Cristina Bicchieri
Encyclopedia
Cristina Bicchieri is the S.J.P. Harvie Professor of Social Thought and Comparative Ethics in the Philosophy
Department at the University of Pennsylvania
, and director of the Philosophy, Politics and Economics program. She is also a Professor in the Legal Sudies department of the Wharton School, and a member of the Graduate group in Psychology
. She is one of the world's foremost scholars of rational choice and philosophy of social science
, and a leader in the new field of behavioral ethics
.
at Cambridge University in 1984. Before moving to the University of Pennsylvania she taught in the program of Philosophy and Economics at Barnard College
, Columbia University
, in the Philosophy department at Notre Dame University and in the departments of Philosophy and Social and Decision Sciences
at Carnegie Mellon University
.
and social norms. The latter brings together philosophy, game theory and psychology.
, that members of a population prefer to follow on condition that they expect sufficiently many in the population to follow the rule. Bicchieri applies this account of social norms and heuristic selection of norms to a number of important problems in the social sciences, including bargaining, the prisoners' dilemma and suboptimal norms based upon pluralistic ignorance.
Her most recent research is experimental, showing how normative and empirical expectations support norm compliance, and how manipulating such expectations can radically change behavior. Her experimental results show that most subjects have a conditional preference for following pro-social norms. Manipulating their expectations causes major behavioral changes (i.e., from fair to unfair choices, from cooperation to defection). One of the conclusions she draws is that there are no such things as stable dispositions or unconditional preferences (to be fair, reciprocate, cooperate, and so on). Another is that policymakers who want to induce pro-social behavior have to work on changing people's expectations about how other people behave in similar situations. These results have major consequences for our understanding of moral behavior and the construction of better normative theories, grounded on what people can in fact do.
assumption. Her contributions include axiomatic models of players' theory of the game and the proof that -- in a large class of games -- a player's theory of the game is consistent only if the player's knowledge is limited. An important consequence of assuming bounded knowledge is that it allows for more intuitive solutions to familiar games such as the finitely repeated prisoner's dilemma or the chain-store paradox. Bicchieri has also devised mechanical procedures (algorithms) that allow players to compute solutions for games of perfect and imperfect information. Devising such procedures is particularly important for Artificial Intelligence applications, since interacting software agents have to be programmed to play a variety of 'games'.
Bicchieri has been a UNICEF consultant since 2008. Her work on social norms has been adopted by UNICEF in its campaigns to eliminate practices that violate human rights.
She was knighted Cavaliere Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana in 2007.
She is also a member of the advisory board at the School of Government at LUISS University of Rome, where she occasionally teaches.
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
Department at the University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
, and director of the Philosophy, Politics and Economics program. She is also a Professor in the Legal Sudies department of the Wharton School, and a member of the Graduate group in Psychology
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
. She is one of the world's foremost scholars of rational choice and philosophy of social science
Philosophy of social science
The philosophy of social science is the study of the logic and method of the social sciences, such as sociology, anthropology and political science...
, and a leader in the new field of behavioral ethics
Behavioral ethics
Behavioral ethics is a new field of social scientific research that seeks to understand how people actually behave when confronted with ethical dilemmas....
.
Biography
Bicchieri received her Laurea in Philosophy, summa cum laude, from the University of Milano in 1976, and her PhD in Philosophy of SciencePhilosophy of science
The philosophy of science is concerned with the assumptions, foundations, methods and implications of science. It is also concerned with the use and merit of science and sometimes overlaps metaphysics and epistemology by exploring whether scientific results are actually a study of truth...
at Cambridge University in 1984. Before moving to the University of Pennsylvania she taught in the program of Philosophy and Economics at Barnard College
Barnard College
Barnard College is a private women's liberal arts college and a member of the Seven Sisters. Founded in 1889, Barnard has been affiliated with Columbia University since 1900. The campus stretches along Broadway between 116th and 120th Streets in the Morningside Heights neighborhood in the borough...
, Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
, in the Philosophy department at Notre Dame University and in the departments of Philosophy and Social and Decision Sciences
Social and Decision Sciences
Social and Decision Sciences, informally known as SDS, is an interdisciplinary academic department within the Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences at Carnegie Mellon University headquartered in Porter Hall in Pittsburgh, PA and led by Department Head John H...
at Carnegie Mellon University
Carnegie Mellon University
Carnegie Mellon University is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States....
.
Research
Bicchieri is especially known for her work on the epistemic foundations of game theoryGame theory
Game theory is a mathematical method for analyzing calculated circumstances, such as in games, where a person’s success is based upon the choices of others...
and social norms. The latter brings together philosophy, game theory and psychology.
