his hands while in the restroom is noted. We expect that the more efficient the citizens of a country are the less paper they will waste. The average amount of paper used by each person will be an index of the attachment of individuals to the value "to be efficient is good."

Another index of efficiency may be obtained this way: each subject in the experiment will be given the same lunch, for example, a hamburger with french fries and a soft drink, so that the need for napkins will be the same in all the subjects. The subject will be allowed to take as many napkins as he needs from a napkin holder placed next to his seating position on the table.
The average number of napkins used by each individual will be an index of adherence to the value "to be efficient is good."
The examples we have used to measure the attachment of individuals to the values "to be thrifty is good" and "to be efficient is good" may not be the best. We have not had the time to study which would be the best ones. We have only wanted to provide an idea of how such a measure can be carried out. However, we recognize that the examples used may lead to great biases to the cultural differences that exist from one country to the next.

Once again we have the problem that the statistical data from low in per capita income would not be easily compared with the data acquired from countries with a high per capita income. Only a good experimental design can resolve this problem.
For example, in the case of the socks, the access the subjects have to a telephone from which to call or an effective and economic means of transportation that would transport them to the different warehouse addresses where the Valentino socks are sold, may be dramatically different from one country to another. In developed countries the telephone service and the means of public transportation tend to be quite good and easily accessible, which is not the case in underdeveloped countries. In developed countries the majority of people have a telephone in their homes, while in the underdeveloped they do not. In developed countries public telephones are accessible and effective. In some underdeveloped countries making calls on a public telephone can be a truly frustrating experience. In the example using the paper towels to dry one's hands or in the case of the napkins, there are great variations including within underdeveloped countries themselves. In some countries paper products are scarce and expensive due to inefficient internal production and to high import tariffs. In these countries a napkin can seem like a luxury, consequently, its use more restricted. This would mean that the indexes obtained for each country would not be suitable for comparison from one country to the next. However, they would be suitable in order to compare the differences among groups within one and the same country as in, for example, The United States.

Therefore, the above information should be taken simple as some suggested ideas that need to be refined.
It is important to remember that the precision of these measurements will improve and with it the correlation of this result with the economic development as better and better experimental designs are developed and better examples to represent the different social values on whose installation in the individual psyches the measurements that will be obtained in the indexes of attachment to cultural values will depend.

Lastly, we should point out that if we wanted elaborate an index of attachment that individuals have to the value "being punctual is good," which is so important for economic development, all we have to do is estimate in the previous experiment, where the subjects have an appointment at 12:00 pm, the average number of minutes the subjects are late. This will be an index of the adherence of those individuals to that particular value.

In conclusion, the experimental model or models that will be used to obtain the measurements that will help us to determine the index of acculturation that is best correlated to economic growth, is a problem that will have to be resolved little by little as the experience and information gleaned from the research throws some light on it. A way of improving this index of acculturation is to develop methods and/or instruments that will allow for the measurement of a senergicon in the most direct and unequivocal way possible.

In the following section we will concentrate on a way to measure, in the most direct way possible, not only the presence of a senergicon in an individual that encounters a valued object, but also its intensity.

19.7 SOME IDEAS ABOUT HOW TO MEASURE A SENERGICON

We have just discussed some ideas on how to go about realizing or carrying out the first of the three research tasks to develop as proposed by our theory which consist on producing an index of acculturation. In this and the next five sections we will take into consideration the second task: measuring a senergicon. We will also analyze the manner in which this measurement of a senergicon could serve to produce an index of acculturation that is more precise than the one we can obtain through the manifest behavior of individuals. As we already pointed out, as the techniques to obtain precise and easier measurements of a senergicon are developed, better indexes of acculturation will also be created. It is important to point out that in these sections we are only presenting ideas as to how to carry out this second task proposed by out theory. We hope that these ideas serve to inspire better strategies and experimental models in the graduate students that decide to do research in this field.

