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EntityQ487453· pop 18· linked from 206 articles

Anatol Rapoport

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Russian-born American mathematical psychologist (1911–2007)

Person · Open Library

Born
22 May 1911
Died
20 January 2007
Works
49

Top works

  • Group performance on a logical task under various experimental conditions
  • A study of lexical graphs
  • The psychology of conflict involving mixed-motive decisions
  • Application of game-theoretical ideas to the problems of conflict and cooperation
  • A stochastic model for prisoner's dilemma

via Open Library + Wikidata

Music · MusicBrainz

Type
Person

via MusicBrainz · CC0

Authority record · VIAF

Lifespan
1911–2007
Nationality
US
Language
eng
Gender
Male

Recorded by 23 libraries

via VIAF · OCLC

Quotes

  • Whether sociology can ever become a full-fledged "science" (a description of a class of events predictable on the basis of deductions from a constant rationale) depends on whether the terms which sociologists employ to describe events can be analyzed into quantifiable observables.
  • No map contains all the information about the territory it represents. The road map we get at the gasoline station may show all the roads in the state, but it will not as a rule show latitude and longitude. A physical map goes into details about the topography of a country but is indifferent to political boundaries. Furthermore, the scale of the map makes a big difference. The smaller the scale the less features will be shown.
  • A fundamental value in the scientific outlook is concern with the best available map of reality. The scientist will always seek a description of events which enables him to predict most by assuming least. He thus already prefers a particular form of behavior. If moralities are systems of preferences, here is at least one point at which science cannot be said to be completely without preferences. Science prefers good maps.
  • [It is a] well-known fact that the likely contacts of two individuals who are closely acquainted tend to be more overlapping than those of two arbitrarily selected individuals
  • It is misleading in a crucial way to view information as something that can be poured into an empty vessel, like a fluid or even energy.
  • The transition from the concept of information in the technical (communication engineering) sense to the semantic (theory of meaning) sense was indeed difficult, if not impossible.

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