IR 360 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Rational Choice Theory, Homo Economicus, Fundamental Attribution Error
1 May 2018
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Understanding Complex Decision-Making in Complex Government
Unit Nine
POSC/IR 360: Crisis Management in Complex Emergencies
The Rational Actor Model (what this is all based upon)
(in the end, this paradigm is what everyone uses…this model is so intuitive)
(nuances within the rational actor model)
• Homo Economicus: the way we are as human beings (homo), economicus (how do
humans make decisions) goes back to the primitive meaning of economics (that relied on
how we make decisions with scarce resources)
• Before it was highly quantified and number oriented
• Original meaning of economics was how do we make decisions
• State is unitary actor
• Decision-makers are rational actors: important because rational actors have known
values I can understand and predict behavior
• Perfect information: but remember golden and silver rules
• List of options (not forced with only one option, presumably we always have two
options)
• Subjective utility of the best choice: best choice is only evident to each person
through their own understanding and subjectivity
• Decisions change with information, and because of this, options are added and
subtracted too
• This is an overarching important value or concept, and we cannot walk away from it,
so everything else is in orbit around it (talking about homo economicus)
Three Alternatives (three sub models)
• Homo Bureaucraticus (way humans behave in organizations)
• Homo Sociologicus (way humans behave amongst themselves)
• Homo Psychologicus (way in which humans make individual decisions)
Homo Bureaucraticus
• States are not unitary actors: power is divided disproportionately and inconsistently
• Organizations resist change
• “Where you stand is where you sit.”
• Whatever job you hold tends to influence your perspectives
• Distribution of power is uneven in organizations
• Overarching value, but uneven power distribution
• Policies tend to be the least common denominator
• Since we cannot agree, we select the lowest point (the LCD) and get everyone to
agree
• Bureaucratic winners and losers (some people definitely come off on the top and some on
the bottom)
• Competition between units degrades decision-making (makes it weaker and not as good)
• Results in an inferior consequence
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Document Summary
Three alternatives (three sub models: homo bureaucraticus (way humans behave in organizations, homo sociologicus (way humans behave amongst themselves, homo psychologicus (way in which humans make individual decisions) Homo bureaucraticus: states are not unitary actors: power is divided disproportionately and inconsistently, organizations resist change. Types of groupthink: pessimistic variation: collective avoidance. I wont admit how bad this is: don"t see the real disaster, and keep going, decision of czechs not to fight the germans in 1937. Individuals matter: what they want and believe is of great importance, the importance of personality, tremendous amount of influence, counterfactual reasoning. Insistence on a conclusion that is not supported by the evidence. Policy approaches (how personalities are geared towards leadership and decisionmaking) If anything bad happens, it"s your fault: administrators: in charge of making things run well, but not personally involved, example: being a professor.
