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As voters, we may not be so rational as we think
It would be impossible to collect all relevant information and learn deeply about the candidates, even when we are part of the candidate's team.
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Teamwork: Residents of the neighborhood of Liogenteng in Astanaanyar district, Bandung, decorate a polling station on Tuesday with ornaments made of plastic waste. More than 204 million people are eligible to vote in Wednesday’s general election. (Antara/Raisan Al Farisi)
Ahead of today’s elections, most of us have already decided who to vote for. Some voters may claim that they vote rationally because they have devoted hours studying candidates’ manifestos.
Many voters may take a cognitive shortcut to decide, while others are still undecided.
Being a rational voter has been a concern and part of the campaign by civil society groups as they believe it will lead voters to the better practice of democracy. However, are we truly rational, particularly in the context of voting?
We humans are often assumed to be rational creatures. It is said that we are always rational in making a decision that aims to maximize gains. That is why we are called homo economicus.
Nevertheless, our rationality seems to be partial. Herbert Simon, the winner of the 1978 Nobel Prize for economics, argued that our rationality is bounded by a set of information and resources that we currently have in order to make a decision.
This is due to the limitation of our cognitive resources and information-processing capacity. We simply cannot hold and process all information coming from our world.
Imagine driving a car. Our senses, such as sight, actually receive more than just information regarding vehicle speed and movement in front of us or visible road markings. Our visual sense also receives information about trees, shops or buildings on the roadside.
