PSC 3304 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Sidney Verba, Gabriel Almond, Scientific Revolution
17 Feb 2017
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Document Summary
Change from qualitative to quantitative (scientific method) Shift from focus on institution to focus on individual. Move focus from individual to state institutions (structure) Utilizes some of findings/methods as behaviorists: individual focus. Argues we can understand evolution of individual by observing choices that people make - in response to the expectation of what others may be doing. Desire (utility), probability (likelihood you"ll get outcome you want) U x p, you want low utility, high probability. Preferences of actors depend on their desires and beliefs. If the above is true, we have to be able to rank our choices (comparatively) A > b > c, so always a > c (transitivity) You can say you"re indifferent, but never that you don"t know. Logic attached to different steps people take. We attribute decision-making to all actors - we are all fundamentally similar in the logic we use. Cultural differences have no impact on our analysis.
