Curriculum Vitae

Gerd Gigerenzer is Director at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin and former Professor of Psychology at the University of Chicago and John M. Olin Distinguished Visiting Professor, School of Law at the University of Virginia. He is also the director of the Harding Center for Risk Literacy, Berlin, Batten Fellow at the Darden Business School, University of Virginia, and Fellow of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and the German Academy of Sciences.

He won the AAAS Prize for the best article in the behavioral sciences and the Association of American Publishers Prize for the best book in the social and behavioral sciences. His award-winning popular books Calculated Risks: How To Know When Numbers Deceive You, and Gut Feelings: The Intelligence of the Unconscious were translated into 18 languages. His academic books include The Empire of Chance, Simple Heuristics That Make Us Smart (with Peter Todd & the ABC Research Group) and Bounded Rationality: The Adaptive Toolbox (with Reinhard Selten, a Nobel Laureate in economics). Rationality for Mortals, his most recent book, investigates decisions under limited time and information. He has trained U.S. Federal Judges, German physicians, and top managers in decision-making and understanding risks and uncertainties.

Selected Publications

Gigerenzer, G., & Galesic, M. (2012). Why do single event probabilities confuse patients? Statements of frequency are better for communicating risk. British Medical Journal, 344:e245.
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Wegwarth, O., Schwartz, L. M., Woloshin, S., Gaissmaier, W., & Gigerenzer, G. (2012). Do physicians understand cancer screening statistics? A national survey of primary care physicians. Annals of Internal Medicine 156:340-349.
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Brandstätter, E., Gigerenzer, G., & Hertwig, R. (2011). The priority heuristic: Making choices without trade-offs. In G. Gigerenzer, R. Hertwig, & T. Pachur (Eds.), Heuristics: The foundations of adaptive behavior (pp. 153-184). New York: Oxford University Press.

Brighton, H., & Gigerenzer, G. (2011). Towards competitive instead of biased testing of heuristics: A reply to Hilbig & Richter (2011). Topics in Cognitive Science, 3, 197-205. doi:10.1111/j.1756-8765.2010.01124.x
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Feufel, M. A., Antes, G., Steurer, J., Gigerenzer, G., Gray, J. A. M., Mäkelä, M., Mulley, A. G., Nelson, D. E., Schulkin, J., Schünemann, H., Wennberg, J. E., & Wild, C. (2011). What is needed for better health care: Better systems, better patients or both? In G. Gigerenzer & J. A. M. Gray (Eds.), Better doctors, better patients, better decisions: Envisioning health care 2020 (pp. 117-134). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Gaissmaier, W., & Gigerenzer, G. (2011). When misinformed patients try to make informed health decisions. In G. Gigerenzer & J. A. M. Gray (Eds.), Better doctors, better patients, better decisions: Envisioning healthcare 2020 (pp. 29-43). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Garcia-Retamero, R., Galesic, M., & Gigerenzer, G. (2011). Enhancing understanding and recall of quantitative information about medical risks: A cross-cultural comparison between Germany and Spain. The Spanish Journal of Psychology, 14, 218-226. doi:10.5209/rev_SJOP.2011.v14.n1.19
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García-Retamero, R., Takezawa, M., & Gigerenzer, G. (2011). Does imitation benefit cue order learning? In G. Gigerenzer, R. Hertwig, & T. Pachur (Eds.), Heuristics: The foundations of adaptive behavior (pp. 438-453). New York: Oxford University Press.

Gigerenzer, G. (2011). Foreword. In H. M. Enzensberger, Fatal numbers: Why count on chance (Subway Line No. 3) (pp. 7-9). New York: Upper Westside Philosophers.

Gigerenzer, G. (2011). Moral satisficing: Rethinking moral behavior as bounded rationality. In G. Gigerenzer, R. Hertwig, & T. Pachur (Eds.), Heuristics: The foundations of adaptive behavior (pp. 203-221). New York: Oxford University Press.

