Download or read book Choice Theory A Very Short Introduction written by Michael Allingham and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2002-08-22 with total page 144 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We make choices all the time - about trivial matters, about how to spend our money, about how to spend our time, about what to do with our lives. And we are also constantly judging the decisions other people make as rational or irrational. But what kind of criteria are we applying when we say that a choice is rational? What guides our own choices, especially in cases where we don't have complete information about the outcomes? What strategies should be applied in making decisions which affect a lot of people, as in the case of government policy? This book explores what it means to be rational in all these contexts. It introduces ideas from economics, philosophy, and other areas, showing how the theory applies to decisions in everyday life, and to particular situations such as gambling and the allocation of resources. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.
Download or read book An Introduction to Decision Theory written by Martin Peterson and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2017-03-30 with total page 351 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A comprehensive and accessible introduction to all aspects of decision theory, now with new and updated discussions and over 140 exercises.
Download or read book Quantum Theory A Very Short Introduction written by John Polkinghorne and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2002-05-30 with total page 145 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Quantum Theory is the most revolutionary discovery in physics since Newton. This book gives a lucid, exciting, and accessible account of the surprising and counterintuitive ideas that shape our understanding of the sub-atomic world. It does not disguise the problems of interpretation that still remain unsettled 75 years after the initial discoveries. The main text makes no use of equations, but there is a Mathematical Appendix for those desiring stronger fare. Uncertainty, probabilistic physics, complementarity, the problematic character of measurement, and decoherence are among the many topics discussed. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.
Download or read book Game Theory A Very Short Introduction written by K. G. Binmore and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2007-10-25 with total page 201 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Games are played everywhere: from economics to evolutionary biology, and from social interactions to online auctions. This title shows how to play such games in a rational way, and how to maximize their outcomes.
Download or read book Number Theory written by Robin Wilson and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2020 with total page 177 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Number theory is the branch of mathematics primarily concerned with the counting numbers, especially primes. It dates back to the ancient Greeks, but today it has great practical importance in cryptography, from credit card security to national defence. This book introduces the main areas of number theory, and some of its most interesting problems.
Download or read book Evolution and Rationality written by Samir Okasha and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2012-06-21 with total page 293 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume explores from multiple perspectives the subtle and interesting relationship between the theory of rational choice and Darwinian evolution. In rational choice theory, agents are assumed to make choices that maximize their utility; in evolution, natural selection 'chooses' between phenotypes according to the criterion of fitness maximization. So there is a parallel between utility in rational choice theory and fitness in Darwinian theory. This conceptual link between fitness and utility is mirrored by the interesting parallels between formal models of evolution and rational choice. The essays in this volume, by leading philosophers, economists, biologists and psychologists, explore the connection between evolution and rational choice in a number of different contexts, including choice under uncertainty, strategic decision making and pro-social behaviour. They will be of interest to students and researchers in philosophy of science, evolutionary biology, economics and psychology.
Download or read book Microeconomics written by Avinash Dixit and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2014-04 with total page 153 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The issues of microeconomics - including individuals' financial choices and firms' decisions about hiring and firing - have a large impact on the economic world, arguably as much, if not more than, macroeconomics. In this Very Short Introduction Avinash Dixit clearly explains what microeconomics is by using examples from around the world.
Download or read book Habermas A Very Short Introduction written by James Gordon Finlayson and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2005-05-26 with total page 185 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides a clear and readable overview of the works of today's most influential German philosopher. It analyses the theoretical underpinnings of Habermas's social theory, and its applications in ethics, politics, and law. Finally, it examines how his social and political theory informs his writing on contemporary, political, and social problems.
Download or read book Literary Theory written by Terry Eagleton and published by . This book was released on 1985 with total page 178 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Revolutions a Very Short Introduction written by Jack A. Goldstone and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2023 with total page 177 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "In the 20th and 21st century revolutions have become more urban, often less violent, but also more frequent and more transformative of the international order. Whether it is the revolutions against Communism in Eastern Europe and the USSR; the "color revolutions" across Asia, Europe and North Africa; or the religious revolutions in Iran, Afghanistan, and Syria; today's revolutions are quite different from those of the past. Modern theories of revolution have therefore replaced the older class-based theories with more varied, dynamic, and contingent models of social and political change. This new edition updates the history of revolutions, from Classical Greece and Rome to the Revolution of Dignity in the Ukraine, with attention to the changing types and outcomes of revolutionary struggles. It also presents the latest advances in the theory of revolutions, including the issues of revolutionary waves, revolutionary leadership, international influences, and the likelihood of revolutions to come. This volume provides a brief but comprehensive introduction to the nature of revolutions and their role in global history"--
Download or read book Decision Theory and Rationality written by José Luis Bermúdez and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2009-02-19 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The concept of rationality is a common thread through the human and social sciences — from political science to philosophy, from economics to sociology, and from management science to decision analysis. But what counts as rational action and rational behavior? José Luis Bermúdez explores decision theory as a theory of rationality. Decision theory is the mathematical theory of choice and for many social scientists it makes the concept of rationality mathematically tractable and scientifically legitimate. Yet rationality is a concept with several dimensions and the theory of rationality has different roles to play. It plays an action-guiding role (prescribing what counts as a rational solution of a given decision problem). It plays a normative role (giving us the tools to pass judgment not just on how a decision problem was solved, but also on how it was set up in the first place). And it plays a predictive/explanatory role (telling us how rational agents will behave, or why they did what they did). This controversial but accessible book shows that decision theory cannot play all of these roles simultaneously. And yet, it argues, no theory of rationality can play one role without playing the other two. The conclusion is that there is no hope of taking decision theory as a theory of rationality.
