Download Herbert A. Simon

National Autonomous University of
Honduras
Psychopedagogy class
Professor: Rosa Palacios
Herbert A. Simon
Group #13
Karen Sarai Núñez
Reina Eunice Argueta
Marlon Edgardo Varela
Herbert Alexander Simon
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Herbert Alexander Simon was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on
June 15, 1916 and died on February 9, 2001).
He was an American political scientist, economist, sociologist, and
psychologist, and professor.
Simon was among the founding fathers of several of today's
important scientific domains, including artificial intelligence,
information processing, decision-making, problem-solving,
attention economics, organization theory, complex systems, and
computer simulation of scientific discovery.
He also made basic contributions to artificial intelligence, the
psychology of human cognition, and list processing.
Decision Making Theory

Administrative behavior: Simon’s first book
A study of decision-making processes in administrative
organizations.
It is also essential reading for students in business and
management, economics, sociology, psychology computer
science, government, and law.
Administrative Behavior, as a text, addresses a wide range of
human behaviors, cognitive abilities, management techniques,
personnel policies, training goals and procedures, specialized
roles, criteria for evaluation of accuracy and efficiency, and all
of the ramifications of communication processes.
The task of rational decision making is to select the alternative
that results in the more preferred set of all the possible
consequences.
This task can be divided into three required steps:
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1.
The identification and listing of all the alternatives.
2. The determination of all the consequences resulting from each
of the alternatives.
3. The comparison of the accuracy and efficiency of each of these
sets of consequences.
Decision Making Over Time
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The time dimension is especially troublesome in decision
making.
Economics has long used the notion of time discounting and
interest rates to compare present with future consequences of
decisions.
Actual decision making shows that people frequently are
inconsistent in their choices between present and future.

Symon's 3 Stages in Decision
Making
Artificial Intelligence

AI is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer
science that aims to create it.
In textbooks AI is defined as "the study and design of intelligent
agents".
It has become an essential part of the technology industry,
providing the heavy lifting for many of the most difficult
problems in computer science.
The central problems of AI include such traits as reasoning,
knowledge, planning, learning, communication, perception and
the ability to move and manipulate objects.
Contributions to Artificial
Intelligence

He created with Allen Newell the Logic Theory Machine in 1956
and in 1957 the General Problem Solver GPS programs.
In the early 1960s Simon wrote a paper that machines might be
able to replicate cold cognition, but not hot cognition.
Simon was also interested in how humans learn and, with
Edward Feigenbaum, he developed the EPAM (Elementary
Perceiver and Memorizer) theory. This is one of the first theories
of learning to be implemented as a computer program.
Computer Programs Imitate Human
Problem Solving

Simon´s view of thinking affected by AI is that thinking is a
form of information-processing. Human thinking and
information-processing programs perform three similar
operations:
 They store the patterns in memory
 They scan data for patterns
 They apply the patterns to make inferences or
generalizations.
Problem solving thus involves two generalizations.
 A selective trial-and error search.
 One of the basic heuristic is means-end analysis
In order to test whether machines display intelligence, Simon
and his colleagues identified task requiring intelligence and
then built computer programs which carried out these tasks.
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Playing chess
Solving math and physics problems
Diagnosing disease
Making discoveries in science
Formulating hypotheses and testing them empirically.
Computer programs have been developed which input and
output words, formula, mages, and musical notations. These
computer programs have been said to DISPLAY
CREATIVITY.
Artificial Intelligence Programs:

 Logic Theorist (LT). It discovers proofs for theorem contained
in Principia Mathematics.
 The General Problem Solver (GPS). It attracted in means-end
analysis, a basic heuristic in problem solving.
 Elementary Perceiver and Memorizer (EPAM). Simulates
human recognition or learning.
 The Microsoft Active Protections Program (MAPP):
Simulates the ability to recognize patterns in a manner
similar to chess (grand) masters.
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 The Adaptive Production System (APS): It engages in
learning-by-doing, and learning-by-examples.
Other programs that make discoveries in science developed
by Simon and his colleagues are:
 BACON, BLACK, GLAUBER, STAHL
Simon concluded that computer display
intelligence, defined as behavior which is
appropriate to the goal and adaptive to the
environment
Artificial Intelligence
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Bounded Rationality

It was proposed by Herbert Simon as an alternative basis for the
mathematical modeling of decision making, as used in
economics and related disciplines.
Bounded rationality is the idea that in decision making,
rationality of individuals is limited by the information they
have, the cognitive limitations of their minds, and the finite
amount of time they have to make decisions.
It complements rationality as optimization, which views
decision making as a fully rational process of finding an optimal
choice given the information available.
Contributions to Economics

Herbert Simon has been credited for revolutionary changes in
microeconomics.
At the Cowles Commission, Simon’s main goal was to link
economic theory to mathematics and statistics.
His main contributions were to the fields of general equilibrium
and econometrics.
Rational behavior, in economics, means that individuals
maximize his utility function under the limitations they face.
Contributions to Pedagogy

Simon's work has strongly influenced John Mighton, developer
of a remedial program which has achieved significant success in
improving mathematics performance among elementary and
high school students.
All the facts experimented from laboratories and from the
extensive case studies of professionals, indicate that real
competence only comes with extensive practice.
When teaching the instructional task is not to “kill” motivation
by demanding tool, but to find tasks that provide practice while
at the same time sustaining interest.
Contributions to Library Science

Satisficing, as defined by Simon, can be applied to library and
information science where researchers consider how much
information is adequate to meet their information need.
Applying satisficing to research is a way for researchers to
adjust to the vast amount of information today.
As you remember…

1. What are the Simon´s
main contributions?

2. What is the Simon's first
book?
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3. What is Artificial
Intelligence?
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Thanks for your
appreciated
attention!