Summary and Analysis of Thinking, Fast and Slow by Worth Books

Author:Worth Books
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Worth Books
Published: 2017-01-11T18:00:44+00:00

Part 5: Two Selves

The formulation of memories is based largely on primacy, recency, intensity, and frequency. Therefore, if a person was married for twenty years and the last two were horrible, he or she may say that it was a terrible marriage, even if most of it wasn’t. This is an example of duration neglect, which can affect rational decision making.

Focusing illusions and affective forecasting cause errors in judgment. For example, we often pin our happiness on the attainment of material objects, only to feel disappointed when we get those objects and happiness still eludes us. We also erroneously link memories to our current moods: For example, if you are having an especially bad day and someone asks about your job satisfaction or marriage, you’re more likely to give negative assessments than you would on a better day. By linking mood and memory, we misinterpret our own needs and wants, and therefore take actions which are less than optimal.

Humans are not inherently irrational, but we need more help in making better decisions and forming accurate judgments. We also need tools to cope with those who would exploit the weaknesses of System 1 and System 2 and the ways they interact. For example, some advertisers relish and count on our poor decision-making abilities, seeking to take advantage of our moments of snap emotional decision making. We can cope with these people and the cognitive traps they lay for us by generally working to make more rational decisions as a matter of course.

Need to Know: We can avoid System 1 errors by recognizing when we are in dangerous waters, cognitively speaking, slowing our process down, and engaging System 2 for help.

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