Cracking the Shell on Psychological Science · Maryland PSYCTerps

Heuristics: Flawed shortcuts, or adaptive tools?

January 26, 2026·16 min·1 clip

Mike details how the sunk cost fallacy led firefighters to their deaths in the South Canyon Fire because they wouldn't drop their gear.

This episode explores the classic debate in psychology between Danny Kahneman's 'heuristics and biases' framework and Gerd Gigerenzer's 'ecological rationality' alternative. Using examples from bad movies to deadly wildfires, the hosts explain how mental shortcuts like the sunk cost fallacy affect our decisions and why psychologists disagree about whether these shortcuts are flaws or adaptive tools.

As heard by us

A plainspoken look at heuristics, bias, and the debate over decision making.

The episode treats heuristics as a useful shortcut and a source of predictable error, with the 1992 Kahneman-Gigerenzer debate in Kansas City as its anchor.

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Why you'd press play

Press play if you want the Kahneman-Gigerenzer debate in conversation form.

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