One-third hypothesis the cohesiveness of the group that is one-third. According to the binomial coefficient a group of size r occurs in a population of size n in formula_1 ways. Because each group of size r can dissolve in "2" subgroups, the total number of ways all groups of size r can emerge and dissolve equals "3", in keeping with the summation: formula_2 Said otherwise, large groups close to two-thirds of the population will be more likely than any other groups to dissolve into splinter groups. A corollary of this consideration is that much smaller groups will be the ones most likely
One-third hypothesis theory. One-third hypothesis The one-third hypothesis (OTH) is a sociodynamic idea—advanced by Hugo O. Engelmann—that asserts that a group's prominence increases as it approaches one-third of the population and diminishes when it exceeds or falls below one-third of the population. As the one-third hypothesis was stated originally by Hugo O. Engelmann in a letter to the "American Sociologist" in 1967: "...we would expect that the most persistent subgroups in any group would be those which approximate one-third or, by similar reasoning, a multiple of [i.e., a power of] one-third of the total group. Being the most persistent, these groups also