Werner Güth (Max-Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods Bonn and LUISS Rome)

Methodological Dualism - Its Philosophical and Behavioral Perspective

The presentation provides a broad methodological discussion beginning with a discussion of the rational choice approach as a purely philosophical exercise without any consideration of human cognition and psychology. Methodological dualism confronts this with the behavioral alternative of trying to describe and explain actual decision making and how one can improve it.

Via two experimental studies we partly illustrate the need to improve human decision making, irrespective whether or not it involves social and strategic interaction. A striking aspect of the second study is that crucial stochasticity crowds out altruistic sanctioning and rewarding. We conclude by offering a dynamic process framework for experimentally exploring rational decision making.