Preference, Belief, and Similarity: Selected Writings

(Paperback)

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Amos Tversky (1937-1996), a towering figure in cognitive and mathematical psychology, devoted his professional life to the study of similarity, judgment, and decision making. He had a unique ability to master the technicalities of normative ideals and then to intuit and demonstrate experimentally their systematic violation due to the vagaries and consequences of human information processing. He created new areas of study and helped transform disciplines as varied as economics, law, medicine, political science, philosophy, and statistics. This book collects forty of Tversky's articles, selected by him in collaboration with the editor during the last months of Tversky's life. It is divided into three sections- Similarity, Judgment, and Preferences. The Preferences section is subdivided into Probabilistic Models of Choice, Choice under Risk and Uncertainty, and Contingent Preferences. Included are several articles written with his frequent collaborator, Nobel Prize-winning economist Daniel Kahneman.

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"Amos Tversky was one of the most important social scientists of the last century. This extraordinary collection demonstrates his range and brilliance, and in particular his genius for showing how and why human intuitions go wrong. Is there a 'hot hand' in basketball Is arthritis pain related to the weather Why do we exaggerate certain risks Why are some conflicts so hard to resolve Tversky's answers will surprise you. Indispensable reading, and full of implications, for everyone interested in social science." Cass R. Sunstein, Law School and Department of Political Science, University of Chicago "Amos Tversky may have shown that basketball players do not have 'hot hands,' but he proved the opposite for psychologists. Tversky always made his basket, and in the process changed psychology, and also economics, forever." George Akerlof, Koshland Professor of Economics, University of California, Berkeley, 2001 Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences

Author Bio

Amos Tversky (1937-1996) was a mathematical psychologist whose research in the cognitive and decision sciences has been enormously influential. From 1978 to 1996, Tversky taught at Stanford University, where he was the inaugural David-Brack Professor of Behavioral Sciences and Principal Investigator at the Stanford Center on Conflict and Negotiation. Eldar Shafir, a student, close friend, and collaborator of Tversky's, is Class of 1987 Professor of Behavioral Science and Public Policy at Princeton University.