Gerd Gigerenzer in Erasmus Journal for Philosophy and Economics:
Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky’s joint papers from the 1970s and 1980s have inspired many, including myself. These articles magically turned statistical thinking—previously a niche interest—into a major re-search focus. Kahneman and Tversky revived the concept of heuristics, which had largely been forgotten at the time, and played a pivotal role in bringing psychology to the attention of economics and other social sciences. I was also deeply influenced by Tversky’s seminal work on the foundations of measurement, which inspired my first book on modeling.
In their joint work, known as the heuristics-and-biases program, Kahneman and Tversky argued that human judgment systematically deviates from the norms of probability and logic, resulting in predictable cognitive biases. These biases were attributed to heuristics—mental shortcuts—which led to a broader narrative in behavioral economics and psychology that emphasized human fallibility in decision-making.
The heuristics-and-biases program sparked intense debate on the nature of human rationality. This debate placed me in direct opposition to Kahneman and Tversky, with Kahneman referring to me in Thinking, Fast and Slow as “our most persistent critic”.
More here.
Enjoying the content on 3QD? Help keep us going by donating now.