Definition
Plain language
A decision rule: find your single most reliable source that disagrees about the options, go with whatever it says, and ignore everyone else.
As stated in the literature
A fast-and-frugal heuristic for multi-attribute choice that consults cues in order of reliability and decides on the first discriminating cue; one of three classic rival strategies (with Tallying and WADD) unified by AutoCog as endpoints of a single weighting exponent.
Why it matters: It captures how people often make fast decisions by leaning on a single most-trusted clue rather than weighing everything, making it a key reference strategy for modeling real choices.
For example, when picking between two cars you trust fuel-economy ratings most, so you simply choose the more efficient one and ignore every other feature.
Heard on the show
“First, Take-the-Best: find the single most reliable reviewer who actually disagrees about the two blenders, go with whatever they say, ignore everyone else.”Episode 176 — An AI Designed Its Own Psychology Studies, Then Confirmed What It Found