Adaptive rationality: an evolutionary perspective on cognitive bias

Haselton, Martie G.; Bryant, Gregory A.; Wilke, Andreas; Frederick, David A.; Galperin, Andrew; Frankenhuis, Willem E.; Moore, Tyler

doi:10.1521/soco.2009.27.5.733

Cited by 222Decision-Making and Behavioral EconomicsEvolutionary Psychology and Human BehaviorPsychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment

Adaptive rationality: an evolutionary perspective on cognitive bias

Haselton, Martie G., Bryant, Gregory A., Wilke, Andreas, Frederick, David A., Galperin, Andrew, Frankenhuis, Willem E., Moore, Tyler·2009·Social Cognition

DOI 10.1521/soco.2009.27.5.733

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Abstract

A casual look at the literature in social cognition reveals a vast collection of biases, errors, violations of rational choice, and failures to maximize utility. One is tempted to draw the conclusion that the human mind is woefully muddled. We present a three-category evolutionary taxonomy of evidence of biases: biases are (a) heuristics, (b) error management effects, or (c) experimental artifacts. We conclude that much of the research on cognitive biases can be profitably reframed and understood in evolutionary terms. An adaptationist perspective suggests that the mind is remarkably well designed for important problems of survival and reproduction, and not fundamentally irrational. Our analysis is not an apologia intended to place the rational mind on a pedestal for admiration. Rather, it promises practical outcomes including a clearer view of the architecture of systems for judgment and decision making, and exposure of clashes between adaptations designed for the ancestral past and the demands of the present.

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Cognitive biases can be caused by a mismatch between evolutionarily rationalized heuristics and the current context or environment.
“Cognitive biases can be caused by a mismatch between evolutionarily rationalized “heuristics” (“evolutionary rationality”: Haselton et al., 2009) and the current context or environment (Tooby and Cosmides, 2005).”
From Human- versus Artificial Intelligence (2021) · cites this paper as Haselton et al., 2009

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The sex game
Bernard, J. S. (1968) · Cited by 104 · see citing works
Memories of Things Unseen
Loftus, E. F. (2004) · Current Directions in Psychological Science · doi:10.1111/j.0963-7214.2004.00294.x · Cited by 102 · see citing works
Teaching Bayesian reasoning: an evaluation of a classroom tutorial for medical students
Kurzenhäuser, S., & Hoffrage, U. (2002) · Medical Teacher · doi:10.1080/0142159021000012540 · Cited by 100 · see citing works
The hot hand phenomenon as a cognitive adaptation to clumped resources
Wilke, A., & Barrett, H. C. (2009) · Evolution and Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2008.11.004 · Cited by 95 · see citing works
Self-citation
Perceptual Mechanisms That Characterize Gender Differences in Decoding Women's Sexual Intent
Farris, C. A., Treat, T. A., Viken, R. J., & McFall, R. M. (2008) · Psychological Science · doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2008.02092.x · Cited by 93 · see citing works
Reply to Steven Pinker ‘So How Does The Mind Work?’
