On the formation of adaptive knowledge: Role of self learning and communication

Abstract

Previous studies have shown that people can make adaptive inferences with simple heuristics such as take the best heuristic (e.g., Gigerenezer, Todd, & The ABC Research Group). These studies assume that people can use correct and sufficient knowledge in making inferences. However, this assumption seems psychologically implausible because people can access only limited amount of correct information due to their memory system (e.g., forgetting and false memory). In the present research, we examined mechanisms and systems that allow people to form knowledge that can be used for adaptive inferences using computer simulations. In particular, we compared the effectiveness of knowledge formed by individual learning and by simply communicating with others. The results showed that even with the assumption that the human cognitive mechanisms produce biases and forgetting, the simulated individuals who formed knowledge by simply communicating with others could successfully acquire more accurate knowledge than the simulated individuals who tried to acquire knowledge by themselves. We also showed that the simulated people could make correct adaptive inferences using the knowledge formed by communication.