Trends, Networks and Critical

Thinking in the 21st Century

Culture

QUARTER 2
WEEKS 5, 6 and 7
NOTES AND ACTIVITIES

Most Essential Learning Competencies:

1. Differentiate connections from relationship and networks.

2. Illustrate how the brain or neural network works.
3. Compare the neural networks with social networks.
4. Establish linkage between self and the social network one belongs to.
5. Demonstrate how thinking processes are shaped by social relationships.
6. Identify the significant social roles students play within the community by creating a
social map of their relationships.
Neural and Social Networks

INTRODUCTION
The world has become smaller for humanity because of the major trends and developments in
information and communication technology in the 21st century. The fast-paced production of
knowledge, information, and communication technology and its application became the bridge
that connected us to each and every corner of the world. Each one of us is connected in one
wat or another to different groups or contacts because of the significant developments in the
fields of communication and transportation. Because of the links that technology has created
into each of our lives, it is inevitable that our actions can now influence those around us.

An action or activity of an individual can affect those in other parts of the globe. Needless to
say, it has become inevitable that our connections and social relations with others can produce
diverse consequences.

ACTIVITY 1: Essay. (Write on a sheet of paper.)

1. How would you differentiate connections, relationships, and networks?

2. Explain how the brain functions as a neural network using a schematic diagram.

LESSON 1: Connections, Relationships, and Networks

Social relations link each of us to a particular group and these relations that connect us with
others can produce diverse consequences. This lesson looks into the very nature of social
relations. It explains how relationships are formed through the connections that exist among
individuals whether students, teachers, schools, employees, or administrators. This lesson
uncovers the importance of connections in understanding the nature of social networks.

NETWORKS
Zeev Maoz (2011, 7 and 38-39) in Network of Nations, defines network as a set of units like
nerves, species, individuals, institutions or states, and a rule that determines the “magnitude,
and/or direction of ties” that exist between any two social entities or nodes. A network shows
the relations that exist between nodes. In most cases, the same nodes can be simultaneously
related to multiple networks with each network defined by a particular set of rules. For
example, a group of persons in a church organization may be a member of different networks
like a friendship networks, neighborhood networks, or community-based networks (Maoz
2011, 40). A set of networks that is made up of the same set of nodes is known as a
hypernetwork or a multiplex.

Networks can be classified into two types, namely relational and affiliational networks.
Relational networks or one-node networks are characterized by rules that determine the
presence, direction, and extent of a relationship between any two units. Example of relational
units include neighborhood, friendship, alliance, or trade networks. Affiliation networks refer
to networks in which the rule determines an affiliation of a unit with an event, organization, or
group.

Source: Dela Cruz, A. D., PhD, Fadrigon, C. C., PhD Cand., & Mabaquiao, N. M., PhD. (2018). Trends, Networks,
and Critical Thinking in the 21st Century Culture. Quezon City: Phoenix Publishing House.
Examples of affiliational networks include membership in a professional organization, national
membership in international organizations, or the distribution of the different provincial
population based on their religion or ethnic affiliations.

In understanding networks, it is imperative to understand the connections among social units

including the effects or outcomes associated with these connections. The “social units” referred
to in this context are called actors. Actors are defined as “discrete individual or collective social
units.” The use of the term actor does not mean that they perform a particular action. The term
actor in this context connotes “a social unit that is playing a role in a larger social system.” In
social network analysis, actors are also called nodes and vertices. Below is an example of a
family network.

Table 1. The Family Network of Francis

NAME GENDER AGE
Francis Male 26
Jane Female 22
Ernest Male 42
James Male 38

The table above is an example of an ego network. An Ego network is made up of a focal actor
or node called ego and the nodes to whom the ego is directly connected or linked. These social
units to whom the ego is connected are called alters. In the example above, Francis is the ego
while Jane, Ernest, and James are the alters. Francis has a connection or tie with each of the
family members. Gender and age provide additional information about the actors are called
actor attributes.

An ego network also states the ties exist between the alters. This is known as a first order
egonet. A second order egonet, on the other hand, shows the relations between alters and other
nodes in the network.

Connections
Connection refers to the tie that links actors to one another. It illustrates what links unit A to
unit B. The range of connections or ties that link any two actors are wide-ranging. Examples
of connections that can be used to show ties among actors include behavioral interactions,
physical connections, association or affiliation, evaluation of one person by another person,
and even formal relations.

