Models of Ecological Rationality: The Recognition Heuristic

Daniel G. Goldstein and Gerd Gigerenzer

Psychological Review2002, Vol. 109, No. 1, 75–90

What are Heuristics?

Heuristics are poor replacements for computations that are too demanding for ordinary minds.

The assumption is that the man in the street, the naive psychologist, uses a naive version of the method used in science. Undoubtedly, his naive version is a poor replica of the scientific one—incomplete, subject to bias, ready to proceed on incomplete evidence, and so on. (Kelley, 1973, p. 109)

Computational Models of Heuristics

1. ecologically rational2. founded in evolved psychological

capacities such as memory3. fast, frugal, and simple4. precise5. powerful

Recognition Heuristics Can a Lack of Recognition Be informative?

(Gigerenzer & Hoffrage, 1995)— (Ayton & Önkal, 1997).

If one of two objects is recognized and the other is not, then infer that the recognized

object has the higher value with respect to the criterion.

Recognition Heuristics The effectiveness of a recognition heuristic

depends on its ecological validity.

The Capacity for Recognition: Recognition memory often remains when other

types of memory become impaired. Example of R.F.R., a 54-year old policeman

The ecological rationality of the recognition heuristic

Recognition Heuristics

The recognition validity : α = R / (R+W) Accuracy of the Recognition Heuristic: β is the knowledge validity

The Less-Is-More Effect

The Less-Is-More Effect: A Computer Simulation

Does the Recognition Heuristic PredictPeople’s Inferences?

22 students from the University of Chicago

They were given all the pairs of cities drawn from the 25 or 30 largest cities in Germany.

The task was to choose the larger city in each pair.

Recognition Heuristic Accordance

Test Size Influences Performance

According to the given equation:

The number of correct inferences depends on N, for constant α and β

Test Size Influences Performance

Noncompensatory Inferences

Will Inference follow the recognition heuristic despite conflicting evidence?

The recognition heuristic is a noncompensatory strategy.

Noncompensatory Inferences

Participants learned an alternative to the recognition heuristic (Bundesliga).

Which would participants choose as larger: an unrecognized city or a recognized city that they learned has no soccer team?

Will a Less-Is-More Effect Occur Between Domains?

American participants were tested on German and American cities.

Same criterion: Population

Recognition Heuristics vs. Knowledge

Will a Less-Is-More Effect Occur Between Domains?

52 students took two tests each: one on the 22 largest cities in the United States, and one on the 22 largest cities in Germany.

Participants scored a mean 71.1% correct on their own cities. On the German cities, the mean

accuracy was 71.4%

Will a Less-Is-More Effect Occur as Recognition Knowledge Is Acquired?

Equation predicts that accurate inference will decrease because of diminishing applicability of the recognition heuristic.

Participants gained an “experimentally induced” sense of recognition.

Will participants use recognition information acquired during the experiment?

Will a Less-Is-More Effect Occur as Recognition Knowledge Is Acquired?

Participants were 16 residents of Munich, Germany,

In the first session, they were shown the names of the 75 largest American cities in random order.

They were then given a test consisting of 300 pairs of cities. This was repeated three times.

The Ecological Rationality of Name Recognition

What is the origin of the recognition heuristic as a strategy?

Role of evolution

The recognition validity can be explained as a function of the ecological and the surrogate correlations

The Ecological Rationality of Name Recognition