Dunno... There is a considerable amount of "bounded rationality", people don't have the computational power to be perfectly rational, so they implement various approximations thereto, which break down spectacularly some times. But in many cases, people are more rational than they look, because their ultimate goals are not what they state, or are not similar to the goals one would have in the same situation. E.g., in a lot of situations, maintaining one's social status is important for extracting benefits from the social group. So risking physical damage to enhance one's social status can be very rational. (Although, being a "natural act", the human involved is rarely conscious of the calculated tradeoff.)
(no subject)
Date: 2013-04-11 02:54 pm (UTC)