Social norms
Bicchieri has developed a new theory of social norms that challenges several of the fundamental methodological assumptions of the social sciences. She argues that the stress social scientists place upon rational deliberation obscures the fact that many successful choices occur even though the individuals make their choices without much deliberation. She explores in depth the more automatic components of coordination and proposes a heuristic account of coordination that complements the more traditional deliberational account. According to the heuristic account, individuals conform with a social norm as an automatic response to cues in their situation that focus their attention on this particular norm. A social norm is analyzed as a rule for choosing in a mixed-motive game, such as the prisoner's dilemmaPrisoner's dilemma
The prisoner’s dilemma is a canonical example of a game, analyzed in game theory that shows why two individuals might not cooperate, even if it appears that it is in their best interest to do so. It was originally framed by Merrill Flood and Melvin Dresher working at RAND in 1950. Albert W...
, that members of a population prefer to follow on condition that they expect sufficiently many in the population to follow the rule. Bicchieri applies this account of social norms and heuristic selection of norms to a number of important problems in the social sciences, including bargaining, the prisoners' dilemma and suboptimal norms based upon pluralistic ignorance.
Her most recent research is experimental, showing how normative and empirical expectations support norm compliance, and how manipulating such expectations can radically change behavior. Her experimental results show that most subjects have a conditional preference for following pro-social norms. Manipulating their expectations causes major behavioral changes (i.e., from fair to unfair choices, from cooperation to defection). One of the conclusions she draws is that there are no such things as stable dispositions or unconditional preferences (to be fair, reciprocate, cooperate, and so on). Another is that policymakers who want to induce pro-social behavior have to work on changing people's expectations about how other people behave in similar situations. These results have major consequences for our understanding of moral behavior and the construction of better normative theories, grounded on what people can in fact do.
Epistemic foundations of game theory
Bicchieri pioneered work on counterfactuals and belief-revision in games, and the consequences of relaxing the common knowledgeCommon knowledge
Common knowledge is knowledge that is known by everyone or nearly everyone, usually with reference to the community in which the term is used. Common knowledge need not concern one specific subject, e.g., science or history. Rather, common knowledge can be about a broad range of subjects, including...
assumption. Her contributions include axiomatic models of players' theory of the game and the proof that -- in a large class of games -- a player's theory of the game is consistent only if the player's knowledge is limited. An important consequence of assuming bounded knowledge is that it allows for more intuitive solutions to familiar games such as the finitely repeated prisoner's dilemma or the chain-store paradox. Bicchieri has also devised mechanical procedures (algorithms) that allow players to compute solutions for games of perfect and imperfect information. Devising such procedures is particularly important for Artificial Intelligence applications, since interacting software agents have to be programmed to play a variety of 'games'.
Bicchieri has been a UNICEF consultant since 2008. Her work on social norms has been adopted by UNICEF in its campaigns to eliminate practices that violate human rights.
She was knighted Cavaliere Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana in 2007.
She is also a member of the advisory board at the School of Government at LUISS University of Rome, where she occasionally teaches.
Monographs
- The Grammar of Society: The Nature and Dynamics of Social Norms (Cambridge University Press, 2006)) ISBN 0-521-57490-0
- The Logic of Strategy (with Brian SkyrmsBrian SkyrmsBrian Skyrms is a Distinguished Professor of Logic and Philosophy of Science and Economics at the University of California, Irvine and a Professor of Philosophy at Stanford University. He has worked on problems in the philosophy of science, causation, decision theory, game theory, and the...
and Richard JeffreyRichard JeffreyRichard C. Jeffrey was an American philosopher, logician, and probability theorist. He was a native of Boston, Massachusetts....
) (Oxford University Press, 1999) ISBN 978-0-19-511715-8 - The Dynamics of Norms (with Brian Skyrms and Richard Jeffrey) (Cambridge University Press, 1997) ISBN 0521560624
- Rationality and Coordination (Cambridge University Press, 1993; Second edition, 1997) ISBN 0-521-57444-7
- Knowledge, Belief and Strategic Interaction (with Maria Luisa dalla Chiara) (Cambridge University Press, 1992) ISBN 0-521-41674-4
- Ragioni per Credere, Ragioni per Fare: Convenzioni e Vincoli nel Metodo Scientifico (Feltrinelli, 1988) EAN 9788807101007
External links
- Bicchieri's homepage
- Bicchieri's papers
- PPE program
- The Grammar of Society
- Gintis review
- Rationality and Coordination
- Radio interview on Philosophy TalkPhilosophy TalkPhilosophy Talk is a talk radio program co-hosted by John Perry and Ken Taylor, who are professors at Stanford University. The show is also available as a podcast, available for purchase. The program deals both with fundamental problems of philosophy and with the works of famous philosophers,...
- Another Gintis review
- https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=cristina+bicchieri&x=21&y=13
- LUISS International Relations Master's Degree