Maximization theory, which is borrowed from economics, provides techniques for predicing the behavior of animals - including humans. A theoretical behavioral space is constructed in which each point represents a given combination of various behavioral alternatives. With two alternatives - behavior A and behavior B - each point within the space represents a certain amount of time spent performing behavior A and a certain amount of time spent performing behavior B. A particular environmental situation can be described as a constraint (...) on available points (a circumscribed area) within the space. Maximization theory assumes that animals always choose the available point with the highest numerical value. The task of maximization theory is to assign to points in the behavioral space values that remain constant across various environmental situations; as those situations change, the point actually chosen is always the one with the highest assigned value. (shrink)

Rachlin's view of self-control as a sequence or chain of behaviors is contrasted with traditional behavioral analyses of self-control which emphasize a simplistic interpretation of the hyperbolic function relating small-sooner (SS) and larger-later (LL) reinforcers to specific behaviors. The validity of Rachlin's teleological analysis is examined in relation to the acquisition and steady-state performance of self-control behaviors. Central to an analysis of self-control is the functional difference between behavior under the control of SS and LL reinforcers, because SS-reinforced behavior is (...) more complex due to temporal parameters. (shrink)

Using a multiple-trial stock market decision paradigm, the possibility that counterfactual thinking can be dysfunctional for learning and performance by distorting the processing of outcome information was examined. Correlational (Study 1) and experimental (Study 2) evidence suggested that counterfactuals are associated with a decrease in experiential learning. When counterfactuals were made salient, participants displayed significantly poorer performance compared to their counterparts for whom counterfactuals were relatively less salient. A counterfactual salience ? need for cognition (NFC) interaction qualified these findings. High (...) NFC participants outperformed their counterparts when counterfactuals were not salient. Evidence for a memory-based mechanism was also supported. (shrink)

Ve standardních výkladech moderních dějin studia mysli ve dvacátém století se dočteme, že zatímco kolem poloviny tohoto století ovládl studium mysli zpozdilý behaviorismus, v šedesátých letech nastoupila „kognitivní revoluce“, která nadvládu behaviorismu smetla a otevřela cestu ke skutečně nepředpojatému a adekvátnímu studiu mysli. V tomto textu se chci nad tímto standardním výkladem zamyslet a zpochybnit ho: konkrétně chci poukázat na to, že behaviorismus nebyl ve všech ohledech tak zpozdilý, jak by se z tohoto pohledu mohl jevit; a že „kognitivní revoluce“ (...) neznamenala jenom vymanění se z nepřiměřenýchmetodologických okovů, ale i otevření prostoru pro to, čemu budu říkat „magická teorie mysli“ a co podle mého názoru nepatří ani do vědy, ani do rozumné filosofie.Standard accounts of the modern history of the study of mind in the twentieth century tell us that while around the half of the century the study came to be dominated by inept behaviorism, the sixties witnessed the onslaught of the "cognitive revolution", which wiped out the dominance of behaviorism and opened the way for the truly unprejudiced and adequate study of mind. In this text I want to reconsider this account and challenge it: in particular, I want to point out that behaviorism was not in all respects so inept as it may suggest; and that the "cognitive revolution" did not mean merely breaking out of inadequate methodological fetters, but rather also an opening of space for what I will call the "magical theory of mind" and what I think belongs neither to science, nor to reasonable philosophy. (shrink)