A model combination of scientific punctiliousness and popular accessibility.
A reconsideration of the basis of human rationality and the apparently predictable detours from its perfect exercise.
Debut author Stroh attempts to solve a perennial philosophical riddle: Why do otherwise rational actors make egregiously irrational decisions? The author keenly assesses the limitations of the available theories on the subject—cognitive bias, for example—but finds the whole lot of them wanting, too susceptible to counterfactual repudiation and too limited in scope. Stroh ambitiously argues that the only adequate theory will be a comprehensive one that includes a full rendering of the nature of human cognition and draws from neuroscience, economics, evolutionary psychology, and genetics. He calls this Motivational Drive Trait Theory. The author describes the human mind as a combination of inherited, prefabricated circuitry and more elastic neurons that adapt to new experiences and store new information. That neurophysiological complex doesn’t function insularly, but rather in the context of a social ecosystem that presents and reinforces a web of influences not reducible to the rational maximization of interest. For example, a preoccupation with status is a principal catalyst of human motivation, and what counts as status is relative to a specific group dynamic. And while the machinery of each individual mind idiosyncratically develops over time, there are identifiable types into which all individuals fall. This holistic account of human intellection furnishes, according to Stroh, the key to understanding the totality of human behavior, not just consumer decision-making, but also ideological extremism, international affairs, and the rise and fall of civilizations. Stroh’s account is stunningly thorough and philosophically searching. Despite his reliance upon neuroscience for the construction of his theory, he still presents a sophisticated argument in defense of free will. Also, his prose is marvelously lucid considering the technically prohibitive nature of the subject. Some of his conclusions seem shaky—given the extraordinary complexity of the mind as he presents it, one could just as confidently conclude that it must be resistant to meaningful prediction. Nevertheless, this is an intellectually engaging study and a valuable contribution to debates regarding the nature of human behavior.
A model combination of scientific punctiliousness and popular accessibility.Pub Date: Jan. 3, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-648-15530-0
Page Count: 228
Publisher: BookBaby
Review Posted Online: July 6, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
These are not hard and fast rules, but Meyer delivers important reading for those engaged in international business.
A helpful guide to working effectively with people from other cultures.
“The sad truth is that the vast majority of managers who conduct business internationally have little understanding about how culture is impacting their work,” writes Meyer, a professor at INSEAD, an international business school. Yet they face a wider array of work styles than ever before in dealing with clients, suppliers and colleagues from around the world. When is it best to speak or stay quiet? What is the role of the leader in the room? When working with foreign business people, failing to take cultural differences into account can lead to frustration, misunderstanding or worse. Based on research and her experiences teaching cross-cultural behaviors to executive students, the author examines a handful of key areas. Among others, they include communicating (Anglo-Saxons are explicit; Asians communicate implicitly, requiring listeners to read between the lines), developing a sense of trust (Brazilians do it over long lunches), and decision-making (Germans rely on consensus, Americans on one decider). In each area, the author provides a “culture map scale” that positions behaviors in more than 20 countries along a continuum, allowing readers to anticipate the preferences of individuals from a particular country: Do they like direct or indirect negative feedback? Are they rigid or flexible regarding deadlines? Do they favor verbal or written commitments? And so on. Meyer discusses managers who have faced perplexing situations, such as knowledgeable team members who fail to speak up in meetings or Indians who offer a puzzling half-shake, half-nod of the head. Cultural differences—not personality quirks—are the motivating factors behind many behavioral styles. Depending on our cultures, we understand the world in a particular way, find certain arguments persuasive or lacking merit, and consider some ways of making decisions or measuring time natural and others quite strange.
These are not hard and fast rules, but Meyer delivers important reading for those engaged in international business.Pub Date: May 27, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-61039-250-1
Page Count: 288
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Review Posted Online: April 15, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2014
Occasionally wonky but overall a good case for how the dismal science can make the world less—well, dismal.
“Quality of life means more than just consumption”: Two MIT economists urge that a smarter, more politically aware economics be brought to bear on social issues.
It’s no secret, write Banerjee and Duflo (co-authors: Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way To Fight Global Poverty, 2011), that “we seem to have fallen on hard times.” Immigration, trade, inequality, and taxation problems present themselves daily, and they seem to be intractable. Economics can be put to use in figuring out these big-issue questions. Data can be adduced, for example, to answer the question of whether immigration tends to suppress wages. The answer: “There is no evidence low-skilled migration to rich countries drives wage and employment down for the natives.” In fact, it opens up opportunities for those natives by freeing them to look for better work. The problem becomes thornier when it comes to the matter of free trade; as the authors observe, “left-behind people live in left-behind places,” which explains why regional poverty descended on Appalachia when so many manufacturing jobs left for China in the age of globalism, leaving behind not just left-behind people but also people ripe for exploitation by nationalist politicians. The authors add, interestingly, that the same thing occurred in parts of Germany, Spain, and Norway that fell victim to the “China shock.” In what they call a “slightly technical aside,” they build a case for addressing trade issues not with trade wars but with consumption taxes: “It makes no sense to ask agricultural workers to lose their jobs just so steelworkers can keep theirs, which is what tariffs accomplish.” Policymakers might want to consider such counsel, especially when it is coupled with the observation that free trade benefits workers in poor countries but punishes workers in rich ones.
Occasionally wonky but overall a good case for how the dismal science can make the world less—well, dismal.Pub Date: Nov. 12, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-61039-950-0
Page Count: 432
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Review Posted Online: Aug. 28, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2019
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