Herbert Simon
American economist and computer scientist who worked on decision-making and problem solving
American social scientist at Carnegie Mellon University. He proposed bounded rationality and satisficing, built early artificial intelligence programs with Allen Newell, and won the 1978 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences.
Why this person matters
Simon's idea that people choose options that are good enough, given limited information and capacity, is taught in decision-making sections of cognition chapters. His programs with Allen Newell were early attempts to model human problem solving, built with the list-processing language that Cliff Shaw also helped develop.
Main contributions
Bounded rationality and satisficing
Administrative Behavior (1947), based on his doctoral dissertation, argued that decision-making is bounded by human cognitive limits. Simon held that people satisfice, settling for outcomes they judge good enough instead of maximising.
Logic Theorist and General Problem Solver
With Allen Newell he created the Logic Theory Machine (1956) and the General Problem Solver (1957), two early artificial intelligence programs. Both were built with the list-processing language IPL, which Cliff Shaw helped develop.
Recognition across fields
He shared the 1975 Turing Award with Newell, received the American Psychological Association's Award for Outstanding Lifetime Contributions to Psychology in 1993, and won the 1978 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences.
Context and limits
Simon trained in political science at the University of Chicago and worked at Carnegie Mellon University from 1949, where he helped found the School of Computer Science. His model of problem solving was developed jointly with Newell. He criticised traditional economics for an idealised picture of decision-making. The sources read do not set out criticism of bounded rationality or of the early AI programs.
In your introductory course
Thinking, language and intelligence.Appears in the thinking and decision-making sections of the cognition chapter, usually as a contrast with the idea of a fully rational decision maker.
Related course reading: Psychology 2e, section 7.1. This is course context rather than a biographical source.
Years of active work
- 1947
Published Administrative Behavior.
- 1956
Created the Logic Theory Machine with Allen Newell.
- 1975
Received the Turing Award with Allen Newell.
- 1978
Awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for research on decision-making within economic organisations.
Sources
- Library of Economics and Liberty, Herbert Alexander SimonPublisher. Reference article inspected.
- Sigma Xi, Herbert A. Simon, William Procter PrizeSociety or association. Institutional biography inspected.
- Wikipedia, Herbert A. SimonReference work. Reference article inspected.