Question 2: Which, if any, applications of decision theory are incompatible with the truth of Dickinson’s dual process theory of action?
Hints
Check the glossary entry on decision theory and
the dual-process theory of instrumental action.
Be sure you understand what an application of decision theory is.
What to read on decision theory?
- Jeffrey (1983) is probably still the best introduction to decision theory for those with philosophical interests.
- Sugden (1991, p. §§I–IV) is an excellent but very difficult discussion.
- Steele & Stefánsson (2020) provides an overview of decision theory as presented by Jeffrey’s and a discussion of some challenges (in §5).
Please also follow the general instructions for Short Essay Questions.
Lecture Notes
This is not an exhaustive list but may help you if you missed something.
The list may grow over the weeks as lectures are added.
Consider also using the search function.
The following section
contain material relevant to answering this question.
Reading
If you are following the lecture notes and seminars, you should already know what to read. You do not need to consult this list. This is only for people coming to the assignment without using the lecture notes (not recommended).
Where to Find the Reading?
In some cases the references section already includes a link to help you find the reading.
If there is no link in the references section,
start by searching for the title (and, if that fails, by title and authors)
on google scholar.
If this fails, the library has resources.
If those fail, please check first with others on the course.
If you still have problems, you may email your seminar tutor.
Glossary
decision theory :
I use ‘decision theory’ for the theory elaborated by Jeffrey (1983). Variants are variously called ‘expected utility theory’ (Hargreaves-Heap & Varoufakis, 2004), ‘revealed preference theory’ (Sen, 1973) and ‘the theory of rational choice’ (Sugden, 1991). As the differences between variants are not important for our purposes, the term can be used for any of core formal parts of the standard approaches based on Ramsey (1931) and Savage (1972).
dual-process theory of instrumental action :
Instrumental action ‘is controlled by two dissociable processes: a
goal-directed and an habitual process’ (Dickinson, 2016, p. 177).
(See instrumental action.)
References
Dickinson, A. (2016). Instrumental conditioning revisited: Updating dual-process theory. In J. B. Trobalon & V. D. Chamizo (Eds.),
Associative learning and cognition (Vol. 51, pp. 177–195). Edicions Universitat Barcelona.
Hargreaves-Heap, S., & Varoufakis, Y. (2004).
Game theory: A critical text. London: Routledge. Retrieved from
http://webcat.warwick.ac.uk/record=b2587142~S1Jeffrey, R. C. (1983).
The logic of decision, second edition. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Ramsey, F. (1931). Truth and probability. In R. Braithwaite (Ed.),
The foundations of mathematics and other logical essays. London: Routledge.
Savage, L. J. (1972).
The foundations of statistics (2nd rev. ed). New York: Dover Publications.
Sen, A. (1973). Behaviour and the Concept of Preference.
Economica,
40(159), 241–259.
https://doi.org/10.2307/2552796Steele, K., & Stefánsson, H. O. (2020). Decision Theory. In E. N. Zalta (Ed.),
The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2020). Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University.
Sugden, R. (1991). Rational Choice: A Survey of Contributions from Economics and Philosophy.
The Economic Journal,
101(407), 751–785.
https://doi.org/10.2307/2233854