From Pietro Terna


We are happy to announce the publication of the
first issue of Mind & Society in its new edition published by Springer-Verlag.
Please find below the table of contents with
abstracts and information about subscriptions.


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Editor in chief: R. Viale
Associate Editors: : M. Egidi, J. Evans, B.S.
Frey, D.N. Osherson, D. Papineau, M. Piattelli
Palmarini, G. Politzer, P.M. Todd, R. Tuomela, B. Walliser
Advisory Board: D. Antiseri, K. Arrow, S. Atran,
M. Bar-Hillel, M. Bazerman, C. Bicchieri, K.
Binmore, R. Boudon, J.R. Brown, C.F. Camerer,
C. Castelfranchi, A. Cicourel, P. David, G. Dosi,
M. Douglas, J. Elster, J. Fodor, R.N. Giere, N.
Gilbert, A. Goldman, S. Grossberg, J.D. Hey, D.
Hilton, R.M. Hogarth, J.H. Holland, P. Jacob,
R. Job, P. Johnson-Laird, D. Kahneman, J. Kim, I.
Levi, A. Lopez Rousseau, F. Malerba, J.G. March,
D. Marconi, J. McClelland, D.L. Medin, S.
Metcalfe, R. Nelson, N.J. Nersessian, W.H.
Newton-Smith, K.-D. Opp, D. Parisi, S. Pinker, N.
Rescher, L.D. Ross, G. Sartori, J.R. Searle, R.
Selten, E. Shafir, P. Slovic, E.S. Spelke, D.
Sperber, S. Stich, P. Thagard, A. Vercelli, S. Winter, U. Witt
Editorial Board: C. Antonelli, M. Bernasconi, N.
Bonini, V. Girotto, G. Lolli, L. Macchi, L.
Magnani, A. Massarenti, A.M. Petroni, S.
Rizzello, R. Rumiati, P.L. Sacco, G. Sandri, P. Terna, M. Warglien

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Mind & Society
Volume 4 – Number 1 – June 2005
Table of contents

Maya Bar‑Hillel • David Budescu • Yigal Attali
Scoring and keying multiple choice tests: A case study in irrationality
Abstract In multiple-choice tests one cannot
distinguish lucky guesses from answers based on
knowledge. Test-makers have dealt with this
problem by lowering the incentive to guess,
through so-called Formula Scoring, and by
eliminating positional biases that help guessing,
through key balancing. These practices are
"irrational", as they are dominated by
Number-right scoring and key randomization,
respectively, yet have persisted for decades in
this highstakes, highly professionalized context.

Bruno S. Frey
“Just forget it.� Memory distortion as bounded rationality
Abstract Distortions in memory impose important
bounds on rationality but have been largely
disregarded in economics. While it is
possible to learn, it is more difficult, and
sometimes impossible, to unlearn. This retention
effect lowers individual utility directly or via
reduced productivity, and adds costs to
principal-agent relationships. Furthermore, the
more one tries to forget a piece of information
the more vivid it stays in memory (engraving
effect). These effects are shown to be relevant
in many economic situations and beyond.

Philip N. Johnson‑Laird
Flying bicycles: How the Wright brothers invented the airplane
Abstract This paper explores the ways in which
Wilbur and Orville Wright thought as they tackled
the problem of designing and constructing a
heavier‑than‑air craft that would fly under
its own power and under their control. It argues
that their use of analogy and their use of
knowledge in diagnostic reasoning lies outside
the scope of current psychological theories and
their computer implementations. They used
analogies based on mental models of one system,
such as the wings, to help them to develop
theories of another system, such as the
propellers. They were also skilled reasoners, who
were adept at finding counterexamples to arguments.

Raimo Tuomela • Maj Tuomela
Cooperation and trust in group context
Abstract Two basic kinds of cooperation, called
“I-mode cooperation� and “we-mode
cooperation� are discussed and connected to
trust. The first of these basically concerns
cooperation as a private person or, in the group
context, as a member privately sharing the
group’s basic goals, values, and
beliefs. I-mode cooperation relies on the
participants’ relevantly adjusting their goals
toward others’ goals and actions to the benefit
of each participant. We-mode cooperation
basically amounts to acting jointly, as a group,
thus in the we-mode for the benefit of the group.

Martin M. Monti • Simon Grant • Daniel N. Osherson
A note on concave utility functions
Abstract The classical theory of preference
among monetary bets represents people as expected
utility maximizers with concave utility
functions. Critics of this account often rely on
assumptions about preferences over wide ranges of
total wealth. We derive a prediction of the
theory that bears on bets at any fixed level of
wealth, and test the prediction behaviorally. Our
results are discrepant with the classical
account. Competing theories are also examined in light of our data.

Jonathan St. B. T. Evans
The social and communicative function of conditional statements
Abstract In this paper, I discuss conditionals as
illocutionary speech acts whose interpretation
depends upon the whole of the social context in
which they are uttered and whose purpose is to
affect the opinions and actions of others. I
propose a suppositional approach to conditional
statements based in what philosophers call the
Ramsey test. I argue that speakers use
conditionals to try to influence the beliefs and
actions of their listeners by shaping their
hypothetical thought about possibilities.

Nicholas Rescher
On the import and rationale of value attribution
Abstract The article urges a negative answer to
the question if values merely lie “in the eyes
of the beholder�. It argues the objectivity of
values via their status as tertiary properties
that are neither on dispositionally inherent in
their objects nor yet affective (dispositionally
evoked in the interaction between objects and
sense‑observers), but rather reflective in
being dispositionally evoked in suitably
competent minds considering the matters involved.

Cristina Bicchieri • Ram Mudambi • Pietro Navarra
A matter of trust: The search for accountability
in Italian politics, 1990‑2000
Abstract During the Nineties, the demand from
Italian citizens for greater accountability of
public officers led to the uncovering of systemic
corruption and to a reform of the electoral
system aiming at improving voters’ control over
their elected representatives. We model the
relationship between voters and politicians as a
repeated Trust game. In such game, cooperation
can be attained by means of external or internal
controls. Whereas judicial investigation is an
external mechanism to monitor representatives’
actions, the electoral reform provides a control
internal to the political system. The formal
model we provide explains the Italian transition
between these different modes of control. The
results of our model have important implications
for the process of electoral reform still under way in Italy.


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Mind & Society
Cognitive Studies in Economics and Social Sciences

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Mind & Society is an initiative of the Fondazione
Rosselli and is published by Springer-Verlag
Issn 1593-7879
Pubblicazione semestrale, registrazione presso il
Tribunale di Torino N° 5314 del 7-10-1999.
Proprietà : Fondazione Rosselli, Torino -
Direttore Responsabile: Riccardo Viale

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