“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 1910–1989

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