Breakdown of will / George Ainslie.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Ainslie, George, 1944- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Will.

Choice (Psychology).

Self-defeating behavior.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xi, 258 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2001.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

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.

Contents:

Contents; Preface; 1 Introduction; 2 The Dichotomy at the Root of Decision Science: Do We Make Choices By Desires or By Judgments?; 3 The Warp in How We Evaluate the Future; 4 The Warp Can Create Involuntary Behaviors: Pains, Hungers, Emotions; 5 The Elementary Interaction of Interests; 6 Sophisticated Bargaining among Internal Interests; 7 The Subjective Experience of Intertemporal Bargaining; 8 Getting Evidence about a Nonlinear Motivational System; 9 The Downside of Willpower; 10 An Efficient Will Undermines Appetite; 11 The Need to Maintain Appetite Eclipses the Will; 12 Conclusions

NotesReferences; Name Index; Subject Index

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).

Includes bibliographical references (p. 227-246) and indexes.

ISBN:

1-107-11440-3

1-280-42927-5

1-139-16419-8

0-511-17379-2

0-511-01766-9

0-511-15303-1

0-511-30219-3

0-511-05436-X

OCLC:

437073177