Rationality trap

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The rationality trap describes the divergence between what is rational, reasonable for the individual ( individual rationality ) and what is reasonable for the totality of individuals ( collective rationality ). A prerequisite for a rationality trap is that there is competition between individuals (the individuals can be, for example, persons, families, companies, states) who do not act collectively but rather individually.

This situation can be brought about in a targeted manner, for example if the police detain and interrogate members of a criminal organization separately from one another. The police are trying to create a prisoner's dilemma for the prisoners .

The rationality trap is one of many models of understanding from cybernetics . With these models of understanding, one looks at the interaction of several participants in dynamic systems .

Examples

Here are some examples:

arms race
The individual state gains an advantage over competing states by spending and upgrading resources. If, however, all states pursue this strategy, then this causes costs for all states, but at the same time the advantages of higher armament cancel each other out.
Fire in the cinema
From the point of view of the individual, it is rational to move towards the exit as quickly as possible. If all of them do this, then precisely for this reason the outlets become blocked.
Debt
From an individual's perspective, it is rational not to go into debt when the economic crisis looms and instead to save money. However, this procyclical behavior will intensify the crisis or even trigger it in the first place.

As a rule, the examples come from social life. But there are also examples from evolution . Characteristics such as intense colors or large antlers can improve the reproductive success of an individual relative to other individuals of the same species, but at the same time have disadvantages such as high visibility for predators or reduced mobility. If the advantages outweigh the advantages at the individual level, these characteristics are reinforced by the selection, although they are disadvantageous for the species as a whole, since the relative advantages of the individuals offer no advantage for the species. To counteract this effect, many gender-specific features such as the conspicuous red goiter sac in frigate birds or the red color of salmon only appear during the mating season.

Another trap of rationalities shows up in the Braess paradox .

The tragedy of the commons is also related to the rationality trap: According to this, individuals do not exploit limited resources sustainably, but in the interests of their current interests, which is at the expense of the general public and future users.

literature

Web links

  • [2] Example health insurance as a rationality trap. (PDF file; 33 kB)
  • [3] DER SPIEGEL , June 7, 2007, on the rationality trap in environmental policy .
  • [4] Christian-Uwe Behrens (University of Applied Sciences Oldenburg / Ostfriesland / Wilhelmshaven) in the German Network for Business Ethics

Individual proof

  1. ↑ Cf. [1]  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Prof. Dr. Christian-Uwe Behrens, University of Applied Sciences Oldenburg / Ostfriesland / Wilhelmshaven, Department of Economics, Macroeconomics in Studies for Budding Business Administrators, Discussion Article No. 7. Wilhelmshaven 2000@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.fh-oow.de