Thinking, Fast and Slow

Owner's manual for the Brain

By Daniel Kahneman, psychologist,

Oscar's summarized note

How did a psychologist win a Nobel Prize in economics?

He initiated the study of behavioral economics.

In terms of purchasing decisions, Daniel's study proved that the premise of a rational man in economic hypnosis doesn't exist.

People are not rational. Emotions play a more significant role in people's purchase decisions than logic. When people think they are rational, they are also clouded by bias.

An experiment with tossing coins

The fear of losing is greater than the desire to gain.

Why do we think the way we do?

Our thinking system has two processes: slow and fast; one is based on instinct, the other on logic.

Here is an example of fast and slow thinking: mental arithmetic & dodge a punch

If you want to dodge the punch, you can't wait to think about which way is the best.

Mental arithmetic requires accuracy, not speed.

Accuracy requires energy and time.

Accuracy and response times differed according to the situation.

There is no one-size-fits-all system.

Slow thinking occurs only when the fast process fails. Our daily decision-making is filled with inaccuracies and mistakes because of this.

Experiment: a gorilla is not seen while counting balls passing

The task must be our only focus, and we must ignore all other obvious things in a slow process.

Benefits of fast processing

The bias of overconfidence experiment

The reason we survive is that we are overconfident.

Avoiding thinking about the environment is the best way to adapt to a new environment.

Inaction is more regrettable than failure.

Fast processing has some cons

A joke about fast calculations.

Price comparison of rackets and balls.

We automatically switch to a more straightforward question when asked a complex one, even without being aware.

How to Develop our thinking skills?

Based on the checklist and the autopsy report

Identify important milestones and reasons for project failures in the checklist.

Use the goal as a metric for what needs to be included in the checklist

Change perspective

By thinking of what you would advise others if this happened to them, you will be able to reduce bias and ego depletion

Prepare & practice

As we gain experience, we can switch from slow to fast task processing.

The use of analogies to improve memory is an example