It pays to be protean
Food by imylthinle
Contrarians Waksberg et al want to know when it is better to be irrational
Behavioural models for both humans and other animals often assume economic rationality on the part of decision makers. Economic rationality supposes that outcomes can be assigned objective values within a stable valuation framework and that choices are made to maximise a decision maker’s expected payoff. Yet, both human and animal behaviour is often not economically rational.
Our results show that, for at least some of the model parameter space, non-rational decision strategies achieve higher fitness than economically rational strategies. The differences were comparable in magnitude to selection differentials observed in nature.
The model actually showed that in most conditions the "economically rational" strategy was the best. In humans you would look at low-Conscientious/high-Neuroticism individuals to see how they're getting on with their decision strategies.
Waksberg et al. Can irrational behaviour maximise fitness? Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology (2008) doi: 10.1007/s00265-008-0681-6
