| Irving J. Howie |
| Postgraduate | | Supervised by : Rob Jenkins |
| I am interested in behavioural economics. This is a field that applies tools from economics (specifically, game theory) to studying human decision-making under risk. It goes a stage further, and tries to incorporate all the human limitations and complications that classical economic models ignore (see 'Homo Economicus'). More generally, I am interested in how agents of any type formulate their preferences over outcomes and implement their strategies to try and achieve them.
My current work focusses on the tension in social species between competitive and cooperative behaviours. The albatross for Darwin's natural selection was altruism. An individual with a propensity to pay a cost (time, effort, risk, etc.) to help another is sacrificing evolutionary fitness and so should not be preserved. Yet, the group possessing members who cooperate the most has a massive efficiency advantage over others. Currently, we can integrate these into multi-level selection framework and also talk in terms of inclusive fitness, reputation building and reciprocal altruism.
Yet, with certain species (including humans), altruism seems to extend beyond these concepts and so the question must be asked: if human behaviour is flexible and self-interest is best for the individual, then what institutions motivate and sustain other-regarding actions?
And on to the generic blurb: I graduated in 2007 from the University of Glasgow with an M.A. (Hons.) in Psychology (1st class) and completed the M.Sc. programme "Research Methods of Psychological Science" in 2008 (with distinction). Currently in the first year of an E.S.R.C. funded Ph.D. within the department, under the supervision of Jamie Hillis. |
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