Gigerenzer, G., & Brighton, H. (2011). Homo heuristicus: Why biased minds make better inferences. In G. Gigerenzer, R. Hertwig, & T. Pachur (Eds.), Heuristics: The foundations of adaptive behavior (pp. 2-27). New York: Oxford University Press.

Gigerenzer, G., & Gaissmaier, W. (2011). Heuristic decision making. Annual Review of Psychology, 62, 451-482. doi:10.1146/annurev-psych-120709-145346
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Gigerenzer, G., & Goldstein, D. G. (2011). Reasoning the fast and frugal way: Models of bounded rationality. In G. Gigerenzer, R. Hertwig, & T. Pachur (Eds.), Heuristics: The foundations of adaptive behavior (pp. 33-57). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Gigerenzer, G., & Goldstein, D. G. (2011). The recognition heuristic: A decade of research. Judgment and Decision Making, 6, 100-121.
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Gigerenzer, G., & Gray, J. A. M. (Eds.). (2011). Better doctors, better patients, better decisions: Envisioning health care 2020. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Gigerenzer, G., & Gray, J. A. M. (2011). Launching the century of the patient. In G. Gigerenzer & J. A. M. Gray (Eds.), Better doctors, better patients, better decisions: Envisioning health care 2020 (pp. 3-28). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Gigerenzer, G., Hertwig, R., & Pachur, T. (Eds.). (2011). Heuristics: The foundations of adaptive behavior. New York: Oxford University Press.

Gigerenzer, G., Hertwig, R., & Pachur, T. (2011). Introduction. In G. Gigerenzer, R. Hertwig, & T. Pachur (Eds.), Heuristics: The foundations of adaptive behavior (pp. XVII-XXIII). New York: Oxford University Press.

Goldstein, D. G., & Gigerenzer, G. (2011). Models of ecological rationality: The recognition heuristic. In G. Gigerenzer, R. Hertwig, & T. Pachur (Eds.), Heuristics: The foundations of adaptive behavior (pp. 60-81). New York: Oxford University Press.

Hoffrage, U., Hertwig, R., & Gigerenzer, G. (2011). Hindsight bias: A by-product of knowledge updating? In G. Gigerenzer, R. Hertwig, & T. Pachur (Eds.), Heuristics: The foundations of adaptive behavior (pp. 223-241). New York: Oxford University Press.

Hutchinson, J. M. C., & Gigerenzer, G. (2011). Simple heuristics and rules of thumb: Where psychologists and behavioural biologists might meet. In G. Gigerenzer, R. Hertwig, & T. Pachur (Eds.), Heuristics: The foundations of adaptive behavior (pp. 110-133). New York: Oxford University Press.

Katsikopoulos, K. V., & Gigerenzer, G. (2011). One-reason decision-making: Modeling violations of expected utility theory. In G. Gigerenzer, R. Hertwig, & T. Pachur (Eds.), Heuristics: The foundations of adaptive behavior (pp. 186-200). New York: Oxford University Press.

Kruglanski, A. W., & Gigerenzer, G. (2011). Intuitive and deliberate judgments are based on common principles. Psychological Review, 118, 97-109. doi:10.1037/a0020762
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Kurz-Milcke, E., Gigerenzer, G., & Martignon, L. (2011). Risiken durchschauen: Grafische und analoge Werkzeuge. Stochastik in der Schule, 31, 8-16.

Luan, S., Schooler, L. J., & Gigerenzer, G. (2011). A signal-detection analysis of fast-and-frugal trees. Psychological Review, 118, 316-338. doi:10.1037/a0022684

Mousavi, S., & Gigerenzer, G. (2011). Revisiting the "error" in studies of cognitive errors. In D. A. Hofmann & M. Frese (Eds.), Errors in organizations (pp. 97-112). New York: Taylor & Francis.

