Weakness of Will and Delay Discounting

Weakness of Will and Delay Discounting PDF Author: Nora Heinzelmann
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0192865951
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 209

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Book Description
Breaking one's dieting rule or resolution to quit smoking, procrastination, convenient lies, even the failure of entire nations to follow through with plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions or keep a pandemic in check - these phenomena have been discussed by philosophers and behavioural scientists as examples of weakness of will and delay discounting. Despite the common subject matter both fields have to date rarely worked together for mutual benefit. For the empirical literature is hardly accessible to a reader not familiar with econometric theory; and researchers in the behavioural sciences may find philosophical accounts invoking discounting models difficult to understand without inside knowledge of the debates and historical background. Nora Heinzelmann targets this lacuna by making the ideas and findings from both disciplines intelligible to outsiders. This reveals that discounting - as philosophers have conceived of it - is neither necessary nor sufficient for weakness of will, even though there is substantial overlap. Heinzelmann develops a richer descriptive account of weakness of will that is based on the empirically founded assumption that weak-willed behaviour is determined by uncertainty about whether or when a good materialises. She also explains why weakness of the will understood in this way is irrational: the agent yields to a cognitive bias that leads them to underestimate the greater good they think they ought to and can obtain. Finally, she explores practical implications for individuals and policymakers.

Weakness of Will and Delay Discounting

Weakness of Will and Delay Discounting PDF Author: Nora Heinzelmann
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0192865951
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 209

Get Book Here

Book Description
Breaking one's dieting rule or resolution to quit smoking, procrastination, convenient lies, even the failure of entire nations to follow through with plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions or keep a pandemic in check - these phenomena have been discussed by philosophers and behavioural scientists as examples of weakness of will and delay discounting. Despite the common subject matter both fields have to date rarely worked together for mutual benefit. For the empirical literature is hardly accessible to a reader not familiar with econometric theory; and researchers in the behavioural sciences may find philosophical accounts invoking discounting models difficult to understand without inside knowledge of the debates and historical background. Nora Heinzelmann targets this lacuna by making the ideas and findings from both disciplines intelligible to outsiders. This reveals that discounting - as philosophers have conceived of it - is neither necessary nor sufficient for weakness of will, even though there is substantial overlap. Heinzelmann develops a richer descriptive account of weakness of will that is based on the empirically founded assumption that weak-willed behaviour is determined by uncertainty about whether or when a good materialises. She also explains why weakness of the will understood in this way is irrational: the agent yields to a cognitive bias that leads them to underestimate the greater good they think they ought to and can obtain. Finally, she explores practical implications for individuals and policymakers.

The Weakness of the Will

The Weakness of the Will PDF Author: Justin Gosling
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134966814
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 232

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Book Description
First Published in 2004. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Addiction and Choice

Addiction and Choice PDF Author: Nick Heather
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0198727224
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 529

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Book Description
Views on addiction are often polarised - either addiction is a matter of choice, or addicts simply can't help themselves. But perhaps addiction falls between the two? This book contains views from philosophy, neuroscience, psychiatry, psychology, and the law exploring this middle ground between free choice and no choice.

Breakdown of Will

Breakdown of Will PDF Author: George Ainslie
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521596947
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 274

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Book Description
Ainslie argues that our responses to the threat of our own inconsistency determine the basic fabric of human culture. He suggests that individuals are more like populations of bargaining agents than like the hierarchical command structures envisaged by cognitive psychologists. The forces that create and constrain these populations help us understand so much that is puzzling in human action and interaction: from addictions and other self-defeating behaviors to the experience of willfulness, from pathological over-control and self-deception to subtler forms of behavior such as altruism, sadism, gambling, and the 'social construction' of belief. This book integrates approaches from experimental psychology, philosophy of mind, microeconomics, and decision science to present one of the most profound and expert accounts of human irrationality available. It will be of great interest to philosophers and an important resource for professionals and students in psychology, economics and political science.

