scholarly journals Studies in Ecological Rationality

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ralph Hertwig ◽  
Christina Leuker ◽  
Thorsten Pachur ◽  
Leonidas Spiliopoulos ◽  
Timothy J. Pleskac
Keyword(s):  
Ecological Rationality

The Ecological Rationality of Situations

2019 ◽  
pp. 142-158
Author(s):  
Peter M. Todd ◽  
Gerd Gigerenzer
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Research Program ◽  
Behavioral Outcomes ◽  
Ecological Rationality ◽  
Decision Heuristics ◽  
Situation Theory ◽  
Personality Differences ◽  
Individual Personality ◽  
Precise Mapping ◽  
Adaptive Toolbox

The study of situations involves asking how people behave in particular environmental settings, often in terms of their individual personality differences. The ecological rationality research program explains people’s behavior in terms of the specific decision-making tools they select and use from their mind’s adaptive toolbox when faced with specific types of environment structure. These two approaches can be integrated to provide a more precise mapping from features of situation structure to decision heuristics used and behavioral outcomes. This chapter presents three examples illustrating research on ecological rationality and its foundations, along with initial directions for incorporating it into an integrated situation theory.

scholarly journals Impulsiveness without discounting: the ecological rationality hypothesis

2004 ◽  
Vol 271 (1556) ◽  
pp. 2459-2465 ◽  
Author(s):  
David W. Stephens ◽  
Benjamin Kerr ◽  
Esteban Fernández-Juricic
Keyword(s):  
Ecological Rationality

scholarly journals Mycological rationality: Heuristics, perception and decision-making in mushroom foraging

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roope Oskari Kaaronen
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Selective Attention ◽  
Ecological Rationality ◽  
Hunter Gatherers ◽  
Decisions Under Uncertainty ◽  
Rules Of Thumb ◽  
Intuitive Decision Making ◽  
Human Foraging ◽  
Simple Heuristics

How do mushroom foragers make safe and efficient decisions under uncertainty, or deal with the genuine risks of misiden-tification and poisoning? This article is an inquiry into ecological rationality, heuristics, perception, and decision-makingin mushroom foraging. By surveying 894 Finnish mushroom foragers, this article illustrates how socially learned rules of thumb and heuristics are used in mushroom foraging, and how simple heuristics are often complemented by more complex and intuitive decision-making. The results illustrate how traditional foraging cultures have evolved precautionary heuristics to deal with uncertainties and poisonous species, and how foragers develop selective attention through experience. The study invites us to consider whether other human foraging cultures might use heuristics similarly, how and why such traditions have culturally evolved, and whether early hunter-gatherers might have used simple heuristics to deal with uncertainty.

Implicit Statistical Learning in Real-World Environments Leads to Ecologically Rational Decision Making

2017 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 34-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sonja Perkovic ◽  
Jacob Lund Orquin
Keyword(s):  
Statistical Learning ◽  
Organic Food ◽  
Ecological Rationality ◽  
Rational Behavior ◽  
Statistical Structure ◽  
Organic Foods ◽  
Decision Strategies ◽  
Rational Decision Making ◽  
Organic Products ◽  
Healthful Food

Ecological rationality results from matching decision strategies to appropriate environmental structures, but how does the matching happen? We propose that people learn the statistical structure of the environment through observation and use this learned structure to guide ecologically rational behavior. We tested this hypothesis in the context of organic foods. In Study 1, we found that products from healthful food categories are more likely to be organic than products from nonhealthful food categories. In Study 2, we found that consumers’ perceptions of the healthfulness and prevalence of organic products in many food categories are accurate. Finally, in Study 3, we found that people perceive organic products as more healthful than nonorganic products when the statistical structure justifies this inference. Our findings suggest that people believe organic foods are more healthful than nonorganic foods and use an organic-food cue to guide their behavior because organic foods are, on average, 30% more healthful.

Heuristics in financial decision-making: the selection of SME financing by advisers in an increasingly diverse market

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kirsten Rauwerda ◽  
Frank Jan De Graaf
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Structured Interview ◽  
Ecological Rationality ◽  
Personal Network ◽  
Research Attention ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Less Is More ◽  
Fast And Frugal Heuristics ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Simple Rules

PurposeIn order to better understand how heuristics are used in practice, the authors explore what type of heuristics is used in the managerial domain of financial advisors to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and what influences the shaping of these heuristics. In doing so, the authors detect possible fast-and-frugal heuristics in day-to-day decision-making of independent financial advisers who help owners of SMEs to acquire capital (e.g. loans, factoring, leasing and equity).Design/methodology/approachThe authors inductively assessed the work of financial advisers of SMEs. Based on group discussions, the authors drew up a semi-structured interview-protocol with descriptive questions about how financial advisers come to a deal for their clients. The interviews of 19 professionals were analysed by relating them to the theory of fast-and-frugal heuristics.FindingsWithin their decision-making, advisers estimate the likelihood of acceptance by a few financial providers they know well in their personal network with a strong bias towards traditional banking products, although there are a large number of alternatives on the Dutch market. “Less is more” seems to be a relevant principle when defined as satisficing. Heuristics help advisers to deal with behavioural and economic limitations. Also, the authors have found that client interaction, previous working experience and the company the adviser is working for influences the shaping of the simple rules the adviser is using.Research limitations/implicationsThe study shows how difficult it is to understand the ecological rationality of a certain group of professionals and to understand the “less is more” principle. Financial advisers to SMEs use cognitive shortcuts and simple rules to advise SME-owners, based on previous experiences, but it is difficult to determine whether that leads to the same or even better solutions for them and their clients than using probability theory and financial optimisation models. Within heuristics, satisficing seems to be a dominant mechanism. Here, heuristics help advisers in recognising possibilities by searching for similarities between a current financing case and previous experiences. The data suggests that if “less is more” is defined as satisficing for one or more stakeholders involved, the principle dominates the decision making of financial advisers of SME's.Practical implicationsThe authors suggest the relevance of a behavioural approach to finance by assessing the day-to-day decisions of financial advisers of SMEs. Also, the authors suggest that financial advisers are guided by previous experiences, and they do not fully assess a wide range of options in their work but need shortcuts to fulfil the needs of their clients.Originality/valueThe study comes close to day-to-day decision-making in finance by assessing how professionals make decisions. The authors try to understand types of heuristics in relation with “ecological rationality” and the less is more principle. The authors assess financial advisers of SME-companies, a group that has gotten little research attention until now. The influence of client interaction and of the company the adviser is working for is remarkable in the shaping of the advisers' simple rules.

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