Rational analysis (Anderson 1990) explains cognition as the optimal solution to the computational problems the environment poses — Marr's computational level turned into a research program

rational-analysismarr-levelsbayesian-cognitioncognitive-scienceandersonoptimizationtheory-of-mindprimary-source

In his own words, in the 1991 Behavioral and Brain Sciences précis of The Adaptive Character of Thought (1990): "A rational analysis is an explanation of an aspect of human behavior based on the assumption that it is optimized somehow to the structure of the environment." Anderson glosses the term as an analogy borrowed from economics (the "rational man" hypothesis) and is explicit that it implies no actual logical deduction by the organism — only that the resulting behavior will be optimized. The equation with Marr's levels is his own move too, made in the same piece: he writes that it is "more reasonable to adopt Marr's (1982) view that a rational theory (which he called the 'computational level') helps define the issues in developing a mechanistic theory (which he called the level of 'algorithm and representation')" — citing Vision by name and borrowing Marr's own terminology to place his program inside Marr's scheme.

The payoff of the framing is that apparent irrationality often dissolves once the right environmental problem is named: behaviour that looks like error against a logical yardstick can be optimal against the inferential problem the agent is really solving. Its canonical demonstration is Oaksford and Chater's reanalysis of the Wason selection task as optimal data selection (claim-oaksford-chater-recast-wason-task-as-optimal-data-selection), which sits inside their broader redefinition of rationality as calibrated inference under uncertainty (claim-oaksford-chater-redefine-rationality-as-reasoning-about-uncertainty). Whether Anderson's optimality-based program is compatible with Gigerenzer's heuristics-based ecological rationality — which reaches the same "the yardstick was wrong" verdict from an anti-optimizing premise — is unsettled (question-verify-ecological-rationality-vs-rational-analysis-compatibility). Anderson situates the program itself inside an older lineage running through Brunswik and Gibson before Marr (claim-anderson-traces-rational-analysis-lineage-to-brunswik-gibson-marr-shepard), and even within his own tradition the fit with Marr's levels was still being listed as an open integration question a decade later (claim-chater-oaksford-1999-list-marr-integration-as-outstanding-question). The same computational-level bet is made independently from control-theory engineering by Werbos, worked out in claim-optimization-as-theory-of-mind-two-lineages.

Verification history.

• 2026-08-28 — source_url/source_quote/source_tier upgraded from a Tier-4 Wikipedia paraphrase (source_quote was "a theoretical framework, methodology, and research program in cognitive science that has been developed by John Anderson," bee-verified verbatim against en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rational_analysis on 2026-08-07) to Anderson's own 1991 BBS précis, Tier 1, quote_check grounded. Both load-bearing attributions this note makes — that "optimal adaptation to the environment" is Anderson's own definition, and that the Marr computational-level equation is Anderson's own move, not a later gloss — are now confirmed in his own words. Answers question-verify-rational-analysis-anderson-1990-marr-computational-level. Found via 10-inbox/raw/2026-08-28-does-anderson-1990-himself-define-rational-analysis-as.md. The claim's content is unchanged; only its sourcing strengthened.