270037 (Ir-)rationality in Thought and Action (S) (WiSe 2019/2020)

Human thought and action in a social context often appears to be irrational. We will examine and discuss theoretical explanations and empirical studies regarding a host of phenomena that may be subsumed under the heading of "(ir-)rationality," among them:
- judgmental bias as a result of heuristic thinking
- magical thinking
- superstition
- intuition and feeling-based judgment
- anthropomorphization (treating animals and inanimate objects as if they were human) etc.
Some of the questions we will address: Are there underlying principles that apply to all of these phenomena? How are they distinct? May what appears irrational actually have adaptive benefits?

Bibliography

Mandatory reading:
Kahneman, D. (2011). Thinking, fast and slow. London: Penguin Books.

Selected readings:
Ariely, D. (2012). Predictably irrational: The hidden forces that shape our decisions (2nd ed.). New York: HarperCollins.
Ariely, D. (2012). The upside of irrationality: The unexpected benefits of defying logic at work and at home. New York: HarperCollins.
Epstein, S., Pacini, R., Denes-Raj, V., & Heier, H. (1996). Individual differences in intuitive-experiential and analytical-rational thinking styles. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 71, 390–405.
Fogg, B. J., & Nass, C. (1997). Silicon sycophants: The effects of computers that flatter. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 46, 551–561.
Kahneman, D., Slovic, P., & Tversky, A. (Eds.). (1982). Judgment under uncertainty: Heuristics and biases. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Risen, J. L., & Gilovich, T. (2008). Why people are reluctant to tempt fate. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 95, 293–307.
Rozin, P., Millman, L., & Nemeroff, C. (1986). Operation of the laws of sympathetic magic in disgust and other domains. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 50, 703-712.
Shafir, E., & Tversky, A. (1992). Thinking through uncertainty: Nonconsequential reasoning and choice. Cognitive Psychology, 24, 449-474.
Tversky, A., & Shafir, E. (1992). The disjunction effect in choice under uncertainty. Psychological Science, 3, 305-309.