Matching Law

Papers in Psychology and Economics

Häftad, Engelska, 2000

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Beskrivning

This impressive collection features Richard Herrnstein's most important and original contributions to the social and behavioral sciences--his papers on choice behavior in animals and humans and on his discovery and elucidation of a general principle of choice called the matching law.In recent years, the most popular theory of choice behavior has been rational choice theory. Developed and elaborated by economists over the past hundred years, it claims that individuals make choices in such a way as to maximize their well-being or utility under whatever constraints they face; that is, people make the best of their situations. Rational choice theory holds undisputed sway in economics, and has become an important explanatory framework in political science, sociology, and psychology. Nevertheless, its empirical support is thin.The matching law is perhaps the most important competing explanatory account of choice behavior. It views choice not as a single event or an internal process of the organism but as a rate of observable events over time. It states that instead of maximizing utility, the organism allocates its behavior over various activities in exact proportion to the value derived from each activity. It differs subtly but significantly from rational choice theory in its predictions of how people exert self-control, for example, how they decide whether to forgo immediate pleasures for larger but delayed rewards. It provides, through the primrose path hypothesis, a powerful explanation of alcohol and narcotic addiction. It can also be used to explain biological phenomena, such as genetic selection and foraging behavior, as well as economic decision making.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum:2000-05-19
Mått:144 x 225 x undefined mm
Vikt:399 g
Format:Häftad
Språk:Engelska
Antal sidor:352
Förlag:Harvard University Press
ISBN:9780674001770

Utforska kategorier

Nationalekonomi inom Ekonomi och Ledarskap
Djurens beteende inom Naturvetenskap och teknik
Beteendeteori inom Psykologi och pedagogik

Mer om författaren

Richard J. Herrnstein was Edgar Pierce Professor of Psychology at Harvard University. Howard Rachlin is Distinguished Professor of Psychology, Emeritus, at Stony Brook University. David I. Laibson is Robert I. Goldman Professor of Economics at Harvard University.

Recensioner i media

Herrnstein provided major contributions to several fields, like the understanding of crime, genetics, or problems of social policy. [This] book covers most of Herrnstein's work on economic problems...The editors, who wrote the introductions to the individual parts, provide concise and very informative summaries and discussions of them.

Innehållsförteckning

Preface Editors' Note Introduction Part I. The Matching Law: Against Reflexology 1. Relative and Absolute Strength of Response as a Function of Frequency of Reinforcement 2. Toward a Law of Response Strength 3. Derivatives of Matching 4. Melioration as Behavioral Dynamism Part II. Self-Control 5. Choice and Delay of Reinforcement 6. Self-Control as Response Strength 7. On the Functions Relating Delay, Reinforcer Value, and Behavior 8. Lost and Found: One Self 9. A Theory of Addiction Part III. Against Optimization 10. Stability, Melioration, and Natural Selection 11. Rational Choice Theory: Necessary but Not Sufficient 12. Behavior, Reinforcement, and Utility 13. Experiments on Stable Suboptimality in Individual Behavior 14. Melioration: A Theory of Distributed Choice 15. Preferences or Principles: Alternative Guidelines for Choice References Index