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<br />ASPECTS OF PRECIPITATION ENHANCEMENT <br /> <br />33 <br /> <br />by communities (such as kindergarten or cloud seeding). In the former <br />case, the innovation can reach saturation in as quickly as 5 years, whereas <br />it took 50 years for kindergarten to be adopted by essentially all United <br />States communities. <br />The population usually can be represented as a normal curve based on <br />the length of time individuals take to make the adoption decision (Figure <br />2.5). At the leading edge of the curve, representing about 2.5% of the <br />population, are the innovators. They adopt quite early in the process and <br />reap the benefits of doing so ahead of others. The innovative farmers who <br />were the first to adopt hybrid seed com reaped the financial benefit of <br />having higher com yields well before their neighbors. <br />Early adopters, the next 13.5% of the population, accept the innova- <br />tion soon enough to benefit from early acceptance; opinion leaders are <br />usually found within this group. The innovators and early adopters <br />are highly receptive to change relative to the specific idea or technology <br />that they favor, but they do not necessarily support all new ideas or <br />technologies. The same innovators would not necessarily favor cloud <br />seeding, hybrid seed com, and birth control pills. Following these <br />groups are the early majority (those still adopting the innovation on <br />the early side of the mean time required by the population) and the <br />late majority (those adopting somewhat more slowly than the mean). <br />This intermediate, great majority, representing two-thirds of the popu- <br />lation, neither actively promotes nor opposes the introduction of new <br />technology (Rogers and Shoemaker 1971; Dennis 1980). The "laggards," <br />comprising some 16% of the population, would prefer no change, and <br />are the slowest group to adopt. If a new technology does not work but <br />is applied anyway, it is the laggards who are most likely to avoid any <br />associated disbenefits. <br /> <br /> <br />~ty <br />34% <br /> <br />Late <br />Majority <br />34% <br /> <br />X-Id <br /> <br />x <br /> <br />X+ed <br /> <br />VentuNeome Catalytic DeUberate Skeptical Traditional <br /> <br />Figure 2.5-A Population Categorized by How Quickly Individuals Adopt <br />Innovations (the mean and divisions for one and two standard <br />deviations from the mean are indicated). Adapted with <br />permission from Rogers and Shoemaker (1971) <br />