R. Duncan Luce
Robert Duncan Luce ( born May 16, 1925 in Scranton, Pennsylvania, † 11 August 2012, in Irvine, California ) was an American mathematician, economist and psychologist. He is primarily known for the eponymous choice axiom of Luce in the field of decision theory.
Career, teaching and research
Luce studied at Boston's Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he in 1945 first made his Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering. Then he stayed at the university at which he in 1950 with a Ph.D. graduated in mathematics.
First Luce remained at MIT, where he worked in the Research Laboratory for Electronics. In 1953 he moved to Columbia University. First, he was head of the program for behavioral modeling, from 1954, he was also Assistant Professor of Mathematical Statistics and Sociology. In 1957 he went as a lecturer at Harvard University, before being appointed in 1959 at the University of Pennsylvania as a full professor in psychology. From 1968 he occupied at the University of the Benjamin Franklin Chair of Psychology. In 1972 he was appointed professor of the University of California, Irvine, in 1976, he returned as the Alfred North Whitehead Professor back to Harvard. Between 1981 and 1984 he sat in front of the Department of Psychology and Social Relations, then he took over the Victor S. Thomas chair, which he kept even after his retirement in 1988. In the same year he went back to the University of California Irvine, where he held several positions in the field of behavioral description and until 1994 was professor of cognitive science. Subsequently, he was given emeritus status here.
Luce activity was in the field of tension between psychology, its application to human behavior, especially in the economic area and its mathematical description. Especially with the decision theory he studied there. In the late 1950s he developed a probabilistic decision model for the selection of an option. Accordingly, the probability of two options must be selected regardless of the total available amount. Later, however, he curtailed his performance, especially since contextual effects may affect the choice. Still finds his axiom, especially in the consumer research application. In particular, with David Krantz he further developed his approach, called Luce - Krantz models relate explicitly the situation knowledge in modeling a.
Luce was since 1966 a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, six years later, he was inducted into the National Academy of Sciences. Since 2010 he was a member of the Econometric Society. The American Biographical Institute named him 1996 Man of the Year and in 2003 he received the National Medal of Science. In addition, he received numerous awards for his work, he also was represented in several other scientific organizations.
Writings
The following list are published by Luce books again, he has also written numerous journal articles and working papers.
- With Howard Raiffa: Games and Decisions: Introduction and Critical Survey. 1957
- Individual Choice Behavior: A Theoretical Analysis. 1959
- David Krantz, Patrick Suppes, and Amos Tversky: Foundations of Measurement. 3 volumes, 1971, 1989 and 1990
- Response Times. 1986
- Sound & Hearing. 1993