Ecological rationality represents an alternative to classic frameworks of rationality. Extending on Herbert Simon's concept of bounded rationality, it holds that cognitive processes, including simple heuristics, are not per se rational or irrational, but that their success rests on their degree of fit to relevant environmental structures. The key is therefore to understand how cognitive and environmental structures slot together. In recent years, a growing set of analyses of heuristic–environment systems has deepened the understanding of the human mind and how boundedly rational heuristics can result in successful decision making. This article is concerned with three conceptual challenges in the study of ecological rationality. First, do heuristics also succeed in dynamic contexts involving competitive agents? Second, can the mind adapt to environmental structures via an unsupervised learning process? Third, how can research go beyond mere descriptions of environmental structures to develop theories of the mechanisms that give rise to those structures? In addressing these questions, we illustrate that a successful theory of rationality will focus on the adaptive aspects of the mind and will need to account for three components: the mind's information processing, the environment to which the mind adapts, and the intersection between the environment and the mind.

中文翻译：

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生态理性研究

生态理性代表了经典理性框架的替代方案。扩展赫伯特西蒙的有限理性概念，它认为认知过程，包括简单的启发式，本身不是理性的或非理性的，而是它们的成功取决于它们与相关环境结构的适合程度。因此，关键是要了解认知结构和环境结构如何结合在一起。近年来，越来越多的启发式环境系统分析加深了对人类思维以及有限理性启发式如何导致成功决策的理解。本文关注生态理性研究中的三个概念挑战。首先，启发式算法在涉及竞争代理的动态环境中也能成功吗？第二，大脑可以通过无监督的学习过程来适应环境结构吗？第三，研究如何能够超越对环境结构的单纯描述，发展出产生​​这些结构的机制的理论？在解决这些问题时，我们说明一个成功的理性理论将侧重于心智的适应性方面，并且需要考虑三个组成部分：心智的信息处理、心智适应的环境以及环境之间的交集。和头脑。