'''Bounded rationality''' is the idea that in decision making, rationality of individuals is limited by the information they have, the cognitive limitations of their minds, and the finite amount of time they have to make decisions. It was proposed by [[Herbert Simon]] as an alternative basis for the mathematical modeling of decision making, as used in [[economics]] and related disciplines; it complements ''rationality as optimization'', which views decision making as a fully rational process of finding an optimal choice given the information available.<ref name=bounded_rationality_1999>{{cite book|url=http://books.google.com/?id=dVMq5UoYS3YC&dq=%22bounded+rationality%22&printsec=frontcover|first=Gerd|last=Gigerenzer|first2=Reinhard|last2=Selten|title=Bounded Rationality: The Adaptive Toolbox|publisher=MIT Press|year=2002|isbn=0262571641}}</ref> Another way to look at bounded rationality is that, because decision-makers lack the ability and resources to arrive at the optimal solution, they instead apply their rationality only after having greatly simplified the choices available. Thus the decision-maker is a [[satisficer]], one seeking a satisfactory solution rather than the optimal one.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.answers.com/topic/bounded-rationality|title=Bounded rationality: Definition from Answers.com|publisher=Answers Corporation|accessdate=2009-04-12}}</ref> Simon used the analogy of a pair of scissors, where one blade is the "cognitive limitations" of actual humans and the other the "structures of the environment"; minds with limited cognitive resources can thus be successful by exploiting pre-existing structure and regularity in the environment.<ref name=bounded_rationality_1999/>