Editing Satisficing (section)

{{short description|Cognitive heuristic of searching for an acceptable decision}}
'''Satisficing''' is a [[decision-making]] strategy or cognitive [[heuristic]] that entails searching through the available alternatives until an acceptability threshold is met, without necessarily [[Maximization (psychology)|maximizing]] any specific objective.<ref>{{cite book |first=Andrew |last=Colman |year=2006 |title=A Dictionary of Psychology |url=https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofpsyc00colm_0 |url-access=registration |location=New York |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=[https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofpsyc00colm_0/page/670 670] |isbn=978-0-19-861035-9}}</ref> The term ''satisficing'', a [[portmanteau]] of ''satisfy'' and ''suffice'',<ref>{{cite book |first=Ken |last=Manktelow |year=2000 |title=Reasoning and Thinking |location=Hove |publisher=Psychology Press |page=221 |isbn=978-0863777080 }}</ref> was introduced by [[Herbert A. Simon]] in 1956,<ref>{{cite journal |title=Rational Choice and the Structure of the Environment |last=Simon |first=Herbert A. |journal=[[Psychological Review]] |volume=63 |issue=2 |year=1956 |pages=129–138 |doi=10.1037/h0042769 |pmid=13310708|url=http://www.uk.sagepub.com/upm-data/25239_Chater~Vol_1~Ch_03.pdf |citeseerx=10.1.1.545.5116 |s2cid=8503301 }} (page 129: "Evidently, organisms adapt well enough to 'satisfice'; they do not, in general, 'optimize'."; page 136: "A 'satisficing' path, a path that will permit satisfaction at some specified level of all its needs.")</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Artinger |first1=Florian M. |last2=Gigerenzer |first2=Gerd |last3=Jacobs |first3=Perke |date=2022 |title=Satisficing: Integrating Two Traditions |url=https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/jel.20201396 |journal=Journal of Economic Literature |language=en |volume=60 |issue=2 |pages=598–635 |doi=10.1257/jel.20201396 |hdl=21.11116/0000-0007-5C2A-4 |s2cid=249320959 |issn=0022-0515|hdl-access=free }}</ref> although the concept was first posited in his 1947 book ''[[Administrative Behavior]]''.<ref name=Brown2004>{{cite journal|last1=Brown|first1=Reva|title=Consideration of the Origin of Herbert Simon's Theory of 'Satisficing' (1933-1947)|journal=Management Decision|volume=42|issue=10|year=2004|pages=1240–1256|doi=10.1108/00251740410568944}}</ref><ref name=AB1947>{{cite book | last = Simon | first = Herbert A. | author-link = Herbert A. Simon | title = Administrative Behavior: a Study of Decision-Making Processes in Administrative Organization | publisher = Macmillan | location = New York | year = 1947 | edition=1st | oclc = 356505| title-link = Administrative Behavior }}</ref> Simon used satisficing to explain the behavior of decision makers under circumstances in which an optimal solution cannot be determined. He maintained that many natural problems are characterized by [[Computationally intractable|computational intractability]] or a lack of information, both of which preclude the use of mathematical optimization procedures. He observed in his [[Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences|Nobel Prize in Economics]] speech that "decision makers can satisfice either by finding optimum solutions for a simplified world, or by finding satisfactory solutions for a more realistic world. Neither approach, in general, dominates the other, and both have continued to co-exist in the world of [[management]] science".<ref>{{Cite journal|jstor = 1808698|title = Rational decision making in business organizations|last = Simon|first = Herbert A.|journal = The American Economic Review|issue = 4|volume = 69|year = 1979|pages = 493–513  }}</ref>

Simon formulated the concept within a novel approach to rationality, which posits that [[rational choice theory]] is an unrealistic description of human decision processes and calls for psychological realism. He referred to this approach as [[bounded rationality]]. ''Moral satisficing'' is a branch of bounded rationality that views moral behavior as based on pragmatic social heuristics rather than on moral rules or optimization principles. These heuristics are neither good nor bad per se, but only in relation to the environments in which they are used.<ref>{{Citation |last=Gigerenzer |first=Gerd |title=Moral Satisficing: Rethinking Moral Behavior as Bounded Rationality |date=2011-04-15 |work=Heuristics |pages=203–221 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199744282.003.0009 |access-date=2024-09-13 |publisher=Oxford University Press}}</ref> Some [[consequentialism|consequentialist]] theories in [[moral philosophy]] use the concept of satisficing in a similar sense, though most call for optimization instead.