Amos Tversky was one of the most important social scientists of the last century. This extraordinary collection demonstrates his range and brilliance, and in particular his genius for showing how and why human intuitions go wrong. Is there a 'hot hand' in basketball? Is arthritis pain related to the weather? Why do we exaggerate certain risks? Why are some conflicts so hard to resolve? Tversky's answers will surprise you. Indispensable reading, and full of implications, for everyone interested in social science.
Cass R. Sunstein, Law School and Department of Political Science, University of Chicago
Amos Tversky's work has produced an ongoing revolution in our understanding of judment and choice. The articles in this book show why. They also show how: the articles are written with grace, wit, and a brilliance that frequently verges on the pyrotechnic.
Richard E. Nisbett, author of The Geography of Thought: How Asians and Westerners Think Differently...and Why
Amos Tversky's research on preferences and beliefs has had a shattering and yet highly constuctive influence on the development of economics. The vague complaints of psychologists and dissident economists about the excessive rationality assumptions of standard economics, going back over a century, had little impact. It required the careful accumulation of evidence, the clear sense tha tTversky did not misunderstand what economists were assuming, and above all his formulation of useful alternative hypotheses to change dissatisfaction into a revolutionary change in perspective.
Kenneth J. Arrow, Professor of Economics Emeritus, Stanford University
It is deeply ironic that similiarity and bounded rationality were two of the many topics that Amos Tversky studied—ironic because he seemed to be unboundedly rational and similar to no one. No one shared his combination of brilliance, precision, intuition, breadth, and enormous good humor. Few scholars change their own disciplines before they reach 40, as Tversky did, and even fewer then transform other disciplines, as he and Daniel Kahneman did for economics. Their influence on economics, recognized by the 2002 Nobel Prize, is still growing, and the discipline will never be the same. Nor will anyone who reads these papers: It is impossible to read Tversky without changing the way you think.
Richard H. Thaler, Robert P. Gwinn Professor of Economics and Behavioral Science, University of Chicago
This collection offers the best of Tversky, the best of the best. It is amazing how many of these articles are already classics, not only in the fields of choice and decision making, but in psychology in general.
Edward E. Smith, Arthur W. Melton Professor of Psychology, University of Michigan
Amos Tversky may have shown that basketball players do not have 'hot hands,' but he proved the opposite for psychologists. Tversky always made his basket, and in the process changed psychology, and also economics, forever.
George Akerlof, Koshland Professor of Economics, University of California, Berkeley, 2001 Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences