AU kursuskatalog arkiv

Projekt: Game Theory, playing with Religion (Aflyst) ( efterår 2011 - 15 ECTS )

Rammer for udbud

• Uddannelsessprog: engelsk
• Niveau: BA/MA
• Semester/kvarter: E2011
• Timer per uge: 3
• Deltagerbegrænsning: Max. 16
• Undervisningssted: Århus
• Hovedområde: Det Teologiske Fakultet
• Udbud ID: 28420

Formål

Den studerende skal opnå kvalifikationer i form af viden, forståelse og færdigheder inden for følgende områder:

• En udvalgt, religionsvidenskabelig problemstilling (et tema, en periode, et teoretisk emne)
• Fortrolighed med almindelige principper for videnskabeligt arbejde og videnskabelig argumentation

Gennem arbejdet med den faglige substans skal den studerende erhverve sig faglige kompetencer, der sætter denne i stand til at:

• Selvstændigt redegøre for og drøfte en dybtgående, religionsvidenskabelig problemstilling
• Selvstændigt indsamle og kritisk vurdere faglig litteratur og anden information
• Selvstændigt sammenfatte arbejdet med projektet i form af en skriftlig fremstilling i overensstemmelse med akademiske kriterier

Bemærk! Dette udbud dækker både BA-projekt og Religionsvidenskabeligt projekt, og undervisningen udbydes også som et kandidatseminar.

Indhold

Playing with Religion: Decision Making, Ir(Rationality), and Behavioral Game Theory 

It's a common conception that religious beliefs and practices influence decisions taken by believers. The question is, whether this is really the case dnd if so, how religious systems and religious behavior influences decision-making. This course will contribute to cognitive and behavioral approaches to religion and more specifically to the understanding of ritualized behavior and its effects on sociality. A well-known theory in the Study of Religion is the Rational Choice Theory, which offers a framework for understanding and modeling social and economic behavior. However, theoretical and experimental developments of the last decades have shown that people are not as rational as we thought so.

This course thus, addresses such questions as how decisions are actually made and how these processes differ from optimal theories of decision-making. Further, we will contrast normative and descriptive theories of reasoning and judgment. The main methodological focus will be on Behavioral Game Theory and experimental designs. We will explore what risk and uncertainty, trust and cooperation, coordination and punishment, heuristics, biases and bounded rationality is? The aim of the seminar is to familiarize the students with economic approaches to behavior and religion, with a specific interest in Behavioral Game Theory.

Finally, during the course we will have the chance to have some qualifying talks from guest lectures, on their research topics, to watch some audiovisual material relevant to the topics, and last but not least we will have the chance to run minor experiments and games in the class, since several fun activities can be easily conducted in a classroom to demonstrate various concepts of game theory. Despite the technical and mathematical character of the topic we will emphasize on the familiarization of the students with the analytical tools of the theories, without the use of mathematical models; therefore, you do not need any mathematical background in order to participate.

Faglige forudsætninger

Ingen

Underviser

Panos Mitkidis

Undervisnings- og arbejdsform

Seminar/Group presentations

Englisk

Litteratur

A collection of texts will be available at the start of the semester

Tid og sted

Fredag kl. 8-11, lokale 212

Bedømmelse

BA-projekt:
Fri skriftlig opgave på max 20 sider (max 48.000 typeenheder) inkl. et resumé af opgaven på ½-1 side på engelsk, tysk eller fransk.

Religionsvidenskabeligt projekt:
Fri skriftlig opgave på max 25 sider (max 60.000 typeenheder).