Everything about Herbert Simon totally explained
Herbert Alexander Simon (
June 15,
1916 –
February 9,
2001) was an
American political scientist whose research ranged across the fields of
cognitive psychology,
computer science,
public administration,
economics,
management,
philosophy of science and
sociology and was a professor, most notably, at
Carnegie Mellon University. With almost a thousand, often
very highly cited publications
, he's one of the most influential social scientists of the 20th century.
Simon wasn't only a
polymath, but a truly innovative thinker. He was among the founding fathers of several of today's most important scientific domains, including
artificial Intelligence,
information processing,
decision-making,
problem-solving,
attention economics,
organization theory,
complex systems, and computer simulation of
scientific discovery. He coined the terms
bounded rationality and
satisficing, and was the first to analyze the
architecture of complexity and to propose a
preferential attachment mechanism to explain
power law distributions.
Simon's
genius and influence is evidenced by the many top-level honors he received later in life. These include: the
ACM's
Turing Award for making "basic contributions to artificial intelligence, the psychology of human
cognition, and list processing" (
1975); the
Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics "for his pioneering research into the decision-making process within economic organizations" (
1978); the
National Medal of Science (
1986); and the
APA's Award for Outstanding Lifetime Contributions to Psychology (
1993).
Life
Herbert Alexander Simon was born into a Jewish family in
Milwaukee,
Wisconsin on
June 15,
1916. His father was an electrical engineer who had come to the United States from
Germany in
1903 after earning his engineering degrees from
Prague and
Cologne. His European ancestors had been
piano makers,
goldsmiths, and
vintners.
Herbert Simon was educated as a child in the public school system in Milwaukee where he developed an interest in science. He found schoolwork to be interesting but rather easy. Unlike many children, Simon was exposed to the idea that human behavior could be studied scientifically at a relatively young age due to the influence of his mother’s younger brother, Harold Merkel, who had studied economics at the
University of Wisconsin-Madison under John R. Commons. Through his uncle’s books on economics and psychology, Simon discovered the social sciences. Simon received both his B.A. (1936) and his Ph.D. (1943) in
political science, from the University of Chicago, where he studied under
Harold Lasswell and
Charles Edward Merriam.
Among his earliest influences, Simon has cited
Richard Ely’s economics textbook,
Norman Angell’s
The Great Illusion, and
Henry George’s
Progress and Poverty. In
1933, Simon entered the
University of Chicago, and following those early influences, he studied the social sciences and mathematics. His most important mentor at the University was
Henry Schultz who was an econometrician and mathematical economist. Eventually his studies led him to the field of organizational decision making which would become the subject of his doctoral dissertation.
From
1939 to
1942, Simon acted as director of a research group at the
University of California, Berkeley. When the group’s grant was exhausted, he took a position in political science at the
Illinois Institute of Technology. Back in
Chicago, he began participating in the seminars held by the staff of the Cowles Commission who at that time included
Trygve Haavelmo,
Jacob Marschak, and
Tjalling Koopmans. He thus began a more in-depth study of economics in the area of
institutionalism. Marschak brought Simon in to assist in the study he was currently undertaking with
Sam Schurr of the “prospective economic effects of atomic energy”.
From
1950 to
1955, Simon studied mathematical economics and during this time, together with
David Hawkins, discovered and proved the
Hawkins-Simon theorem on the “conditions for the existence of positive solution vectors for input-output matrices." He also developed theorems on near-decomposability and aggregation. Having begun to apply these theorems to organizations, Simon determined around
1954 that the best way to study problem-solving was to simulate it with computer programs, which led to his interest in computer simulation of human cognition.
Contributions
Simon was a pioneer in the field of
artificial intelligence, creating with
Allen Newell the
Logic Theory Machine (
1956) and the
General Problem Solver (GPS) (
1957) programs. GPS was possibly the first method of separating problem solving strategy from information about particular problems. Both programs were developed using the
Information Processing Language (IPL) (
1956) developed by Newell,
Cliff Shaw and Simon.
Donald Knuth mentions the development of list processing in IPL with the
linked list originally called "NSS memory" for its inventors.
