The minimax, the minimin, and the Hurwicz adjustment principle (Q1863928)

The paper deals with the decision making under uncertainty with special attention paid to the reaction of the acting decision-maker on some changes of the state of nature and the developing degree of uncertainty about it. Two basic types of actors are distinguished. The progressive one, who is not satisfied with the present state and actively accepts any opportunity to change it, and the conservative one being satisfied with his situation and needing strong impulse to change his behaviour. It is shown that the minimax, minimin and Hurwicz principles are sufficient for deriving all behavioral alternatives within a single theoretical framework. However, it is shown that the Hurwicz optimism index can be interpreted as a characteristic of the actor's attitude to new external information. The model is illustrated by examples.