Ecological rationality and citizenship education: an interview with Gerd Gigerenzer

Abstracts

The subject of this interview is the research on ecological rationality and its implications for education, especially for citizenship education, carried out at the Max-Planck Instuitute for Human Development, in Berlin. The studies on ecological rationality focus on the processes of decision making in a world in which human activity happens in a context of uncertainties, where a complete evaluation of factors is practically impossible. The assumption of the research is that cognitive processes cannot be dissociated from social and cultural realities, and that therefore the identification of the heuristics used in making decisions can be an important instrument for the formation of autonomous thinking. Of special interest from the pedagogical perspective is promoting the development of the capacity to understand and deal with the limits and possibilities of the scientific logic on which educational processes are largely based, and the development of forms of knowing that are as much or more determinant than that one. Gigerenzer emphasizes the role of collective and interdisciplinary work to promote creativity in research and teaching, as well as to make decisions in daily life

Ecological rationality; Citizenship; Heuristics; Uncertainty

INTERVIEW

Danilo R. Streck

Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos, São Leopoldo, RS, Brasil. Contact: [e-mail]

ABSTRACT

The subject of this interview is the research on ecological rationality carried out at the Max-Planck Instuitute for Human Development, in Berlin, and its implications for education, especially for citizenship education. The studies on ecological rationality focus on the processes of decision making in a world in which human activity happens in a context of uncertainties, where a complete evaluation of factors is practically impossible. The assumption of the research is that cognitive processes cannot be dissociated from social and cultural realities, and that therefore the identification of the heuristics used in making decisions can be an important instrument for the formation of autonomous thinking. Of special interest from the pedagogical perspective is promoting the development of the capacity to understand and deal with the limits and possibilities of the scientific logic on which educational processes are largely based, and the development of forms of knowing that are as much or more determinant than that one. Gigerenzer emphasizes the role of collective and interdisciplinary work to promote creativity in research and teaching, as well as to make decisions in daily life.

Keywords: Ecological rationality - Citizenship - Heuristics -Uncertainty.

RESUMO

A entrevista tem por tema as pesquisas sobre racionalidade ecológica e suas implicações para a educação, especialmente para a formação da cidadania, pesquisas essas desenvolvidas no Max-Planck Institute for Human Development, em Berlim. O estudo da racionalidade ecológica ocupa-se com o processo de tomada de decisões num mundo em que o agir humano se dá num contexto de incertezas, em que uma avaliação completa dos fatores é praticamente inviável. Parte-se do pressuposto de que processos cognitivos não podem ser dissociados da realidade social e cultural, e que a identificação das heurísticas que regem a tomada de decisões pode ser um importante instrumento para a formação de um pensamento autônomo. Destaca-se, do ponto de vista pedagógico, a importância de favorecer o desenvolvimento da capacidade de compreender os limites e as possibilidades da lógica científica na qual se fundam os processos educativos e de estimular o desenvolvimento de formas de conhecer que são tão ou mais determinantes da ação quanto a lógica científica. Gigerenzer enfatiza o papel do trabalho coletivo e interdisciplinar para favorecer a criatividade na pesquisa e no ensino, bem como para tomar melhores decisões no cotidiano.

Palavras-chave: Racionalidade ecológica - Cidadania - Heurísticas - Incerteza.

Introduction

Gerd Gigerenzer is a researcher at the Max-Planck Institute for Human Development, in Berlin, where he is presently director at the Harding Center for Risk Literacy. He graduated in Psychology from the University of Munich (Germany), where he also obtained his Ph.D. degree in Psychology. He was director of Max Plank Institute for Psychological Research, in Munich, from 1995 to 1997, and of the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin in various terms between 1997 and 2013. He has been a professor in important European and North American universities such as Chigago, Munich and Salzburg.

One of Gigerenzer's books which has received various important international prizes was translated in Brazil with the title O poder da intuição; o inconsciente dita as melhores decisões (2009).

His definition of intuition entails three dimensions: 1) it arises very quickly in our conscious mind; 2) the fundamental reasons are not fully accessible to this conscious mind; and 3) it is sufficiently strong to motivate our action. According to these characteristics, we realize that a large portion of our decisions fits such definition. First, for the limited capacity of the human mind, which is supposedly unable to "compute" consciously all the alternatives for every action. Therefore, in his work one finds frequent references to the will of omniscience which is legitimated by some specialists' claim of knowledge mastery in a given field. Secondly, because we cannot count on a deterministic worldview, according to which the consequences of our decisions would be entirely predictable.

One of the underlying assumptions of the concept of ecological rationality is that the brain works as two blades of a pair of scissors: one of them is the neurological capacity and the other one is the environment in which we operate, and which conditions its functioning. For making decisions, we have an "adaptive toolbox", the heuristics, understood as practical strategies for decision-making. These are not inborn neither fixed, but their structure is adaptable to the environment where we act. In the book Gut feelings, Gigerenzer presents many examples of how in daily life we use these "shortcuts" as much in our work as in social relations. Important decisions such as changing jobs or determinant choices for our future are less the result of complex calculations than of intuitions which may appear little rational. Not surprisingly, the epigraph of the first chapter is Blaise Pascal's famous phrase: "the heart has reasons that reason does not know".

