Joseph Woelfel

Tracing scientific thought via two ancient Greek networks (Athenian and Ionian), Woelfel's 2013 book further considers how concepts are formed first by the collective and then communicated to individual minds through interaction among individuals. In this book he argues the lack of progress exhibited in the social sciences is due to inadequacy of the underlying Athenian philosophy that continues to pervade the social sciences; he then shows how human processes can successfully be studied using the same methods used to study physical phenomena.

In 2011 he and co-editor in chief Ed Fink launched the RAH Press online journal Communication and Science, in 2013 he published The Culture of Science: Is Social Science Science? and in 2018 he published Galileo and its applications: Tools for the study of cognitive and cultural processes.

This research later developed into a more general theory of attitude formation called Galileo theory. Woelfel was instrumental in developing computer software such as CATPAC, a neural network that analyzes text, and the Galileo suite of programs used to measure beliefs and attitudes. The Rand Corporation surveyed numerous social science approaches for measuring attitudes and indicated in a 2009 report that "One of the more interesting approaches to communication and attitude change we found was Joseph Woelfel’s metric multidimensional scaling approach, which is called Galileo. In many ways, Woelfel’s theory was the closest that any social science approach came to providing the basis for an end-to-end engineering solution for planning, conducting, and assessing the impact of communications on attitudes and behaviors."

Woelfel, J., & Stoyanoff, N. J. (2007). "The Galileo System: A rational alternative to the dominant paradigm for social science research." In M. Hinner (Ed.), Freiberger beiträge zur interkulturellen und wirtschaftskommunikation: A forum for general and Intercultural business communication. Vol. 3. The role of communication in business transactions and relationships (pp. 433–462). Berlin: Peter Lang.

Woelfel, J., & Murero, M. (2005). "Spaces and networks: Concepts for social stratification." Research in Social Stratification and Mobility, 22, 51–71.

Woelfel, J. (1997). "Attitudes as nonhierarchical clusters in neural networks." In G. A. Barnett & F. Boster (Eds.), Progress in communication sciences 13 (pp. 213–227). Norwood, NJ: Ablex Publishing.

Woelfel, J. (1997). "Social science applications of nonequilibrium thermodynamics: Science or poetry? Procedures for the precise measurement of energy in social systems." In G. A. Barnett and L. Thayer (Ed.s), Organization <-->Communication. Emerging perspectives V. The renaissance in systems thinking. Greenwish, CT: Ablex Publishing Corp

Woelfel, J. (1993). "Artificial neural networks in policy research: A current assessment." Journal of Communication, 43(1), 63–80.

Woelfel, J., Richards, W., & Stoyanoff, N. J. (1993). "Conversational networks." In W. Richards and G. A. Barnett (Eds.) Progress in Communication Sciences 12 (pp. 223–245). Norwood, N.J.: Ablex Publishing.

Woelfel, J. (1992). Communication and Science. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Woelfel, J., & Barnett, G. A. (1992). "Procedures for controlling reference frame effects in the measurement of multidimensional processes." Quality and Quantity, 26, 367–381.

Woelfel, J., Barnett, G. A., Pruzek, R., Zimmelman, R. (1989). "Rotation to simple processes: The effect of alternative rotation rules on observed patterns in time-ordered measurements." Quality & Quantity, 23, 3–20.

Woelfel, J. (1988). "The Galileo System: A theory and method for analyzing cognitive processes." In J. C. Mancuso and M. L. G. Shaw (Eds.), Cognition and personal structure. New York: Praeger.

Woelfel, J., Holmes, R. A., Cody, M. J., & Fink, E. L. (1988). "A multi-dimensional scaling based procedure for designing persuasive messages and measuring their effects." In G. A. Barnett & J. Woelfel (Eds.), Readings in the Galileo System: Theory, Methods, and Applications (pp. 313–332). Dubuque, IA: Kendall-Hunt.

Woelfel, J. (1987). "Development of the western model: Toward a reconciliation of eastern and western perspectives." In D. L. Kincaid (Ed.), Communication theory: Eastern and western perspectives (pp. 299–314). San Diego: Academic Press.

Woelfel, J., & Kincaid, D. L. (1987). "Dialogue on the nature of causality, measurement, and human communication theory." In D. L. Kincaid (Ed.), Communication Theory: Eastern and Western Perspectives (pp. 275–294). San Diego: Academic Press.

Woelfel, J., Newton, B., Holmes, R., Kincaid, D. L., & Lee, J.-Y. (1986). "Effects of compound messages on global characteristics of Galileo spaces." Quality and Quantity, 20, 133–145.

Woelfel, J., & Napoli, N. (1984). "Measuring human emotion: Proposed standards." In W. B. Gudykunst & Y. Y. Kim (Eds.) Methods for Intercultural Communication Research (pp. 117–127). Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications.

Woelfel, J., & Barnett, G. A. (1982). "Multidimensional scaling in Riemann space." Quality and Quantity, 16, 469–491.

Woelfel, J. & Fink, E. (1980). The Measurement of Communication Processes: Galileo Theory and Method. New York: Academic Press. ISBN 0-12-761240-8

Woelfel, J., Cody, M. J., Gillham, J., & Holmes, R. A. (1980). "Basic premises of multidimensional attitude change theory: An experimental analysis." Human Communication Research 6(2), 153–167.

Woelfel, J., & Danes, J. E. (1980). "Multidimensional scaling model for communication research." In P. Monge & J. N. Capella (Eds.), Multivariate Techniques in Human Communication Research (pp. 333–364). New York: Academic Press.

Woelfel, J., & Saltiel, J. (1978). "Cognitive processes as motions in a multi-dimensional space: A general linear model." In F. Casmir (Ed.), Intercultural and International Communication (pp. 105–130). Washington, D.C.: University Press of America.

Woelfel was also senior fellow at the East-West Center in Honolulu (1977–1983), a Fulbright scholar in the former Yugoslavia, and Senior fellow at the Rockefeller Institute of Government at the State University of New York. He received the Alise-Bohdan Wynar Research Paper Award from the Association for Library and Information Science Education in December 2001 and the Jesse M. Shera Award for Distinguished Published Research in 2003.

Woelfel, J. (1975). "Theoretical issues and alternatives: A theory of occupational choice." In J. S. Picou, & R. E. Campbell (Ed.s), Career behavior of special groups (pp. 41–61). Columbus, Ohio: Merrill.

Woelfel, J. (1972). "Significant others and their role relationships to students in a high school population." Rural Sociology, 37(1), 86–97.

Woelfel, J., & Haller, A. (1971). "Significant others: The self-reflexive act and the attitude formation process." American Sociological Review, 36(1), 74–87.

Woelfel obtained his BA in Sociology from Canisius College in 1962, and an MA in Sociology from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1963. He obtained his Ph.D. in Sociology, also from the University of Wisconsin, in 1968. Throughout his studies he minored in philosophy. After acting as an instructor at Canisius College (1965–1966) and as a research associate at University of Wisconsin during his studies, Woelfel began work as an assistant professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign in 1968. In 1972 he moved to Michigan State University as an associate professor. Then in 1978 he moved to University at Albany, SUNY as a visiting professor, where he was then hired as an associate professor in 1979. In 1981 he was promoted to professor and in 1982 acted as chair of the Department of Communication. In 1988 he was director of research and founding fellow of the Institute for the Study of Information Science. Finally, he moved to University at Buffalo as professor and chair (1989–1995) of the Department of Communication and has remained as professor (since 1995).

Joseph Woelfel (born June 3, 1940) is an American sociologist. Born in Buffalo, New York, he is currently professor in the Department of Communication at the University at Buffalo, The State University of New York.