In the early 1960's Simon wrote a paper responding to a claim by the psychologist
Ulric Neisser that machines might be able to replicate 'cold cognition', for example processes like reasoning, planning, perceiving, and deciding, but couldn't replicate
'hot cognition', including desiring, feeling pain or pleasure, and having emotions. Simon's paper was eventually published in
1967. It was ignored by the AI research community for some years, but later became very influential for example indirectly through the work of
Sloman and
Picard on emotions.
Simon also collaborated with
James G. March on several works in
organization theory.
With
Allen Newell, Simon developed a
theory for the
simulation of human
problem solving behavior using production rules. The study of human
problem solving required new kinds of human measurements and, with
Anders Ericsson, Simon developed the experimental technique of verbal protocol analysis. Simon was interested in the role of knowledge in expertise. He said that to become an expert required about 10 years of experience and he and colleagues estimated that expertise was the result of learning roughly 50,000
chunks of information. A
chess expert was said to have learned about 50,000 chunks or chess position patterns.
Simon was also interested in how humans learn and, with
Edward Feigenbaum, he developed the
EPAM (Elementary Perceiver and Memorizer) theory, one of the first theories of
learning to be implemented as a computer program. EPAM was able to explain a large number of phenomena in the field of verbal learning. Later versions of the model were applied to
concept formation and the acquisition of
expertise.
He was awarded the
ACM's
A.M. Turing Award along with
Allen Newell in
1975. "In joint scientific efforts extending over twenty years, initially in collaboration with
J. C. (Cliff) Shaw at the
RAND Corporation, and subsequentially with numerous faculty and student colleagues at
Carnegie Mellon University, they've made basic contributions to
artificial intelligence, the psychology of
human cognition, and list processing."
While living in
Pittsburgh, PA, he advised the citizenry on various issues including the use of public funds to build stadiums and the method of raising tax revenue. Simon emphasized the usefulness of the
land tax, reflecting the early influence of
Henry George on his economic thought.
Contributions to economics
Herbert Simon has been credited for revolutionary changes in microeconomics. He is responsible for the concept of organizational decision-making as it's known today. He was also the first to discuss this concept in terms of uncertainty; for example it's impossible to have perfect and complete information at any given time to make a decision. While this notion wasn't entirely new, Simon is best known for its origination. It was in this area that he was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1978.
At the
Cowles Commission, Simon’s main goal was to link economic theory to mathematics and statistics. His main contributions were to the fields of general equilibrium and econometrics. He was greatly influenced by the marginalist debate that began in the 1930s. The popular work of the time argued that it wasn't empirically apparent that entrepreneurs needed to follow the marginalist principles of profit-maximization/cost-minimization in running organizations. The argument went on to note that profit-maximization wasn't accomplished, in part, because of the lack of complete information. In decision-making, Simon believed that agents face uncertainty about the future and costs in acquiring information in the present. These factors limit the extent to which agents can make a fully rational decision, thus they possess only “bounded rationality” and must make decisions by “
satisficing,” or choosing that which might not be optimal but which will make them happy enough.
Simon was known for his research on industrial organization. He determined that the internal organization of firms and the external business decisions thereof didn't conform to the Neoclassical theories of “rational” decision-making. Simon wrote many articles on the topic over the course of his life mainly focusing on the issue of decision-making within the behavior of what he termed “bounded rationality.” “Rational behavior, in economics, means that individuals maximizes his utility function under the constraints they face (for example, their budget constraint, limited choices, ...) in pursuit of their self-interest. This is reflected in the theory of
subjective expected utility. The term bounded rationality is used to designate rational choice that takes into account the cognitive limitations of both knowledge and cognitive capacity. Bounded rationality is a central theme in behavioral economics. It is concerned with the ways in which the actual decision-making process influences decisions. Theories of bounded rationality relax one or more assumptions of standard expected utility theory”.
Simon determined that the best way to study these areas was through computer simulation modeling. As such, he developed an interest in computer science. Herbert Simon's main interests in computer science were in artificial intelligence, human-computer interaction, principles of the organization of humans and machines as information processing systems, the use of computers to study (by modeling) philosophical problems of the nature of intelligence and of epistemology, and the social implications of computer technology. Some of Simon's economic research was directed toward understanding technological change in general and the information processing revolution in particular.