An attitude is a predisposition to act or behave in a certain manner before an object. According to conventional psychological theory, an attitude has three components: cognitive, affective, and reactive. In chapter 13 we pointed out that the so called reactive component is nothing more than the behavioral result of the first two components: the cognitive and the affective. However, what really determines an attitude towards an object is the affective component or the senergicon. As soon as an object produces or activates an affective state, the general behavior component of the senergicon determines, orients, and conforms the cognitive component of the attitude. This is because conscious reason, who is the one that elaborates the cognitive component of an attitude, attempts to elaborate the action alternatives (thoughts, cognition's) that will satisfy the general behavior component of the senergicon (about this topic see chapter 11). Consequently, in the last instance, what determines an attitude toward an object is the nature of the affective state or senergicon that is activated by the object.

For example, if a person has an attitude against Jews, the senergicons that energize that attitude are to move away unpleasant (annoyance), and attacking exciting (anger). These, then, would be the affective components of the attitude. The cognitive component could be "Jews are loan sharks," "anti-Christians," "vile people," etc.. But these reasons elaborated by conscious reason or processor 1 are the ones that satisfy the general behavior components of the senergicons that consist of, as we have already mentioned, distance oneself from the object and attack it. Consequently, once an object has been valorized and the value installed, what really determines the attitude, that is, the behavioral predisposition towards the object, is the affective state or senergicon.

One can measure or register the presence of an attitude (affective state) towards an object in an indirect manner, through registering or measuring the manifest behavior of the individual before the object, or the cognitive component of the attitude toward the object (paper and pencil techniques). Nevertheless, the more indirect a measurement is, the more the number of mistakes that will be produced. In other words, when we use manifest behavior or the cognitive component to indirectly measure the presence of an attitude, we must keep in mind that both the manifest behavior as well as what the person says about an object could be interpreted as the result, not of his simple attitude toward an object, that could be, speaking in an affective state way, one of rejection (to move away unpleasant), but of a complex attitude that is the final product of its affective state reaction before other objects related to the original object.

For example, if you ask someone what they think about lying and stealing, he could respond that he condemns stealing as something bad, but may not have an affective state response before these objects in front of people (shame); this, as a result of not having that value installed. Therefore, when he has the opportunity to steal, he will do so without any difficulty whatsoever. His response that stealing was bad was a behavioral result of the senergicons activated by other objects related to the original object as, for example, project a good image of himself before the person who asked him, which could be a positively valued abstract object and, consequently, can activate a senergicon or affective state that energizes the behavior toward this object.
According to what we have presented above, we can conclude that indirect methods of measuring an attitude based on the cognitive component, by means of paper and pencil techniques, may contain great inherent mistakes in measurement as a result of the differences between a simple attitude and a complex attitude. As we mentioned in chapter 13, the experimental model that techniques of paper and pencil imply make it impossible to isolate a simple attitude from a complex one. Each question that is asked to the subject concerning what he thinks about the object in question, is itself constituted into a new abstract object before which the subject reacts. This new abstract object is constituted by the social experience that the response to each question implies. As we stated in chapter 13, what is said about the object is considered behavior as well as what is done (action) before it.

The reasoning applies to the method that applies manifest behavior. An individual with a racist attitude towards Jews may behave very correctly in their presence as a result of his affective state reaction before the related objects "to be a racist," "to be unjust," "to be non-egalitarian" that compose the elements of his complex attitude before Jews.

It is important to keep in mind that this manifest behavior of the individual is not, in a strict sense, a component of the attitude, but rather the result of that attitude.

In chapter 13 we also saw how only when we consider a simple attitude can we expect the affective state and cognitive components to coincide. Nevertheless, what, in the last instance, determines the attitude towards an object is the affective state component. Consequently, the most direct way to register or measure an attitude towards an object consistent in measuring the component that determines it, that is, the affective state reaction before the object. However, because we have not yet invented a method that registers or measures emotions or affective states, for now it is impossible to register or measure in a direct fashion the presence of an affective state. For this reason we must, for the time being, continue measuring, indirectly, the affective state component of an attitude.