Fodor, J. A. (2005) · Mind & Language · doi:10.1111/j.0268-1064.2005.00275.x · Cited by 84 · see citing works
The Evolution of Accuracy and Bias in Social Judgment
Haselton, M. G., & Funder, D. C. (2004) · Cited by 77 · see citing works
Self-citation
Inferring sexual interest from behavioral cues: Effects of gender and sexually relevant attitudes
Kowalski, R. M. (1993) · Sex Roles · doi:10.1007/bf00289994 · Cited by 77 · see citing works
A dyadic assessment of forgiveness in intimate relationships
Friesen, M. D., Fletcher, G. J. O., & Overall, N. C. (2005) · Personal Relationships · doi:10.1111/j.1350-4126.2005.00102.x · Cited by 74 · see citing works
Misperception of sexual and romantic interests in opposite‐sex friendships: Four hypotheses
Koenig, B. L., Kirkpatrick, L. A., & Ketelaar, T. (2007) · Personal Relationships · doi:10.1111/j.1475-6811.2007.00163.x · Cited by 66 · see citing works
An Early History of Hindsight Research
Fischhoff, B. (2007) · Social Cognition · doi:10.1521/soco.2007.25.1.10 · Cited by 63 · see citing works
Robust inference with simple cognitive models
Brighton, H. (2006) · Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics · Cited by 54 · see citing works
The effects of selective evaluation on the perception of female cues in sexually coercive and noncoercive males
Shealy, L. (1993) · Archives of Sexual Behavior · doi:10.1007/bf01542557 · Cited by 53 · see citing works
The Bioenergetics of the Immune System
Lord, G. M., Matarese, G., Howard, J. K., Lechler, R. I., Moret, Y., & Schmid‐Hempel, P. (2001) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.292.5518.855 · Cited by 49 · see citing works
The two faces of dominance: The differential effect of ingroup superiority and outgroup inferiority on dominant-group identity and group esteem
Chow, R. M., Lowery, B. S., & Knowles, E. D. (2007) · Journal of Experimental Social Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2007.11.002 · Cited by 48 · see citing works
Expectations of clumpy resources influence predictions of sequential events
Scheibehenne, B., Wilke, A., & Todd, P. M. (2011) · Evolution and Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2010.11.003 · Cited by 47 · see citing works
Self-citation
Toward an Understanding of “The Sex Game”: The Effects of Gender and Self‐Monitoring on Perceptions of Sexuality and Likability in Initial Interactions1
Harnish, R. J., Abbey, A., & DeBono, K. G. (1990) · Journal of Applied Social Psychology · doi:10.1111/j.1559-1816.1990.tb01475.x · Cited by 46 · see citing works
Perceived sexual intent in the U.S. and Brazil as a function of nature of encounter, subjects'nationality, and gender
DeSouza, E., Pierce, T., Zanelli, J. C., & Hutz, C. S. (1992) · The Journal of Sex Research · doi:10.1080/00224499209551645 · Cited by 41 · see citing works
Adaptive illusions: optimism, control, and human rationality
Nettle, D. (2004) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198528975.003.0010 · Cited by 40 · see citing works
The role of representation in Bayesian reasoning: Correcting common misconceptions
Gigerenzer, G., & Hoffrage, U. (2007) · Behavioral and Brain Sciences · doi:10.1017/s0140525x07001756 · Cited by 40 · see citing works
Sex Differences in Detecting Sexual Infidelity
Andrews, P. W., Gangestad, S. W., Miller, G. F., Haselton, M. G., Thornhill, R., & Neale, M. C. (2008) · Human Nature · doi:10.1007/s12110-008-9051-3 · Cited by 38 · see citing works
Self-citation
A Reply to Jerry Fodor on How the Mind Works
Pinker, S. A. (2005) · Mind & Language · doi:10.1111/j.0268-1064.2005.00276.x · Cited by 37 · see citing works
The impact of mode of presentation on gender differences in social perception
Edmondson, C. B., & Conger, J. C. (1995) · Sex Roles · doi:10.1007/bf01544787 · Cited by 27 · see citing works
Using the Delay Discounting Task to test for failures in ego control in substance abusers: A meta-analysis.
Gottdiener, W. H., Murawski, P., & Kucharski, L. T. (2008) · Psychoanalytic Psychology · doi:10.1037/0736-9735.25.3.533 · Cited by 23 · see citing works
Statistics: What Seems Natural?
