Rational individual

Examples of Rational individual in the following topics:

• Theory of Utility

  • The theory of utility is based on the assumption of that individuals are rational.
  • In economics, an individual is "rational" if that individual maximizes utility in their decisions.
  • Rather, this means that a rational individual is one who always selects that option that they prefer the most .
  • It is important to emphasize how rationality relates to a person's individual preferences.
  • If we could not assume rationality, it would be impossible to say what, when presented with a set of choices, an individual would select.

• Models of Bureaucracy

  • Many scholars have described rationalization and the question of individual freedom as the main theme of Weber's work.
  • Through rationalization, Weber understood the individual cost-benefit calculation and the wider, bureaucratic structure of organizations, which generally was the opposite of understanding reality through mystery and magic (disenchantment).
  • Weber understood this process as the institutionalization of purposive-rational economic and administrative action.
  • Bureaucratization for Weber was the key part of the rational-legal authority.
  • He saw it as the key process in the ongoing rationalization of Western society.

• Non-Rational Decision Making

  • People frequently employ alternative, non-rational techniques in their decision making processes.
  • The rational model of decision making holds that people have complete information and can objectively evaluate alternatives to select the optimal choice.
  • The rationality of individuals is limited, however, by the information they have, the cognitive limitations of their minds, and the finite amount of time they have to make a decision.
  • They instead apply their rationality only after they greatly simplify the choices available.
  • Because decisions often involve uncertainty, individual tolerance for risk becomes a factor.

• Problems with the Rational Decision-Making Model

  • Critics of rational choice theory—or the rational model of decision-making—claim that this model makes unrealistic and over-simplified assumptions.
  • Their objections to the rational model include:
  • Individual rationality is limited by their ability to conduct analysis and think through competing alternatives.
  • The more complex a decision, the greater the limits are to making completely rational choices.
  • Bounded rationality shares the view that decision-making is a fully rational process; however, it adds the condition that people act on the basis of limited information.

• Weber's Model for Bureaucracy

  • Weber identified in bureaucracies a rational-legal authority in which legitimacy is seen as coming from a legal order.
  • Accompanying this shift was an increasing democratization and rationalization of culture.
  • and career advancement depending on technical qualifications judged by organization, not individuals
  • However, while recognizing bureaucracy as the most efficient form of organization, and perhaps indispensable for the modern state, Weber also saw it as a threat to individual freedoms.
  • Regarding Western societies, Weber called this increasing rationalization an "iron cage" that trapped individuals in systems based solely on efficiency, rational calculation, and control.

• Deploying a Rational Appeal

  • A rational appeal uses logical arguments and factual evidence to persuade individuals.
  • A rational appeal uses logical arguments and factual evidence to persuade individuals that whatever thesis you are supporting is viable and likely to result in the obtainment of goals.
  • When you focus on rational appeals you are dealing with the mind and cognition of the audience .
  • Invention is how you formulate arguments based on logos--rational appeal or logic.
  • You might use many different forms of evidence to support your rational appeal.

• Rational Decision Making

  • Rational decision making is a multi-step process for making choices between alternatives.
  • The word "rational" in this context does not mean sane or clear-headed as it does in the colloquial sense.
  • The idea of rational choice is easy to see in economic theory.
  • An individual has full and perfect information on which to base a choice.
  • An individual has the cognitive ability, time, and resources to evaluate each alternative against the others.

• Relationship Between Expectations and Inflation

  • There are two theories of expectations (adaptive or rational) that predict how people will react to inflation.
  • There are two theories that explain how individuals predict future events.
  • The theory of adaptive expectations states that individuals will form future expectations based on past events.
  • The theory of rational expectations states that individuals will form future expectations based on all available information, with the result that future predictions will be very close to the market equilibrium.
  • In essence, rational expectations theory predicts that attempts to change the unemployment rate will be automatically undermined by rational workers.

• Rationalism

  • Rationalism - as an appeal to human reason as a way of obtaining knowledge - has a philosophical history dating from antiquity.
  • Since the Enlightenment, rationalism in politics historically emphasized a "politics of reason" centered upon rational choice, utilitarianism, and secularism (later, relationship between rationalism and religion was ameliorated by the adoption of pluralistic rationalist methods practicable regardless of religious or irreligious ideology).
  • Some philosophers today, most notably John Cottingham, noted that rationalism, a methodology, became socially conflated with atheism, a worldview.
  • Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) rejected the dogmas of both rationalism and empiricism and tried to reconcile rationalism and religious belief, individual freedom and political authority, as well as map out a view of the public sphere through private and public reason.
  • Define rationalism and its role in the ideas of the Enlightenment.

• Rational-Legal Authority

  • Rational-legal authority is a form of leadership in which authority is largely tied to legal rationality, legal legitimacy, and bureaucracy.
  • In rational-legal authority, power is passed on according to a set of rules.
  • Although individual voters may choose which candidate they favor based on a candidate's charisma or family background, the election itself must follow rational-legal requirements.
  • Rational-legal authority is a form of leadership in which the authority of an organization or a ruling regime is largely tied to legal rationality, legal legitimacy, and bureaucracy.
  • According to Weber, rational-legal authority is a form of leadership in which the authority of an organization or a ruling regime is largely tied to legal rationality, legal legitimacy, and bureaucracy.