Satisficing

Satisficing is a decision-making strategy or cognitive heuristic that entails searching through the available alternatives until an acceptability threshold is met.[1] The term satisficing, a portmanteau of satisfy and suffice,[2] was introduced by Herbert A. Simon in 1956,[3][4] although the concept was first posited in his 1947 book Administrative Behavior.[5][6] Simon used satisficing to explain the behavior of decision makers under circumstances in which an optimal solution cannot be determined. He maintained that many natural problems are characterized by computational intractability or a lack of information, both of which preclude the use of mathematical optimization procedures. He observed in his Nobel Prize in Economics speech that "decision makers can satisfice either by finding optimum solutions for a simplified world, or by finding satisfactory solutions for a more realistic world. Neither approach, in general, dominates the other, and both have continued to co-exist in the world of management science".[7]

Simon formulated the concept within a novel approach to rationality, which posits that rational choice theory is an unrealistic description of human decision processes and calls for psychological realism. He referred to this approach as bounded rationality. Moral satisficing is a branch of bounded rationality that views moral behavior as based on pragmatic social heuristics rather than on moral rules or optimization principles. These heuristics are neither good nor bad per se, but only in relation to the environments in which they are used.[8] Some consequentialist theories in moral philosophy use the concept of satisficing in a similar sense, though most call for optimization instead.

  1. ^ Colman, Andrew (2006). A Dictionary of Psychology. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 670. ISBN 978-0-19-861035-9.
  2. ^ Manktelow, Ken (2000). Reasoning and Thinking. Hove: Psychology Press. p. 221. ISBN 978-0863777080.
  3. ^ Simon, Herbert A. (1956). "Rational Choice and the Structure of the Environment" (PDF). Psychological Review. 63 (2): 129–138. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.545.5116. doi:10.1037/h0042769. PMID 13310708. S2CID 8503301. (page 129: "Evidently, organisms adapt well enough to 'satisfice'; they do not, in general, 'optimize'."; page 136: "A 'satisficing' path, a path that will permit satisfaction at some specified level of all its needs.")
  4. ^ Artinger, Florian M.; Gigerenzer, Gerd; Jacobs, Perke (2022). "Satisficing: Integrating Two Traditions". Journal of Economic Literature. 60 (2): 598–635. doi:10.1257/jel.20201396. hdl:21.11116/0000-0007-5C2A-4. ISSN 0022-0515. S2CID 249320959.
  5. ^ Brown, Reva (2004). "Consideration of the Origin of Herbert Simon's Theory of 'Satisficing' (1933-1947)". Management Decision. 42 (10): 1240–1256. doi:10.1108/00251740410568944.
  6. ^ Simon, Herbert A. (1947). Administrative Behavior: a Study of Decision-Making Processes in Administrative Organization (1st ed.). New York: Macmillan. OCLC 356505.
  7. ^ Simon, Herbert A. (1979). "Rational decision making in business organizations". The American Economic Review. 69 (4): 493–513. JSTOR 1808698.
  8. ^ Gigerenzer, Gerd (2011-04-15), "Moral Satisficing: Rethinking Moral Behavior as Bounded Rationality", Heuristics, Oxford University Press, pp. 203–221, retrieved 2024-09-13