Dr. Gigerenzer describes his view of the mind as a collection of cognitive abilities that reflect both the result of evolution as well as the personal experiences of an individual within their specific environment.
The history of decision making goes back to the 1600s – to Descartes and Pointcarre who created a first ‘calculus’ of decision making. The modern view of decision making that takes into consideration of human information processing and the use of...
One of the main distinctions in research on decision making concerns the availability of information to a decision maker. In so-called ‘small worlds’, all alternatives, consequences, and probabilities are known. In so-called ‘large worlds’,...
There are different ways to define rationality. While most people associate rationality with probability theory and internal consistency of behavior, Dr. Gigerenzer emphasizes a different view of ecological rationality. In this view, rational...
In this personal account of how he decided to become a cognitive psychologist and focus on human decision making, Dr. Gigerenzer reveals that he also had the opportunity to earn money as a professional musician.
As part of their research on human decision making, Dr. Gigerenzer and his group try to find simple heuristics that can be shown to work well under realistic assumptions. The 'take-the-best' heuristic is an important example of how a...
