Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman

RATING

N/A

N/A = good but not on the scale

1 star = perspective supplementing

2 stars = perspective influencing

3 stars = perspective altering

SHORT SUMMARY (272 words or less)

The book received high praise (author is a Nobel Prize winner in economics) as a detailed analysis of the duality of human thought and how it affects perception, decision making and conclusive analysis.  I am sure the praise was warranted, but I just couldn’t get into it.  Maybe it should be a night stand book for me to pick up every now and then.  I may try again later, but after dedicating five hours of listening with fifteen more to go I’d rather move on.  But here are my takeaways.

The basic theme:  our process of thinking is governed together by a “fast thinking” system and a “slow thinking” system.  The fast thinking system primes responses for the slow/deliberate thinking system.  In one example, people primed with pictures of food are more likely to fill in the phrase “s–p” as “soup” than those primed with pictures of uncleanliness, who supply the word “soap.”  The slow thinking system provides the response, but it’s primed by the fast thinking system.

Thus, overall perception of the world can certainly be influenced by the subconscious perception by the fast thinking system.  It reminds me of a documentary on the movie “The Shining” called “Room 237” where there is a discussion on subliminal messages in the advertising industry.

I also learned about the Lady MacBeth Effect.  A demonstrative example:  people who are asked to lie verbally then will later prefer oral cleaning products, while those who lie on email select hand washing products.  Something about how Lady MacBeth imagined blood stains on her hands after committing murder.

LONG SUMMARY

Started May 4, 2017:

-The broad purpose of the book is to evaluate and explain two systems that govern human thinking:  (1) “System 1” that governs fast thinking and (2) “System 2” that governs slow thinking.  The author uses the system 1 and system 2 terminology early on to define these two mental thinking processes, so if he sticks with that, I’ll use it here throughout this description.

So system 1 = automatic thinking

System 2 = measured thinking
-The book talks about studies involving pupil dialation as an indication of mental exertion.

-Ego depletion is a real thing.  When system 1 (automatic thinking) takes over after a significant amount of effort is spent by system 2 (measured thinking).  For example, if you have been busy all day with system 2 thinking in meetings, projects, etc, at the end of the day you are more likely to make decisions based on your automatic system 1 thinking.

-System 1 priming responses for system 2.  This is a fascinating idea.  The thought is that your brain can be “primed” in ways that affect future thinking and decision making.  Example in the book–people are provided with pictures of food and then given the phrase “s–p”  they are more likely to fill in the blanks to spell the word “soup” than “soap”.  On the other hand, if people are provided with pictures and images that invoke uncleanliness, they fill in the phrase as “soap”.  That is, they use system 2 to fill in the phrase but are primed subconsciously by system 1.

-Another interesting bit of research.  People who are provided with a description of a violent incident are more likely to respond with “soap”, indicating that there may be something in our psychology that imposes a desire to physically clean ourselves when we experience or engage in morally bad behavior.  This is called the Lady Macbeth Effect.  I’ve never read Macbeth but the idea seems to be that she imagined blood stains on her hand after committing murder.  People who are asked to lie verbally then will later select oral cleaning products over other cleaning products.  People who are asked to lie on email (for example) later select hand washing products over other cleaning products.

-Repetition is not easily distinguished from truth. So repeating a phrase or an idea has an ability to carry the same cognitive response as hearing a truthful statement

-Speaking and writing simply is more likely to be taken seriously than complex language. Also writing in prose resonates more

DID NOT FINISH