Overview
- Stimulates a discussion about the idea of human cognition as a chance-seeking system
- Novel insights about how to treat some issue pertaining to decision making and problem solving
- Written by a leading expert in the field
Part of the book series: Cognitive Systems Monographs (COSMOS, volume 13)
Access this book
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Other ways to access
Table of contents (6 chapters)
-
Front Matter
-
Back Matter
Keywords
About this book
One of the most distinguishing abilities that human beings display is the ability of turning almost everything into a clue to make a problem affordable in relation to what one knows and, most of all, to what one does not know. That is what characterizes humans as chance seekers. A poor pattern of reasoning and even our ignorance may help us make a decision, and eventually solve a problem. This is the rationale of biased rationality. However, not everything leads us always to a good decision. Some people are not satisfied with weak arguments or it-is-just-so strategies. They want something better. This second attitude points to a different form of rationality that takes advantage of the idea of distributed cognition. Basically, human beings improve their survival strategies by building cognitive niches capable of delivering potentially ever more symptomatic information. It is through various manipulations of the environment that we gain new and more reliable chances which can be used to de-bias our rationality. Through the laborious activity of cognitive niche construction, we come up with situations in which we are better afforded by our environment, and thus biases or fallacies cease to be appealing.
Reviews
From the reviews:
“It is a refreshing read that triggers many research ideas on a multiple array of disciplines, including cognitive science, social cognition, social psychology, sociology, organisational behaviour, applied psychology, and decision making. In short, it is a must read!” (Davide Secchi, Biosemiotics, Vol. 6, 2013)
“Seeking Chances: From Biased Rationality to Distributed Cognition is a most welcome book. It discusses many contemporary issues that are appearing in different disciplines … . it is well suited to be a course material in various disciplines, since it provides a framework that uses many different disciplines … . I am strongly suggesting the book … to all who are interested in broader context on how humans deal with the current world and with the changes that are already in process in our niches.” (Merja Bauters, Mind & Society, Vol. 11, 2012)
Authors and Affiliations
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Seeking Chances
Book Subtitle: From Biased Rationality to Distributed Cognition
Authors: Emanuele Bardone
Series Title: Cognitive Systems Monographs
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-19633-1
Publisher: Springer Berlin, Heidelberg
eBook Packages: Engineering, Engineering (R0)
Copyright Information: Springer Berlin Heidelberg 2011
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-642-19632-4Published: 06 May 2011
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-642-26783-3Published: 29 May 2013
eBook ISBN: 978-3-642-19633-1Published: 16 March 2011
Series ISSN: 1867-4925
Series E-ISSN: 1867-4933
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XX, 172
Topics: Engineering, general, Cognitive Psychology, Artificial Intelligence