Thinking, Fast and Slow

The author has spent over 25 years researching these topics. In this book, he focuses on the interplay between two thinking systems we all have, which he calls System One and System Two.

System One is automatic, intuitive and emotional. When you avoid a puddle when out walking, you're using System One. We use System One with little or no effort.

System Two is slower, more deliberate and more logical. This is the system we use when we solve multiplication problems, or concentrate on a difficult task.

Now, Mind Tools has covered several books that deal with how we think and make decisions. In our opinion, no one has covered these important issues as well or as deeply as Kahneman does in "Thinking, Fast and Slow."

If you spend any time looking at other reviews of this book, you may be astounded at how well received it's been. Many of the world's most influential writers and scientists compare Kahneman and the concepts highlighted in this book to Copernicus, Darwin, and Freud. It's that groundbreaking.

And, we have to agree. This is the kind of book that everyone should read. Not only will it forever change your view of thinking and decision making, but it's also essential reading if you want to stay informed about cutting-edge concepts in neuroscience and behavioral psychology.

Daniel Kahneman is a psychologist who won the Nobel Prize for Economics in 2002 for his work on Prospect Theory. He's currently professor emeritus of psychology and public affairs at Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.

So, keep listening to find out why you're less controlled when you're concentrating on a difficult task, how money could be shaping your behavior on a subtle level, and why making judgments based on hindsight can be so damaging.

The book is divided into five parts, with a total of 38 chapters and two appendices. There is a lot of information here, so it's no quick read. However, the subject is fascinating and this is the kind of book you'll really enjoy diving into. Especially if you're interested in neuroscience and behavioral psychology.

Part one goes over the two-system approach to thinking and choice. Here we learn the details of each system, like why System One is automatic and why System Two is controlled.

Part two looks at why it's so difficult for us to think statistically, and to consider statistics when we're trying to make a decision or judgment.

Part three looks at the limitations of our minds. For instance, why is it so hard for us to acknowledge our ignorance? Why do we underestimate the role of chance in events?

Part four looks at decision making, and the problems we face when making decisions. Finally, part five describes recent research that looks at two sides of ourselves: the remembering self and the experiencing self.

The author covers a lot of ground in this book. And it really is like hopping on board a tour of how the mind works. Fortunately, the author does a thorough job explaining the nature of fast and slow thinking fully, starting in chapter one.

System One is our fast thinking. We use this system whenever we use our intuition, or do tasks on autopilot. For instance, if someone asks you to complete the phrase, "Bread, and?", you instantly think "butter." When you drive a car on an empty road, make a face when you see a horrible picture, or when you can tell your spouse is upset by the tone of their voice, you're using System One thinking.

System Two is our slow thinking. This is the system we use when we consider our likes and dislikes, or when we concentrate on solving a problem or doing a task. So, when we focus on the voice of one person in a crowd, tell someone our phone number, or fill out a tax form, we're using System Two thinking.

These two systems conflict a lot. For instance, how many times have you tried not to stare at an oddly dressed person on the street? Or, how often have you forced yourself to pay attention to a boring book? This struggle between impulse and control is essentially our two systems interacting, each trying to gain the upper hand.

Here's a good example from the book. Imagine someone gives you this description of a man called Steve: "Steve is a meek and tidy soul, who likes order and structure. He's very shy, but helpful, and has a passion for details. He has little interest in the world around him, or in the world of reality."

Now, if someone asked you if Steve was more likely to be a librarian or a farmer, what would you say?

Chances are you'd say Steve was a librarian because he fits the stereotype, and you wouldn't even have to think about it. This is our System One thinking.

However, imagine you already know that there are 20 male farmers for each male librarian in the United States. So, if you're told that Steve is either a farmer or a librarian, it's much more likely that Steve is a farmer.

This kind of information can only be known, and processed, by System Two. One of System Two's greatest strengths is its ability to override our intuition or habitual responses, and make educated judgments.

As we move through the first part of the book, the author teaches us much more about Systems One and Two. He goes over several thought experiments that show the tricks our minds use on us when making decisions. And, it's fascinating to see how these two systems influence our daily tasks.

For instance, research shows that when people are simultaneously challenged by a demanding cognitive task and a temptation, they're far more likely to yield to the temptation than they would if they weren't thinking so hard.

So, imagine you have to remember a list of seven digits for two minutes. Remembering those numbers is a top priority. While you're focusing on remembering those numbers, you're offered a choice between a tempting chocolate cake and a healthy fruit salad. More often than not, you'll choose the cake.

The reason is that when our System Two thinking is busy, System One has more influence on our behavior. When we're busy concentrating, we're far more likely to make selfish choices, superficial judgments, or even make comments to others that we normally wouldn't make.

What's even more interesting is how this plays out after the task is over. Once we're finished with a difficult activity, our self-control is depleted. We're far more likely to give up when we face another challenging task requiring our concentration, or we'll yield to temptation sooner.

