Daniel Goldstein
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Daniel G. Goldstein (born 1969) is an American
cognitive psychologist Cognitive psychology is the scientific study of human mental processes such as attention, language use, memory, perception, problem solving, creativity, and reasoning. Cognitive psychology originated in the 1960s in a break from behaviorism, whi ...
known for the specification and testing of
heuristic A heuristic or heuristic technique (''problem solving'', '' mental shortcut'', ''rule of thumb'') is any approach to problem solving that employs a pragmatic method that is not fully optimized, perfected, or rationalized, but is nevertheless ...
s and models of
bounded rationality Bounded rationality is the idea that rationality is limited when individuals decision-making, make decisions, and under these limitations, rational individuals will select a decision that is satisficing, satisfactory rather than optimal. Limitat ...
in the field of
judgment and decision making ''Judgment and Decision Making'' is a bimonthly peer-reviewed open access scientific journal covering the psychology of human judgment and decision making. It is an online-only journal and was established in 2006. It was published by the Society f ...
. He is an honorary research fellow at
London Business School London Business School (LBS) is a business school and a constituent college of the federal University of London. LBS was founded in 1964 and awards post-graduate degrees (Master's degree, Master's degrees in management and finance, Master of B ...
and works with
Microsoft Research Microsoft Research (MSR) is the research subsidiary of Microsoft. It was created in 1991 by Richard Rashid, Bill Gates and Nathan Myhrvold with the intent to advance state-of-the-art computing and solve difficult world problems through technologi ...
as a principal researcher.


Education

Goldstein received his Bachelor of Science degree in
computer science Computer science is the study of computation, information, and automation. Computer science spans Theoretical computer science, theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, and information theory) to Applied science, ...
from the
University of Wisconsin–Madison The University of Wisconsin–Madison (University of Wisconsin, Wisconsin, UW, UW–Madison, or simply Madison) is a public land-grant research university in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. It was founded in 1848 when Wisconsin achieved st ...
in 1993 and a Ph.D. in
cognitive psychology Cognitive psychology is the scientific study of human mental processes such as attention, language use, memory, perception, problem solving, creativity, and reasoning. Cognitive psychology originated in the 1960s in a break from behaviorism, whi ...
from the
University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...
in 1997.


Career

Goldstein and his doctoral advisor
Gerd Gigerenzer Gerd Gigerenzer (; born 3 September 1947) is a German psychologist who has studied the use of bounded rationality and heuristics in decision making. Gigerenzer is director emeritus of the Center for Adaptive Behavior and Cognition (ABC) at the Ma ...
started the Center for Adaptive Behavior and Cognition at the
Max Planck Institute The Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science (; abbreviated MPG) is a formally independent non-governmental and non-profit association of German research institutes. Founded in 1911 as the Kaiser Wilhelm Society, it was renamed to the M ...
in Germany, where Goldstein worked as a research scientist for several years. In 2002, Goldstein became associate director of the Center for the Decision Sciences at
Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...
before becoming an assistant professor of marketing at
London Business School London Business School (LBS) is a business school and a constituent college of the federal University of London. LBS was founded in 1964 and awards post-graduate degrees (Master's degree, Master's degrees in management and finance, Master of B ...
in 2005. In 2009, Goldstein accepted an offer as a principal research scientist at Yahoo! Research. In 2012, Goldstein was part of a group of Yahoo scientists who left ''en masse'' to found the New York City lab of
Microsoft Research Microsoft Research (MSR) is the research subsidiary of Microsoft. It was created in 1991 by Richard Rashid, Bill Gates and Nathan Myhrvold with the intent to advance state-of-the-art computing and solve difficult world problems through technologi ...
, where he is senior principal research manager. Goldstein's doctoral thesis used
computer simulation Computer simulation is the running of a mathematical model on a computer, the model being designed to represent the behaviour of, or the outcome of, a real-world or physical system. The reliability of some mathematical models can be determin ...
to study the accuracy and frugality of satisficing heuristics for making inferences. Investigations of the
take-the-best heuristic In psychology, the take-the-best heuristic is a heuristic (a simple strategy for decision-making) which decides between two alternatives by choosing based on the first cue that discriminates them, where cues are ordered by cue validity (highest to ...
and the
recognition heuristic The recognition heuristic, originally termed the recognition principle, has been used as a model in the psychology of judgment and decision making and as a heuristic in artificial intelligence. The goal is to make inferences about a criterion that ...
were later published as journal articles in ''
Psychological Review ''Psychological Review'' is a bimonthly peer-reviewed academic journal that covers psychological theory. It was established by James Mark Baldwin (Princeton University) and James McKeen Cattell (Columbia University) in 1894 as a publication vehic ...
'' and in the book ''Simple Heuristics That Make Us Smart''. These ''fast and frugal'' heuristics have since had an impact in medicine, law and politics, and other areas outside psychology. With Eric J. Johnson, Goldstein authored an article on
organ donation Organ donation is the process when a person authorizes an organ (anatomy), organ of their own to be removed and organ transplantation, transplanted to another person, #Legislation and global perspectives, legally, either by consent while the d ...
in the journal ''
Science Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...
'' Along with
Nobel Laureate The Nobel Prizes (, ) are awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Swedish Academy, the Karolinska Institutet, and the Norwegian Nobel Committee to individuals and organizations who make outstanding contributions in th ...
William F. Sharpe, he created the ''Distribution Builder'' method for eliciting probability distributions. Hal Hershfield and Goldstein ran
virtual reality Virtual reality (VR) is a Simulation, simulated experience that employs 3D near-eye displays and pose tracking to give the user an immersive feel of a virtual world. Applications of virtual reality include entertainment (particularly video gam ...
experiments in which people saw renderings of themselves as senior citizens and increased their intentions to save for retirement, as discussed in Goldstein's TED tal
The Battle Between Your Present and Future Self
In 2014, Goldstein was elected president of the
Society for Judgment and Decision Making The Society for Judgment and Decision Making is an interdisciplinary academic organization dedicated to the study of normative, descriptive, and prescriptive theories of decision. Its members include psychologists, economists, organizational and m ...
.


Notable contributions

*
Recognition heuristic The recognition heuristic, originally termed the recognition principle, has been used as a model in the psychology of judgment and decision making and as a heuristic in artificial intelligence. The goal is to make inferences about a criterion that ...
*
Take-the-best heuristic In psychology, the take-the-best heuristic is a heuristic (a simple strategy for decision-making) which decides between two alternatives by choosing based on the first cue that discriminates them, where cues are ordered by cue validity (highest to ...


References


Selected publications (listed chronologically)

* * * * * * * *


External links

*
Decision Science News, edited by Goldstein
* *
"The battle between your present and future self" (TEDSalon NY2011)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Goldstein, Daniel 1969 births Living people 21st-century American psychologists University of Wisconsin–Madison faculty University of Wisconsin–Madison College of Letters and Science alumni Academic staff of Max Planck Society 20th-century American psychologists