A candid outdoor portrait of a smiling man in a blue button-down shirt, set against a natural backdrop of tall grasses and a calm water stream. His relaxed expression and the lush greenery create a serene, approachable atmosphere, suggesting a connection to nature or environmental interests.
A candid outdoor portrait of a smiling man in a blue button-down shirt, set against a natural backdrop of tall grasses and a calm water stream. His relaxed expression and the lush greenery create a serene, approachable atmosphere, suggesting a connection to nature or environmental interests.

Amos Tversky

Historical

Historical

Mar 16, 1937

-

Jun 2, 1996

A candid outdoor portrait of a smiling man in a blue button-down shirt, set against a natural backdrop of tall grasses and a calm water stream. His relaxed expression and the lush greenery create a serene, approachable atmosphere, suggesting a connection to nature or environmental interests.

Amos Tversky

Historical

Historical

Mar 16, 1937

-

Jun 2, 1996

Biography

FAQ

Quotes

Biography

Amos Tversky was an Israeli-American cognitive psychologist and a pioneer in behavioral economics. Tversky was born in 1937. He enrolled at Hebrew University to do his undergraduate work, which he completed in 1961, and then went on to do his PhD in psychology at the University of Michigan, which he received in 1965. Tversky was an unorthodox thinker who was particularly interested in studying judgment and decision-making when facing risk. He collaborated with Daniel Kahneman, whose research on human judgment in contexts of risk and uncertainty changed how we view the world.

Tversky’s first works were related to cognitive illusions, and he studied how people decided and behaved according to rational choice theory. Together with Kahneman, he introduced the idea of heuristics, the strategies that individuals employ to solve problems and make decisions more efficiently, which are prone to known biases. They also discovered how people overemphasize the probabilities of remote events – which they later incorporated into their seminal 1979 paper on prospect theory. This theory opposed conventional economic thinking by showing that people are not rational in handling risks and uncertainties in their decision-making processes. Instead, individuals behave in a manner consistent with the theory of loss aversion, where the displeasure of losing is greater than the pleasure of gaining.

Tversky worked at leading universities, including Hebrew University and Stanford University, in the later years of his life. He adopted a perfect combination of mathematical models and practical realization of the models in his work. Together with Kahneman, Tversky contributed to the development of behavioural economics, which found its application in law, finance, and public policy. Kahneman and Tversky published many papers on decision-making and risk, culminating with Kahneman receiving the Nobel Prize in 2002. Unfortunately, Tversky passed away from cancer in 1996 and did not live to share the award.

Amos Tversky remains one of the most influential theorists in contemporary psychology and economics. His research on cognitive heuristics, including the availability heuristic, the representativeness heuristic, and the conjunction fallacy, remains a cornerstone of decision-making literature. He received numerous recognitions for his work in psychology, including the MacArthur Fellowship in 1984 and his election to the National Academy of Sciences in 1999. Tversky’s legacy continues through the scholars he influenced and the theories he pioneered that still explain human conduct today.

Quotes

“It’s frightening to think that you might not know something, but more frightening to think that, by and large, the world is run by people who have faith that they know exactly what is going on.”

“Humans are not fully rational beings, and the illusion of understanding is one of our greatest weaknesses.”

“The fear of loss is a greater motivator than the potential for gain.”

“Chance is not self-correcting; deviations are not corrected as a process unfolds, but are diluted.”

“Cognitive illusions reflect not just failures of reasoning, but the structure of intuitive thought.”

“People live under uncertainty whether they like it or not. Man is a deterministic device thrown into a probabilistic universe.”

“Whenever there is a simple error that most laymen fall for, there is always a slightly more sophisticated version that experts fall for.”

“We study natural stupidity, while my colleagues study artificial intelligence.”

“All too often, we find ourselves unable to predict what will happen; yet after the fact, we explain what did happen with great confidence.”

“Metaphors replace genuine uncertainty about the world with semantic ambiguity.”

“Our ability to explain tomorrow what we cannot predict today is one of our most important cognitive illusions.”

“In predicting outcomes, we often overweight unlikely events.”

“Loss aversion dictates that the fear of loss looms larger than the desire for gain.”

“People often make decisions based on perceived probabilities, not actual ones.”

