Rational Choice/Public Choice
→ The application of economic assumptions about rationality and self-interest to the study
of political behavior
What does it mean to be a rational actor
→ -based on the expected utility of each option.
→ -These rank-ordered preferences are stable and tran...
→ The application of economic assumptions about rationality and self-interest to the study
of political behavior
What does it mean to be a rational actor
→ -based on the expected utility of each option.
→ -These rank-ordered preferences are stable and transitive
→ -You analyze all the possible alternatives and know which alternatives will work the
best
the rational comprehensive model
→ -Requires them to have complete information and the capacity to process this
information in a timely manner
→ -requires people to accurately place all possible outcomes on a single value dimension
(utility curve)
→ -Assumes that preferences are not influenced by changes in the ordering or selection of
the option under consideration
→ -Assumes that people are most concerned with maximizing gain, rather than minimizing
loss
Herbert Simon
→ developed the concept of "bounded" or "intended" rationality
→ -People do not have the capacity to be perfectly rational
→ -Importantly, the ways they fail to be rational are repeatable and predictable rather
than random.
→ -Instead of pure rationality, people are rational within certain limits (they try to make
the best decisions they can, but they often fall short of achieving pure rationality)
Implications of Bounded Rationality for the Study of Human Decision-Making
→ -System I will often be the default mode of decision-making because System II is very
resource intensive
→ -It is often impossible to precisely predict the outcomes associated with each possible
outcome
→ -Rather than evaluate all the possible alternatives, humans will seek to limit the
consideration of choices to a small subset of potential options
→ -Limits on attention restrict the number of issues or problems that decision-makers can
attend to at any given time
Heuristic
→ -a rule or method that helps make decisions faster than you could if you considered all
the information
→ -he use of heuristics saves a lot of time and energy, but can lead to faulty decisions
when applied incorrectly
Satisficing
→ Rather than try to make the best decision possible (global optimum), people tend to
make decisions that are "good enough" (local optimum)
Parallel processing
→ dealing with several decisions (i.e. problems) simultaneously (i.e. in parallel)
Serial processing
→ dealing with problems/decisions one at a time
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