Cognitive constraints, contraction consistency, and the satisficing criterion

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Tyson, Chfistopher J.
• 署名单位: University of London
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC THEORY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-0531
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jet.2007.01.019
• 发表日期: 2008
• 页码: 51-70
• 关键词: choice function; perception; revealed preference; threshold

摘要

A theory of decision making is proposed that offers an axiomatic basis for the notion of satisficing postulated by Herbert Simon. The theory relaxes the standard assumption that the decision maker always fully perceives his preferences among the available alternatives, requiring instead that his ability to perceive any given preference be decreasing with respect to the complexity of the choice problem at hand. When complexity is aligned with set inclusion, this exercise is shown to be equivalent to abandoning the contraction consistency axiom of classical choice theory. (C) 2007 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.