Indivíduo, comportamento e decisão econômica: as contribuições dos conceitos de racionalidade limitada, processos cognitivos duais e heurísticas

Abstract

Far from intending to present all the elements that compose human cognition, the main objective of this article is to enable a better understanding of the behavior of individuals in economics, in relation to the traditionally diffused neoclassical theory, through the presentation of the following cognitive aspects: limited rationality, cognitive processes (deliberative and intuitive) and heuristics. The article presents conceptual contributions that broaden the understanding of the behavior of the economic agents and theirs decision making processes. Stands out the importance of the cognitive aspects of the individuals related to the concepts of limited and procedural rationality by Simon, of cognitive processes and of heuristics by Kahneman and Tversky. The behavior of the individual is not fully rational, maximizing and naturally given, but is guided by complex behavioral processes, internal and external to the human being, influenced by situational, social and institutional contexts.