On the question of whether a behavioral science can in principle be constructed, we shall take no sides. That some kinds of human behavior can be described and even predicted in terms of objectively verifiable and quantifiable data seems to us to have been established.

Anatol Rapoport

Categorized in : Sides Principles Data

It is misleading in a crucial way to view information as something that can be poured into an empty vessel, like a fluid or even energy.

Anatol Rapoport

empty-vessels information views

The usefulness of the models in constructing a testable theory of the process is severely limited by the quickly increasing number of parameters which must be estimated in order to compare the predictions of the models with empirical results.

Anatol Rapoport

theory numbers order

The transition from the concept of information in the technical (communication engineering) sense to the semantic (theory of meaning) sense was indeed difficult, if not impossible.

Anatol Rapoport

engineering information communication

The outstanding feature of behavior is that it is often quite easy to recognize but extremely difficult or impossible to describe with precision.

Anatol Rapoport

behavior easy impossible

It is one thing to say that the dwelling has symbolic and cosmological aspects... and another to say that it has been erected for ritual purposes and is neither shelter nor dwelling but a temple.

Anatol Rapoport

temples purpose dwelling