Connections between social units establishes a tie or link between two actors or social units.
Connections between two actors form a dyad. A dyad is the basic unit of social networks which
is made up of a pair of actors. Below are examples of a dyad social network:

1. A child who wishes to form friendship ties with another child

2. A store manager consults with his assistant manager
3. The Philippines wants to form an alliance with another country in the Southeast Asian region

Source: Dela Cruz, A. D., PhD, Fadrigon, C. C., PhD Cand., & Mabaquiao, N. M., PhD. (2018). Trends, Networks,
and Critical Thinking in the 21st Century Culture. Quezon City: Phoenix Publishing House.
When three actors are involved, it is called a triad. Examples include:

1. A child who wishes to form friendship tries with two other children
2. A store manager consults with his assistant manager and store supervisor
3. The Philippines wants to form an alliance with two other countries in the Southeast Asian
region

Relationships
In understanding connections, it is important to collect information on multiple ties in order to
understand the depth of connections or the lack thereof among social units or actors. The
collection of ties among the actors in a group is called a relationship. In social network analysis,
relationship refers to “a collection of ties of a specific kind measured on pairs of actors” from
a particular group of social entities (Carolan 2014, 6). A single group of actors can have several
different forms of relationships.

Graphs
A visual representation can be used to understand networks. A graph or digraph is a “visual
representation of a social network, where actors are represented as nodes or vertices and the
ties (connections) are represented as lines” (Press 2012, 9). This lines in the digraph represent
the ties or connections while the arrowhead shows the direction of the connections.

Social Networks
A social network is made up of a “subset of nodes that are organized through their ties with
each other” (Maoz 2011, 38). Brian Carolan (2014, 7) described social network as a set of
relations “made up of who knows whom, who is a friend or whom, or who talks with whom”
(Carolan 2014, 7). Christina Prell (2012, 8-9) defines social network as “a set of relations that
apply to a set of actors, as well as any additional information on those actors and relations.”

Carolan (2014, 7) identified three essential elements of social networks. These include the
following:

1. It is made up of a set of actors.

2. Every actor has a set of individual attributes.
3. It has a set of ties or connections that define at least one relation among actors.

SOCIAL NETWORK ANALYSIS

Social network analysis focuses on the “measurement of the characteristics of linkages between
‘units’, whether individuals, groups or organizations that form a defined population” (Holton
2008, 50). Analysis of social networks provide an increase understanding of the
“morphological patterns” within networks and it centers on questions that explain why clusters
and connections form within social life and analyzes “network complexities and directional
asymmetries in network links” (Holton 2008, 50).

Source: Dela Cruz, A. D., PhD, Fadrigon, C. C., PhD Cand., & Mabaquiao, N. M., PhD. (2018). Trends, Networks,
and Critical Thinking in the 21st Century Culture. Quezon City: Phoenix Publishing House.
Importance of Social Networks
Social networks are important because there is a need to look into how a group has decided on
a particular issue. Looking into the outcome alone neglects the complex process through which
a consequence or decision has been made or reached it. It is imperative to look into “how
members of the group influenced each other in order to make a decision, or perhaps, not make
a decision.” Social network analysis allows us to asymmetrically show how these interactions
among group members led to a particular outcome or decision (Carolan 2014, 12-13).

LESSON 2: Neural Networks and Social Networks

Social networks and neural networks are interrelated concepts because both deal with
identifying and tracing patterns, trends, connections, and relations. A social network looks into
the relations of a group of social entities and any information with regard to each actor
including the relations within the network while neural networks develop meaning from
complex or inaccurate patterns. Neural networks can be considered as an application of the
social network analysis because neural networks can be used to effectively identify connections
and relations.

The Brain and the Nervous System as a Neural Network

Simon Haykin (1999, 2) defines neural network as “a massively parallel distributed processor
made up of simple processing units, which has a natural propensity for storing experimental
knowledge and making it available for use.” A neural network can be likened to the brain in
two ways. First, knowledge is acquired by the network from its environment through a learning
process. Second, interneuron connection strengths, known as synaptic weights, store the
acquired knowledge (Haykin 1999, 2). Shiffman (2012) considers the human brain as a
biological neural network which is made up of an “interconnected web of neurons transmitting
elaborate patterns of electrical signals.” The dendrites accept the input signals and from these
inputs, release an output signal through the axon.

NEURAL NETWORKS
Dr. Robert Hecht-Nielsen, the inventor of one of the earliest neurocomputers, defines a neural
network or more commonly called “artificial” neural network (ANN) as “a computing system
made up of a number of simple, highly interconnected processing elements, which process
information by their dynamic state response to external inputs” (Shiffman 2012).

The most common example of artificial neural network consists of three groups or layers of
units, called the input layer, hidden layer, and output layer. The layer of input units is connected
to a layer of hidden units. The hidden layers are connected to a layer of output units. The
activity of the input units represents the raw information that is fed into the network.

