A model for learning based on the joint estimation of stochasticity and volatility

Previous research has stressed the importance of uncertainty for controlling the speed of learning, and how such control depends on the learner inferring the noise properties of the environment, especially volatility: the speed of change. However, learning rates are jointly determined by the comparison between volatility and a second factor, moment-to-moment stochasticity. Yet much previous research has focused on simplified cases corresponding to estimation of either factor alone. Here, we introduce a learning model, in which both factors are learned simultaneously from experience, and use the model to simulate human and animal data across many seemingly disparate neuroscientific and behavioral phenomena. By considering the full problem of joint estimation, we highlight a set of previously unappreciated issues, arising from the mutual interdependence of inference about volatility and stochasticity. This interdependence complicates and enriches the interpretation of previous results, such as pathological learning in individuals with anxiety and following amygdala damage.

Constraints on Thinking Cause Overprecision

Overprecision--excessive faith in the accuracy of one's beliefs--may be the most consequential of the many biases in judgment. We offer a theory to explain the ubiquity of overprecision as a consequence of finite cognitive capacity. The individual who considers only a subset of all possibilities or hypotheses will come away excessively confident in focal hypotheses. In our theory, individuals consider only a subset of the "true" (modeled) probability space, but correctly apprehend relative probabilities. The resulting beliefs follow a simple formula in which the probability assigned to all considered hypotheses are scaled up by a constant factor. We show that this framework rationalizes five well-known behavioral phenomena concerning overprecision of beliefs and identifies interventions to improve calibration in judgment.

What is behavior? No seriously, what is it?

Studying 'behavior' lies at the heart of many disciplines. Nevertheless, academics rarely provide an explicit definition of what 'behavior' actually is. What range of definitions do people use, and how does that vary across disciplines? To answer these questions we have developed a survey to probe what constitutes 'behavior'. We find that academics adopt different definitions of behavior according to their academic discipline, animal model that they work with, and level of academic seniority. Using hierarchical clustering, we identify at least six distinct types of 'behavior' which are used in seven distinct operational archetypes of 'behavior'. Individual respondents have clear consistent definitions of behavior, but these definitions are not consistent across the population. Our study is a call for academics to clarify what they mean by 'behavior' wherever they study it, with the hope that this will foster interdisciplinary studies that will improve our understanding of behavioral phenomena.

Liderança e Bem-Estar: Teoria e prática em contextos militares, organizacionais e educacionais

This work is the result of persistence, motivation, enthusiasm and de-dication from a team of researchers coordinated by the Professor and Doctor Marcos Aguiar de Souza and other authors, invited to know how individual behavioral variables interact with and permeate the organiza-tional environment in diverse professional contexts. These variables make up different psychological phenomena, such as: leadership, satisfaction with work and with life in general, locus of control, self-esteem, optimism, gratitude, well-being and personality. The main questions that guided the articles were: how, in practice, such phenomena occur and can be measured, and how transversal skills – also known as attitudinal contents or soft skills – can be developed to promote people´s leadership potential and their wellbeing. The answers to these questions are inside this book and provide interesting opportunities for orientation, intervention and reinforcement of attitudes. This publication glances, connects itself with and, in many occasions, runs through the book “Measurement Instruments in Military Context”, published in 2018, which aimed to develop and validate measurement instruments for the diagnosis of behavioral phenomena specifically in military environ-ments. Thus, we may consider that the present content expands the ho-rizons of perception, metering and registration of behavioral phenomena, aiming to supply, based on evidence, better quality of life and well-being to members of organizations, maintaining high labor performance through self-knowledge, self-determination and self-regulation.

The study of bias in entrepreneurship

Scholars use the theoretical lens of bias to research various behavioral phenomena in entrepreneurship. We assess this body of research, focusing on definitional issues and relationships. Furthermore, we discuss how the study of bias in entrepreneurship can be advanced, given the new development in related fields such as cognitive sciences. The assessments and discussions help reveal as well as address tensions in the literature, identify numerous research opportunities that may not be obvious by looking at previous work individually, and contribute to how the theory of bias can further help to understand entrepreneurship.

Redistribution through Property Law

This chapter explains the importance of property for promoting equality in society and enhancing people's well-being. It then addresses the major legal debate regarding the method that should be used to redistribute welfare. There is much controversy in the literature as to whether redistribution should be attained solely through taxes and transfer payments (such as progressive taxation and cash assistance to needy families) or also via substantive rules of private law, including property law. The chapter shows how various behavioral phenomena support the use of private law rules alongside taxes and monetary transfers, with applications to two central property law issues: the choice of a family property system and compensation for takings of land.

The Modified Law of Effect Explains the Partial Reinforcement Extinction Effect

Thorndike’s Law of Effect provides a framework for understanding the selection of behaviors given specific environmental reward contingencies. Though a highly influential model, especially given its resurgence in popularity to understand habitual behaviors, it fails to predict several well-documented behavioral phenomena and incorrectly views extinction as the unlearning of a previously acquired association. Blaisdell, Stolyarova, & Stahlman (2016) proposed modifications to Thorndike’s original law that address these issues and greatly increases the model’s explanatory power. This modified Law of Effect (MLOE) also provides a testable account of the Partial Reinforcement Extinction Effect (PREE). The PREE is the paradoxical finding of more rapid extinction to a continuously reinforced cue than to a partially reinforced cue, and has challenged many theoretical accounts of learning. Simulations of the MLOE confirm these predictions. Two experimental paradigms, one using pigeons and the other using humans, show support for the Modified Law of Effect’s explanation of the PREE.

An Early PDP Connectionist Model for Describing the Behavioral Phenomenon

The focus of modern neuroscience on cognitive processes has relegated to behavior the epiphenomenal status of neural processing and the difficulties generated by this interpretation have encouraged the use of computational models. However, the implementation based on inferred cognitive constructs has been inefficient. The objective of this work was to review the concept of behavior by a selectionist approach and propose a connectionist computational model that operates integrally with its neurophysiological bases. The behavioral phenomenon was functionally defined and described at different levels of analysis. Functional levels make it possible to understand why behavioral phenomena exist, while topographic levels describe how morphophysiological mechanisms implement the response. The connectionist notions of PDP ANNs formalizes the proposal. The model stands out for contextualizing neural processing as part of the response, addressing the behavioral phenomenon as a whole that needs to be explained in its most different levels of analysis.

BUDAYA SHOPPING DAN KEKRISTENAN

<p><strong>Abstract:</strong> This article explores the phenomena that occur in the<br />life of society, especially urban communities, namely shopping<br />behavior, which has become a culture in the modern world.<br />Shopping culture is not only about behavioral phenomena,<br />but the very important is the philosophy behind this culture.<br />Therefore, the shopping culture should be reviewed by Christian<br />ethics. Through this article, shopping culture will be specifically<br />reviewed in the perspective of the Triune God as the ethical<br />foundation of the Christian life.</p><p><br /><strong>Keywords:</strong> culture, shopping, Trinity, ethics.</p>