BoundedRationality_TheAdaptiveToolbox.pdf

142 John W. Payne and James R. Bettman
decision problems in ways that are consistent with how variations in tasks impact
accuracy, effort, and other important process considerations.
Of course, the use of heuristics is not cost free. People do make systematic,
and predictable, errors when faced with preferential choice problems, e.g., intransitive
patterns of preference. People also are not perfectly adaptive in their
use of alternative decision strategies. Errors in decision making occur not only
because a heuristic is used but also because the wrong decision strategy is sometimes
used.
Overall, we argue that the flexibility with which individuals respond to a
wide variety of task conditions is one of the most fascinating aspects of human
decision behavior. We propose that a multi-goal approach to understanding how
people decide to decide is a powerful one for exploring the contingent nature of
decision making.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Much of the work described was carried out in collaboration with our colleagues. We
particularly wish to acknowledge the fundamental contributions made to both the
conceptual and empirical aspects of our work by Eric Johnson and Mary Frances Luce.
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