System 1 is automatic, fast, unconscious & effortless.
System 2 is deliberate, slow, conscious & effortfull.
The first accounts for around 95% of all our mental processing. The second, 5%.
The psychologist Daniel Kahneman won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 2002.
His book Thinking Fast & Slow distills his work on human decision making. In doing so, it highlights both the brilliance & limitations of the human mind.
Here’s a summary.
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System 1 is automatic, fast, unconscious & effortless.
System 2 is deliberate, slow, conscious & effortfull.
The first accounts for around 95% of all our mental processing. The second, 5%.
This creates imperfections in human decision making that economists, and their rational-agent perspective, rarely account for.
Here’s 12:
System 1 is an associative machine. When presented with a word such as “lime”, it will easily generate others, such as “green” or “sour”.
This makes us susceptible to priming, in which a common association is invoked to move us in a given direction.
System 1 welcomes information which is more easily processed.
Cognitive ease can arise from repetition and simplicity. Even falsehoods will be accepted if they are simple and familiar enough to be effortlessly processed.
When presented with a question that we find difficult to answer, our system 1 will search for similar questions that it finds easier to answer.
Our system 1 intuitively expects small samples to be more broadly representative than they are.
Whilst we know large sequences of trials will converge to an expected result, we apply undue meaning to coincidental sequences in a small number of trials.
If we are presented with one number and are then asked to estimate another our intuitive system 1 will use the initial figure, even if it’s entirely unrelated, and adjust its estimate up or down from this point.
We tend to give greater importance to information that our system 1 finds most readily available.
We apply greater weight to that which comes most easily to mind.
When assessing the chance that object A (e.g. James) belongs to class B (e.g. lawyers), our system 1 judges how closely A represents a stereotype of B rather than applying a more statistical approach (e.g. what percent of the population are lawyers).
People are more likely to retain an object they own than acquire that same object when they do not own it.
This effect bares similarity to loss aversion, which states people tend to prefer avoiding losses more than acquiring gains of an equivalent value.
Economists argue that costs that have already been incurred are not relevant to future rational decision-making.
Despite this, system 1 demonstrates a greater tendency to continue an endeavor if an investment in money, effort or time has been already made.
Imagine a court case. If you’ve a high chance of a big gain, or a low chance of a big loss, you will be risk averse & accept a settlement.
If you’ve a high chance of a big loss, or a low chance of a big gain, you will be risk seeking & reject a settlement.
People tend to give greater importance to the most recent in a series of events.
A vacation that starts badly but has a pleasant ending is likely to be remembered favorably.
We tend to judge an experience largely based on how we felt at its peak (the most intense point) and how we felt at its end (the most recent point).
We don’t judge experiences based on a rational average of every moment within them.
Pick yourself up a copy here:
https://t.co/zYsqKqTdnO
Highly recommended.
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Great article from @AsheSchow. I lived thru the 'Satanic Panic' of the 1980's/early 1990's asking myself "Has eveyrbody lost their GODDAMN MINDS?!"
The 3 big things that made the 1980's/early 1990's surreal for me.
1) Satanic Panic - satanism in the day cares ahhhh!
2) "Repressed memory" syndrome
3) Facilitated Communication [FC]
All 3 led to massive abuse.
"Therapists" -and I use the term to describe these quacks loosely - would hypnotize people & convince they they were 'reliving' past memories of Mom & Dad killing babies in Satanic rituals in the basement while they were growing up.
Other 'therapists' would badger kids until they invented stories about watching alligators eat babies dropped into a lake from a hot air balloon. Kids would deny anything happened for hours until the therapist 'broke through' and 'found' the 'truth'.
FC was a movement that started with the claim severely handicapped individuals were able to 'type' legible sentences & communicate if a 'helper' guided their hands over a keyboard.
For three years I have wanted to write an article on moral panics. I have collected anecdotes and similarities between today\u2019s moral panic and those of the past - particularly the Satanic Panic of the 80s.
— Ashe Schow (@AsheSchow) September 29, 2018
This is my finished product: https://t.co/otcM1uuUDk
The 3 big things that made the 1980's/early 1990's surreal for me.
1) Satanic Panic - satanism in the day cares ahhhh!
2) "Repressed memory" syndrome
3) Facilitated Communication [FC]
All 3 led to massive abuse.
"Therapists" -and I use the term to describe these quacks loosely - would hypnotize people & convince they they were 'reliving' past memories of Mom & Dad killing babies in Satanic rituals in the basement while they were growing up.
Other 'therapists' would badger kids until they invented stories about watching alligators eat babies dropped into a lake from a hot air balloon. Kids would deny anything happened for hours until the therapist 'broke through' and 'found' the 'truth'.
FC was a movement that started with the claim severely handicapped individuals were able to 'type' legible sentences & communicate if a 'helper' guided their hands over a keyboard.
🌿𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝒂 𝑺𝒕𝒂𝒓 : 𝑫𝒉𝒓𝒖𝒗𝒂 & 𝑽𝒊𝒔𝒉𝒏𝒖
Once upon a time there was a Raja named Uttānapāda born of Svayambhuva Manu,1st man on earth.He had 2 beautiful wives - Suniti & Suruchi & two sons were born of them Dhruva & Uttama respectively.
#talesofkrishna https://t.co/E85MTPkF9W
Now Suniti was the daughter of a tribal chief while Suruchi was the daughter of a rich king. Hence Suruchi was always favored the most by Raja while Suniti was ignored. But while Suniti was gentle & kind hearted by nature Suruchi was venomous inside.
#KrishnaLeela
The story is of a time when ideally the eldest son of the king becomes the heir to the throne. Hence the sinhasan of the Raja belonged to Dhruva.This is why Suruchi who was the 2nd wife nourished poison in her heart for Dhruva as she knew her son will never get the throne.
One day when Dhruva was just 5 years old he went on to sit on his father's lap. Suruchi, the jealous queen, got enraged and shoved him away from Raja as she never wanted Raja to shower Dhruva with his fatherly affection.
Dhruva protested questioning his step mother "why can't i sit on my own father's lap?" A furious Suruchi berated him saying "only God can allow him that privilege. Go ask him"
Once upon a time there was a Raja named Uttānapāda born of Svayambhuva Manu,1st man on earth.He had 2 beautiful wives - Suniti & Suruchi & two sons were born of them Dhruva & Uttama respectively.
#talesofkrishna https://t.co/E85MTPkF9W
Prabhu says i reside in the heart of my bhakt.
— Right Singh (@rightwingchora) December 21, 2020
Guess the event. pic.twitter.com/yFUmbfe5KL
Now Suniti was the daughter of a tribal chief while Suruchi was the daughter of a rich king. Hence Suruchi was always favored the most by Raja while Suniti was ignored. But while Suniti was gentle & kind hearted by nature Suruchi was venomous inside.
#KrishnaLeela
The story is of a time when ideally the eldest son of the king becomes the heir to the throne. Hence the sinhasan of the Raja belonged to Dhruva.This is why Suruchi who was the 2nd wife nourished poison in her heart for Dhruva as she knew her son will never get the throne.
One day when Dhruva was just 5 years old he went on to sit on his father's lap. Suruchi, the jealous queen, got enraged and shoved him away from Raja as she never wanted Raja to shower Dhruva with his fatherly affection.
Dhruva protested questioning his step mother "why can't i sit on my own father's lap?" A furious Suruchi berated him saying "only God can allow him that privilege. Go ask him"
