IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hal/wpaper/hal-04065103.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Variational rationality: Finding the inequations of motion of a person seeking to meet his needs

Author

Listed:
  • Antoine Soubeyran

    (AMSE - Aix-Marseille Sciences Economiques - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - AMU - Aix Marseille Université - ECM - École Centrale de Marseille - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

Abstract

As physics provides the equations of motion of a body, this paper formulates, for the first time, at the conceptual and mathematical levels, the inequations of motion of an individual seeking to meet his needs and quasi needs in an adaptive (not myopic) way. Successful (failed) dynamics perform a succession of moves, which are, at once, satisficing and worthwhile (free from too many sacrifices), or not. They approach or reach desires (fall in traps). They balance the desired speed of approach to a desired end (a distal promotion goal) with the size of the required immediate sacrifices to go fast (a proximal prevention goal). Therefore, each period, need/quasi need satisfaction success requires enough self control to be able to make, in the long run, sufficient progress in need/quasi need satisfaction without enduring, in the short run, too big sacrifices. A simple example (lose or gain weight) shows that the size of successful moves must be not too small and not too long. A second paper will solve this problem, using variational principles and inexact optimizing algorithms in mathematics. This strong multidisciplinary perspective refers to a recent mathematical model to psychology: the variational rationality theory of human life stay and change dynamics.

Suggested Citation

  • Antoine Soubeyran, 2022. "Variational rationality: Finding the inequations of motion of a person seeking to meet his needs," Working Papers hal-04065103, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-04065103
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://amu.hal.science/hal-04065103
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://amu.hal.science/hal-04065103/document
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jing-Hui Qiu & Antoine Soubeyran & Fei He, 2020. "Equilibrium versions of set-valued variational principles and their applications to organizational behavior," Post-Print hal-02465110, HAL.
    2. Botond Kőszegi & Matthew Rabin, 2006. "A Model of Reference-Dependent Preferences," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 121(4), pages 1133-1165.
    3. T. Q. Bao & B. S. Mordukhovich & A. Soubeyran, 2015. "Variational Analysis in Psychological Modeling," Journal of Optimization Theory and Applications, Springer, vol. 164(1), pages 290-315, January.
    4. Herbert A. Simon, 1955. "A Behavioral Model of Rational Choice," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 69(1), pages 99-118.
    5. Garance Genicot & Debraj Ray, 2020. "Aspirations and Economic Behavior," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 12(1), pages 715-746, August.
    6. James G. March, 1991. "Exploration and Exploitation in Organizational Learning," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 2(1), pages 71-87, February.
    7. Fabián Flores-Bazán & Dinh The Luc & Antoine Soubeyran, 2012. "Maximal Elements Under Reference-Dependent Preferences with Applications to Behavioral Traps and Games," Journal of Optimization Theory and Applications, Springer, vol. 155(3), pages 883-901, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Antoine Soubeyran, 2023. "Variational rationality: Finding the inequations of motion of a person seeking to meet his needs," AMSE Working Papers 2309, Aix-Marseille School of Economics, France.
    2. T. Q. Bao & B. S. Mordukhovich & A. Soubeyran, 2015. "Variational Analysis in Psychological Modeling," Journal of Optimization Theory and Applications, Springer, vol. 164(1), pages 290-315, January.
    3. Antoine Soubeyran, 2022. "Variational rationality. Self regulation success as a succession of worthwhile moves that make sufficient progress," Working Papers hal-04041238, HAL.
    4. Antoine Soubeyran, 2023. "Variational rationality. Self regulation success as a succession of worthwhile moves that make sufficient progress," AMSE Working Papers 2307, Aix-Marseille School of Economics, France.
    5. Elizabeth J. Altman & Frank Nagle & Michael L. Tushman, 2013. "Innovating Without Information Constraints: Organizations, Communities, and Innovation When Information Costs Approach Zero," Harvard Business School Working Papers 14-043, Harvard Business School, revised Sep 2014.
    6. Schilling, Melissa A. & Green, Elad, 2011. "Recombinant search and breakthrough idea generation: An analysis of high impact papers in the social sciences," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(10), pages 1321-1331.
    7. Stefano DellaVigna, 2009. "Psychology and Economics: Evidence from the Field," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 47(2), pages 315-372, June.
    8. Felipe A. Csaszar & Daniel A. Levinthal, 2016. "Mental representation and the discovery of new strategies," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(10), pages 2031-2049, October.
    9. Pascal Seppecher & Isabelle Salle & Dany Lang, 2019. "Is the market really a good teacher?," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 29(1), pages 299-335, March.
    10. Pedota, Mattia & Cicala, Francesco & Basti, Alessio, 2024. "A Wild Mind with a Disciplined Eye: Unleashing Human-GenAI Creativity Through Simulated Entity Elicitation," OSF Preprints 3bn95, Center for Open Science.
    11. J. X. Cruz Neto & P. R. Oliveira & A. Soubeyran & J. C. O. Souza, 2020. "A generalized proximal linearized algorithm for DC functions with application to the optimal size of the firm problem," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 289(2), pages 313-339, June.
    12. Dalton,Patricio S. & Ruschenpohler,Julius & Zia,Bilal Husnain, 2018. "Determinants and dynamics of business aspirations : evidence from small-scale entrepreneurs in an emerging market," Policy Research Working Paper Series 8400, The World Bank.
    13. Kely D. V. Villacorta & Paulo R. Oliveira & Antoine Soubeyran, 2014. "A Trust-Region Method for Unconstrained Multiobjective Problems with Applications in Satisficing Processes," Journal of Optimization Theory and Applications, Springer, vol. 160(3), pages 865-889, March.
    14. Bart Leten & Rene Belderbos & Bart Van Looy, 2016. "Entry and Technological Performance in New Technology Domains: Technological Opportunities, Technology Competition and Technological Relatedness," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(8), pages 1257-1291, December.
    15. Christina Fang & Daniel Levinthal, 2009. "Near-Term Liability of Exploitation: Exploration and Exploitation in Multistage Problems," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 20(3), pages 538-551, June.
    16. Alfio Giarlotta & Angelo Petralia, 2024. "Simon’s bounded rationality," Decisions in Economics and Finance, Springer;Associazione per la Matematica, vol. 47(1), pages 327-346, June.
    17. Andreu, Rafael & Riverola, Josep & Rosanas, Josep M. & de Santiago, Rafael, 2012. "Capability building and learning: An emergent behavior approach," IESE Research Papers D/952, IESE Business School.
    18. Oliver Baumann, 2015. "Models of complex adaptive systems in strategy and organization research," Mind & Society: Cognitive Studies in Economics and Social Sciences, Springer;Fondazione Rosselli, vol. 14(2), pages 169-183, November.
    19. Rajat Khanna & Isin Guler, 2022. "Degree assortativity in collaboration networks and invention performance," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(7), pages 1402-1430, July.
    20. Moshe Farjoun & Christopher Ansell & Arjen Boin, 2015. "PERSPECTIVE—Pragmatism in Organization Studies: Meeting the Challenges of a Dynamic and Complex World," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 26(6), pages 1787-1804, December.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    need satisfaction; speed of progress; sacrifices; dynamical system; variational rationality;
    All these keywords.

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-04065103. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: CCSD (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.