“In choosing between alternative actions, a person will choose that one for which, as perceived by him at the time, the value, V, of the result, multiplied by the probability, p, of getting the result, is the greater.”
Source: Social behavior: Its Elementary Forms, 1961, p. 43 (in 1974 edition)
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George C. Homans 7
American sociologist 1910–1989Related quotes

1980s, First term of office (1981–1985), Abortion and the Conscience of the Nation (1983)

attain targets while satisfying constraints
Simon (1997, p. 17); As cited in: Gustavo Barros (2010, p. 460).
1980s and later

Source: Christianizing the Social Order (1912), p. 103

Speech to a joint session of the US Congress (12 March 1947), outlining what became known as The Truman Doctrine
Context: At the present moment in world history nearly every nation must choose between alternative ways of life. The choice is too often not a free one.
One way of life is based upon the will of the majority, and is distinguished by free institutions, representative government, free elections, guarantees of individual liberty, freedom of speech and religion, and freedom from political oppression.
The second way of life is based upon the will of a minority forcibly imposed upon the majority. It relies upon terror and oppression, a controlled press and radio; fixed elections, and the suppression of personal freedoms.
I believe that it must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures.
I believe that we must assist free peoples to work out their own destinies in their own way.

Source: The Geological Evidences of the Antiquity of Man (1863), Ch.21, p. 411

Existentialism and Human Emotions (1957)