The news item I have chosen to discuss is the decision of
the president of the US to bomb Islamic State (IS). The main actor representing
the US is Barack Obama, the president.
The first step in the Rational
Actor Model (RAM) is that the actor has an optimal believe about the world. In
the beginning, Obama had a believe that IS had to be eradicated because the organization
is dangerous for, especially American, citizens.
The
second step in the RAM is that the actor’s belief is supported by evidence. In the
case of Barack Obama, the evidence supporting his belief are the video’s posted
by IS where American hostages have been decapitated and threats have been addressed
to the whole nation and its citizens.
The third and last step in the
RAM model is that the evidence must result from optimal investment in
information gathering. National and foreign informative agencies have checked
the video’s and its content, containing the threats to the US, for authenticity.
When those agencies concluded the videos were real and the threats for
terroristic attacks in the nation were real, Obama decided his army should
start the bombing of IS.
I consider this a good example to apply RAM. Although I would write it backwards as it gives the impression that emotions are influencing decisions. If the president starts with a belief that is later supported by evidence, seems like this evidence has been the result of manipulation. To assume total rationality the belief should be the result of first the investigation and then the collection of evidence.
BeantwoordenVerwijderenDo you have the reference of the video? I started to look at this topic but there is so much information on the web that would be nice to get access to your same resources for consultation.
Hi Josefine
BeantwoordenVerwijderenI think you clearly described the steps of the RAM, using Obama's decision as an example. I think it is very well applied.
I do miss the part where you where supposed to "Write an alternative, equally plausible account, showing how these actions might result from a boundedly rational organization (à la Jones 2003)".