Gerd Gigerenzer
| Gerd Gigerenzer | |
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Gerd Gigerenzer (2014)
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| Born |
September 3, 1947 Wallersdorf, Germany |
| Residence | Berlin |
| Citizenship | German |
| Nationality | German |
| Fields |
Risk Psychology Decision theory |
| Institutions |
Max Planck Institute for Human Development (Director since 1997) Harding Center for Risk Literacy (Director since 2008) |
| Alma mater | Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (Diplom & Dr. phil.) |
| Thesis | Nonmetrische multidimensionale Skalierung als Modell des Urteilverhaltens (German) (1977) |
| Doctoral students |
Daniel Goldstein Wolfgang Gaissmaier Nils Straubinger |
| Known for | adaptive toolbox |
| Influences | Herbert A. Simon |
| Notable awards |
AAAS Prize for Behavioral Science Research (2008) German Psychology Prize (2011) Communicator Award of the German Research Association (DFG) (2011) |
| Spouse | Lorraine Daston |
| Children | Thalia Gigerenzer |
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Website www |
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Gerd Gigerenzer (born September 3, 1947, Wallersdorf, Germany) is a German psychologist who has studied the use of bounded rationality and heuristics in decision making. Gigerenzer is currently director of the Center for Adaptive Behavior and Cognition (ABC) at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development and director of the Harding Center for Risk Literacy, both in Berlin, Germany.
How do humans make inferences about their world with limited time and knowledge? Gigerenzer's answer is that in an uncertain world, probability theory is not sufficient; people also use smart heuristics, that is, rules of thumb. He conceptualizes rational decisions in terms of the adaptive toolbox (the repertoire of heuristics an individual or institution has) and the ability to choose a good heuristics for the task at hand. A heuristic is called ecologically rational to the degree that it is adapted to the structure of an environment.
Gigerenzer argues that heuristics are not irrational or always second-best to optimization, as the accuracy-effort trade-off view assumes, in which heuristics are seen as short-cuts that trade less effort for less accuracy. In contrast, his and associated researchers' studies have identified situations in which "less is more", that is, where heuristics make more accurate decisions with less effort. This contradicts the traditional view that more information is always better or at least can never hurt if it is free. Less-is-more effects have been shown experimentally, analytically, and by computer simulations.
Gigerenzer is former Professor of Psychology at the University of Chicago and John M. Olin Distinguished Visiting Professor, School of Law at the University of Virginia. He is also Batten Fellow at the Darden Business School, University of Virginia, and Fellow of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina.
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