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arXiv · 1904.08975

The physics of (ir)rational choice

Joost Kruis·Gunter Maris·Maarten Marsman·Dylan Molenaar·Maria Bolsinova·Han L. J. van der Maas
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Abstract

Even though classic theories and models of discrete choice pose man as a rational being, it has been shown extensively that people persistently violate rationality in their actual choices. Recent models of decision-making take these violations often (partially) into account, however, a unified framework has not been established. Here we propose such a framework, inspired by the Ising model from statistical physics, and show that representing choice problems as a graph, together with a simple choice process, allows us to explain both rational decisions as well as violations of rationality.

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Joost Kruis, Gunter Maris, Maarten Marsman, Dylan Molenaar, Maria Bolsinova, Han L. J. van der Maas. 2019-04-18. The physics of (ir)rational choice. https://arxiv.org/abs/1904.08975

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