POLS 1160 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Rational Choice Theory, Satisficing, Rationality
6 Apr 2016
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Rational actor model: being rational is not necessarily being smart, rationality is the manner in which a decision is made. Satisicing is not equal to maximizing: this is a challenge to the rational actor model. Attribution theory: when interacting with someone else, me must try to understand their motives: we explain our own negative behavior as a situational necessity, but others bad behavior as a character trait. Mirror imaging: applying opposite characteristics to ourselves and to our enemies: example: the west is good and the terrorists are evil. Evoked set: when a situation occurs, it is compared to situations in the past: this explains why states tend to act in similar ways when similar events occur. States want to avoid cognitive burden: they seek out information that conirms preexisting beliefs (known as conformation bias, once they have made a decision, we do not want to change it (cognitive closure)
