BOUNDED RATIONALITY 301 economists "mostly ignored [bounded rationality]and went on counting the angels on the heads of neoclassical pins." Procedural Rationality Simon spent a great deal of time and energy attacking the abstract and rarefied economic decision-making models.Much of his attack was negative-show- ing how the model did not comport with how people really made decisions. asn But Simon also developed what he termed a procedural model of rationality, based on the psychological process ofreasoning-in particular his explanation of how people conduct incomplete searches and make tradeoffs between values. Since the organism,like those of the real world,has neither the senses nor the wits to discover an"optimal"path-even assuming the concept of optimal to be clearly defined-we are concerned only with finding a choice mechanism that will lead it to pursue a"satisficing"path that will permit satisfaction at some specified level of all of its needs.(Simon 1957:270-71) Simon elaborated on his "satisficing"organism over the years,but its fundamental characteristics did not change.They include the following: 1.Limitation on the organism's ability to plan long behavior sequences,a limitation imposed by the bounded cognitive ability of the organism as well as the complexity of the environment in which it operates. -129-562:26661 2.The tendency to set aspiration levels for each of the multiple goals that the organism faces. 3.The tendency to operate on goals sequentially rather than simultaneously because of the"bottleneck of short-term memory." 4.Satisficing rather than optimizing search behavior. An alternative satisfices if it meets aspirations along all dimensions (attrib- utes).If no such alternative is found,a search is undertaken for new alterna- tives. ALISHAINn Meanwhile,aspirations along one or more dimensions drift down gradually until a satisfactory new alternative is found or some existing alternative satis- fices(Simon 1996b:30). B In detailing the general requirements of an organism operating under bounded(as contrasted with comprehensive)rationality,Simon(1983:20-22; see also Simon 1995)notes the following requisites:(a)"Some way of focus- ing attention,”(b)“a mechanism for generating alternatives,”(c)“a capacity for acquiring facts about the environment,"and (d)"a modest capacity for drawing inferences from these facts."economists “mostly ignored [bounded rationality] and went on counting the angels on the heads of neoclassical pins.” Procedural Rationality Simon spent a great deal of time and energy attacking the abstract and rarefied economic decision-making models. Much of his attack was negative—show￾ing how the model did not comport with how people really made decisions. But Simon also developed what he termed a procedural model of rationality, based on the psychological process of reasoning—in particular his explanation of how people conduct incomplete searches and make tradeoffs between values. Since the organism, like those of the real world, has neither the senses nor the wits to discover an “optimal” path—even assuming the concept of optimal to be clearly defined—we are concerned only with finding a choice mechanism that will lead it to pursue a “satisficing” path that will permit satisfaction at some specified level of all of its needs. (Simon 1957:270–71) Simon elaborated on his “satisficing” organism over the years, but its fundamental characteristics did not change. They include the following: 1. Limitation on the organism’s ability to plan long behavior sequences, a limitation imposed by the bounded cognitive ability of the organism as well as the complexity of the environment in which it operates. 2. The tendency to set aspiration levels for each of the multiple goals that the organism faces. 3. The tendency to operate on goals sequentially rather than simultaneously because of the “bottleneck of short-term memory.” 4. Satisficing rather than optimizing search behavior. An alternative satisfices if it meets aspirations along all dimensions (attrib￾utes). If no such alternative is found, a search is undertaken for new alterna￾tives. Meanwhile, aspirations along one or more dimensions drift down gradually until a satisfactory new alternative is found or some existing alternative satis￾fices (Simon 1996b:30). In detailing the general requirements of an organism operating under bounded (as contrasted with comprehensive) rationality, Simon (1983:20–22; see also Simon 1995) notes the following requisites: (a) “Some way of focus￾ing attention,” (b) “a mechanism for generating alternatives,” (c) “a capacity for acquiring facts about the environment,” and (d) “a modest capacity for drawing inferences from these facts.” BOUNDED RATIONALITY 301 Annu. Rev. Polit. Sci. 1999.2:297-321. Downloaded from arjournals.annualreviews.org by UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON - HEALTH SCIENCES LIBRARIES on 09/25/06. For personal use only