Impulsivity

Impulsivity PDF Author: Gregory Jude Madden
Publisher: Amer Psychological Assn
ISBN: 9781433804779
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 453

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Book Description
Impulsivity explores the basis for the seemingly universal tendency to devalue rewards or punishments that are not immediately available. When confronted with any number of modern impulsive behaviorssuch as drug use, pathological gambling, marital infidelity, and gluttonyindividuals have a choice with two outcomes: an immediate benefit, such as getting high, or a delayed or probabilistic benefit, such as health, money saved, or the satisfaction of a good life. This volume is an approachable, comprehensive overview of the behavioral science and neuroscience of these impulsive choices and their relation to delay discounting--the tendency to devalue temporally distant rewards or punishments, even though they may greatly outbalance the immediate benefit of our choices. The cutting-edge researchers who contributed to this volume have documented cross-species similarities in impulsive decision making and pioneered the neuroscience of impulsive choice. In this text they provide insights into harmless impulsive acts as well as those that dominate and destroy lives. The contributors tackle key issues such as whether impulsivity and risk taking are a trait or state; the neuroscience, neuroeconomics, and computational modeling of neural systems underlying impulsivity; and the relation between impulsivity and addictions, health decision making, altruism, and attention-deficit disorder. Theoretical debates regarding the origins of impulsivity round out this text, which will be of interest to researchers and graduate students in psychology, behavioral economics, psychopharmacology, behavioral analysis and therapy, and the science of decision making.

Self-Control, Decision Theory, and Rationality

Self-Control, Decision Theory, and Rationality PDF Author: José Luis Bermúdez
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108420095
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 281

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Book Description
A distinguished group of philosophers, decision theorists, and psychologists offer new interdisciplinary perspectives on the rationality of self-control.

Handbook of Behavioural Economics and Smart Decision-Making

Handbook of Behavioural Economics and Smart Decision-Making PDF Author: Morris Altman
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
ISBN: 1782549595
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 607

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Book Description
This Handbook is a unique and original contribution of over thirty chapters on behavioural economics, examining and addressing an important stream of research where the starting assumption is that decision-makers are for the most part relatively smart or rational. This particular approach is in contrast to a theme running through much contemporary work where individuals’ behaviour is deemed irrational, biased, and error-prone, often due to how people are hardwired. In the smart people approach, where errors or biases occur and when social dilemmas arise, more often than not, improving the decision-making environment can repair these problems without hijacking or manipulating the preferences of decision-makers. This book covers a wide-range of themes from micro to macro, including various sub-disciplines within economics such as economic psychology, heuristics, fast and slow-thinking, neuroeconomics, experiments, the capabilities approach, institutional economics, methodology, nudging, ethics, and public policy.

Weakness of Will and Practical Irrationality

Weakness of Will and Practical Irrationality PDF Author: Sarah Stroud
Publisher: Clarendon Press
ISBN: 0191531456
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 336

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Book Description
Among the many practical failures that threaten us, weakness of will or akrasia is often considered to be a paradigm of irrationality. The eleven new essays in this collection, written by an excellent international team of philosophers, some well-established, some younger scholars, give a rich overview of the current debate over weakness of will and practical irrationality more generally. Issues covered include classical questions such as the distinction between weakness and compulsion, the connection between evaluative judgement and motivation, the role of emotions in akrasia, rational agency, and the existence of the will. The also include new topics, such as group akrasia, strength of will, the nature of correct choice, the structure of decision theory, the temporality of prudential reasons, and emotional rationality. Because these questions cut across philosophy of mind and ethics, the collection will be essential reading for scholars, postgraduates, and upper-level undergraduates in both these fields.

New Perspectives on Procrastination, Volume II

New Perspectives on Procrastination, Volume II PDF Author: Frode Svartdal
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
ISBN: 2889769496
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 183

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Book Description


The Continuum of Consumer Choice

The Continuum of Consumer Choice PDF Author: Gordon R. Foxall
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1040002552
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 235

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Book Description
Human consumption is multi- faceted and so requires inter- disciplinary exploration in order to explain a spectrum of experiences that is at once particular and allpervading. Consumer choice is a microcosm of human activity which transcends the purview of the archetypal marketing or consumer psychology textbook. Its perspective is that of social science itself. This book understands the study of consumer choice as a paradigm of human socio- economic activity and seeks further understanding of its socio- economic and philosophical bases. The Continuum of Consumer Choice provides a novel view of consumer choice based on the temporal horizon of the consumer, giving rise to a spectrum of consumption styles from the everyday to the extreme. The focus is on explaining this continuum in behavioral, cognitive, and neurophysiological terms, affording the reader a unique perspective on the intellectual basis of consumer psychology and marketing. The reader gains insight into a critical combination of economic psychology, neurophysiology, and philosophy, which contributes to establishing marketing and consumer research as scholarly academic pursuits. The book’s particular focus is the proper place and form of an intentional (cognitive and perceptual) explanation of consumer choice. This is an essential monograph for advanced students in consumer psychology and marketing as well as for researchers in these areas. It is particularly relevant to marketing and consumer theory, providing appreciation of their scholarly foundations. It also appeals to students, lecturers, and researchers in social science generally who are alert to the intellectual potential of consumer psychology and marketing as contributors to a full understanding of human behavior and experience.