Butterworth, B. L. (2001) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.292.5518.853c · Cited by 17 · see citing works
Overestimation bias in mate competition
Hill, S. E. (2006) · Evolution and Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2006.08.006 · Cited by 12 · see citing works
Evolved responses to an uncertain world
Wilke, A. (2006) · Universitätsbibliothek der FU Berlin Hochschulschriftenstelle u. Dokumentenserver · doi:10.17169/refubium-7570 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
Self-citation
Testing Simple Rules for Human Foraging in Patchy Environments
Wilke, A., Hutchinson, J. M. C., & Todd, P. M. (2005) · eScholarship (California Digital Library) · Cited by 7 · see citing works
Self-citation
Ecologically structured information: The power of pictures and other effective data presentations
Gaissmaier, W., Straubinger, N., & Funder, D. C. (2007) · Behavioral and Brain Sciences · doi:10.1017/s0140525x07001744 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Untitled work
Hertwig (1999) · doi:10.1002/(sici)1099-0771(199912)12:4

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Sorted by citations

Human- versus Artificial Intelligence
Korteling, J. E. (., van de Boer-Visschedijk, G. C., Blankendaal, R. A. M., Boonekamp, R. C., & Eikelboom, A. R. (2021) · Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence · doi:10.3389/frai.2021.622364 · Cited by 619 · see citing works
The Evolution of Cognitive Bias
Haselton, M. G., Nettle, D., & Andrews, P. W. (2015) · Wiley eBooks · doi:10.1002/9780470939376.ch25 · Cited by 483 · see citing works
Self-citation
Fundamental motives: How evolutionary needs influence consumer behavior
Griskevicius, V., & Kenrick, D. (2013) · Journal of Consumer Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.jcps.2013.03.003 · Cited by 425 · see citing works
“Whereas such seemingly irrational tendencies have traditionally been viewed as design flaws in the mind, an evolutionary perspective suggests that many of our biases and errors may instead reflect design features (Haselton & Nettle, 2006; Haselton et al., 2009; Kenrick & Griskevicius, 2013).”
Background
Environmental enrichment induces optimistic cognitive bias in rats
Brydges, N. M., Leach, M. C., Nicol, K., Wright, R., & Melissa Bateson, B. (2010) · Animal Behaviour · doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2010.09.030 · Cited by 293 · see citing works
“It is well established in humans that affective state can influence many aspects of cognition (Williams et al. 1997; Haselton et al. 2009).”
Background
The evolution of error: error management, cognitive constraints, and adaptive decision-making biases
Johnson, D. D. P., Blumstein, D. T., Fowler, J. H., & Haselton, M. G. (2013) · Trends in Ecology & Evolution · doi:10.1016/j.tree.2013.05.014 · Cited by 364 · see citing works
Self-citation
Exposing the behavioral gambit: the evolution of learning and decision rules
Fawcett, T. W., Hamblin, S., & Giraldeau, L. (2012) · Behavioral Ecology · doi:10.1093/beheco/ars085 · Cited by 285 · see citing works
The evolution of decision rules in complex environments.
Fawcett, T. W., Fallenstein, B., Higginson, A. D., Houston, A., Mallpress, D. E., Trimmer, P. C., & McNamara, J. (2014) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.tics.2013.12.012 · Cited by 247 · see citing works
Decision-Making Under Risk
Mishra, S. (2014) · Personality and Social Psychology Review · doi:10.1177/1088868314530517 · Cited by 238 · see citing works
“A full review of cognitive biases in light of evolutionary thinking is beyond the scope of this article, but see Haselton and Nettle (2006); Haselton, Nettle, and Andrews (2005); and Haselton et al. (2009).”
Background
The financial consequences of too many men: Sex ratio effects on saving, borrowing, and spending.
Griskevicius, V., Tybur, J. M., Ackerman, J. M., Delton, A. W., Robertson, T. E., & White, A. E. (2011) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0024761 · Cited by 228 · see citing works
Irrational beliefs differentially predict adherence to guidelines and pseudoscientific practices during the COVID ‐19 pandemic
Teovanović, P., Lukić, P., Zupan, Z., Lazić, A., Ninković, M., & Žeželj, I. L. (2020) · Applied Cognitive Psychology · doi:10.1002/acp.3770 · Cited by 200 · see citing works
“More precisely, as the probability of making either type of error cannot be simultaneously minimized, people tend to decrease the likelihood of making the costlier one (Haselton et al., 2009).”
Background
Toward Parsimony in Bias Research: A Proposed Common Framework of Belief-Consistent Information Processing for a Set of Biases
Oeberst, A., & Imhoff, R. (2023) · Perspectives on Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/17456916221148147 · Cited by 177 · see citing works
“…of (certain) biases (e.g., Evans, 1991; Evans et al., 1993; Fiedler et al., 2021; Gigerenzer et al., 2011; Gigerenzer & Selten, 2001; Hahn & Harris, 2014; Haselton et al., 2009; Oaksford & Chater, 1992; Sedlmeier et al., 1998; Simon, 1990; Sturm, 2012; P. M. Todd & Gigerenzer, 2001, 2007).”
