Jon Elster says, "Choice remains the core concept in the social sciences." In this book he proceeds to describe the complexity behind our many choices. If you are looking for a light, breezy read that simplifies human behavior, veer away from this one. But if you want a grand sweep of human behavior, this could be the ticket.
The pages work to synthesize psychology, sociology and neuroscience with folk wisdom and literature. One of his central arguments is that qualitative social science is actually more useful than quantitative social science. Yet at the same time he is a loyal reductionist.
One commonality that Explaining Social Behavior has with contemporary pop psychology is that it outlines emotion as being more central than logic. What the book does not do is reduce human emotion to simple axiomatic truths. Instead, Elster presents emotion as the messy business it really is.
Predicting social behavior is challenging since our emotions are guided by the context of situations, perceptual and cognitive limitations and the shifting circumstances and opportunities of each individual. The author says, "It is easier to change a persons' circumstances and opportunities than to change their minds." A key insight.
From this base of circumstances and opportunities leading to emotion, Elster suggests that we form desires and beliefs that lead to information gathering and action. This model of human behavior makes intuitive sense, and it is the closest thing to a central theory in the book. He calls this the desire-belief model.
As someone involved with both marketing and adult learning, I was eager to hear the author's take on motivation. In short, he sees motivation as a competing array of forces including the visceral and the rational, the shortsighted and farsighted, the selfish and altruistic . . . all amid wants to wishes that are subject to the desire-belief model.
Elster's views on motivation can be contrasted with the view of Daniel Pink in Drive, where Pink argues that people want autonomy, mastery and purpose. There are many other theories on motivation as well, from carrots and sticks to Theory X & Y. The authors ideas about motivation seem to align with mine -- in that there are many ways to motivate or be motivated; the challenge is fit the context of each situation.
I was particularly interested in Chapter 23 on Collective Belief Formation, Chapter 24 on Collective Action, Chapter 25 on Collective Decision Making, and Chapter 26 on Organizations and Institutions. Elster shows how collective belief starts with a few individuals and gains steam through motivations ranging from self-interest to peer pressure, guilt, personal growth and the desire for raw adventure. Collective decision making is made through a combination of arguing, bargaining and voting.
Organizations are defined by their capacity for centralized decision making. These bodies may have members or employees, with rights governed by constitutions which need to balance power. Key organizational challenges include constructing proper incentives and aligning principals and agents with the needs of the organization.
This book is filled with insights into human nature and nurture. It is a great read. I found out about Explaining Social Behavior from a Twitter link with the favorite books of Nicolas Taleb. As with Taleb's book, The Black Swan, this book is filled with aphorisms, keen insights and clever turns of phrase. I leave you with some of my favorites:
* The good social scientist has to consistently think against oneself -- to make matters as difficult for oneself as one can.
* To excel at anything is to deviate, and deviation is the object of universal disapproval.
* The invention of game theory may come to be seen as the most important single advance of the social sciences in the twentieth century. Games illuminate the structure of the two central issues of social interaction -- cooperation and coordination.
* Behavior is often no more stable than the situations that shape it.
* It is simply not true that people are aggressive, impatient, extroverted, or talkative across the board.
* The ratio of fear of loss to the desire for gain is empirically about 2.5 to 1.
* Delay strategies might seem to hold out the best promise for dealing with emotion-based irrationality.
* To understand a work of art is to explain it in terms of the antecedent mental states of its creator.
* Whereas too much rationality can be unintelligible, irrationality can be perfectly intelligible.
* As misunderstandings are dissipated, felicity ensues; as ignorance is lifted, disaster occurs.
* If debates are held in public, the quality of argument will suffer. If they take place behind closed doors, arguing may degenerate into bargaining.
* Reciprocal altruism is not a plausible mechanism for generating cooperation in larger groups.
* Egoism, said Tocqueville, is "the rust of society." Similarly, is is often said that trust is "the lubricant of society."
* An autocratic government is unable to make itself unable to interfere.
* Rational choice theory is subjective through and through.
* The brain is a natural conspiracy theorist.
* All explanation is causal explanation.
The Black Swan
Status Anxiety
Man's Search for Meaning
The Metaphysical Club: A Story of Ideas in America
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- Tim RufflesReviewed in the United Kingdom on July 20, 2015
The most valuable book I've read on the social sciences
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Daniel SommerReviewed in Germany on December 6, 2013
Übersichtliche Zusammenfassung
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Yosh HöchstselbstReviewed in Germany on December 20, 2012
Schön zu lesen, aber...
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