Gerd Gigerenzer author photo
Image via Wikimedia Commons, sous licence CC BY-SA 2.0.

Gerd Gigerenzer

Né(e): September 03, 1947 – Wallersdorf, Bavaria, Germany

Gerd Gigerenzer is a German psychologist known for his research on decision-making under uncertainty, bounded rationality, and risk literacy. A former director at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development, he wrote Gut Feelings and Risk Savvy, helping popularize fast-and-frugal heuristics in psychology, medicine, and public policy.

Biographie et Parcours de l'Auteur

Gerd Gigerenzer emerged from academic psychology rather than literary culture, but he became one of the field’s most recognizable public writers by turning complex questions about judgment into clear, practical prose. Trained at LMU Munich, where he earned his psychology degree in 1974, his Ph.D. in 1977, and his habilitation in 1982, he built his career through a sequence of posts at Munich, Konstanz, Salzburg, and the University of Chicago before taking on major leadership roles at the Max Planck institutes in Munich and Berlin. Those moves marked the central turning points in his intellectual development: away from abstract ideals of perfect rationality and toward the study of how real people make workable decisions under uncertainty. ((https://www.mpib-berlin.mpg.de/staff/gerd-gigerenzer/curriculum-vitae))

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Citations

quote
Intuition is a form of unconscious intelligence
-What is a good decision, Mr. Gigerenzer?
quote
Our aim is to study how people behave in risk situations
-Harding Center for Risk Literacy
quote
What interests me is the question of how humans learn to live with uncertainty
-Smart Heuristics
quote
Today, risk literacy is as important as reading and writing some 150 years ago
-Psychologist Gerd Gigerenzer on risk literacy
quote
We teach our children the mathematics of certainty - geometry and trigonometry - but not the mathematics of uncertainty, statistical thinking
-Risk Savvy
quote
The constant attempt to optimize everything and only to be satisfied by what is supposedly the best – that’s a recipe for dissatisfaction
-The walls of the foyer were a riot of colors from paint bombs
quote
Under uncertainty, heuristics can be the best thing we can do
-Interview with Gerd Gigerenzer

Découvrir plus

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The Grit of Decision Science

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The Science of Better Judgment
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The Science of Better Judgment

In an era of information overload, the ability to think clearly is a competitive advantage. This plan is essential for leaders and professionals who need to minimize predictable errors and remain rational under pressure.

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The Mechanics of Human Error
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The Psychology of Global Markets
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Voix de la Communauté

"Gerd Gigerenzer is the most original and coherent follower of the bounded rationality tradition"

Riccardo Viale

"Much of the literature of risk is excellent, and Gerd Gigerenzer is a leading contributor to this excellence"

Times Higher Education

"Gigerenzer and Todd's volume represents a major advance in our understanding of human reasoning"

Steven Pinker

"Psychologist Gerd Gigerenzer's research has changed how we think about intuition, uncertainty and risk"

Think:Act Magazine

"Gerd Gigerenzer is a man with a mission, and a mission that has some point to it"

Earl Hunt

"Here, Gigerenzer, Todd, and their lively research group show that simple heuristics are powerful tools"

Donald Norman

"One of the leading challengers to the dogma of decision making is psychologist Gerd Gigerenzer"

Newsweek

"Gigerenzer is a lively narrator who moves smoothly from one chapter to another"

Kirkus UK

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"Perfect balance between learning and entertainment. Finished ‘Thinking, Fast and Slow’ on my commute this week."

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108

"Reading used to feel like a chore. Now it’s just part of my lifestyle."

@Erin, Investment Banking Associate , NYC
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254
likes
17

"Feels effortless compared to reading. I’ve finished 6 books this month already."

@djmikemoore
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"BeFreed turned my guilty doomscrolling into something that feels productive and inspiring."

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