The Evolution of Cognitive Bias
Haselton, M. G., Nettle, D., & Murray, D. R. (2015) · doi:10.1002/9781119125563.evpsych241 · Cited by 169 · see citing works
Self-citation
Looking Under the Hood of Third-Party Punishment Reveals Design for Personal Benefit
Krasnow, M. M., Delton, A. W., Cosmides, L., & Tooby, J. (2016) · Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/0956797615624469 · Cited by 143 · see citing works
“But that same mechanism may produce behavior that appears unwarranted or irrational when placed in evolutionarily atypical situations (Haselton et al., 2009; Kenrick et al., 2009; Lieberman, Tooby, & Cosmides, 2007; Mishra, 2014; Todd & Gigerenzer, 2007).”
A Neural Network Framework for Cognitive Bias
Korteling, J. E., Brouwer, A.-M., & Toet, A. (2018) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01561 · Cited by 134 · see citing works
“The evolutionary perspective attributes cognitive biases to a mismatch between evolutionarily developed heuristics (‘evolutionary rationality’: Haselton et al., 2009) and the current context or environment (Tooby and Cosmides, 2005).”
Background
Evolutionary psychiatry: foundations, progress and challenges
Nesse, R. M. (2023) · World Psychiatry · doi:10.1002/wps.21072 · Cited by 130 · see citing works
Knowledge, Action, and Space: An Introduction
Meusburger, P., & Werlen, B. (2017) · Knowledge and space · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-44588-5_1 · Cited by 121 · see citing works
“The concept of homo oeconomicus and the assumptions that traditional rational choice theorists make about the human decision-maker and some other premises have been criticized by many authors as empirically unfounded and psychologically unrealistic (Buskens, 2015; Flache & Dijkstra, 2015; Gigerenzer & Gaissmaier, 2015…”
Background
Hindsight Bias: On Being Wise After the Event
Blank, H., Musch, J., & POHL, R. F. (2007) · Social Cognition · doi:10.1521/soco.2007.25.1.1 · Cited by 117 · see citing works
The Relative State Model: Integrating Need-Based and Ability-Based Pathways to Risk-Taking
Mishra, S., Barclay, P., & Sparks, A. M. (2016) · Personality and Social Psychology Review · doi:10.1177/1088868316644094 · Cited by 101 · see citing works
Psychological biases of individual investors and financial satisfaction
Sahi, S. K. (2017) · Journal of Consumer Behaviour · doi:10.1002/cb.1644 · Cited by 93 · see citing works
Influence of Cognitive Biases in Distorting Decision Making and Leading to Critical Unfavorable Incidents
Murata, A., Nakamura, T., & Karwowski, W. (2015) · Safety · doi:10.3390/safety1010044 · Cited by 91 · see citing works
“[32] suggested that the research on cognitive biases might be well understood through an evolutionary perspective on cognitive bias.”
Background
The subtleties of error management
McKay, R., & Efferson, C. M. (2010) · Evolution and Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2010.04.005 · Cited by 91 · see citing works
“An influential theory in the recent evolutionary psychology literature is error management theory (Haselton, 2007; Haselton et al., 2009; Haselton and Buss, 2000, 2003; Haselton and Nettle, 2006).”
Background
The hot hand phenomenon as a cognitive adaptation to clumped resources
Wilke, A., & Barrett, H. C. (2009) · Evolution and Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2008.11.004 · Cited by 95 · see citing works
Self-citation
Evolutionary consumption
Saad, G. (2013) · Journal of Consumer Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.jcps.2013.03.002 · Cited by 89 · see citing works
Hot-hand bias in rhesus monkeys.
Blanchard, T. C., Wilke, A., & Hayden, B. Y. (2014) · Journal of Experimental Psychology Animal Learning and Cognition · doi:10.1037/xan0000033 · Cited by 73 · see citing works
“Indeed, the hot-hand bias might be adaptive in contexts where clumps sometimes exist but dispersal is rare, as in foraging (cf. Haselton et al., 2009).”
