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Published on: January 7, 2013
Maximising utility does not promote survival
Daniel B Cohen1, Lauren L Saling
1School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga, NSW 2678, Australia. dcohen@csu.edu.au.
Abstract:
We argue that maximising utility does not promote survival. Hence, there is no reason to expect people to modulate effort according to a task's opportunity costs. There is also no reason why our evaluation of the marginal opportunity costs of tasks should predictably rise with repetition. Thus, the opportunity cost model cannot explain why tasks typically become harder over time.
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