We loved this insightful bit of information, and think it could be useful when we're at work. Knowing that it's easier for us to lose our self-control when we're concentrating could hopefully give us an edge on retaining it.

This concept could also have a major impact on how we prioritize and perform tasks. After all, knowing that you're more likely to give up if you do two hard tasks in a row means you should spread them further apart in your day. If you're a team leader, you could assign tasks with this in mind and thereby improve the performance of your team.

There are so many interesting concepts in the first half of the book it was hard to pick what to cover here. One of our favorites had to do with priming.

Priming is when we see or hear something that influences our behavior in a certain way. An example of this is if you heard the word EAT, and were then asked to fill in the missing letter for S, O, and P. You would likely add a U, to spell Soup, instead of adding an A, to spell Soap. The word EAT primed you to spell Soup.

One significant way priming affects us is with money. People in Western societies receive constant, subtle reminders about money. These messages and visual cues shape our behaviors and attitudes in some really surprising ways. And, not all of them are favorable.

Research has shown that once we've been primed with money on the brain, we're more individualistic, we stay further away from our peers on a physical level, and we're also more selfish. The author cites several interesting studies that show how he and other scientists have come to this conclusion.

The author says that priming is a System One phenomenon. It happens on a level that we aren't consciously aware of. And yet it still influences our behavior and impulses on a daily basis.

One of the more interesting sections of the book was part three, which covers illusions and overconfidence, and how very dangerous, and prevalent, they both are in our lives.

Here, the author highlights an interesting experiment that shows just how much a persuasive message can influence our opinions.

For instance, imagine you haven't made your mind up about the death penalty. Then, you hear a persuasive pro or anti message about the death penalty. Experiments have shown that after you've heard the message, your opinion will be closer to what you just heard. If asked to report your opinion, you'll say your new opinion. And if you're asked to say the opinion you had before, it turns out to be surprisingly difficult.

Of course, this doesn't really work in cases where our minds are made up. But when we're wavering on a topic, and unsure about how we feel, then we're easily influenced by outside messages.

Another interesting phenomenon is called hindsight bias. Think of this as the "I knew it all along" phenomenon. After an event is over, we often revise the history of our beliefs to put ourselves in a better light. And don't get down on yourself about this. We all do it.

What's so important about hindsight bias is how it influences decision makers. The author says it often prompts us to judge the quality of a decision not by whether or not it was sound, but instead, on whether the outcome was good or bad.

It's a subtle, but very important, difference. It means we often blame decision makers for good decisions that turned out badly. And the worse the consequences are, the quicker we are to judge based on hindsight bias.

This affects decision makers in ways they often don't realize. For instance, many people who have their decisions scrutinized become reluctant to take risks, and often choose the safe route to avoid trouble.

For a good example of this, look at today's physicians. Because they have to practice with the threat of malpractice lawsuits constantly hanging over their heads, they've changed the way they work.

They often order more tests than are really necessary, opt for conservative treatments even when they're unlikely to help, and refer more cases to specialists. All these actions protect the physician rather than truly helping the patient.

Another interesting quirk is the halo effect. The halo effect is when we make a judgment about someone, or their skills, based on an outcome.

For a good example of this, let's look at the CEO of a successful company. When asked, workers at the company would say the CEO is flexible, methodical, and decisive. Now imagine a year has gone by, and the company isn't doing so well. This same executive is likely to be described as confused, rigid, and authoritarian. This is the halo effect at work.

Although the author doesn't spell it out for us, it doesn't take much contemplation to see how taking these insights to heart could improve our own judgments about people, and how dangerous it is to fall into the trap of hindsight bias.

So, what's our last word on "Thinking, Fast and Slow?"

We loved this book. It offers a fascinating, in-depth look at how we think, and how this plays out in our everyday lives. Each chapter is full of recent research and insights into human thinking.

This isn't the kind of book that sets out to teach a new skill, or show you how to work better. The author leaves it up to us to take these insights and apply them to our own lives. The book's goal is simply to open our eyes about how we think, and the common traps we fall into with our System One and System Two thinking.

Because of the book's length and complexity, we could only cover a tiny fraction of what's in here. And, we regret this. This book is rich in detail and insight, and we could have easily spent three times longer talking about what's in it. So we think it's well worthwhile getting a copy and reading it for yourself.

There are insights in the book that could have a dramatic influence on how you think and make decisions. Although some of the concepts might be hard to grasp at first, the author did a great job putting them in layman's terms, so non-scientists can understand them.

"Thinking, Fast and Slow," by Daniel Kahneman, is published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

That's the end of this episode of Book Insights. Thanks for listening.

"System One" and "System Two" as previously defined within THINKING, FAST AND SLOW by Daniel Kahneman (Penguin Books, 2011). Copyright [©️] Daniel Kahneman, 2011.