{"id":411,"date":"2026-01-02T09:56:33","date_gmt":"2026-01-02T09:56:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aeris.baby\/?post_type=glossary&#038;p=411"},"modified":"2026-01-02T09:56:34","modified_gmt":"2026-01-02T09:56:34","slug":"bounded-rationality","status":"publish","type":"glossary","link":"https:\/\/aeris.baby\/?glossary=bounded-rationality","title":{"rendered":"bounded rationality"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"\">A model of decision-making that assumes people have limited information, time, and cognitive resources, so they rely on heuristics and &ldquo;good enough&rdquo; choices rather than optimization. Crucially, it assumes <strong>intact agency<\/strong> and that constraints are <strong>reversible<\/strong>&mdash;that decision-making improves as limits are relaxed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\"><strong>Example:<\/strong><br>A worker chooses a familiar brand at the grocery store instead of comparing every option, because time and attention are limited.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\"><strong>Contrast:<\/strong><br><a class=\"glossaryLink\"  aria-describedby=\"tt\"  data-cmtooltip=\"&lt;div class=glossaryItemTitle&gt;bounded rationality&lt;\/div&gt;&lt;div class=glossaryItemBody&gt;&amp;lt;!-- wp:paragraph --&amp;gt;A model of decision-making that assumes people have limited information, time, and cognitive resources, so they rely on heuristics and &amp;quot;good enough&rdquo; choices rather than optimization. Crucially, it assumes &amp;lt;strong&amp;gt;intact agency&amp;lt;\/strong&amp;gt; and that constraints are &amp;lt;strong&amp;gt;reversible&amp;lt;\/strong&amp;gt;&mdash;that decision-making improves as limits are relaxed.&amp;lt;br\/&amp;gt;&amp;lt;!-- \/wp:paragraph --&amp;gt;&amp;lt;!-- wp:paragraph --&amp;gt;&amp;lt;strong&amp;gt;Example:&amp;lt;\/strong&amp;gt;&amp;lt;br&amp;gt;A worker chooses a familiar brand at the grocery store instead of comparing every option, because time and attention are limited.&amp;lt;br\/&amp;gt;&amp;lt;!-- \/wp:paragraph --&amp;gt;&amp;lt;!-- wp:paragraph --&amp;gt;&amp;lt;strong&amp;gt;Contrast:&amp;lt;\/strong&amp;gt;&amp;lt;br&amp;gt;Bounded rationality explains &amp;lt;em&amp;gt;imperfect choices&amp;lt;\/em&amp;gt; under constraints; it does not explain what happens when stress or trauma removes access to choice itself.&amp;lt;br\/&amp;gt;&amp;lt;!-- \/wp:paragraph --&amp;gt;&amp;lt;!-- wp:paragraph --&amp;gt;&amp;lt;br\/&amp;gt;&amp;lt;!-- \/wp:paragraph --&amp;gt;&lt;\/div&gt;\"  href=\"https:\/\/aeris.baby\/?glossary=bounded-rationality\"  data-gt-translate-attributes='[{\"attribute\":\"data-cmtooltip\", \"format\":\"html\"}]'  tabindex='0' role='link'>Bounded rationality<\/a> explains <em>imperfect choices<\/em> under constraints; it does not explain what happens when stress or trauma removes access to choice itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A model of decision-making that assumes people have limited information, time, and cognitive resources, so they rely on heuristics and &ldquo;good enough&rdquo; choices rather than optimization. Crucially, it assumes intact agency and that constraints are reversible&mdash;that decision-making improves as limits are relaxed. Example:A worker chooses a familiar brand at the grocery store instead of comparing [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-411","glossary","type-glossary","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>bounded rationality - A Fox&#039;s Sky<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/aeris.baby\/?glossary=bounded-rationality\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"bounded rationality - A Fox&#039;s Sky\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A model of decision-making that assumes people have limited information, time, and cognitive resources, so they rely on heuristics and &ldquo;good enough&rdquo; choices rather than optimization. Crucially, it assumes intact agency and that constraints are reversible&mdash;that decision-making improves as limits are relaxed. 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