?Just Forget It?: Memory Distortion as Bounded Rationality

Arbeitspapier

Distortions in memory impose important bounds on rationality but have been largely disregarded in economics. While it is possible to learn, it is more difficult, and sometimes impossible, to unlearn. This retention effect lowers individual utility directly or via reduced productivity, and adds costs to principal-agent relationships. The imprinting effect states that the more one tries to forget a piece of information the more vivid it stays in memory, leading to a paradoxical outcome. The effects are based on, and are supported by, psychological experiments, and it is shown that they are relevant in many economic situations and beyond.

Angaben zum Objekt

• Sprache: Englisch

Verweise und Beziehungen

• Erschienen in: Series: CREMA Working Paper ; No. 2005-01

Klassifikation und Themen

• Klassifikation: Wirtschaft ; Consumer Economics: Theory ; Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness ; Business Economics: General ; Other Special Topics: General
• Thema: Memory ; bounded rationality ; learning ; retention ; ironic process theory ; principalagency theory

Beteiligte, Orts- und Zeitangaben

• Ereignis: Geistige Schöpfung
• (wer): Frey, Bruno S.
• Ereignis: Veröffentlichung
• (wer): Center for Research in Economics, Management and the Arts (CREMA)
• (wo): Basel
• (wann): 2004

Weitere Informationen

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/214315
• Letzte Aktualisierung: 10.03.2025, 11:43 MEZ