“The availability heuristic distorts our judgment by making us overestimate the likelihood of things that are easily recalled.”

FAQ

What is Amos Tversky famous for?

Tversky is remembered for his research on cognitive heuristics and biases and for creating the prospect theory alongside Daniel Kahneman.

What is prospect theory?

According to the prospect theory, people behave differently when making decisions regarding risky outcomes, and they are more sensitive to losses than to gains.

What are cognitive biases?

These are cognitive errors that are not random but systematic deviations from rationality in judgment that Tversky investigated with heuristics such as availability, representativeness, and anchoring.

What do you understand by the availability heuristic?

The availability heuristic is a cognitive bias that involves using the ease with which examples come to mind to estimate the probability of an event and make judgments.

What sort of interaction existed between Tversky and Kahneman?

Tversky and Kahneman worked together for more than ten years before they conducted groundbreaking research on judgment and decision-making that revolutionized the fields of psychology and economics.

What is meant by the conjunction fallacy?

This aspect of the prospect theory is called loss aversion, whereby people are more willing to avoid losing an equivalent value than gaining it.

What is loss aversion?

This aspect of the prospect theory is called loss aversion, whereby people are more willing to avoid losing an equivalent value than gaining it.

What awards did Tversky get?

Tversky received many fellowships, including the MacArthur Fellowship in 1984. Kahneman’s Nobel Lecture honored his contribution to behavioral economics.

What does the representativeness heuristic mean?

The representativeness heuristic is a cognitive bias that causes people to assess the probability of an event based on the extent to which it matches a particular paradigm, even when the odds may tell a different story.

What has Tversky’s contribution brought to modern economics?

Tversky’s contributions to the field are revolutionary. He shifted the foundation of economic theory by providing evidence that human decision-making is not always rational, as classic economic theory predicts. This has implications for fields such as finance.

Biography

FAQ

Quotes

Biography

Amos Tversky was an Israeli-American cognitive psychologist and a pioneer in behavioral economics. Tversky was born in 1937. He enrolled at Hebrew University to do his undergraduate work, which he completed in 1961, and then went on to do his PhD in psychology at the University of Michigan, which he received in 1965. Tversky was an unorthodox thinker who was particularly interested in studying judgment and decision-making when facing risk. He collaborated with Daniel Kahneman, whose research on human judgment in contexts of risk and uncertainty changed how we view the world.

Tversky’s first works were related to cognitive illusions, and he studied how people decided and behaved according to rational choice theory. Together with Kahneman, he introduced the idea of heuristics, the strategies that individuals employ to solve problems and make decisions more efficiently, which are prone to known biases. They also discovered how people overemphasize the probabilities of remote events – which they later incorporated into their seminal 1979 paper on prospect theory. This theory opposed conventional economic thinking by showing that people are not rational in handling risks and uncertainties in their decision-making processes. Instead, individuals behave in a manner consistent with the theory of loss aversion, where the displeasure of losing is greater than the pleasure of gaining.

Tversky worked at leading universities, including Hebrew University and Stanford University, in the later years of his life. He adopted a perfect combination of mathematical models and practical realization of the models in his work. Together with Kahneman, Tversky contributed to the development of behavioural economics, which found its application in law, finance, and public policy. Kahneman and Tversky published many papers on decision-making and risk, culminating with Kahneman receiving the Nobel Prize in 2002. Unfortunately, Tversky passed away from cancer in 1996 and did not live to share the award.

Amos Tversky remains one of the most influential theorists in contemporary psychology and economics. His research on cognitive heuristics, including the availability heuristic, the representativeness heuristic, and the conjunction fallacy, remains a cornerstone of decision-making literature. He received numerous recognitions for his work in psychology, including the MacArthur Fellowship in 1984 and his election to the National Academy of Sciences in 1999. Tversky’s legacy continues through the scholars he influenced and the theories he pioneered that still explain human conduct today.

Quotes

“It’s frightening to think that you might not know something, but more frightening to think that, by and large, the world is run by people who have faith that they know exactly what is going on.”

“Humans are not fully rational beings, and the illusion of understanding is one of our greatest weaknesses.”

“The fear of loss is a greater motivator than the potential for gain.”

“Chance is not self-correcting; deviations are not corrected as a process unfolds, but are diluted.”

