What major book did Herbert A. Simon publish in 1947?

Herbert Simon published Administrative Behavior in 1947 based on his doctoral dissertation to establish the foundation for examining decision-making processes within administrative organizations.

How long does it take to become an expert according to Herbert A. Simon theory?

Herbert Simon believed becoming an expert on any topic required approximately ten years of experience involving learning roughly fifty thousand chunks of information.

Herbert A. Simon: the story on HearLore

Q: Why did Herbert A. Simon win the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics in 1978?

Herbert Simon won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics in 1978 for pioneering research into decision-making process within economic organizations that challenged traditional economics understanding.

Herbert Alexander Simon was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on the 15th of June 1916. His father Arthur Simon arrived from Germany in 1903 after earning an engineering degree at Technische Hochschule Darmstadt. The elder Simon worked as an independent patent attorney and held multiple inventions to his name. Herbert's mother Edna Marguerite Merkel came from a family of piano makers and goldsmiths who traced their lineage to Braunschweig, Prague, and Cologne. She was an accomplished pianist whose ancestors included Lutheran, Catholic, and Jewish members. Young Herbert attended Milwaukee Public Schools where he developed a strong interest in science. He established himself as an atheist during middle school years. At that time he wrote a letter to the editor of the Milwaukee Journal defending civil liberties for atheists. This early act showed a willingness to challenge social norms regarding belief systems. His uncle Harold Merkel studied economics under John R. Commons at the University of Wisconsin, Madison between 1892 and 1922. Books by Harold introduced young Herbert to social science concepts. Among his earliest influences were Norman Angell and Henry George. While attending high school Herbert joined the debate team. He argued from conviction rather than cussedness in favor of George's single tax theory.

Herbert Simon published Administrative Behavior in 1947 based on his doctoral dissertation. The book became the foundation for his life work examining decision-making processes within administrative organizations. He challenged the classical economic model known as homo economicus which assumed perfect rationality. Simon recognized that alternatives and consequences may be partly known while means and ends remain imperfectly differentiated. He stated that knowledge of all possible alternatives or all resulting consequences is impossible in many realistic cases. Organizations face uncertainty about future events and costs in acquiring information in the present moment. These factors limit how fully rational agents can make decisions. They possess only bounded rationality according to Simon's framework. Agents must choose what makes them happy enough through a process called satisficing. This approach selects outcomes that are adequate rather than optimal. The task of choice divides into three required steps: identifying all alternatives, determining consequences for each alternative, and comparing accuracy and efficiency across these sets. Any individual attempting this model in real situations would fail to comply with all three requirements. Simon described work terms using an economic framework conditioned on human cognitive limitations.

Allen Newell and Herbert Simon created the Logic Theory Machine program in 1956. They developed the General Problem Solver GPS in 1957 shortly after. Both programs utilized Information Processing Language IPL which Newell Cliff Shaw and Simon had developed together. Donald Knuth mentioned list processing development within IPL where linked lists were originally called NSS memory for its inventors. The General Problem Solver may be the first method separating problem solving strategy from information about particular problems. These early systems laid groundwork for modern artificial intelligence research. In 1957 Simon predicted computer chess would surpass human abilities within ten years. That transition actually took about forty years instead. He also predicted in 1965 machines would do any work humans could perform within twenty years. This prediction remains unfulfilled decades later. Simon collaborated with James G. March on organization theory works while developing a theory for simulating human problem-solving behavior using production rules. Their joint effort produced Human Problem Solving published in 1972. E.A. Feigenbaum called this book perhaps the most important text on scientific study of human thinking during the twentieth century.

Simon believed becoming an expert on any topic required approximately ten years of experience. He and colleagues estimated expertise resulted from learning roughly fifty thousand chunks of information. A chess expert was said to have learned about fifty thousand chunks or chess position patterns according to Chase and Simon's 1973 Cognitive Psychology paper. With Edward Feigenbaum Simon developed EPAM Elementary Perceiver and Memorizer theory. This became one of the first theories of learning implemented as a computer program. EPAM explained many phenomena in verbal learning fields. Later versions applied the model to concept formation and acquisition of expertise. Fernand Gobet helped expand EPAM into CHREST computational model. The theory explains how simple chunks form building blocks for schemata which are more complex structures. CHREST has simulated aspects of chess expertise predominantly since its creation. From 1949 until his death in 2001 Herbert Simon served as faculty at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. In 1949 he became professor of administration and chairman of Department of Industrial Management at Carnegie Institute of Technology.

That institution later became Carnegie-Mellon University in 1967. Simon taught psychology and computer science within the same university while occasionally visiting other institutions like Princeton University. He helped found the Carnegie Mellon School of Computer Science among the first such departments globally. His tenure spanned over five decades across multiple academic transformations. During his years at Berkeley from 1939 to 1942 Simon obtained research assistantships in municipal administration that turned into directorship of operations research group. By arrangement with University of Chicago he took doctoral exams by mail during those early career years. He worked on dissertation after hours while employed elsewhere. From 1942 to 1949 Simon served as professor of political science and department chairman at Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago. There he participated in seminars held by Cowles Commission staff including Trygve Haavelmo Jacob Marschak and Tjalling Koopmans. He won Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics in 1978 for pioneering research into decision-making process within economic organizations. This honor acknowledged work challenging traditional economics understanding of how administrators make decisions without perfect information.

His contributions spanned general equilibrium econometrics and microeconomic theory revisions. Additional honors included National Medal of Science awarded in 1986. He became Founding Fellow of Association for Advancement of Artificial Intelligence in 1990. APA Award for Outstanding Lifetime Contributions to Psychology arrived in 1993 followed by ACM fellow status in 1994. IJCAI Award for Research Excellence came in 1995. Simon also received honorary doctorates from Lund School of Economics and Management in 1968 University of Pavia in 1988 Harvard University in 1990 and University of Buenos Aires in 1999. These recognitions reflected his influence across multiple disciplines spanning decades.

Herbert A. Simon.

Bounded Rationality And Satisficing

Up Next

Continue Browsing

Common questions

Logic Machines And Problem Solvers

Verbal Protocols And Expertise Models

Carnegie Mellon And Department Building

Turing Awards And Nobel Recognition