Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-r5fsc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T23:01:55.307Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Neuroeconomics and Confirmation Theory

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Christopher Clarke
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Neuroeconomics is a research program founded on the thesis that cognitive and neurobiological data constitute evidence for answering economic questions. I employ confirmation theory in order to reject arguments both for and against neuroeconomics. I also emphasize that some arguments for neuroeconomics will not convince the skeptics because these arguments make a contentious assumption: economics aims for predictions and deep explanations of choices in general. I then argue for neuroeconomics by appealing to a much more restrictive (and thereby skeptic-friendly) characterization of the aims of economics.

Type
Research Article
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 81 , Issue 2 , April 2014 , pp. 195 - 215
Copyright
Copyright © The Philosophy of Science Association

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

†

I am indebted to Christopher Cowie, Tim Lewens, Don Ross, and two anonymous referees for their helpful comments on this article, and especially to Samir Okasha for his generous comments on an ancestor of this article. I have also profited from more general discussions with Anna Alexandrova, Ken Binmore, David Papineau, and Richard Pettigrew concerning the relationship between psychology and economics. This work was supported by the European Research Council under the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013), ERC grant agreement no. 284123.

References

Aydinonat, N. Emrah. 2010. “Neuroeconomics: More than Inspiration, Less than Revolution.” Journal of Economic Methodology 17:159–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Benhabib, Jess, and Bisin, Alberto. 2008. “Choice Theory and Process: Theory Ahead of Measurement.” In The Foundations of Positive and Normative Economics: A Handbook, ed. Caplin, Andrew and Schotter, Andrew, 320–36. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Bernheim, B. Douglas. 2008. “Neuro-economics: A Sober (but Hopeful) Appraisal.” Technical Report, NBER Working Paper Series. Also later revised as “On the Potential of Neuroeconomics: A Critical (but Hopeful) Appraisal.” American Economic Journal: Microeconomics 1:1–41.Google Scholar
Binmore, Ken. 2009. Rational Decisions. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Camerer, Colin F. 2005. “What Is Neuroeconomics?” Unpublished manuscript. Cited in Gul and Pesendorfer 2008, 21; and Vromen 2010a, 34.Google Scholar
Camerer, Colin F. 2007. “Neuroeconomics: Using Neuroscience to Make Economic Predictions.” Economic Journal 117:C26–C42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Camerer, Colin F. 2008. “The Case for Mindful Economics.” In The Foundations of Positive and Normative Economics: A Handbook, ed. Caplin, Andrew and Schotter, Andrew, 43–69. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Camerer, Colin F., Bhatt, Meghana, and Hsu, Ming. 2007. “Neuroeconomics: Illustrated by the Study of Ambiguity Aversion.” In Economics and Psychology: A Promising New Cross-Disciplinary Field, ed. Frey, Bruno S. and Stutzer, Alois, 113–51. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Craver, Carl, and Alexandrova, Anna. 2008. “No Revolution Necessary: Neural Mechanisms for Economics.” Economics and Philosophy 24:381–406.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crawford, Vincent P. 2008. “Look-Ups as the Window of the Strategic Soul.” In The Foundations of Positive and Normative Economics: A Handbook, ed. Caplin, Andrew and Schotter, Andrew, 249–79. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Dekel, Eddie, and Lipman, Barton L.. 2010. “How (Not) to Do Decision Theory.” Annual Review of Economics 2:257–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Friedman, Milton, and Savage, L. J.. 1948. “The Utility Analysis of Choices Involving Risk.” Journal of Political Economy 56:279–304.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frydman, Cary, Barberis, Nicholas, Camerer, Colin, Bossaerts, Peter, and Rangel, Antonio. 2012. “Using Neural Data to Test a Theory of Investor Behavior: An Application to Realization Utility.” Technical Report, NBER Working Paper no. 18562, National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge, MA.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gabaix, Xavier, and Laibson, David. 2008. “The Seven Properties of Good Models.” In The Foundations of Positive and Normative Economics: A Handbook, ed. Caplin, Andrew and Schotter, Andrew, 292–319. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Glimcher, Paul W., Camerer, Colin F., Fehr, Ernst, and Poldrack, Russell A.. 2009. “Introduction: A Brief History of Neuroeconomics.” In Neuroeconomics: Decision Making and the Brain, ed. Glimcher, Paul W., Camerer, Colin F., Fehr, Ernst, and Poldrack, Russell A., 1–12. London: Elsevier/Academic Press.Google Scholar
