Human Behavior and the Principle of Least Effort

George Zipf

The case is somewhat different , however, with the politician who wants votes, or with the marketer who invents styles or has something to sell. For here the game may be simply he most effective manipulation of the existing preconceptions, without any thought of altering them. A politician, though meritorious, who casually ignores his constituents' preconceptions, or else tries to superimpose his own logic upon them, is only too likely to fall before another and even far less capable politician who knows the preconceptions of his constituents, and who say, in substance, "My friends, I understand your feeling perfectly, and am heartily in accord with them."

Yet just because one man's preconceptions often flaunt another man's logic in what seems to him to be a highly capricious manner, we may by no means suppose that man's preconceptions are random and haphazard, and without a certain logic of their own. On the contrary, in our study of the dynamics of language and the structure of the personality, we shall find that a vocabulary of preconceptions is quite orderly and is governed by quite definite underlying principles. (p. vii)

We may even visualize a given stream of speech as being subject to two "opposing forces". The one "force" (the speaker's economy) will tend to reduce the size of the vocabulary to a single word by unifying all meanings behind a single word; for that reason we may appropriately call it the Force of Unification. Opposed to this Force of Unification is the second force (the auditor's economy) that tend to increase the size of a vocabulary to a point where there will be a distinctly different word for each different meaning. Since the second "force' will tend to increase the diversity of a vocabulary, we shall henceforth call it

Since all human beings are members of larger social groups whose collective needs restrict and coerce the action of their individual members, we can understand how the problems of human social relations are also problems of individual... (p. 347)

The ultimate effect of a tax does not necessarily mean a curbing of the productive capacity of the system. Indeed, if the proceeds of a tax are used to provide services such as schools or police and fire protection that meets the common needs of all, the tax will by no means be a curb upon the incentives to produce. Instead it falls under the heading of production.

On the other hand, the sheer fact that the proceeds of taxation provide a distributable sum that is both collected and expended by government agents may lead to the formation of a governmental bureaucratic elite that increases its power by selling its favor until it becomes an independent dominance system of its own. The goal of the bureaucratic elite will always be that of an increased taxation, and its chief device for achieving its goal will be the purchase of a following from the pariah class by means of variously disguised gifts from the public treasury which is supported by a taxation of the productive elite whom the bureaucratic elite threatens and calumniates. (P. 471)

In order to understand the economy and danger of Pied Piper morality, let us begin by noting that because of the doubly logarithmic distribution of the elite, it is easier for a member of the elite to fall to a lower position that to rise to a higher one. Since all members of the elite will have a common incentive in not falling, they will have a common incentive in preserving themselves as a class against falling. Therefore, they will find it economical to seek devices to achieve that end --- that is, devices that will discourage attempts to displace them. Suitable devices are not readily available in the real world of human ecology, since the very existence of the elite is the result of envy and competition. Therefore. suitable devices are sought in an imaginary world --- a supernatural world --- and once hey are found, the elite takes on the character of a leisure class.

The chief value to the elite of a Pied Piper morality is that of a deterrent. Thus, an aspirant to elite membership has not only the physical problem of supplanting someone n the elite by sheer force and cunning, but also the initial problem of overcoming his own consciousness before attempting to do so. The elite, on the other hand, has no conscientious scruples about annihilating the aspirant; on the contrary, the elite’s self-defence becomes a highly moral act of which the entire hierarchy has been taught to approve. This same moral righteousness gives added momentum to any expansionist program of the elite for its own selfish aggrandizement, since the4 elite, with its moral righteousness, can easily blind the gullible in pied Piper fashion, while silencing with the threat of ostracism or of death anyone who might chose to inquire objectively into the probable value and cost of the enterprise. Those citizens who follow the Pied Piper, whether from gullibility or from cowardice, have the temporarily comforting feeling of moral superiority while they commit what are only too often outright abominations and sadistic atrocities whose only purpose is to give vent to aggressiveness and cruelty of temperament. (p. 479)

The best and perhaps the only way to get rid of all Pied Piper morality is to construct empirically an objective science of society that may be used as a frame of reference for an empiric system of ethics, as have been advocated again and again by ... and a few others ... The reason for this fewness of numbers may be found in ... that those bestow academic positions tend to reward more highly a poor picture of the ideal world than a good study of the real one. (p. 481)

In our usage, a person's prestige exists only (1) in reference to some actual group of persons (2 the relative degree of his prestige is indicated by 3) the comparative extent to which others in the group will defer to his will and convenience. ...

The most obvious means of compelling others to one's will is the use of superior physical forces. ... sheer force is admitted the final arbiter of all things, and where, if one cannot be strong oneself, one strives to be a friend of those who are strong. From this consideration alone we can see how members of a group will either strive for the positions of top prestige or else vie for the favor of those who possess the top positions, while the group itself is altered into dominance system under the leadership of an elite.

Insofar as prestige is based upon the possession of physical power, this power must be repeated exercised in a conspicuous fashion so that members of the group will be reminded of the presence of the strong man's power, lest they otherwise lapse with time into an indifference towards his will and convenience... Physical combat with others involves the expenditure of work, as well as the assumption of the risk of being defeated by one's adversaries. For that reason, any device of less work and risk that can be substituted with equal effect for an actual physical combat in the struggle for prestige will recommended for adoption, yet as soon as we introduce the concept of substitute devices we introduce, by definition, the concept of symbols.

...

The most obvious prestige symbols are those things like scalps, heads and teeth that can be removed from the corpses of enemies slain in combat for the purpose of exhibition as signs of one's prowess.  ... At this juncture, however, an ugly consideration arises. We refer to the fact that there is no discernible difference between the parts of corpses that have been heroically slain in combat and the parts of corpses that have succumbed to natural causes and which lie available in any fresh grave. ... From this consideration there arises the dynamic for authenticating storied which, in turn, will lead to that class of literary products known as heroic epics. Minstrels, therefore, are essential to kings, who must always give a mind to history lest the royal trophies of combat be subsequently forgotten or declared spurious.  (p. 519)

For convenience we shall ignore the obvious case of underhandedly eliminating powerful contenders while conspicuously battling with "men of straw". (p. 518)

Vogues in education are not  limited to the matter of degrees. The actual fields of education that attract students come in and out of vogue. Thus, the runs on philosophy, literature, romance philology, psychology, "government", sociology, nuclear physics, and so on. Curiously enough the present type of social research seems to be heading for an 'exponential increase". (p. 524)

A study of president F.F. Roosevelt's "fireside chats" reveals the brilliance of the advertising mind that, in composing them, made use of the familiar techniques for promoting any new kind of fashion. Mr. Roosevelt's "chats" generally proceeded as follows: (1) The Union and Human Rights are in grave peril (the fright technique --- frequently used by advertisers of breath and body deodorants); (2) happily all intelligent and patriotic American are already aware of the peril and are rallying to the defense of the Union and Human Rights (the snob appeal); (3) there are of course certain misguided persons and groups among us --- and you know who I mean, etc. (the paranoid appeal; by not specifying the particular persons and groups in question, the President let each auditor believe that his own personal enemies were the ones the President had in mind, and that therefore the President was on his side). (p. 525)