Volz, K. G., Schooler, L. J., Schubotz, R. M., Raab, M., Gigerenzer, G., & Cramon, D. Y. v. (2011). Why you think Milan is larger than Modena: Neural correlates of the recognition heuristic. In G. Gigerenzer, R. Hertwig, & T. Pachur (Eds.), Heuristics: The foundations of adaptive behavior (pp. 524-539). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Wegwarth, O., Day, R. W., & Gigerenzer, G. (2011). Decisions on pharmacogenomic tests in the USA and Germany. Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice, 17, 228-235. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2753.2010.01426.x
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Wegwarth, O., Gaissmaier, W., & Gigerenzer, G. (2011). Deceiving numbers: Survival rates and their impact on doctors' risk communication. Medical Decision Making, 31, 386-394. doi:10.1177/0272989X10391469
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Wegwarth, O., & Gigerenzer, G. (2011). Nutzen und Risiken richtig verstehen. Deutsches Ärzteblatt, 108, A568-A570.
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Wegwarth, O., & Gigerenzer, G. (2011). Risiken und Unsicherheiten richtig verstehen lernen. Deutsches Ärzteblatt, 108, A448-A451.
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Wegwarth, O., & Gigerenzer, G. (2011). Statistical illiteracy in doctors. In G. Gigerenzer & J. A. M. Gray (Eds.), Better doctors, better patients, better decisions: Envisioning health care 2020 (pp. 137-151). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Wegwarth, O., & Gigerenzer, G. (2011). Sterblichkeitsstatistik als valides Maß. Deutsches Ärzteblatt, 108, A760-A762.
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Wegwarth, O., & Gigerenzer, G. (2011). Unnötige Ängste vermeiden [Avoiding unnecessary anxieties]. Deutsches Ärzteblatt, 108, A943-A944.
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Berg, N., & Gigerenzer, G. (2010). As-if behavioral economics: Neoclassical economics in disguise? History of Economic Ideas, 18, 133-165. doi:10.1400/140334
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Cokely, E. T., Schooler, L. J., & Gigerenzer, G. (2010). Information use for decision making. In M. N. Maack & M. J. Bates (Eds.), Encyclopedia of library and information sciences (3rd ed., pp. 2727-2734). New York: Taylor & Francis.
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Feufel, M. A., Antes, G., & Gigerenzer, G. (2010). Vom sicheren Umgang mit Unsicherheit: Was wir von der pandemischen Influenza (H1N1) 2009 lernen können. Bundesgesundheitsblatt - Gesundheitsforschung - Gesundheitsschutz, 53, 1283-1289. doi:10.1007/s00103-010-1165-1
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García-Retamero, R., Galesic, M., & Gigerenzer, G. (2010). Do icon arrays help reduce denominator neglect? Medical Decision Making, 30, 672-684. doi:10.1177/0272989X10369000
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Gigerenzer, G. (2010). Collective statistical illiteracy. Archives of Internal Medicine, 170, 468-469. doi:10.1001/archinternmed.2009.515

Gigerenzer, G. (2010). Moral satisficing: Rethinking moral behavior as bounded rationality. Topics in Cognitive Science, 2, 528-554. doi:10.1111/j.1756-8765.2010.01094.x
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Gigerenzer, G. (2010). Personal reflections on theory and psychology. Theory & Psychology, 20, 733-743. doi:10.1177/0959354310378184
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Gigerenzer, G. (2010). Women's perception of the benefit of breast cancer screening: Editorial. Maturitas, 67, 5-6. doi:10.1016/j.maturitas.2010.06.006
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Gigerenzer, G., Mata, J., & Frank, R. (2010). Response: [Re: Public knowledge of benefits of breast and prostate cancer screening in Europe]. Journal of the National Cancer Institute, 102, 356-357. doi: 10.1093/jnci/djp517
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Gigerenzer, G., Wegwarth, O., & Feufel, M. (2010). Misleading communication of risk. BMJ, 341:c4830, 791-792. doi:10.1136/bmj.c4830
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Katsikopoulos, K. V., & Gigerenzer, G. (2010). Decision structures on the basis of bounded rationality. In K. Lucas & P. Roosen (Eds.), Emergence, analysis and evolution of structures: Concepts and strategies across disciplines (pp. 214-226). Berlin: Springer.
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Marewski, J. N., Gaissmaier, W., & Gigerenzer, G. (2010). Good judgments do not require complex cognition. Cognitive Processing, 11, 103-121. doi:10.1007/s10339-009-0337-0
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Marewski, J. N., Gaissmaier, W., & Gigerenzer, G. (2010). We favor formal models of heuristics rather than lists of loose dichotomies: A reply to Evans and Over. Cognitive Processing, 11, 177-179. doi:10.1007/s10339-009-0340-5
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Marewski, J. N., Gaissmaier, W., Schooler, L. J., Goldstein, D. G., & Gigerenzer, G. (2010). From recognition to decisions: Extending and testing recognition-based models for multialternative inference. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 17, 287-309. doi:10.3758/PBR.17.3.287
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Marewski, J. N., Schooler, L. J., & Gigerenzer, G. (2010). Five principles for studying people's use of heuristics. Acta Psychologica Sinica, 42, 72-87. doi:10.3724/SP.J.1041.2010.00072
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Monti, M., Martignon, L., & Gigerenzer, G. (2010). Le decisioni nel marketing finanziario: Dall'homo oeconomicus all'homo heuristicus [Marketing and financial decisions: Insights from psychology and neurosciences for explaining economic behaviors]. In M. Balconi & A. Antonietti (Eds.), Scegliere, comprare: Dinamiche di acquisto in psicologia e neuroscienze (pp. 57-80). Berlin: Springer. doi:10.1007/978-88-470-1374-2_3