BackgroundSelf-citation
Cognitive Biases
(Hans) Korteling, J. E., & Toet, A. (2022) · Encyclopedia of Behavioral Neuroscience, 2nd edition · doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-809324-5.24105-9 · Cited by 65 · see citing works
Generalization Bias in Science
Peters, U., Krauss, A., & Braganza, O. (2022) · Cognitive Science · doi:10.1111/cogs.13188 · Cited by 63 · see citing works
“This notion of “cognitive bias” is consistent with the way the term is typically used in the cognitive sciences (Haselton et al., 2009; Kahneman, 2011; Stanovich, 2009).”
Method
An Early History of Hindsight Research
Fischhoff, B. (2007) · Social Cognition · doi:10.1521/soco.2007.25.1.10 · Cited by 63 · see citing works
Evolution and the expression of biases: situational value changes the endowment effect in chimpanzees
Brosnan, S. F., Jones, O. D., Gardner, M., Lambeth, S. P., & Schapiro, S. J. (2012) · Evolution and Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2011.11.009 · Cited by 59 · see citing works
“Neither food could be obtained without the appropriate tool, or with the alternate tool.”
Self-enhancement diminished.
Heck, P. R., & Krueger, J. I. (2015) · Journal of Experimental Psychology General · doi:10.1037/xge0000105 · Cited by 52 · see citing works
Spatial and Temporal Biases in Assessments of Environmental Conditions in New Zealand
Milfont, T. L., Abrahamse, W., & McCarthy, N. (2011) · New Zealand journal of psychology · Cited by 49 · see citing works
Expectations of clumpy resources influence predictions of sequential events
Scheibehenne, B., Wilke, A., & Todd, P. M. (2011) · Evolution and Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2010.11.003 · Cited by 47 · see citing works
“Whether or not a tendency to expect particular patterns is appropriate depends on the actual structure of the environment (Alloy & Tabachnik, 1984; Haselton et al., 2009).”
BackgroundSelf-citation
Criminal Responsibility and Neuroscience: No Revolution Yet
Bigenwald, A., & Chambon, V. (2019) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01406 · Cited by 47 · see citing works
Retention and Transfer of Cognitive Bias Mitigation Interventions: A Systematic Literature Study
Korteling, J. E., Gerritsma, J. Y. J., & Toet, A. (2021) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.629354 · Cited by 44 · see citing works
Early Experience Affects the Strength of Vigilance for Threat in Rhesus Monkey Infants
Mandalaywala, T. M., Parker, K. J., & Dario Maestripieri, A. (2014) · Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/0956797614544175 · Cited by 42 · see citing works
“Rather, humans show many predictable biases in attention, perception, memory, and decision making (e.g., Kahneman, 2011).”
Looming sounds are perceived as faster than receding sounds
Neuhoff, J. G. (2016) · Cognitive Research Principles and Implications · doi:10.1186/s41235-016-0017-4 · Cited by 41 · see citing works
Freedom of choice adds value to public goods
Ши, Л., Romić, I., Ma, Y., Wang, Z., Boris Podobnik, A., Stanley, E., Holme, P., & Jusup, M. (2020) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1921806117 · Cited by 40 · see citing works
The development of the illusion of control and sense of agency in 7- to-12-year old children and adults
van Elk, M., Rutjens, B. T., & van der Pligt, J. (2015) · Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2015.08.004 · Cited by 39 · see citing works
“In contrast, an overestimation of control may be adaptive because it helps the person to not miss opportunities to exert control (Haselton & Nettle, 2006; Haselton et al., 2009), as well as through its positive effects on self-esteem (Taylor & Brown, 1988).”
Do contagion cues shape customers’ willingness to adopt hospitality service robots?
