Chapter 1: The Characters of the Story (System 1 and System 2)
For now, Daniel Kahneman presents two types of thinking. One that is fast and associative (System 1) and a more slow and calculated (System 2). Keith Stanovich and Richard West named both systems.
Some main characteristics of each “system”:
System 1
· Instance of fast thinking.
· Operates automatically and quickly, with little or no effort and no sense of voluntary control.
· Innate skills that we share with other animals (perceive the world around us, recognize objects, orient attention, avoid losses, fear spiders).
· It cannot be turned off.
System 2
· Slow thinking, sequence of steps.
· Mental work: deliberate, effortful, and orderly. The body is also involved (pupils expand for example)
· Allocates attention to the effortful mental activities that demand it. It’s operations are often associated with the subjective experience of agency, choice, and concentration.
· Conscious, reasoning self that has beliefs, makes choices, and decides what to think about and what to do.
· It’s operations require attention and are disrupted when attention is drawn away.
· It monitors our own behavior.
· It’s in charge of self-control.
How the two systems relate.
· The control of attention is shared by the two systems.
· System 2 has some ability to change the way System 1 works, by programming the normally automatic functions of attention and memory.
· The Invisible Gorilla, by Christopher Chabris and Daniel Simons. Intense focusing on a task can make people effectively blind, even to stimuli that normally attract attention.
· S1 continuously generates suggestions for S2: impressions, intuitions, intentions, and feelings. If endorsed by S2, impressions and intuitions turn into beliefs, and impulses turn into voluntary actions.
· Most of what I think (S2) think and do originate in my S1, but S2 takes over when things get difficult, and it normally has the last word.
· This division of labor minimizes effort and optimizes performance.
Cool and practical things
· I dispose of a limited budget of attention.
· I can do several things at once, but only if they are easy and undemanding. I think that explains the multitasking myths (we tend to assume women do more easy things than men do).
· We can be blind to the obvious, and we are also blind to our blindness.
· Beware of the psychopathic charm, a sympathy or strong attraction to someone that creates a cognitive illusion (example of the psychopath patient).
· Learn to recognize situations in which mistakes are likely and try harder to avoid significant mistakes when the stakes are high.
Some main characteristics of each “system”:
System 1
· Instance of fast thinking.
· Operates automatically and quickly, with little or no effort and no sense of voluntary control.
· Innate skills that we share with other animals (perceive the world around us, recognize objects, orient attention, avoid losses, fear spiders).
· It cannot be turned off.
System 2
· Slow thinking, sequence of steps.
· Mental work: deliberate, effortful, and orderly. The body is also involved (pupils expand for example)
· Allocates attention to the effortful mental activities that demand it. It’s operations are often associated with the subjective experience of agency, choice, and concentration.
· Conscious, reasoning self that has beliefs, makes choices, and decides what to think about and what to do.
· It’s operations require attention and are disrupted when attention is drawn away.
· It monitors our own behavior.
· It’s in charge of self-control.
How the two systems relate.
· The control of attention is shared by the two systems.
· System 2 has some ability to change the way System 1 works, by programming the normally automatic functions of attention and memory.
· The Invisible Gorilla, by Christopher Chabris and Daniel Simons. Intense focusing on a task can make people effectively blind, even to stimuli that normally attract attention.
· S1 continuously generates suggestions for S2: impressions, intuitions, intentions, and feelings. If endorsed by S2, impressions and intuitions turn into beliefs, and impulses turn into voluntary actions.
· Most of what I think (S2) think and do originate in my S1, but S2 takes over when things get difficult, and it normally has the last word.
· This division of labor minimizes effort and optimizes performance.
Cool and practical things
· I dispose of a limited budget of attention.
· I can do several things at once, but only if they are easy and undemanding. I think that explains the multitasking myths (we tend to assume women do more easy things than men do).
· We can be blind to the obvious, and we are also blind to our blindness.
· Beware of the psychopathic charm, a sympathy or strong attraction to someone that creates a cognitive illusion (example of the psychopath patient).
· Learn to recognize situations in which mistakes are likely and try harder to avoid significant mistakes when the stakes are high.