Rachlin, H. (2003).
Rational thought and rational behavior: A review of
Bounded rationality: The adaptive toolbox.
Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior,
79, 409-412.
Standard economic theory says that the rational approach to a
decision is to weigh all alternatives on all relevant dimensions
and then to select the one with the highest weight. Such a
procedure would maximize subjective expected utility. But,
because of constraints on time and available information, people
and other animals often bypass this process by using "fast and
frugal" heuristics to make decisions. Rationality is thus said
to be "bounded" by time and information constraints. The
articles in this book describe and organize common heuristics.
They show that use of such heuristics is generally the best
approach to many real world problems and therefore not
irrational. Heuristics evolved, they say, not as deviations from
rationality but as aids to rationality in cases where the
standard model would have proved to be too slow or inefficient.
Although the approach of almost all of the authors of these
papers is that of cognitive psychology - a focus on internal
cognitive mechanisms - their findings and even their theories may
be interpreted in terms of reinforcement and punishment acting on
behavioral patterns.
Key words: choice, decision, economics, heuristics, rationality, rules