Kang, Q., Zhou, L., Liu, J., & Ran, Y. (2022) · International Journal of Hospitality Management · doi:10.1016/j.ijhm.2022.103244 · Cited by 38 · see citing works
Past and present environments
Ross, C., & Wilke, A. (2011) · Journal of Evolutionary Psychology · doi:10.1556/jep.9.2011.3.5 · Cited by 32 · see citing works
Self-citation
Momentum-like effects and the dynamics of perception, cognition, and action
Hubbard, T. L. (2019) · Attention Perception & Psychophysics · doi:10.3758/s13414-019-01770-z · Cited by 35 · see citing works
Heuristic errors in clinical reasoning
Rylander, M., & Guerrasio, J. (2015) · The Clinical Teacher · doi:10.1111/tct.12444 · Cited by 32 · see citing works
Ultimate explanations and suboptimal choice
Vasconcelos, M., Machado, A. D., & Pandeirada, J. N. S. (2018) · Behavioural Processes · doi:10.1016/j.beproc.2018.03.023 · Cited by 32 · see citing works
“Seth 2007), but may be suboptimal when the animal is placed in an environment that does not mirror the main features of the environments to which it is adapted (Haselton et al. 2009).”
Thinking about Death Reduces Delay Discounting
Kelley, N. J., & Schmeichel, B. (2015) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0144228 · Cited by 28 · see citing works
“Evolutionary views of human nature, which include terror management theory, assume the mind is adaptively rational to the extent that it evolved to solve survival-relevant challenges in ancestral environments [28, 29].”
The structural dynamics of social class
Kraus, M. W., & Park, J. W. (2017) · Current Opinion in Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.copsyc.2017.07.029 · Cited by 29 · see citing works
Maintaining Homeostasis by Decision-Making
Korn, C. W., & Bach, D. R. (2015) · PLoS Computational Biology · doi:10.1371/journal.pcbi.1004301 · Cited by 26 · see citing works
“A similar rationale has recently been advocated in discussions of whether animal [29,30] and human [31–34] decision-making deviates from normative models.”
Background
An evolutionary perspective on the long-term efficiency of costly punishment
Frey, U. J., & Rusch, H. (2012) · Biology & Philosophy · doi:10.1007/s10539-012-9327-1 · Cited by 25 · see citing works
“The Gaze Heuristic:” Biography of an Adaptively Rational Decision Process
Hamlin, R. P. (2017) · Topics in Cognitive Science · doi:10.1111/tops.12253 · Cited by 26 · see citing works
Judgment and Decision-Making
Mishra, S., Novakowski, D., & Gonzales, J. (2017) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_628-1 · Cited by 25 · see citing works
Inequity Responses in Nonhuman Animals
Talbot, C. F., Price, S. A., & Brosnan, S. F. (2016) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-1-4939-3216-0_21 · Cited by 24 · see citing works
Action Effects on Visual Perception of Distances: A Multilevel Bayesian Meta-Analysis
Molto, L., Nalborczyk, L., Palluel-Germain, R., & Morgado, N. (2020) · Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/0956797619900336 · Cited by 25 · see citing works
“Alternatively, action-constraint effects on judgment might be heuristics allowing people to make adaptive decisions (Haselton et al., 2009).”
Background
Motivations and reasons for women attending a Breast Self-Examination training program: A qualitative study
Yang, R.-J., Huang, L., Hsieh, Y., Chung, U., Huang, C., & Bih, H. (2010) · BMC Women s Health · doi:10.1186/1472-6874-10-23 · Cited by 23 · see citing works
“Referring to Haselton's statement in adaptive rationality, he suggests that the mind is remarkably well designed to deal with the important problems of survival and reproduction, and is not fundamentally irrational [16].”
Background
Merely opting out of a public good is moralized: An error management approach to cooperation.
Delton, A. W., Nemirow, J., Robertson, T. E., Cimino, A., & Cosmides, L. (2013) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0033495 · Cited by 22 · see citing works
A Game of Hide and Seek: Expectations of Clumpy Resources Influence Hiding and Searching Patterns
Wilke, A., Minich, S. H., Panis, M., Langen, T. A., Skufca, J. D., & Todd, P. M. (2015) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0130976 · Cited by 22 · see citing works
Self-citation
The sexual overperception bias: An exploration of the relationship between mate value and perception of sexual interest.