“Cognitive illusions reflect not just failures of reasoning, but the structure of intuitive thought.”

“People live under uncertainty whether they like it or not. Man is a deterministic device thrown into a probabilistic universe.”

“Whenever there is a simple error that most laymen fall for, there is always a slightly more sophisticated version that experts fall for.”

“We study natural stupidity, while my colleagues study artificial intelligence.”

“All too often, we find ourselves unable to predict what will happen; yet after the fact, we explain what did happen with great confidence.”

“Metaphors replace genuine uncertainty about the world with semantic ambiguity.”

“Our ability to explain tomorrow what we cannot predict today is one of our most important cognitive illusions.”

“In predicting outcomes, we often overweight unlikely events.”

“Loss aversion dictates that the fear of loss looms larger than the desire for gain.”

“People often make decisions based on perceived probabilities, not actual ones.”

“The availability heuristic distorts our judgment by making us overestimate the likelihood of things that are easily recalled.”

FAQ

What is Amos Tversky famous for?

Tversky is remembered for his research on cognitive heuristics and biases and for creating the prospect theory alongside Daniel Kahneman.

What is prospect theory?

According to the prospect theory, people behave differently when making decisions regarding risky outcomes, and they are more sensitive to losses than to gains.

What are cognitive biases?

These are cognitive errors that are not random but systematic deviations from rationality in judgment that Tversky investigated with heuristics such as availability, representativeness, and anchoring.

What do you understand by the availability heuristic?

The availability heuristic is a cognitive bias that involves using the ease with which examples come to mind to estimate the probability of an event and make judgments.

What sort of interaction existed between Tversky and Kahneman?

Tversky and Kahneman worked together for more than ten years before they conducted groundbreaking research on judgment and decision-making that revolutionized the fields of psychology and economics.

What is meant by the conjunction fallacy?

This aspect of the prospect theory is called loss aversion, whereby people are more willing to avoid losing an equivalent value than gaining it.

What is loss aversion?

This aspect of the prospect theory is called loss aversion, whereby people are more willing to avoid losing an equivalent value than gaining it.

What awards did Tversky get?

Tversky received many fellowships, including the MacArthur Fellowship in 1984. Kahneman’s Nobel Lecture honored his contribution to behavioral economics.

What does the representativeness heuristic mean?

The representativeness heuristic is a cognitive bias that causes people to assess the probability of an event based on the extent to which it matches a particular paradigm, even when the odds may tell a different story.

What has Tversky’s contribution brought to modern economics?

Tversky’s contributions to the field are revolutionary. He shifted the foundation of economic theory by providing evidence that human decision-making is not always rational, as classic economic theory predicts. This has implications for fields such as finance.

Biography

FAQ

Quotes

Biography

Amos Tversky was an Israeli-American cognitive psychologist and a pioneer in behavioral economics. Tversky was born in 1937. He enrolled at Hebrew University to do his undergraduate work, which he completed in 1961, and then went on to do his PhD in psychology at the University of Michigan, which he received in 1965. Tversky was an unorthodox thinker who was particularly interested in studying judgment and decision-making when facing risk. He collaborated with Daniel Kahneman, whose research on human judgment in contexts of risk and uncertainty changed how we view the world.

Tversky’s first works were related to cognitive illusions, and he studied how people decided and behaved according to rational choice theory. Together with Kahneman, he introduced the idea of heuristics, the strategies that individuals employ to solve problems and make decisions more efficiently, which are prone to known biases. They also discovered how people overemphasize the probabilities of remote events – which they later incorporated into their seminal 1979 paper on prospect theory. This theory opposed conventional economic thinking by showing that people are not rational in handling risks and uncertainties in their decision-making processes. Instead, individuals behave in a manner consistent with the theory of loss aversion, where the displeasure of losing is greater than the pleasure of gaining.

Tversky worked at leading universities, including Hebrew University and Stanford University, in the later years of his life. He adopted a perfect combination of mathematical models and practical realization of the models in his work. Together with Kahneman, Tversky contributed to the development of behavioural economics, which found its application in law, finance, and public policy. Kahneman and Tversky published many papers on decision-making and risk, culminating with Kahneman receiving the Nobel Prize in 2002. Unfortunately, Tversky passed away from cancer in 1996 and did not live to share the award.

