Homo Heuristicus: Why Biased Minds Make Better Inferences

Heuristics are efficient cognitive processes that ignore information. In contrast to the widely held view that less processing reduces accuracy, the study of heuristics shows that less information, computation, and time can in fact improve accuracy. We review the major progress made so far: (a) the...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Topics in cognitive science 2009-01, Vol.1 (1), p.107-143
Main Authors: Gigerenzer, Gerd, Brighton, Henry
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adaptation, Psychological - physiology
Cognition - physiology
Decision-making
Heuristics
Humans
Induction
Inferences
Models, Psychological
Psychological Theory
Rationality
Thinking - physiology
Uncertainity
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Summary:Heuristics are efficient cognitive processes that ignore information. In contrast to the widely held view that less processing reduces accuracy, the study of heuristics shows that less information, computation, and time can in fact improve accuracy. We review the major progress made so far: (a) the discovery of less‐is‐more effects; (b) the study of the ecological rationality of heuristics, which examines in which environments a given strategy succeeds or fails, and why; (c) an advancement from vague labels to computational models of heuristics; (d) the development of a systematic theory of heuristics that identifies their building blocks and the evolved capacities they exploit, and views the cognitive system as relying on an “adaptive toolbox;” and (e) the development of an empirical methodology that accounts for individual differences, conducts competitive tests, and has provided evidence for people’s adaptive use of heuristics. Homo heuristicus has a biased mind and ignores part of the available information, yet a biased mind can handle uncertainty more efficiently and robustly than an unbiased mind relying on more resource‐intensive and general‐purpose processing strategies.
ISSN:1756-8757
1756-8765
DOI:10.1111/j.1756-8765.2008.01006.x