Kohl, C., & Robertson, J. M. (2014) · Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences · doi:10.1037/h0097247 · Cited by 21 · see citing works
Battling bias: Effects of training and training context
Poos, J. M., den Bosch, K. V., & Janssen, C. P. (2017) · Computers & Education · doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2017.04.004 · Cited by 21 · see citing works
Religious Cognition as a Dual-Process: Developing the Model
Oviedo, L. (2013) · Method & Theory in the Study of Religion · doi:10.1163/15700682-12341288 · Cited by 21 · see citing works
Performance Feedback Processing Is Positively Biased As Predicted by Attribution Theory
Korn, C. W., Rosenblau, G., Buritica, J. M. R., & Heekeren, H. R. (2016) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0148581 · Cited by 21 · see citing works
How Do HCI Researchers Study Cognitive Biases? A Scoping Review
Boonprakong, N., Tag, B., Gonçalves, J., & Dingler, T. (2025) · CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems · doi:10.1145/3706598.3713450 · Cited by 22 · see citing works
“In evolution psychology, Haselton and colleagues [78, 79] discuss cognitive biases as rather design features of the human mind, citing that humans develop many cognitive biases and heuristics as part of their survival and the natural selection.”
Betting on Illusory Patterns: Probability Matching in Habitual Gamblers
Gaissmaier, W., Wilke, A., Scheibehenne, B., McCanney, P., & Barrett, H. C. (2015) · Journal of Gambling Studies · doi:10.1007/s10899-015-9539-9 · Cited by 19 · see citing works
Self-citation
Ecological and Evolutionary Principles for Secondary Education: Analyzing Career and Tech Ed
Richardson, G. B., Castellano, M., Stone, J. R., & Sanning, B. K. (2015) · Evolutionary Psychological Science · doi:10.1007/s40806-015-0034-4 · Cited by 19 · see citing works
“tral humans (Geary and Flinn 2001; Haselton et al. 2009; Haselton et al. 2005).”
Background
Why we need biased AI: How including cognitive biases can enhance AI systems
Hagendorff, T., & Fabi, S. (2024) · Journal of Experimental & Theoretical Artificial Intelligence · doi:10.1080/0952813x.2023.2178517 · Cited by 20 · see citing works
“According to the theory of ecological rationality (Gigerenzer & Gaissmaier, 2011; Gigerenzer, 1991, 1996; Haselton et al., 2009; Vranas, 2000), only under conditions of a mismatch between current environments and evolutionary acquired adaptations, for instance, in artificial laboratory settings,…”
Seeing storms behind the clouds: Biases in the attribution of anger
Galperin, A., Fessler, D., Johnson, K. L., & Haselton, M. (2013) · Evolution and Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2013.06.003 · Cited by 19 · see citing works
Self-citation
Rules of thumb, from Holocene to Anthropocene
Kaaronen, R., Manninen, M. A., & Eronen, J. (2023) · The Anthropocene Review · doi:10.1177/20530196221149105 · Cited by 16 · see citing works
“A key component of human adaptive capacity is our ability to solve problems and make decisions effectively, even when available information is limited (Gigerenzer and Selten, 2002; Haselton et al., 2009).”
Background
Knowledge and Action
Werlen, B., Suarsana, L., & Meusburger, P. (2017) · Knowledge and space · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-44588-5 · Cited by 18 · see citing works
So, What Are Cognitive Biases?
Ellis, G. P. (2018) · Cognitive Biases in Visualizations · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-95831-6_1 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
Assumptions of Rationality in Political Marketing: The Case of the Republican Autopsy
Bendle, N. T., & Cotte, J. (2016) · Journal of Nonprofit & Public Sector Marketing · doi:10.1080/10495142.2016.1131481 · Cited by 17 · see citing works
“Adaptive rationality instead is the product of the evolutionary process that formed the human mind (Haselton et al., 2009).”
Background
Contamination Appraisals, Pollution Beliefs, and the Role of Cultural Inheritance in Shaping Disease Avoidance Behavior
Feder, Y. (2015) · Cognitive Science · doi:10.1111/cogs.12293 · Cited by 16 · see citing works
Belief updating in the face of misinformation: The role of source reliability
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“…proposal also fits with emerging research advocating for the default assumption of rationality in individuals, reinforcing the idea that people use contextual information and their own reasoning to navigate complex information land-scapes effectively (Haselton et al., 2009; Madsen et al., 2024).”
