From Rationality to ETTOing

The classical description of the rational human is expressed by the theory of decision-making, especially when this is combined with economics. Classical or normative decision theory, and specifically the part of decision theory that deals with economic behaviour, often refers to an ideal decision-maker know as homo economicus or the rational economic (hu)man. The rational decision-making perspective was thereby replaced by various forms of limited or bounded rationality, which in turn rested on assumptions of limited capabilities of memory, and attention. The Efficiency-Thoroughness Trade-Off (ETTO) principle describes the way in which people ensure that the minima are attained, and that the conditions are improved as far as possible. The ETTO principle refers to the fact that people as part of their activities frequently – have to make a trade-off between the resources they spend on preparing an activity and the resources they spend on doing it. In most cases the ETTO rules are self-explanatory, as rules of institutionalised practices.