Decision makers favor readily available information over information relevant to the question

Evidence

We find the story of the drunkard’s search humorous because we recognize that it is not entirely fictitious: people do look where the light is brightest. Nor is it entirely foolish: the costs of gathering and processing information need to be taken into account by any intelligent decision maker. But the pattern cannot be entirely explained by the rational search for and use of information. The data that analysts and decision makers use are often more distinguished by their ready availability than by their relation to the questions being asked. Like people in their everyday lives, statesmen tend to see a minimum of causal factors at work, minimize uncertainty, use simple benchmarks and analogies, and make comparisons that are manageable but inappropriate. Intellectual resources are conserved, but at a high price. — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 2618

Categorization

• XREF: Connects directly to the availability heuristic from Kahneman & Tversky and bounded rationality work, as well as Robert Jervis’s own Perception and Misperception in International Politics.
• SEED: Angle: the drunkard’s search as a recurring failure mode in intelligence analysis, policy, and even scientific inquiry — when do cheap proxies systematically override the question actually being asked?