L'arte frattale di Jeannette Rütsche - Sperya

(pag. 66)

Much of the research described in this book involves attempts to show that people do not follow normative or prescriptive models - that is, they do not think in the best way. We are tempted, when reading about such studies, to come to the defense of the researchers' subjects. After all, calling someone "irrational" is not nice, especially if it is a false accusation.
Sometimes we attempt to defend these subjects by arguing that the behavior in question is functional - that it serves some purpose other than "rationality". If people are illogical, for example, perhaps it is because they "want" to be and feel better when they behave this way, or because illogic leads them to a "deeper" truth.
There are indeed situations in which people can be rational while appearing to be irrational. The theory of rationality that is used to judge their thinking may be wrong, or some important goal (such as the subject's emotions) may have been neglected in applying the theory of rationality.
On the other hand, we cannot assume that people always have good reasons for appearing to be irrational. People can really be irrational sometimes. In this book I shall assume that the "burden of proof" is not on one side or the other. This is because I shall also assume that our main interest is in helping people to think better (or to maintain those aspects of good thinking that they already use). Therefore, the two kinds of mistakes that we can make - deciding falsely that others are or are not irrational - are both costly ones. If we falsely conclude that people are irrational in some way, we may waste our effort in trying to help them - and we may even make them worse. If we falsely conclude that people are rational when they are not, we lose an opportunity to help them. .....