Glimcher, Paul W., Dorris, Michael C., and Bayer, Hannah M.. 2005. “Physiological Utility Theory and the Neuroeconomics of Choice.” Games and Economic Behavior 52:213–56.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Glymour, Clark. 1980. “Hypothetico-Deductivism Is Hopeless.” Philosophy of Science 47:322–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gul, Faruk, and Pesendorfer, Wolfgang. 2008. “The Case for Mindless Economics.” In The Foundations of Positive and Normative Economics: A Handbook, ed. Caplin, Andrew and Schotter, Andrew, 3–39. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Harrison, Glenn W. 2008. “Neuroeconomics: A Critical Reconsideration.” Economics and Philosophy 24:303–44.Google Scholar
Hausman, Daniel M. 2008. “Mindful or Mindless Economics: A Methodological Evaluation.” In The Foundations of Positive and Normative Economics: A Handbook, ed. Caplin, Andrew and Schotter, Andrew, 125–53. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Schotter, Andrew 2012. Preference, Value, Choice and Welfare. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Hsu, Ming, Bhatt, Meghana, Tranel, Daniel, Adolphs, Ralph, and Camerer, Colin F.. 2005. “Neural Systems Responding to Degrees of Uncertainty in Human Decision-Making.” Science 310:1680–83.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kosfeld, Michael, Heinrichs, Markus, Zak, Paul J., Fischbacher, Urs, and Fehr, Ernst. 2005. “Oxytocin Increases Trust in Humans.” Nature 435:673–76.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Laudan, Larry, and Leplin, Jarrett. 1991. “Empirical Equivalence and Underdetermination.” Journal of Philosophy 88:449–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lipton, Peter. 1991. Inference to the Best Explanation. London: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Loewenstein, George, Rick, Scott, and Cohen, Jonathan D.. 2008. “Neuroeconomics.” Annual Review of Psychology 59:647–72.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Marchionni, Caterina, and Vromen, Jack. 2010. “Neuroeconomics: Hype or Hope?” Journal of Economic Methodology 17:103–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McClure, Samuel M. 2004. “Separate Neural Systems Value Immediate and Delayed Reward.” Science 306:503–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nyarko, Yaw, and Schotter, Andrew. 2002. “An Experimental Study of Belief Learning Using Elicited Beliefs.” Econometrica 70:971–1005.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Okasha, Samir. 1997. “Laudan and Leplin on Empirical Equivalence.” British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 48:251–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Psillos, Stathis. 1999. Scientific Realism: How Science Tracks Truth. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Quartz, Steven R. 2008. “From Cognitive Science to Cognitive Neuroscience to Neuroeconomics.” Economics and Philosophy 24:459–71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ross, Don. 2005. Economic Theory and Cognitive Science. Cambridge, MA: Bradford/MIT Press.Google Scholar
Ross, Don 2011a. “Cognitive Variables and Parameters in Economic Models.” In Grounding Social Sciences in Cognitive Science, ed. Sun, R., 287–314. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Sun, R. 2011b. “Neuroeconomics and Economic Methodology.” In The Elgar Companion to Recent Economic Methodology, ed. Davis, John B. and Hands, D. Wade, 61–93. Cheltenham: Elgar.Google Scholar
Hands, D. Wade 2012. “Mäki’s Realism and the Scope of Economics.” In Economics for Real: Uskali Mäki and the Place of Truth in Economics, ed. Lehtinen, Aki, Kuorikoski, Jaakko, and Ylikoski, Petri, 181–202. Abingdon: Routledge.Google Scholar
Rubinstein, Ariel. 2003. “‘Economics and Psychology’? The Case of Hyperbolic Discounting.” International Economic Review 44:1207–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rustichini, Aldo. 2005. “Neuroeconomics: Present and Future.” Games and Economic Behavior 52:201–12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schotter, Andrew. 2008. “What’s So Informative about Choice?” In The Foundations of Positive and Normative Economics: A Handbook, ed. Caplin, Andrew and Schotter, Andrew, chap. 3, 70–94. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spiegler, Ran. 2008. “Comments on the Potential Significance of Neuroeconomics for Economic Theory.” Economics and Philosophy 24:515–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vromen, Jack. 2010a. “On the Surprising Finding That Expected Utility Is Literally Computed in the Brain.” Journal of Economic Methodology 17:17–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vromen, Jack 2010b. “Where Economics and Neuroscience Might Meet.” Journal of Economic Methodology 17:171–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vromen, Jack 2011. “Neuroeconomics: Two Camps Gradually Converging; What Can Economics Gain from It?” International Review of Economics 58:267–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zak, Paul J. 2004. “Neuroeconomics.” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London 359:1737–48.Google ScholarPubMed