Foundational Theories & Models

Theories and models give us different ways to explain why people make the choices they do. Some start with incentives and rational calculation. Others look at how we form preferences, understand our own behavior, or respond to other people's expectations.

This section introduces those starting points, including homo economicus, the idealized rational decision maker, and self-perception theory, which examines how we infer our attitudes from what we do. The entries explain the assumptions behind each idea and the problems it tries to solve.