Management Quality and Information Quality: Some Results of 2020 for the Post-Soviet Space

The foreign policy of some states does not always lend itself to rational explanation. The antithesis of the all-embracing rationality model was the model of incrementalism, first proposed by C. Lindblom, professor at Yale University. It was he who first noted that in the decision-making process there is a constant lack of knowledge, information, resources; and the role of uncertainty is great in the internal and external environment, which is difficult to control. However, even when ideally informed, politicians can make irrational decisions. Incrementalism as a theoretical approach draws attention to situations where decisions are not based on available and verified information. Political processes and relevant management decisions in Armenia and Belarus in 2020 indicate that the information quality and the management quality do not always correlate with each other.

Stability of equilibria for population games with uncertain parameters under bounded rationality

Under the assumption that the range of varying uncertain parameters is known, some results of existence and stability of equilibria for population games with uncertain parameters are investigated in this paper. On the basis of NS equilibria in classical noncooperative games, the concept of NS equilibria for population games with uncertain parameters is defined. Using some hypotheses about the continuity and convexity of payoff functions, the existence of NS equilibria in population games is also proved by Fan–Glicksberg fixed point theorem. Furthermore, we establish a bounded rationality model of population games with uncertain parameters, and draw the conclusions about the stability of NS equilibrium in this model by constructing the rationality function and studying its properties.

Risk-Managing Decision-Making: A Psycho-Social Rationality Model

Social workers are frequently involved in making decisions and in managing risks, although there has been limited conceptualisation to connect these tasks with each other or with assessment processes. This lack of connection reflects the general separateness of the wider academic discourses on risk and uncertainty (often sociological and organisational, relating frequently to business or economic contexts) and those on decision-making (often focusing on psychology of individual judgement, and typically relating to medical or military contexts). This article presents and explores the potential of a ‘risk-managing decision model’, as an example of a model linking risk management with decision science. This is a psycho-social rationality model for choosing between options, such as possible care, support or intervention plans for a client or family. Rather than treating the options as ‘given’ (i.e. unchangeable), as in most decision theories, this model proposes that the decision maker(s) look for ways to manage or reduce the risks inherent in the preferred option as part of the decision process. Like other psycho-social rationality models, this model incorporates both individual cognitive dimensions and framing aspects of the decision environment. Relevance to social work is discussed with examples and reference to various settings and decision processes.

How is analytical thinking related to religious belief? A test of three theoretical models

A growing literature has documented a negative association between analytical thinking style and belief in God. However, the replicability, magnitude, and theoretical importance of this correlation has recently been debated. Moreover, the existing literature has not examined distinct psychological accounts of this relationship. In Study 1, we (1) tested the replicability of the correlation and assessed its magnitude in a large sample (N = 5284; comprising of undergraduate students at a Canadian university, and broader samples of Canadians, Americans and Indians); and (2) tested three distinct theoretical accounts of how cognitive style might come to be related to a diverse set of religious beliefs including belief in God, in karma, and in witchcraft. The first, the dual process model, posits that analytical thinking is inversely related to belief in God and in other supernatural entities. The second, the expressive rationality model, posits that analytical thinking is specifically recruited in supporting already-held beliefs in an identity-protective manner. And the third, the counter-normativity rationality model, posits that analytical thinking is recruited to question beliefs supported by prevailing cultural norms. We tested specific predictions derived from these models regarding the association between analytic thinking and religious beliefs in a Bayesian framework. In Study 2, we tested the replicability of our results in a re-analysis of previously-published data. We conclude that whereas the counter-normativity rationality model was contradicted by the data, both the dual process and expressive rationality models received limited empirical support.

VINCENT AND ELINOR OSTROM: TWO CONFLUENT TRAJECTORIES FOR THE GOVERNANCE OF COMMON PROPERTY RESOURCES

The aim of the current theoretical article is to demonstrate the importance of Vincent Ostrom in the intellectual history of his wife Elinor Ostrom, especially in studies on the governance of common property resources grounded in the Institutional Analysis and Development Framework (IAD). Three elements that demonstrate Vincent's importance to this perspective are herein highlighted and analyzed, namely: the concern in pointing out the natural characteristics of resources as a determining factor in the development of effective institutional arrangements; the proposal of polycentric institutions; and the construction of a rationality model. Lastly, the paper listed some questions that may help structuring a positive research agenda in this field, with repercussions on contemporary themes and on important public policies.