Quote Originally Posted by M.L. View Post
Thanks. Been a while since I did any research that required me to work with R-sqd.

One small thing - the term "irrationality" is something of a pet peeve of mine. It implies an objective viewpoint of "what is good for me." However, people act according to a subjective perception of rationality. Emotion and culture also influence decision making.

When other people act differently than we think they should, we (Americans and American military types especially) tend to dismiss the behavior as irrationality, or worse, stupidity.

The truth is that everyone has good reasons for acting the way they do according to their individual perceptions. Its our job to figure out why they do what they do.
M.L.,

I was not referring to an ethnocentric view of rationalism, but instead was talking to how we use heuristics that are fraught with systemic biases that result in irrational choices (e.g., framing choices as lives saved vs. deaths will usually result in different choices that are mathematically (objectively) inconsistent).

You point about ethnocentric viewpoints is on the mark, and I love the example of the Iraqi Perspectives Project to point out that Saddam, who was seemingly irrational, was actually acting in a highly rational manner.