Contribution to Library Science
Satisficing, as defined by Simon, can be applied to library and information science where researchers assess how much information is adequate to meet their information need. With the huge volume of information today, library researchers are forced to use Simon's model of satisficing when searching. The first satisfactory alternative is chosen over the best. Applying satisficing to research is a way for researchers to adjust to the vast amount of information today. (Buczynski, 2005)
Studying decision-making
Administrative Behavior was Herbert Simon’s doctoral dissertation and his first book. It served as the foundation for his life's work. The centerpiece of this book is the behavioral and cognitive processes of making rational human choices, that is, decisions. An operational administrative decision should be correct and efficient, and it must be practical to implement with a set of coordinated means.
Any decision involves a choice selected from a number of alternatives, directed toward an organizational goal or subgoal. Realistic options will have real consequences consisting of personnel actions or non-actions modified by environmental facts and values. In actual practice, some of the alternatives may be conscious or unconscious; some of the consequences may be unintended as well as intended; and some of the means and ends may be imperfectly differentiated, incompletely related, or poorly detailed.
The task of rational decision making is to select the alternative that results in the more preferred set of all the possible consequences. This task can be divided into three required steps: (1) the identification and listing of all the alternatives; (2) the determination of all the consequences resulting from each of the alternatives; and (3) the comparison of the accuracy and efficiency of each of these sets of consequences. Any given individual or organization attempting to implement this model in a real situation would be unable to comply with the three requirements. It is highly improbable that one could know all the alternatives, or all the consequences that follow each alternative.
The question here is: given the inevitable limits on rational decision making, what other techniques or behavioral processes can a person or organization bring to bear to achieve approximately the best result? Simon writes:“The human being striving for rationality and restricted within the limits of his knowledge has developed some working procedures that partially overcome these difficulties. These procedures consist in assuming that he can isolate from the rest of the world a closed system containing a limited number of variables and a limited range of consequences.”
Administrative Behavior, as a text, addresses a wide range of human behaviors, cognitive abilities, management techniques, personnel policies, training goals and procedures, specialized roles, criteria for evaluation of accuracy and efficiency, and all of the ramifications of communication processes. Simon is particularly interested in how these factors directly and indirectly influence the making of decisions.
Weaving in and out of the practical functioning of all of these organizational factors are two universal elements of human social behavior that Simon addresses in Chapter VII—The Role of Authority, and in Chapter X—Loyalties, and Organizational Identification.
Authority is a well studied, primary mark of organizational behavior, and is straightforwardly defined in the organizational context as the ability and right of an individual of higher rank to determine the decision of an individual of lower rank. The actions, attitudes, and relationships of the dominant and subordinate individuals constitute components of role behavior that can vary widely in form, style, and content, but don't vary in the expectation of obedience by the one of superior status, and willingness to obey from the subordinate. Authority is highly influential on the formal structure of the organization, including patterns of communication, sanctions, and rewards, as well as on the establishment of goals, objectives, and values of the organization.
Decisions can be complex admixtures of facts and values. Information about facts, especially empirically proven facts or facts derived from specialized experience, are more easily transmitted in the exercise of authority than are the expressions of values. Simon is primarily interested in seeking identification of the individual employee with the organizational goals and values. Following Lasswell he states that “a person identifies himself with a group when, in making a decision, he evaluates the several alternatives of choice in terms of their consequences for the specified group”. A person may identify himself with any number of social, geographic, economic, racial, religious, familial, educational, gender, political, and sports groups. Indeed, the number and variety are unlimited. The fundamental problem for organizations is to recognize that personal and group identifications can either facilitate or obstruct correct decision making for the organization. A specific organization has to deliberately determine and specify in appropriate detail and clear language its own goals, objectives, means, ends, and values.
Chester Barnard pointed out that “the decisions that an individual makes as a member of an organization are quite distinct from his personal decisions”.
Personal choices may determine whether an individual joins a particular organization, and continue to be made in his or her extra–organizational private life. But, as a member of an organization, that individual makes decisions not in relationship to personal needs and results, but in an impersonal sense as part of the organizational intent, purpose, and effect. Organizational inducements, rewards, and sanctions are all designed to form, strengthen, and maintain this identification.
