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

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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.

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  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:aim:wpaimx:2309
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. 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.
    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. James G. March, 1991. "Exploration and Exploitation in Organizational Learning," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 2(1), pages 71-87, February.
    5. 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.
    6. 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.
    7. Garance Genicot & Debraj Ray, 2020. "Aspirations and Economic Behavior," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 12(1), pages 715-746, August.
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    Keywords

    need satisfaction; speed of progress; sacrifices; dynamical system; variational rationality;
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