Daniel Goldstein
Encyclopedia
Daniel Goldstein is an American
psychologist
known for the specification and testing of
heuristic
s and models of bounded rationality
in the field of
judgment and decision making
.
used
computer simulation
to study the accuracy and frugality of satisficing
heuristics for making inferences. Investigations of the
take-the-best heuristic
and the recognition heuristic
were later published as journal articles in
Psychological Review
and in the book Simple Heuristics That Make Us Smart
. These fast and frugal heuristics have
since had an impact in medicine, law and politics, and other areas
outside psychology
.
In 1995, advisor Gerd Gigerenzer
and Goldstein left Chicago to start
the Center for Adaptive Behavior and Cognition at the
Max Planck Institute in Germany. From 2002, Goldstein served 3 years as Associate
Director of the Center for the Decision Sciences at Columbia University
, where he co-authored with
Eric J. Johnson an influential article on organ donation
in the
journal Science
.
Goldstein is currently a Principal Research Scientist at Yahoo! Research, on leave from London Business School
. Goldstein's recent research
investigated perceptions of risk and uncertainty, particularly in
financial markets. He and Nassim Taleb
are testing people's
statistical intuitions when facing ecological, 'non-textbook' uncertainty,
and what they call the ludic fallacy
. Along with
Nobel Laureate William F. Sharpe, he has invented
a method to measure preferences and beliefs about probabilities called
the Distribution Builder
. In
2008, Goldstein was elected to the Executive Board of the
Society for Judgment and Decision Making
.
psychologist
Psychologist
Psychologist is a professional or academic title used by individuals who are either:* Clinical professionals who work with patients in a variety of therapeutic contexts .* Scientists conducting psychological research or teaching psychology in a college...
known for the specification and testing of
heuristic
Heuristic
Heuristic refers to experience-based techniques for problem solving, learning, and discovery. Heuristic methods are used to speed up the process of finding a satisfactory solution, where an exhaustive search is impractical...
s and models of bounded rationality
Bounded rationality
Bounded rationality is the idea that in decision making, rationality of individuals is limited by the information they have, the cognitive limitations of their minds, and the finite amount of time they have to make a decision...
in the field of
judgment and decision making
Decision making
Decision making can be regarded as the mental processes resulting in the selection of a course of action among several alternative scenarios. Every decision making process produces a final choice. The output can be an action or an opinion of choice.- Overview :Human performance in decision terms...
.
Academic career
Goldstein's thesis at the University of ChicagoUniversity of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
used
computer simulation
Computer simulation
A computer simulation, a computer model, or a computational model is a computer program, or network of computers, that attempts to simulate an abstract model of a particular system...
to study the accuracy and frugality of satisficing
heuristics for making inferences. Investigations of the
take-the-best heuristic
Take-the-best heuristic
According to the take-the-best heuristic, when making a judgment based on multiple criteria, the criteria are tried one at a time according to their cue validity, and a decision is made based on the first criterion which discriminates between the alternatives....
and the recognition heuristic
Recognition heuristic
The recognition heuristic has been used as a model in the psychology of judgment and decision making and as a heuristic in artificial intelligence. It states: :...
were later published as journal articles in
Psychological Review
Psychological Review
Psychological Review is a scientific journal that publishes articles on psychological theory. It was founded by Princeton psychologist James Mark Baldwin and Columbia psychologist James McKeen Cattell in 1894 as a publication vehicle for psychologists not connected with the Clark laboratory of G....
and in the book Simple Heuristics That Make Us Smart
. These fast and frugal heuristics have
since had an impact in medicine, law and politics, and other areas
outside psychology
.
In 1995, advisor Gerd Gigerenzer
Gerd Gigerenzer
Gerd Gigerenzer is a German psychologist who has studied the use of bounded rationality and heuristics in decision making, especially in medicine...
and Goldstein left Chicago to start
the Center for Adaptive Behavior and Cognition at the
Max Planck Institute in Germany. From 2002, Goldstein served 3 years as Associate
Director of the Center for the Decision Sciences at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
, where he co-authored with
Eric J. Johnson an influential article on organ donation
Organ donation
Organ donation is the donation of biological tissue or an organ of the human body, from a living or dead person to a living recipient in need of a transplantation. Transplantable organs and tissues are removed in a surgical procedure following a determination, based on the donor's medical and...
in the
journal Science
Science (journal)
Science is the academic journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and is one of the world's top scientific journals....
.
Goldstein is currently a Principal Research Scientist at Yahoo! Research, on leave from London Business School
London Business School
London Business School is an international business school and a constituent college of the federal University of London, located in central London, beside Regent's Park...
. Goldstein's recent research
investigated perceptions of risk and uncertainty, particularly in
financial markets. He and Nassim Taleb
Nassim Taleb
Nassim Nicholas Taleb is a Lebanese American essayist whose work focuses on problems of randomness and probability. His 2007 book The Black Swan was described in a review by Sunday Times as one of the twelve most influential books since World War II....
are testing people's
statistical intuitions when facing ecological, 'non-textbook' uncertainty,
and what they call the ludic fallacy
Ludic fallacy
The ludic fallacy is a term coined by Nassim Nicholas Taleb in his 2007 book The Black Swan. "Ludic" is from the Latin ludus, meaning "play, game, sport, pastime." It is summarized as "the misuse of games to model real-life situations." Taleb explains the fallacy as "basing studies of chance on the...
. Along with
Nobel Laureate William F. Sharpe, he has invented
a method to measure preferences and beliefs about probabilities called
the Distribution Builder
. In
2008, Goldstein was elected to the Executive Board of the
Society for Judgment and Decision Making
Society for Judgment and Decision Making
The Society for Judgment and Decision Making is an interdisciplinary academic organization dedicated to the study of normative, descriptive, and prescriptive theories of decision. Its members include psychologists, economists, organizational researchers, decision analysts, and other decision...
.
Selected publications (listed chronologically)
- Gigerenzer, G. & Goldstein, D. G. (1996). Reasoning the fast and frugal way: Models of bounded rationality. Psychological Review, 103, 650-669.
- Goldstein, D. G. & Gigerenzer, G. (2002). Models of ecological rationality: The recognition heuristic. Psychological Review, 109, 75-90.
- Johnson, E. J. & Goldstein, D. G. (2003). Do defaults save lives? Science, 302, 1338-1339.
- Goldstein, D. G., Johnson, E. J. & Sharpe, W. F. (in press). Choosing Outcomes Versus Choosing Products: Consumer-Focused Retirement Investment Advice. Journal of Consumer Research.