Amos Tversky remains one of the most influential theorists in contemporary psychology and economics. His research on cognitive heuristics, including the availability heuristic, the representativeness heuristic, and the conjunction fallacy, remains a cornerstone of decision-making literature. He received numerous recognitions for his work in psychology, including the MacArthur Fellowship in 1984 and his election to the National Academy of Sciences in 1999. Tversky’s legacy continues through the scholars he influenced and the theories he pioneered that still explain human conduct today.

Quotes

“It’s frightening to think that you might not know something, but more frightening to think that, by and large, the world is run by people who have faith that they know exactly what is going on.”

“Humans are not fully rational beings, and the illusion of understanding is one of our greatest weaknesses.”

“The fear of loss is a greater motivator than the potential for gain.”

“Chance is not self-correcting; deviations are not corrected as a process unfolds, but are diluted.”

“Cognitive illusions reflect not just failures of reasoning, but the structure of intuitive thought.”

“People live under uncertainty whether they like it or not. Man is a deterministic device thrown into a probabilistic universe.”

“Whenever there is a simple error that most laymen fall for, there is always a slightly more sophisticated version that experts fall for.”

“We study natural stupidity, while my colleagues study artificial intelligence.”

“All too often, we find ourselves unable to predict what will happen; yet after the fact, we explain what did happen with great confidence.”

“Metaphors replace genuine uncertainty about the world with semantic ambiguity.”

“Our ability to explain tomorrow what we cannot predict today is one of our most important cognitive illusions.”

“In predicting outcomes, we often overweight unlikely events.”

“Loss aversion dictates that the fear of loss looms larger than the desire for gain.”

“People often make decisions based on perceived probabilities, not actual ones.”

“The availability heuristic distorts our judgment by making us overestimate the likelihood of things that are easily recalled.”

FAQ

What is Amos Tversky famous for?

Tversky is remembered for his research on cognitive heuristics and biases and for creating the prospect theory alongside Daniel Kahneman.

What is prospect theory?

According to the prospect theory, people behave differently when making decisions regarding risky outcomes, and they are more sensitive to losses than to gains.

What are cognitive biases?

These are cognitive errors that are not random but systematic deviations from rationality in judgment that Tversky investigated with heuristics such as availability, representativeness, and anchoring.

What do you understand by the availability heuristic?

The availability heuristic is a cognitive bias that involves using the ease with which examples come to mind to estimate the probability of an event and make judgments.

What sort of interaction existed between Tversky and Kahneman?

Tversky and Kahneman worked together for more than ten years before they conducted groundbreaking research on judgment and decision-making that revolutionized the fields of psychology and economics.

What is meant by the conjunction fallacy?

This aspect of the prospect theory is called loss aversion, whereby people are more willing to avoid losing an equivalent value than gaining it.

What is loss aversion?

This aspect of the prospect theory is called loss aversion, whereby people are more willing to avoid losing an equivalent value than gaining it.

What awards did Tversky get?

Tversky received many fellowships, including the MacArthur Fellowship in 1984. Kahneman’s Nobel Lecture honored his contribution to behavioral economics.

What does the representativeness heuristic mean?

The representativeness heuristic is a cognitive bias that causes people to assess the probability of an event based on the extent to which it matches a particular paradigm, even when the odds may tell a different story.

What has Tversky’s contribution brought to modern economics?

Tversky’s contributions to the field are revolutionary. He shifted the foundation of economic theory by providing evidence that human decision-making is not always rational, as classic economic theory predicts. This has implications for fields such as finance.

Life and achievements

Early life

Amos Tversky was born in Haifa, Israel, in 1937 to a family with a substantial academic and political background. His father, Yosef Tversky, was a Polish-born veterinarian, while his mother, Jenia, was a social worker and a member of the Knesset. As a child, Tversky was raised in a family that encouraged the discussion of various issues, with science and mathematics always paramount. During his teenage years, Tversky attended the Hebrew Reali School in Haifa, where he displayed his academic talents.

Tversky had always been an academic, but his early years were also shaped by his military service. He enlisted in the Israel Defense Forces, where he served as a captain and was regarded as a courageous and efficient soldier. He participated in significant military events like the Suez Crisis and the Six-Day War. His experiences in the army, especially managing an army unit under stress, influenced his later ideas about decision-making, risk, and uncertainty.

