Gigerenzer,G.

(From the chapter) For many legal problems, finding the absolutely best solution to a problem (i.e., optimization) is out of reach. The problem is too complex, information is scarce and contradictory, too many players are involved with dissimilar goals, or time is pressing and the world uncertain. Yet experts and laypeople are not paralyzed in such circumstances; they find solutions by using what is often called intuition, habit, or rules of thumb. The science of heuristics explicates the processes underlying intuition and habit. These heuristics are often unconscious, and their systematic study can help to improve decision making. Heuristics are not good or bad per se. Instead, their rationality is ecological; that is, they are successful in the environments (institutions) to which they are adapted. The study of the structure of environments, and their systematic change, is thus a necessary part of efforts to improve decision making under uncertainty. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2008 APA, all rights reserved)

Gigerenzer, G. (2006). Heuristics. In G. Gigerenzer & C. Engel (Eds.), Heuristics and the law (pp. 17-44). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. (Full text)

Publication year	2006
Document type:	In book
Publication status:	Published
External URL:	http://library.mpib-berlin.mpg.de/ft/gg/GG_Heuristics_2006.pdf View
Categories:
Keywords:	decision makingenvironmenthabitsheuristicshumanintuitionuncertaintystructuresunderlying intuition & habit