>We're talking about social science, not biology here, so the individual is the atomic unit.
Not every observable property is available on the "atomic unit". Some only appear (emergent properties) after the association and observation of many such units, that is, in a group.
In particle-terms, a single atom can't be a crystal.
Or a living organism.
But there are absolutely things that happen at the level of crystal forms or living organisms, etc, that don't happen at the single atom level.
>You can talk about tendencies across a group, but cognition is inherently done on an individual level, even accounting for network effects.
> Not every observable property is available on the "atomic unit". Some only appear (emergent properties) after the association and observation of many such units, that is, in a group.
Name a property of the group that's more than a sum of the properties of the individual. Population, for instance.
The crystal analogy, again, isn't helpful because we're talking about social science, not physics.
>Name a property of the group that's more than a sum of the properties of the individual
An individual cannot exhibit groupthink without a group. They also can't have in-group bias without a group. Both important properties in group dynamics.
Roles and positions within a group are similar to the "crystal example" as well, with groups forming particular patterns under specific pressures, patterns impossible to the individual (e.g. an individual is not a "protest march" or a political party).
Not every observable property is available on the "atomic unit". Some only appear (emergent properties) after the association and observation of many such units, that is, in a group.
In particle-terms, a single atom can't be a crystal.
Or a living organism.
But there are absolutely things that happen at the level of crystal forms or living organisms, etc, that don't happen at the single atom level.
>You can talk about tendencies across a group, but cognition is inherently done on an individual level, even accounting for network effects.
Only in a crude understanding of cognition.