Download or read book Behavioural Economics A Very Short Introduction written by Michelle Baddeley and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2017-01-19 with total page 169 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Traditionally economists have based their economic predictions on the assumption that humans are super-rational creatures, using the information we are given efficiently and generally making selfish decisions that work well for us as individuals. Economists also assume that we're doing the very best we can possibly do - not only for today, but over our whole lifetimes too. But increasingly the study of behavioural economics is revealing that our lives are not that simple. Instead, our decisions are complicated by our own psychology. Each of us makes mistakes every day. We don't always know what's best for us and, even if we do, we might not have the self-control to deliver on our best intentions. We struggle to stay on diets, to get enough exercise and to manage our money. We misjudge risky situations. We are prone to herding: sometimes peer pressure leads us blindly to copy others around us; other times copying others helps us to learn quickly about new, unfamiliar situations. This Very Short Introduction explores the reasons why we make irrational decisions; how we decide quickly; why we make mistakes in risky situations; our tendency to procrastination; and how we are affected by social influences, personality, mood and emotions. The implications of understanding the rationale for our own financial behaviour are huge. Behavioural economics could help policy-makers to understand the people behind their policies, enabling them to design more effective policies, while at the same time we could find ourselves assaulted by increasingly savvy marketing. Michelle Baddeley concludes by looking forward, to see what the future of behavioural economics holds for us. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.
Download or read book Choice Theory written by William Glasser, M.D. and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2010-11-16 with total page 372 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Dr. William Glasser offers a new psychology that, if practiced, could reverse our widespread inability to get along with one another, an inability that is the source of almost all unhappiness. For progress in human relationships, he explains that we must give up the punishing, relationship–destroying external control psychology. For example, if you are in an unhappy relationship right now, he proposes that one or both of you could be using external control psychology on the other. He goes further. And suggests that misery is always related to a current unsatisfying relationship. Contrary to what you may believe, your troubles are always now, never in the past. No one can change what happened yesterday.
Download or read book The Language of Choice Theory written by William Glasser, M.D. and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2010-11-16 with total page 130 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this companion volume to the bestselling Choice Theory, Dr. William Glasser and his wife, Carleen Glasser, have imagined typical conversations in real-life situations--between parent and child, two partners in a relationship, teacher and student, and boss and employee. On the left-hand page is a typical controlling order or threat, and on the right a more reasonable version, using choice theory, which is more likely to get a favorable response from the child, lover, student, or employee. Through these examples, the principles of choice theory come alive.
Download or read book Choice Theory A Simple Introduction written by K.H. Erickson and published by K.H. Erickson. This book was released on 2013-11-15 with total page 68 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Choice Theory: A Simple Introduction offers an accessible guide to the central theories and methods of choice theory, with examples and calculations, empirical evidence, and over 20 diagrams to support the analysis. Examine expected value theory, with the two envelopes problem and St. Petersburg paradox which challenge it. Understand expected utility theory and learn how to create a utility function, and assess the Ellsberg paradox, Allais paradox, and preference reversal phenomenon. Look at risk neutral, risk seeking and risk averse attitudes, explore original, cumulative and third generation prospect theory, and the role of risk sensitivity and loss aversion. Evaluate zero-sum games, minimax and maximin strategies, and see how a mixed minimax strategy can overcome game outcome cycles. Understand auction theory, with the revenue equivalence theorem for English, Dutch, and sealed bid private value auctions, and how bidders may avoid the winner’s curse in common value auctions. Examine voting theory, with voter preferences, the median voter theorem, Condorcet winner, and Condorcet voting cycles. See how voters or government can manipulate the voting system.
Download or read book Choice in Everyday Life written by Robert Urquhart and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2004-11-27 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Social choice and decision-making are key topics in economic theory and Robert Urquhart delves into the world of philosophy in this superb new book.
Download or read book Literary Theory A Very Short Introduction written by Jonathan Culler and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2011-07-28 with total page 185 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Culler offers insights into theories about the nature of language and meaning, looks at whether literature is a form of self-expression or a method of appeal to an audience, and outlines the ideas behind deconstruction and semiotics.
