Breakdown of Will (Paperback)

~ (Author) "There have been plenty of books and articles that describe how irrational we are - in consuming drugs and alcohol and cigarettes, in gambling, in..." (more)
Key Phrases: intertemporal bargaining, compulsion range interests, conventional utility theory, Economic Man, Jon Elster, Gary Becker (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Breakdown of Will advances a novel position on motivation, the will, and the will's failures and successes." Alfred Mele, Department of Philosophy, Davidson College, North Carolina

"Breakdown of Will should interest many philosophers of pyschology...there are interesting and important ideas within the text, and it should spur fruitful philosophical discussion." Philosophy in Review

Product Description

Ainslie argues that our responses to the threat of our own inconsistency determine the basic fabric of human culture. He suggests that individuals are more like populations of bargaining agents than like the hierarchical command structures envisaged by cognitive psychologists. This perspective helps us understand so much that is puzzling in human action and interaction: from self-defeating behaviors to willfulness, from pathological over-control and self-deception to subtler forms of behavior such as altruism, sadism, gambling, and the "social construction" of belief.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press; 1 edition (January 12, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521596947
• ISBN-13: 978-0521596947
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #414,973 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating!, July 3, 2007

By	Ty Klein (Ada,MI) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Breakdown of Will is an interesting and thought provoking book on the effect that hyperbolic discounting of valuation has on psychology and self control. Ainslie shows how his theory of picoeconomics and intrapersonal bargaining can shed light on phenomena such as willfulness,personal inconsistency,addiction and many other things that are difficult to explain via other theories. Highly recommended for anyone interested in psychology and philosophy of mind.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very interesting, October 11, 2008

By	Product Auditor - See all my reviews

Not going to go into all the details, but this is a very good book. Quickly - I was reading Daniel Dennett's "Freedom Evolves" (another good book if not the best writing)and saw Ainslie's book mentioned multiple times in interesting ways and it piqued my interest. So I got this book and was glad I did. His theories about "hyperbolic discounting" and intertemporal bargaining are very interesting and plausible in terms of explaining some strange behaviors such as addictions - how is it that we can do what we know to be wrong? (e.g. breaking a promise to self, gamblers who keep taking risk until they lose despite knowing if they keep betting forever they will lose everything, etc.). Is addiction a mistake or a preference? I recommend this book for anyone interested in these kind of questions and prepared to read a fairly challening book.