After his military service, Tversky resumed his education at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, where he pursued courses in psychology and mathematics. This was when he started to develop an interest in human judgment and decision-making. He was a bright student, earning a Fulbright Scholarship, which enabled him to complete his Ph.D. in Psychology at the University of Michigan in 1965. His doctoral thesis laid the groundwork for his subsequent work on choice and heuristics in decision-making.

Legacy

Amos Tversky’s contributions are felt across psychology, economics, finance, law, and public policy. His work with Daniel Kahneman on cognitive illusions and decision-making under risk contributed to the development of the theory of behavioral economics. Their research partially rejected the neoclassical economic model of human beings as rational utility maximizers, showing that heuristics, emotions, and prejudices affect decision-making.

The most famous contribution of Tversky to behavioral economics was the concept of prospect theory, developed with Kahneman in 1979. This theory revolutionized how risk and decision-making were understood, demonstrating that people are more concerned with losses than with equivalent gains—a concept known as loss aversion. Framing was another important aspect of the theory, showing that the way options are presented can greatly influence decisions. These insights have had major implications for fields from finance to public policy, reshaping how economists and policymakers understand behavior.

Tversky’s work in psychology was also immense. He advanced the study of heuristics—rules of thumb that people use to make decisions in certain contexts, often leading to systematic mistakes. These findings are now essential in analyzing human reasoning.

Although Tversky passed away in 1996, his ideas continue to be influential. His research has been applied in various fields, including behavioral finance, where cognitive biases explain investor mistakes. His theories have also impacted policy-making, particularly through the development of nudge theory, which encourages beneficial changes by altering the context in which decisions are made. His work with Kahneman laid the groundwork for a new approach to understanding human reasoning and decision-making.

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Milestone moments

Jul 16, 1969

Work with Daniel Kahneman Starts
Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman initiated their lifelong collaboration in 1969, which changed the face of psychology and economics for over a decade.
The first one was published in 1971 under the title ‘Belief in the Law of Small Numbers’; this paper questioned common misconceptions regarding statistical data and presented the new concept of cognitive illusions.
This partnership combined Tversky’s research on the formal analysis of decision-making with Kahenman’s work on perception to form a highly influential research alliance.
Tversky and Kahneman’s work on cognitive biases opened the path for other behavioral economists and changed their thoughts about judgment and decision-making.
This was the start of one of the most fruitful collaborations in many fields of study.

Jan 18, 1974

Publication of Judgment under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases
In 1974, Tversky and Kahneman published their influential paper Judgment under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases in Science.
It also presented the availability and representativeness heuristics, which helped the reader understand how people make decisions based on shortcuts in their minds.
This research confirmed that these heuristics cause systematic errors in decision-making, contrary to the theoretical assumption that people are rational decision-makers, especially in risky situations.
The paper became one of the most popular in psychology and contributed to the development of the new science of behavioral economics.
This milestone emphasized Tversky’s contribution to cognitive psychology and his role in developing studies on judgment and decision-making.

Feb 15, 1979

Introduction of Prospect Theory
In 1979, Tversky and Kahneman introduced prospect theory in their paper “Prospect Theory: An Analysis of Decision Under Risk,” published in the Econometrica journal.
The theory showed that people are not rational decision-makers when it comes to risk management. This is exemplified by loss aversion, whereby potential losses are more significant than potential gains.
It also introduced the concept of framing, which revealed that how choices are packaged and presented can significantly affect people’s decisions.
This revolutionary work challenged mainstream economic views, and six years after Tversky’s death, Kahneman won the Nobel Prize in 2002.
This achievement solidified Tversky’s status as one of the leading behavioral economics scholars and a major contributor to the study of decision-making under risk.

Jun 14, 1984

Awarded MacArthur Fellowship
Tversky was awarded the MacArthur Fellowship in 1984 for his outstanding work in psychology and economics.
The fellowship recognized his research on cognitive biases and decision-making, which has essential applications in explaining human behaviour in areas such as finance and policy.
Tversky’s contributions to understanding decision-making processes under risky conditions were well known.
This fellowship signified a peak in his career, marking him as a leading scholar in the behavioural sciences.

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