The Perceptron
The perception is invented by Frank Rosenblatt at the Cornell Aeronautical Laboratory in 1957.
A perceptron is the smallest neural network. It is a computational model of a single neuron. A
perceptron is made up of one or more inputs, a processor, and a single output. A perceptron
follows the “feed-forward” model. In this model, the inputs are sent into the neuron. They are
then processed, and the result are shown in an output (Shiffman 2012).

Source: Dela Cruz, A. D., PhD, Fadrigon, C. C., PhD Cand., & Mabaquiao, N. M., PhD. (2018). Trends, Networks,
and Critical Thinking in the 21st Century Culture. Quezon City: Phoenix Publishing House.
Characteristics of Neural Networks
Neural networks have three major characteristics.

1. Process information like the human brain

Neural networks process information like the human brain. It is composed of “a large
number of highly interconnected processing elements (neurons) working in parallel to solve
a specific problem.

2. “Connectionist” computational system

The computational systems are procedural. A program starts at the first line of the code,
then executes it, and it goes on to the next, following instructions in a linear manner.
However, a neural network does not follow a linear direction. On the contrary, information
is processes collectively, in parallel throughout a network of nodes and in this case, these
are the neurons. Neurons are the individual elements of the network which read an input,
process it, and produce an output. A network contains many neurons (Shiffman 2012).

3. Have the ability to learn

One of the key elements of a neural network is its ability to learn. A neural network is not
just a composite system but a complex adaptive system that can alter its internal structure
based on the information flowing through it. This is usually done through the adjustment of
weights. Each connection has a weight, a number that controls the signal between the two
neurons. If the network generates a “good” output, there is no need to adjust the weights.
However, if the network generates a “poor” output or an error, the system then adapts which
alters the weighs to improve the subsequent results (Shiffman 2012).

Shiffman (2012) provides three strategies for learning neural networks. These are supervised
learning, unsupervised learning, and reinforcement learning.

Supervised Learning
Supervised Learning Strategy involves a teacher which is considered to be smarter than the
network itself. An example would be facial recognition. The teacher shows the network a bunch
of faces, and the teacher already knows the name associated with each face. The network makes
its guesses, then the teacher provides the network with the answers. The network can then
compare its answers to the known “correct” ones and adjust according to its errors.

Unsupervised Learning
This is required when there are no example data sets with known answers. Imagine searching
for a hidden pattern in a data set. An application of this is clustering or dividing a set of elements
into groups according to some unknown pattern.

Reinforcement Learning
Reinforcement Learning is a strategy that is built on observation. To illustrate this strategy of
learning, try to imagine a mouse or a guinea pig that runs through a maze. If it turns right, it
gets a piece of cheese; if it turns left, it gets shocked. Through reinforcement learning, the
guinea pig or mouse will pick up the idea over time so it will always turn right. The guinea

Source: Dela Cruz, A. D., PhD, Fadrigon, C. C., PhD Cand., & Mabaquiao, N. M., PhD. (2018). Trends, Networks,
and Critical Thinking in the 21st Century Culture. Quezon City: Phoenix Publishing House.
pig’s neural network makes a decision whether to turn left or right and observes its
environment. If the observation is negative, the network alters its weights in order to make a
different decision the next time. Reinforcement learning is commonly applied in robotics.

SOCIAL NETWORKS AND NEURAL NETWORKS: APPLICATIONS

Social networks and neural networks are interrelated concepts because both deal with
identifying and tracing patterns, trends, connections, and relations. Social network looks into
the relations of group of social entities and any information with regard to each actor including
the relations within the network. Studying social network allows an expert to properly identify
and analyze relations and connections within society. Neural networks, on the other hand, have
the ability to develop meaning from complex to inaccurate patterns.

ASSESSMENT (Write on a SHEET OF PAPER. Answer directly.)

A. Define the following:
1. Neural Network
2. Neuron
3. Dendrite
4. Perceptron
5. Input Layer
6. Hidden Layer

Bonus:
7. Output Layer
8. Axon
9. Nervous System
10. Glue Cells
11. Neural
12. Microcircuit

B. Essay. Answer in three to five sentences only.

1. How would you compare and contrast the different strategies for learning neural
networks?
2. Why do we consider the human nervous system as a three-stages system?

Bonus:
3. How are neural systems applied in the twenty-first century technology?
4. How can you explain the connection of social networks and neural networks?

Source: Dela Cruz, A. D., PhD, Fadrigon, C. C., PhD Cand., & Mabaquiao, N. M., PhD. (2018). Trends, Networks,
and Critical Thinking in the 21st Century Culture. Quezon City: Phoenix Publishing House.