From the educational perspective, the studies of Gigerenzer's research group call for humility in terms of the scope and capacity of rational and scientific logic. The studies do not suggest abandoning this logic, within which the studies themselves are conducted, but they challenge to be open for other forms of knowledge that, as Gigerenzer explains in the interview, were considered the most trustworthy in other times in human history. It is necessary to recognize that the mind's operation is conditioned by the environment (bounded rationality), developing more or less creative and innovative ways of adaptation (GIGERENZER, 2006). In line with these principles, in his research practice there is a strong emphasis on interdisciplinary work.

The challenge for education is to become aware of this "adaptive toolbox" and to know how to take better advantage of the tools which resulted from the long evolutionary process of the human brain. To know how and why one studies a certain topic and not another one, why one chooses certain clothing brands, why one chooses certain companies are decisions which, according to the author, "are not only an issue of imagined pros and cons. Something else weighs in the decision-making process, something which, literally, has a reasonable weight: our brain, the result of the evolutionary process. The brain gives us abilities which have developed over millennia, but which are largely ignored by the standard texts about decision making" (GIGERENZER, 2006, p. 73).

Another relevant contribution for education nowadays regards the place and role of information in decision making. According to Gigerenzer, there are situations when less means more, depending on one's capacity to choose the most adequate options. This is valid both for when medical doctors diagnose their patients' illnesses and when teachers evaluate their students or researchers choose their methodological approach. Luria (1968) already addressed this issue while trying to understand Shereshevsky's mind, which was able to store an enormous amount of information, but was unable to carry out abstractions based on the data stored (OLIVEIRA; REGO, 2010). In order to learn how to deal with the growing availability of information, education needs to teach how to confront uncertainties and probabilities. As a consequence of not doing this, there are medical doctors who are unable to correctly interpret data for their patients with regard to risks, economists who act as if they were gods, and citizens who have not learned how to "think with/together".

Gigerenzer warns that the teaching of Mathematics is based on teaching certainties, in detriment of working with probability. According to him, there is a need for "risk literacy", which requires the introduction to statistical thinking since primary education. Experiences of this type have been carried out in Germany and in the United States (BOND, 2009). In the context of this broader perspective, "risk literacy" is seen as a precondition for well-informed citizenship in a participatory democracy. In the words of our interviewed guest:

Educators and politicians alike should realize that risk literacy is a vital topic for the twenty-first century. Rather than being nudged into doing what experts believe is right, people should be encouraged and equipped to make informed decisions for themselves. Risk literacy should be taught beginning in elementary school. Let's dare to know - risks and responsibilities are chances to be taken, not avoided. (GIGERENZER, 2012, p. 260).

References

• BOND, Michael. Risk School. Nature v. 461, n. 29, p. 1189-1192, Oct. 2009.
• GIGERENZER, Gerd. Bounded and rational. In: SAINTO, R.J. (Ed.). Contemporary debates in cognitive science Oxford, UK: Blackweel, 2006. p. 115-133.
• GIGERENZER, Gerd. O poder da intuição: o inconsciente dita as melhores decisões. Rio de Janeiro: Best Seller, 2008.
• GIGERENZER, Gerd. Calcular o risco: aprender a lidar com a incerteza. Lisboa: Gradiva, 2005.
• GIGERENZER, Gerd. Risk literacy. In: BROCKMAN, John (Ed.) This will make you smarter. New York: Harper: Collins, 2012.
• LURIA, Alexander. R. The mind of a mnemonist New York: Basic Books, 1968.
• OLIVEIRA, Marta Kohl; REGO, Teresa Cristina. Contribuições da perspectiva histórico-cultural de Luria para a pesquisa contemporânea. Educação e Pesquisa, v. 36, n. especial, p. 105-119, 2010.
• SANTOS, Boaventura de Sousa. Para uma sociologia das ausências e uma sociologia das emergências. In: SANTOS, Boaventura de Sousa. Conhecimento prudente para uma vida decente: um discurso sobre as ciências revisitado. São Paulo: Cortez, 2004. p. 777-819.
• TODD, Peter M.; GIGERENZER, Gerd, ABC Research Group. Ecological rationality: intelligence in the World. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012.

Ecological rationality and citizenship education: an interview with Gerd Gigerenzer

Racionalidade ecológica e formação de cidadania: entrevista com Gerd Gigerenzer

¹

The concept of ecological rationality (TODD el alii, 2012), which is central to Gigerenzer's work, suggests a certain familiarity with the idea of ecology of rationalities as found in the writings of Boaventura de Sousa Santos (2004), who has not only promoted the critique of the hegemonic scientific rationality, but stimulated the "uncovering" of knowledge that was silenced by this logic which Santos identifies as metonymical. The reflection on the limits and possibilities of our rationality is relevant to all fields of knowledge, although it is of special interest for education. It can be assumed that the crisis of the school is related, among other reasons, to the difficulty of taking into account the diverse forms of thinking, of knowing and making decisions that today seek to express themselves as part of a plural society.

²

The title proposes in a somewhat provocative way the argument that permeates Gigerenzer's work: that intuition can be an important tool for making good decisions. The question, according to him, is not whether but when we can trust our intuitions. And to answer this question we need to understand how intuition works. In his endeavor to recover intuition from the negative aura which it is usually associated with, Gigerenzer's critique also reaches the school: "Aligned with this negative vision, our educational system valorizes everything, but intuition."

Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  12 Sept 2014
• Date of issue
  Sept 2014