The correctness of decisions is measured by two major criteria: (1) adequacy of achieving the desired objective; and (2) the efficiency with which the result was obtained. Many members of the organization may focus on adequacy, but the overall administrative management must pay particular attention to the efficiency with which the desired result was obtained.
Simon's contributions to research in the area of decision-making have become increasingly mainstream in the business community thanks to the growth of management consulting. Simon's decision-making steps of Intelligence, Design, Choice, and Review are the basis of the work of
Inferential Focus.
Interesting quotes
- Most producers are employees, not owners of the firms..... Viewed from the vantage point of classical [economic] theory, they've no reason to maximize the profits of the firms, except to the extent that they can be controlled by owners.... Moreover, there's no difference, in this respect, among profit-making firms, non-profit organizations, and bureaucratic organizations. All have exactly the same problem of inducing their employees to work toward the organizational goals. There is no reason, a priori, why it should be easier (or harder) to produce this motivation in organizations aimed at maximizing profits than in organizations with different goals. The conclusion that organizations motivated by profits will be more efficient than other organizations doesn't follow the organizational economy from the neo-classical assumptions. If it's empirically true, other axioms will have to be introduced to account for it.
What information consumes is rather obvious: it consumes the attention of its recipients. Hence a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention, and a need to allocate that attention efficiently among the overabundance of information sources that might consume it.
Over Christmas, Allen Newell and I created a thinking machine.
It isn't my aim to surprise or shock you – but the simplest way I can summarise is to say that there are now in the world machines that think, that learn and that create. Moreover, their ability to do these things is going to increase rapidly until – in a visible future – the range of problems they can handle will be coextensive with the range to which the human mind has been applied
Bibliography
1947. Administrative Behavior: A Study of Decision-Making Processes in Administrative Organizations, » - 4th ed. in 1997, The Free Press
1956, 'Reply: Surrogates for Uncertain Decision Problems'. » - Reprinted in 1982, In: H.A. Simon, Models of Bounded Rationality, Volume 1, Economic Analysis and Public Policy, Cambridge, Mass., MIT Press, 235-44
1957. Models of Man. John Wiley. Presents mathematical models of human behaviour.
1958 (with James G. March and the collaboration of Harold Guetzkow). Organizations. New York: Wiley.
1967. 'Motivational and emotional controls of cognition', Psychological Review, vol. 74:29-39, reprinted in Models of Thought Vol 1.
1969. The Sciences of the Artificial. MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass, 1st edition
1972 (with Allen Newell). Human Problem Solving.
1972, 'Theories of Bounded Rationality'. In: C.B. McGuire and ROY Radner teds. 1, Decision and Organization, North-Holland Publishing Company, 161-76
1977. Models of Discovery : and other topics in the methods of science. Dordrecht, Holland: Reidel.
1979. Models of Thought, Vols. 1 and 2. Yale University Press. His papers on human information-processing and problem-solving.
1982. Models of Bounded Rationality, Vols. 1 and 2. MIT Press. His papers on economics.
1983. Reason in Human Affairs, Stanford University Press. A readable 115pp. book on human decision-making and information processing, based on lectures he gave at Stanford in 1982. A popular presentation of his technical work.
1991. Models of My Life. Basic Books, Sloan Foundation Series. His autobiography.
1996. The Sciences of the Artificial, 3rd ed. MIT Press.
1987 (with P. Langley, G. Bradshaw, and J. Zytkow). Scientific Discovery: computational explorations of the creative processes. MIT Press.
1997. An Empirically Based Microeconomics. Cambridge University Press. A compact and readable summary of his criticisms of conventional "axiomatic" microeconomics, based on a lecture series.
1997. Models of Bounded Rationality, Vol. 3. MIT Press. His papers on economics since the publication of Vols. 1 and 2 in 1982. The papers grouped under the category "The Structure of Complex Systems" -- dealing with issues such as causal ordering, decomposability, aggregation of variables, model abstraction -- are of general interest in systems modelling, not just in economics.
Courtois, P.J., 1977. Decomposability: queueing and computer system applications. New York: Academic Press. Courtois was influenced by the work of Simon and Albert Ando on hierarchical nearly-decomposable systems in economic modelling as a criterion for computer systems design, and in this book he presents the mathematical theory of these nearly-decomposable systems in more detail than Simon and Ando do in their original papers.Further Information
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