The Cognitive Basis Of Institutions

The Cognitive Basis of Institutions: A Synthesis of Behavioral and Institutional Economics synthesizes modern research in behavioral economics with traditional institutional economics. This work emphasizes that institution and agent are inextricably linked, and that both cognitive and institutional processes coalesce to influence human decision-making. It integrates cognition and institution through the behavioral economics theoretical lens of bounded rationality. Methodologically, it develops game-theoretical, complexity and neuroeconomic solutions to unite study of the two areas. The work concludes by proposing general implications for the economic study of decisions using the cognitive-institutional approach, also providing specific recommendations for public policy. Reveals how institutional structures and individual actions interact and coevolve cognitively Connects individual decision-making, decision-making processes and institutional formation Unites our understanding of cooperative ‘prosocial’ behavior with the institutional dynamics that may create it Discusses the implications of the behavioral-institutional paradigm for paternalism and libertarianism in public policy

Generic institutionalism offers a new perspective on institutional economic change within an evolutionary framework. The institutional landscape shapes the social fabric and economic organization in manifold ways. The book elaborates on the ubiquity of such institutional forms with regards to their emergence, durability and exit in social agency-structure relations. Thereby institutions are considered as social learning environments changing the knowledge base of the economy along generic rule-sets in non-nomological ways from within. Specific attention is given to a theoretical structuring of the topic in ontology, heuristics and methodology. Part I introduces a generic naturalistic ontology by comparing prevalent ontological claims in evolutionary economics and preparing them for a broader pluralist and interdisciplinary discourse. Part II reconsiders these ontological claims and confronts it with prevalent heuristics, conceptualizations and projections of institutional change. In this respect the book revisits the institutional economic thought of Thorstein Veblen, Friedrich August von Hayek, Joseph Alois Schumpeter and Pierre Bourdieu. A synthesis is suggested in an application of the generic rule-based approach. Part III discusses the implementation of rule-based bottom-up models of institutional change and provides a basic prototype agent-based computational simulation. The evolution of power relations plays an important role in the programming of real-life communication networks. This notion characterizes the discussed policy realms (Part IV) of ecological and financial sustainability as tremendously complex areas of institutional change in political economy, leading to the concluding topic of democracy in practice. The novelty of this approach is given by its modular theoretical structure. It turns out that institutional change is carried substantially by affective social orders in contrast to rational orders as communicated in orthodox economic realms. The characteristics of affective orders are derived theoretically from intersections between ontology and heuristics, where interdependencies between instinct, cognition, rationality, reason, social practice, habit, routine or disposition are essential for the embodiment of knowledge. This kind of research indicates new generic directions to study social learning in particular and institutional evolution in general.

This book seeks to fill a void in contemporary aesthetics scholarship by considering the cognitive features that make the aesthetic and artistic worthy of philosophical study. Aesthetic cognition has been largely abandoned by analytical philosophy, which instead tends to focus its attention on the ‘non-exhibited’ properties of artwork or issues concerning semantic and syntactic structure. The Cognitive Basis of Aesthetics innovatively seeks to correct the marginalization of aesthetics in analytical philosophy by reinterpreting aesthetic cognition through an integration of Ernst Cassirer’s philosophy of symbolic forms with Paul Crowther’s theory of imagination and philosophy of art. This integration has three important outcomes: 1) it explains why the aesthetic and artistic constitute a unique form of knowledge; 2) it shows the role this plays in the formation of aesthetics as a discipline; and 3) it describes why aesthetic cognition is so deeply engaging. This book’s unique theoretical approach engages with important works of visual, conceptual, and digital art, as well as literature, music, and theatre.

Until recently professionalism was transmitted by respected role models, a method that depended heavily on the presence of a homogeneous society sharing values. This is no longer true, and medical schools and postgraduate training programs in the developed world are now actively teaching professionalism to students and trainees. In addition, licensing and certifying bodies are attempting to assess the professionalism of practising physicians on an ongoing basis. This is the only book available to provide guidance to those designing and implementing programs on teaching professionalism. It outlines the cognitive base of professionalism, provides a theoretical basis for teaching the subject, gives general principles for establishing programs at various levels (undergraduate, postgraduate, and continuing professional development), and documents the experience of institutions who are leaders in the field. Teaching aids that have been used successfully by contributors are included as an appendix.

John H. Stanfield II, the leading contemporary Black sociologist of knowledge, distills decades of his research and thinking in a set of articles—some original to the volume, others from fugitive sources—that address race in the formation of epistemologies, theories, and methodologies in social science. Stanfield’s contributions to the discipline, such as the adoption of restorative justice as an anti-racism solution in multiracial societies and the development of African diasporic sociological reasoning, are highlighted here. Ranging widely across theoretical, methodological, and substantive topics, Stanfield creates a reflective sociology viewed through an African diasporic lens that enriches the thinking and practice of social science.

Applying the hot new area of psychological and behavioural economics to notions of economic growth and development, Bertin Martens' new book is a unique and impressive volume.

"A fundamental feature of our individual, human agency is its organization over time. Think again about growing food in a garden, or taking a trip, or writing a book. A central idea is that our capacity for planning agency is at the heart of this cross-temporal organization of our individual, human agency. Appeal to this role of our capacity for planning agency both fits our commonsense self-understanding and, I conjecture, would be a part of an empirically informed psychological theory that begins with-- but potentially adjusts--this commonsense self-understanding. The basic thought is that we are resource-limited agents who achieve cross-temporal organization in part by settling in advance on prior, partial plans. These somewhat stable partial plans help pose problems of means and preliminary steps, and in pursuit of needed coordination help filter potential options. They thereby provide a background framework for downstream thought and action"--