Gigerenzer, G., Mata, J., & Frank, R. (2009). Public knowledge of benefits of breast and prostate cancer screening in Europe. Journal of the National Cancer Institute, 101, 1216-1220.
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Gigerenzer, G. (2007). Gut feelings: The intelligence of the unconscious. New York: Viking Press.
(Deutsche Übersetzung: Bauchentscheidungen: Die Intelligenz des Unbewussten und die Macht der Intuition. München: Bertelsmann, 2007)

Gigerenzer, G., & Brighton, H. J. (2009). Homo heuristicus: Why biased minds make better inferences. Topics in Cognitive Science, 1, 107-143.
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Gigerenzer, G. (2008). Rationality for mortals: How people cope with uncertainty. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Gigerenzer, G., Gaissmaier, W., Kurz-Milcke, E., Schwartz, L. M., & Woloshin, S. (2007). Helping doctors and patients make sense of health statistics. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 8, 53-96.
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Gigerenzer, G., & Engel, C. (2006). Heuristics and the law. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press

Gigerenzer, G., Hertwig, R., Van den Broek, E., Fasolo, B., & Katsikopoulos, K. V. (2005). A 30% chance of rain tomorrow: How does the public understand probabilistic weather forecasts? Risk Analysis, 25, 623-629.
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Gigerenzer, G. (2002). Calculated risks: How to know when numbers deceive you. New York: Simon & Schuster.
(Deutsche Übersetzung: Das Einmaleins der Skepsis: Über den richtigen Umgang mit Zahlen und Risiken. Berlin: Berlin-Verlag, 2002)

Gigerenzer, G., & Selten, R. (Eds.). (2001). Bounded rationality: The adaptive toolbox. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.

Gigerenzer, G. (2000). Adaptive thinking: Rationality in the real world. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Gigerenzer, G., Todd, P. M., & the ABC Research Group (1999). Simple heuristics that make us smart. New York: Oxford University Press.

Gigerenzer, G., & Goldstein, D. G. (1996). Reasoning the fast and frugal way: Models of bounded rationality. Psychological Review, 103, 650-669.
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Gigerenzer, G. (1991). From tools to theories: A heuristic of discovery in cognitive psychology. Psychological Review, 98, 254-267.
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Gigerenzer, G., Swijtink, Z., Porter T., Daston, L., Beatty, J., & Krueger, L. (1989). The empire of chance: How probability changed science and everyday life. Cambridge,UK: Cambridge University Press.
(Deutsche Übersetzung: Das Reich des Zufalls. Heidelberg: Spektrum, Akademischer Verlag, 1999)

Gigerenzer, G., & Murray, D. J. (1987). Cognition as intuitive statistics. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.