Rationality

Question 1

two main questions in debate of rationality

Answer 1

what does it mean to be rational? are humans rational?

Question 2

example of irrational statements

Answer 2

more red apples than red things (conjunction fallacy), 2/3 survive better tahn 1/3 die (framing effect), make sure no one goes to concert without ticket means make sure everyone with ticket goes to concert

Question 3

standard/classical view of rationality

Answer 3

rational is to be in accordance to principles of reasoning based on rules of logic/probability

Question 4

what classically rational beings are good at

Answer 4

means to end reasoning, decision-making, math, probabilities, logic, consistent beliefs

Question 5

linda the bank teller

Answer 5

tversky and kahneman (question rationality), Linda cares about social justice, is she a bank teller or bank teller AND feminist, 89% get wrong - conjunction fallacy

Question 6

conjunction fallacy

Answer 6

A cannot be less than A and B, but get wrong

Question 7

how subjects response demonstrates conjunction fallacy (linda)

Answer 7

less likely to be bank teller AND feminist than just bank teller

Question 8

whether responses on linda come from improper education

Answer 8

85% of decision science grad students at Stanford also get wrong

Question 9

Lawyer v engineer

Answer 9

30 engineer, 70 lawyer, choose 100 descriptions, first sounds like engineer, second is neutral, third has no description, version 1 = lawyer dominant, version 2 = engineer dominant, do base rate neglect so think first is engineer

Question 10

base rate neglect

Answer 10

ignore all you know when you get a little bit of information in the other direction, like person athletic with fast car - nurse or pro basketball player? would say basketball but statistically is nurse

Question 11

bayesian reasoning

Answer 11

prior probability, updating, probability of hypothesis on given body of evidence depends on prior probability of hypothesis, if all 19 die vs 19 of 20 die update

Question 12

cases where subjects commit base rate neglect

Answer 12

1/10 guys hipsters, 7/10 hipsters have mustaches, so higher chance that guy is hipster, also cliff diving example

Question 13

asian disease

Answer 13

us outbreak where kills 600 people maybe… case 1: program A saves 200, program B 1/3 probability save 600 and 2/3 probability save no one, case 2: program A 400 die, program B 1/3 probability no one die, 2/3 probability 600 die - actually have same probability but 28% do risky with save and 78% do risky with die, framing effect

Question 14

framing effect

Answer 14

framing of works have effect, choice involving gains are often risk averse and choices involving losses often risk taking

Question 15

asymmetry in risk taking shown by subjects in asian disease cases

Answer 15

subjects take less risk with save and more risk with die

Question 16

wason selection task

Answer 16

turn over to see if card has vowel and odd number on other side, should pick E and 4 - need to turn over even number to make sure isn’t vowel and turn over vowel to make sure it has odd number

Question 17

subjects answer to wason task (incorrect answer)

Answer 17

pick E and 5, but 5 could have a vowel or consonant so doesn’t violate rule

Question 18

T and K idea of representativeness

Answer 18

people predict by representativeness and select outcome by how much they represent the essential features of the eidence, so when there’s things that affect likelihood but not representativeness then get rules wrong - using heuristics

Question 19

how representativeness explains mistakes of linda and laywer v engineer

Answer 19

base rate neglect, because sounds representative of engineer, ignore probability that is being offered

Question 20

overview of T and K argument and which ideas of ecological rationality will disagree with

Answer 20

rational only if can reason with logic, not good at reasoning and logic, so not rational, idea that rationality is bounded so it has limited time/knowledge/capacities

Question 21

ecological v standard/classical reationality

Answer 21

ecological takes into account real world environment with limitations of organisms, whereas rational is just rational due to rules of logic

Question 22

idea of satisficing

Answer 22

make adequate solution and move to next due to limited capacity/abilities, first best choice

Question 23

idea of bounded rationality with ecological rationality

Answer 23

organisms have limited time/knowledge/computational capacities and each environment has its own challenges, Herbert Simon

Question 24

modules and central processing

Answer 24

modules are domain specific and give input to conceptually based, domain general central processing, where central processing carries out higher cognitive processes, system 1 (modules)

Question 25

evol. psychology views on modules - massive modularity

Answer 25

idea that even higher cognitive processes are carried out by modules, contrasts with other psychologists’ views

Question 26

evol. psychology view on why modules sometimes fail

Answer 26

modules are specialized so it’s not surprisig if they function well only under specific circumstances

Question 27

frequentist hypothesis

Answer 27

some of reasoning comes from probability but they’re made to take frequency information and input and make frequency as output, if problems concern probability in terms of frequency then do much better at it

Question 28

altruism and the conditions under which it is and isn’t favored by natural selection

Answer 28

give resources to non related people is bad unles it is reciprocal so must be able to detect when it will be reciprocal

Question 29

cheater detection module

Answer 29

module that tracks if people are cheating in social exchange, only works in right situations

Question 30

new version of linda

Answer 30

ask of 100 people fit description above, how many are bank tellers or bank tellers and feminists, only 22% get wrong

Question 31

new version of wason selection task

Answer 31

better at concrete examples, like if drink beer need to be over 20, 75% get right and pick beer and 16 year old to flip, same with sandwich for money and meat - I give you thing and you didn’t give me thing, make contractual

Question 32

fast and frugal heuristics

Answer 32

human rationality is bounded, so best way to maximize and make efficient is fast a frugal

Question 33

city naming study

Answer 33

san diego or san antonio larger, german students all right, US students 62% right, use best heuristics and first differentiation is where german students stop because only have heard of san antonio, Gigerenzer and Goldstein

Question 34

take the best heuristic

Answer 34

choose between alternatives, search in order of validity and stop when cue discriminates then pick the best of the 2

Question 35

general idea behind fast and frugal heuristics and how successful they are

Answer 35

1/N strategy, satisficing, default, imitate majority/successful, find they often do better than using more painstaking methods

Question 36

1/N strategy - fast and frugal

Answer 36

investing equally between stuff does better than wallstreet advice

Question 37

default - fast and frugal

Answer 37

go with default unless there’s a problem with default

Question 38

imitate majority/successful - fast and frugal

Answer 38

do what they do and usually works out okay