Higher education, choice and rationality: the decision processes of college students in the municipality of São Paulo. / Ensino superior, escolha e racionalidade: os processos de decisão dos universitários do município de São Paulo.

AUTOR(ES)
DATA DE PUBLICAÇÃO

2003

RESUMO

The study departs from the observation of a dichotomy between the formal model of human capital theory, which justifies decision-making by means of investment in education, and the empirical evidence of the studies that corroborate the model. It is identified that the basis of the formal model, neoclassical theory of rational choice, distances itself from the real type of rational economic man and, therefore, from the typical investor in human capital, insofar as it disregards the limits presented in terms of incomplete information, capacity to process the information, and influence of the social arena on individual behavior. The study suggests the approach of behavioral rationality of psychological economics, as a methodological alternative to the concept of rationality involved in the paradigm of human capital as a form of analysis of the process of higher education choice. It examines the decision processes of college students of the municipality of Sao Paulo, identifying factors associated to behavioral rationality, such as the choice in time, uncertainty, level of information, influences of the different situations and institutions on the behavior and the expectations of future professional activities. It seeks to apprehend the reality of the choice processes at the immediate moment of the college student’s decision-making by means of a survey, based on a non-probabilistic sample by quotas. The survey totals the result of 2 131 questionnaires applied to college students entering 33 undergraduate courses, of five universities in the municipality of São Paulo. As evidence found in the behavior of college students polled, it is identified that, in general terms, they tend to be oriented by the present, be partially informed, be influenced by personal fulfillment and by opportunities in the workplace, and they tend to be little influenced by family, and to state that they are satisfied or sure about the choice made. This last evidence points, in these terms, to the possibility of cognitive dissonance in the behavior of the students polled, since it conflicts with some of the other data found.

ASSUNTO(S)

municipality of são paulo município de são paulo racionalidade comportamental behavioral rationality higher education ensino superior choice escolha

ACESSO AO ARTIGO

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