There are two ways in which the affective state component of an attitude may be measured: by asking the individual what he feels towards an object (paper and pencil techniques) and through the physiological changes in body. Please not we are saying the indirect measurement of the affective state component of the attitude and not the indirect measurement of the cognitive component, which is a reflection of the first. As far as the first method of measurement is concerned, the mistakes arise, as we have explained, from the differences between a simple and a complex attitude. With respect to the second, there are instruments that measure the galvanic response of the skin, pupil reaction, blood pressure, heartbeats, etc.. We know that these variables are strongly correlated with emotional states. Consequently, it is possible to measure or register the presence of an affective state in an indirect way by registering one of these variables. The margin of error in the measurement, which we can expect to be less, will depend on the degree of correlation between the chosen variable and the emotion.

In the development of techniques to measure attitudes we prefer those that imply measurements of physiological changes. For the reasons we have already alluded to, we propose to measure the affective state component of attitudes based on its correlation to physical changes. In order to do that we have developed the theory necessary that allows us to design experiments that attempt to isolate the affective state component of the attitude. We consider the senergicons that correspond to the values that most contribute to the economic development of a country and that are of most interest to private industry to be the ones that are most important to measure. These are: "to steal is bad" and "to lie is bad."

If a physiological measurement can be obtained that is highly correlated to the presence of the senergicon shame when stealing or lying, a great contribution will have been made to the field of industrial psychology and social psychology. In other words, if we are able to measure, even in an indirect way, the affective state component of an attitude, for example, the attitude towards stealing and towards lying, we can predict on that basis what individual has the greatest probability of being dishonest by lying or stealing (contribution to industrial psychology), as well as developing better indexes of acculturation (contribution to the field of social psychology). In addition, we will contribute to the development of research on how values are installed and de-installed.

19.8 METHODOLOGY

As we saw in the section, "What is What Measure an Acculturation Index?" of this chapter, in creation of an index of acculturation there are two population parameters that we wish to estimate in terms of the attitudes towards established social norms:

1. What proportion P of the individuals in the population has the value in question installed?
2. What is the average intensity with which the persons who have that value installed react before it?







In order to estimate the first parameter, a representative sample of the population is obtained and each subject is measure to see if he reacts in an affective state way before the three dimensions of the tricotomic attitude before the social norm. All of those individuals in whom an affective state reaction before the presence of the object "social norm in question" is registered, for each dimension, will be identified as persons who have installed that value in the corresponding dimension. Later we determine what proportion P of the individuals in the sample have the value installed in each dimension. That will be the average of the proportion of the population that has the value installed in each dimension.

In order to estimate the second parameter, that is, obtain an estimate of the degree of intensity that the people in society that have the value installed (in each dimension) react before it (importance of the value), we first obtain an average of the affective state reaction in sample (within each dimension) as an average reaction in the population.

Then, there are two parameters to estimate with the same sample in each one of the three dimensions of the tricotomic attitude before the social norms. The methodological problem consists in creating certain laboratory conditions where the subjects in the sample are exposed to the abstract object presented by the social norm in question, and be able to register his affective state through the physiological reaction. The situation has to be sufficiently real for the subject to believe it and, consequently, if he has values installed, react in an affective way before the object. In addition, such a situation should be elaborated for all three contexts in which the triconomic attitude before the social norms is produced.

1. Behavior in the presence of other people: activation of the senergicon shame.
2. Behavior in the presence of one's self: activation of the senergicon anxiety
3. The behavior of others before the individual: activation of the senergicon anger.





In all processes of measurement it is indispensable to:

1. Define what is being measured.
2. Have a theory that explains why that variable is important and what its relationship of cause and effect is with the phenomenon that is being studied.





Concerning the first aspect, we are interested in measuring the sensation of shame, anxiety, and anger that the violation of a social norm, in each one of the dimensions of the tricotomic attitude, may produce in the individual.

