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Related Experiment Video

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Experiential limitation in judgment and decision.

Ulrike Hahn1

  • 1Department of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck, University of London.

Topics in Cognitive Science
|March 21, 2014
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Human behavior assessment requires considering the experienced environment, not just long-run statistics. Limited experiences due to constraints can explain deviations, re-framing perceived irrationality as rational adaptation.

Keywords:
Decision makingJudgmentOptimalityRandomnessRationalitySmall samples

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Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Behavioral Economics
  • Decision Science

Background:

  • Human decision-making often deviates from predictions based on large-sample statistics.
  • These deviations are frequently labeled as irrational, overlooking the agent's experienced reality.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To re-evaluate human behavior by considering the statistics of experienced environments.
  • To demonstrate how limitations in experience shape decision-making processes.

Main Methods:

  • Synthesizing research from judgment and decision-making literature.
  • Examining areas including randomness perception, information sampling, and exploration/exploitation trade-offs.

Main Results:

  • Small sample statistics, reflecting experienced environments, differ significantly from large-sample statistics.
  • Experiential limitations (resource/information processing constraints) cause these deviations.

Conclusions:

  • Behavior deemed irrational may be rational when considering an agent's actual experienced environment.
  • Accounting for experiential limitations offers a more nuanced understanding of human judgment and decision-making.