The human being is constantly making decisions, although a good part of them is unconscious or automatic. However, at certain times he must face other more complex issues, which will require analysis and reflection prior to opting for a certain option. The field of psychology delves into the nature of this decision-making, for example, considering why what is decided is decided, what cognitive biases are involved in this process. And what capacity does a person have to come up with the optimal conclusion. Something that, according to the theory of bounded rationality, is not possible.
The American Herbert Simon, Nobel Prize in Economics in 1978, developed the model of bounded rationality, in which the social and economic sciences converge. A concept that is still valid today and that exposes the walls that people have to deal with when faced with the challenge of making a decision.
Herbert Simon theorizes about the impossibility of the human being to make decisions in a totally rational way. In other words, the limited rationality model that he proposes refers to the fact that people face these situations from a partially irrational perspective, due to cognitive, information and time limitations. So it cannot be determined what the optimal solution will be.
This is the opposite of the case of a computer, which has virtually unlimited access to information, as well as unparalleled processing speed. Which will allow you to carefully analyze each aspect until you find the optimal option.
Bounded rationality often manifests itself in people's lives when they have to make a decision, understanding as this the task of determining which is the best possible option in each case. The most common example is when a purchase process is being carried out for a certain item. For example, a car.
Herbert Simon considers decision-making as a process that is divided into three parts: identifying all the available possibilities, analyzing the level of adequacy of each of them and, finally, choosing which one will be optimal. But, according to the expert, completing these three steps effectively is not within the reach of a human being. Because he does not have the necessary capacity to contemplate all the real possibilities, nor with enough information, nor with the necessary time to study each one of them and foresee their consequences.
In addition, there are certain aspects, for example, personal preferences or other subjective factors, that affect the decision that is made and that, on occasions, prevail over objective information. Going back to the example of buying a car. Possibly, the aesthetic design of a model can tip the balance in its favor despite the fact that there are other alternatives that, technically and functionally, are superior.