The procedure to follow would be to carefully design the conditions, be that in a laboratory or in a natural setting, that provoke in the individual the sensation that one wishes to register in the selected dimension of the tricotomic attitude, isolate it from any other one, so that the measurement that one manages to register will correspond to that sensation specifically. What we are trying to do here is isolate the stimulus or stimuli (abstract objects) that produce and activate that sensation and only that sensation. Suffice it to say that this task is extremely difficult to accomplish. We should be satisfied, then, if we can create the experimental design that most closely approximates those conditions that are ideal.

As far the second aspect is concerned, the theory we will use to explain why the variable that we are measuring is important and what its causal relationship is to the phenomenon that is being studied, will be the one we have elaborated in this book from chapters 1 through 16.

For example, in order to measure the attitude of an individual towards the abstract object consistent with his stealing something or lying, the procedure to follow, according to the relationships of cause and effect elaborated in our theory, would be the following:

1. There is a social norm that establishes one should not steal.
2. To that norm corresponds the value "to steal is bad."
3. The individual who has installed that value in his psyche will experience the sensation or emotion of shame when he is surprised violating this norm.
4. This occurs because his brain detects dissonances of concrete or abstract objects (such as considering the idea of stealing) with that value.
5. Based on the results of the experiments that have done on this subject, we can postulate that the emotions and the affective states in general produce physiological changes in the organism and that the magnitude of such changes is proportional to the magnitude of the affective state.2
6. Consequently, the intensity of the galvanic response of the skin (GRS), before the dissonances of the objects with installed values, will be a reflection of the intensity of the sensation or emotion of shame the individual will experience before that object and, as a result, of the intensity of his attitude before this object.





The problem is reduced, as we stated before, to how to create the laboratory conditions that can reproduce a situation for the individual where such a sensation is activated. Given that the sensation will not be activated unless the situation is believable, the difficulty in the measurement of attitudes would be reduced to the difficulties encountered in creating laboratory conditions that will be as close to real as possible for the individual, so that they are capable of activating the behavioral sensation towards the object that corresponds to the value that he may have installed.

As one may appreciate, the definition of attitude that we have elaborated in our theory will allow us to leave the sphere of speculation in the measurement of attitudes, where what is measured as an index and cause of behavior can never be used to predict behavior, in order to enter into the field of objective measurements of a cause and of its corresponding effects. Behavior will be, at last, utilized as a confirmation of the measurement that will have been made of the attitude towards an object.
With the above methodology we will be able to determine what degree of intensity of attitude (intensity of the senergicon) toward an object should exist in order for the probability of an individual will refrain from committing a particular act, in the case of dissonance, or will be disposed to commit a particular act, in the case of consonance, be that X%; that is, what is the level or degree of intensity of the attitude so that a particular behavior, be that refraining from or committing an act, has X% of probability that it will occur. In this way this methodology allows to calculate the level of attitude that should exist for each level of utility of carrying out a particular behavior. For example, what level of shame should exist in an individual so that he does not steal $10? What level of shame should exist so that the individual does not steal $1000? Etc.

Observe that the presence and magnitude of the activated senergicon is measured indirectly, based on the correlation of this senergicon with some physiological change in the individual. The GRS is one of these physiological changes that is highly correlated but it is not the only one. The possibility should be explored that other physiological changes are strongly related to the activation of an affective state. This way they can be used as an index of that affective state. For example, considering the changes in the chemical composition of blood would imply taking blood samples of individuals that find themselves under some intense emotional state and study if there are chemical changes in the blood that are highly correlated with the emotional state. Another possibility is to use laboratory animals, such as monkeys or chimpanzees, and investigate if there are changes in the chemical composition of the blood. The samples should include the changes in the proportion of vitamin and mineral consumption in the blood. Next, we present some suggestions as to how to measure a senergicon using GRS as an index of the presence of a senergicon. Nevertheless, in the elaboration of an index of acculturation other alternatives could be used. Alternatives based on the chemical changes in the blood, or the pupil's reaction before the presence of the object to steal or to lie, etc.



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