文档介绍：Herbert A. Simon
Carnegie-Mellon University
Rationality in Psychology
and Economics*
The task I shall undertake here is pare and The assumption that
contrast the concepts of rationality that are prev• actors maximize sub•
alent in psychology and economics, respectively. jective expected utility
(economic rationality)
Economics has almost uniformly treated human supplies only a small
behavior as rational. Psychology, on the other part of the premises in
hand, has always been concerned with both the economic reasoning,
irrational and the rational aspects of behavior. In and that often not the
this paper, irrationality will be mentioned only essential part. The re•
mainder of the prem•
obliquely; my concern is with rationality. Eco• ises are auxiliary em•
nomics sometimes uses the term "irrationality" pirical assumptions
rather broadly (., Becker 1962) and the term about actors' utilities,
"rationality" correspondingly narrowly, so as to beliefs, expectations,
exclude from the domain of the rational many and the like. Making
these assumptions cor•
phenomena that psychology would include in it. rectly requires an em•
For my purposes parison, I will have to pirically founded the•
use the broader conception of psychology. ory of choice that
One point should be set immediately outside specifies what informa•
dispute. Everyone agrees that people have rea• tion decision makers
use and how they actu•
sons for what they do. They have motivations, ally process it. This be•
and they use reason (well or badly) to respond to havioral empirical base
these motivations and reach their goals. Even is largely lacking in
much, or most, of the behavior that is called ab• contemporary eco•
normal involves the exercise of thought and rea• nomic analysis, and
supplying it is essen•
son. Freud was most insistent that there is tial for enhancing the
method in madness, that neuroses and psychoses explanatory and pre•
were patients' solutions-not very