The interaction of perceptual biases in bistable perception
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Low foreign language proficiency reduces optimism about the personal future
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“…adaptive strategies such as exploring unknown options, coping with adverse events, or engaging in precautionary behaviour (Alicke & Sedikides, 2009; Haselton et al., 2009; Haselton & Nettle, 2006; Johnson & Fowler, 2011; Nettle & Bateson, 2012; Puri & Robinson, 2007; Solberg Nes & Segerstrom,…”
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“(Haselton et al., 2009,p.742) In other words, as the cost of missing the odd poisonous snake is far higher than the cost of occasionally getting a scare when you think there is a snake although there is not, you should err on the side of being a bit too ready to perceive snakes.”
Modelling pre-service science teachers’ pro-environmental behaviours in relation to psychological and cognitive variables
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Aversive stimuli bias corticothalamic responses to motivationally significant cues
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“Cognitive processes—appraisals of stimuli, events and situations—play an important role in generating affective states, and these affective states influence cognitive functioning by inducing attentional, memory, and judgment biases (Lerner and Keltner, 2000; Haselton et al., 2009; Harding et al., 2004; Enkel et al., 2…”
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Risking Treasure: Testing Loss Aversion in an Adventure Game
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“However, some biases are believed to have originated from evolutionary adaptations [53, 55] that may improve decision making efficacy [64].”
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Past and present environments: the evolution of decision making.
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Does Exposure to Hostile Environments Predict Enhanced Emotion Detection?
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“It explains why people sometimes process information in a biased manner (Haselton et al., 2009).”
The Perception of Operational Sex Ratios by Voice
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“This supports the evolutionary perspective on individual bias, which argues that bias limits information and may improve adaptation (Haselton et al. 2009).”
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Spatial dependency in local resource distributions.
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“Historically, such search behavior and erroneous perceptions of randomness have been labeled as cognitive limitations, fallacies, or cognitive bias (cf. Haselton et al., 2009).”
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Error Management Bias in Student Design Teams
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Economics and Epicycles
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Authors: Haselton, M. G., Bryant, G. A., Wilke, A., Frederick, D. A., Galperin, A., Frankenhuis, W. E., & Moore, T.
Affiliations: University of California, Los Angeles (US)
Max Planck Society (DE)
ORCID: Bryant, Gregory A.
Wilke, Andreas
Frederick, David A.
Frankenhuis, Willem E.
Moore, Tyler
Venue: Social Cognition
Publisher: Guilford Publications
Published: 2009-10
Volume: 27
Issue: 5
Pages: 733-763
ISSN: 0278-016X (ISSN-L)
DOI: 10.1521/soco.2009.27.5.733
OpenAlex: W2171950188
Cited by: 222
References: 147
Citations by year: 2026: 11 · 2025: 19 · 2024: 13 · 2023: 22 · 2022: 11 · 2021: 17 · 2020: 17 · 2019: 6 · 2018: 12 · 2017: 22 · 2016: 10 · 2015: 19 · 2014: 10 · 2013: 7 · 2012: 11
FWCI: 4.87
Type: journal article
Language: en
Open access: closed
Locations: Social Cognition (publishedVersion)
Chapman University Digital Commons (Chapman University) (submittedVersion)
Utrecht University Repository (Utrecht University) (submittedVersion)
Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics (submittedVersion)
eScholarship (California Digital Library) (submittedVersion)
Max Planck Digital Library (submittedVersion)
MPG.PuRe (Max Planck Society) (submittedVersion)
Radboud Repository (Radboud University) (submittedVersion)
Topics: Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › General Decision Sciences › Decision-Making and Behavioral Economics
Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior
Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Psychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment
Keywords: cognitive biases, adaptive rationality, evolutionary psychology, heuristics, error management, experimental artifacts, rational choice, judgment and decision making, adaptationism, cognitive architecture, utility maximization

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Adaptive rationality: an evolutionary perspective on cognitive bias

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