Walking with the scarecrow: The information-processing approach to decision research.

From the mid-twentieth century on, the “information-processing” approach has been a theoretical and methodological framework (paradigm) driving much research on human judgment and choice. Part of the so-called “cognitive revolution” in psychology, this approach builds upon the pioneering work of Herbert A. Simon. By the time this volume is published, it will be almost exactly 50 years since Simon’s path-breaking 1955 article on the concept of bounded rationality. Our chapter takes its title from the classic tale of the Wizard of Oz (Baum, 1903), in which the Tin Man seeks a heart, the Lion courage, and the Scarecrow a brain. The information-processing approach to decision research has traditionally focused on understanding the cognitive (mind/brain) aspects of decision making; however, as noted later in this chapter, recent work has attempted to integrate the cognitive with more emotional and motivational aspects of decision making (Luce, Bettman, & Payne, 2001; Shiv & Fedorikhin, 1999). Simon captures three key aspects of the information-processing approach to decision research in the following quotes:

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