ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on irrationality and rationality not about the validity of various empirical investigations—except those based on irrational judgment, for example, asking a clinical psychologist who ignores comparisons or extent to then make a subsequent estimate about extent. Making probability judgments has become very important in the modern world. A common example of probabilistic analysis can be found in evaluating gambles. In fact probability theory was largely developed from an interest in gambling. The hypotheses considered are that certain gambles are better than others, or that the gambler is likely to win or lose a particular gamble. On the other hand, many people do not think about such choices, outside the areas of gambling, medical diagnosis, or decisions that require a judgment in terms of probabilities. One problem with all the principles is that simple verbal coding of these relationships often obscures the lack of symmetry, the need for comparison, and the importance of extent.
