Summary of Thomas C. Schelling's Micromotives and Macrobehavior

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview:

#1 We can’t control where people sit in a auditorium, but we can control how they choose their seats. We can use this information to figure out what people were doing when they chose their seats.

#2 The seating arrangement in the auditorium was a simple example of how people can be influenced by each other's behavior. If we know that people entering an auditorium have a sociable desire to sit near someone but always leave one empty seat between them, we can predict the pattern that will appear when the entire audience has arrived.

#3 The system of interaction between individuals and their environment is what determines whether a simple summation or extrapolation can be made between individuals and their aggregates. Sometimes the results are surprising, and sometimes they are not easily guessed.

#4 There are several hypotheses as to why people sit where they do. The most minimal is that nobody cares where they sit, as long as they aren’t in the very front. People sit toward the rear as most of the audience arrives, and then climb over seated people to occupy empty seats in the crowded section.

© 2022 IRB Media (Ebook): 9798822513594

Release date

Ebook: 5 June 2022