Daniel Kahneman’s book, Thinking,
Fast and Slow, was a harder novel for me to read because I am a fast reader
and this book requires you to fully understand the perception of the book in
which requires an exuberant amount of visualization in order to understand the
concept that is being established. I am
not a Psychology major, but I am going to attempt to explain the basis of this
book at my best.
This book describes in detail the reasoning’s behind our
automatic actions that we live out on a daily basis. There are five parts to
this book in which each part of the book becomes more elaborated than the next.
Part one goes on to describe how us humans have two systems; System 1 and
system 2. System 1 requires almost no effort and system 2 requires effort. System
1 is responsible for operating readily while system 2 requires a clear mind to
think more slowly than system 1 in order to solve problems. When we find
reasons to believe or deny circumstances we are using our system 2, but by
automatically assuming a conclusion without thought we are at fault by using
our system 1. The entire book is based on how he was able to examine the interactions
of the two systems in order to think more rationally without error. He goes on to
explain how the 48 heuristics influence our system 1, but how each heuristic is
investigated by our system 2. If an everyday activity required us to use our
system 2 we would be exhausted because of such an extensive slow thinking
process. Therefore, our system 1 is primarily responsible for the reasoning’s
behind our actions.
In Chapter 5, Kahneman explains how cognitive ease works. For
example, this book did not give me any cognitive ease because it required more
attention to compute what each chapter was talking about. To develop our own
beliefs, attitudes, and views we tend to relate events to what seems to be true
and what story is closet to our most recent beliefs. In this case, our out of
body experience lecture did not make me feel a sense of cognitive ease. My
sister would always tell me stories about her sleep paralysis and how she could
see other people in the room as well as herself while she was sleeping. Because
this went on for years and she was someone whom I trusted I developed a sense
of cognitive ease around the idea that an out of body experience was real or
could be real. However, our lecture on using 10% of our brains and out of body
experiences made me lose some of my cognitive ease surrounding this topic. The
lecture describes how an out of body experience can closely be confused with
lucid dreaming and how this type of experience really depends on how well
developed one’s nervous system is.
I think a majority of the lectures we learned throughout
this semester circle around heuristic number 7: substitutions. For example,
many people may have believed in UFO abductions, psychics, graphology, or the
jersey devil based on stories they had heard or research that they had
conducted, but neglect to answer the harder question which would be why these
ideas could not exist. Ultimately, if we
let our emotions that are derived off of our beliefs control our judgment we
run the risk of overestimating or underestimating the various positive and
negative possibilities.
By using “anchors” we are prone to be more impressionable
than what meets the eye. When we expect something to occur at a given time and
the time is either under or over our limit, we tend to become slightly confused
because subconsciously we already had a previous estimate in our minds and when
it is not followed through we are prone to making an incorrect estimate. Additionally,
many people fall victim to Kahneman WYSIATI, what you see is all there is,
abbreviation. People will use their judgment of someone to develop an
impression on them whether it is a good or bad impression.
As people, we tend to act out certain actions when it seems
in favor of a personal experience rather than statistical facts. Picture this
scenario. The carbon monoxide detector in your house has had dead batteries in
it for months and you do not seem eager to replace them any time soon. Recently
your neighbor was out of down, but their carbon monoxide detector was going off
all night. Realizing that this could have been you while you were sleeping you
decide to replace your batteries for your detector the next day. This example
describes Kahneman’s twelfth heuristic: the availability heuristic. This
heuristic can also correlate with our lecture about psychics. For example, you
have always been skeptic of the idea of someone being able to see futuristic
events. However, you have a friend that recently went to a psychic to get a
reading. When they come back they tell you that she was extremely accurate in
her readings and that you have to go even though you had never had any
intention on ever seeing a psychic; you decide to go. At this moment you have
fallen victim to overestimating your beliefs on a sense of ease.
My favorite part of this book was discussed in Chapters 27.
In Chapter 27 titled the endowment effect, Kahneman explains how humans tend to
cling onto objects that we consider to be sentimental to us and dislike the
idea of losing it unless a considerably significant payment is offered to us in
exchange. The Chapter begins by
explaining the importance of someone’s reference point especially during the
exchange of valuables. He states, “In labor negotiations, it is well understood
by both sides that the reference point is the existing contract and that the
negotiations will focus on mutual demands for concessions relative to the
reference point”(Kahneman, 290). For an example, if you are at an auction attempting
to by an item, it is important to know the minimum and maximum amount you are
willing to pay for something so that way the negotiator is willing to work with
your reference point.
He goes on to describe how we tend to compare scenarios or
items based on the advantages and the disadvantages, but the disadvantages seem
to always appear larger than the advantages of something new. Through the use of standard theory he explains
how two equally different advantages are offered to two different individuals.
When both of these individuals decide to keep their advantage and neglect to
swap for each other’s item he states how they both become victims of loss
aversion. I feel like I could connect to this part of the book for a couple of
reasons. If I was given a diamond neckless
and my friend was given a cash equivalent, I would choose to keep the neckless.
However, I would have a loss aversion because by keeping the neckless I lose
the chance of having that cash on hand for me. I could take advantage of
wearing the neckless for a little bit, and then trading over the item for her
cash.
He uses an example in Chapter 27 that I noticed caught my
attention faster than any of his other examples. He goes to explain how a
valuable item in which you hold great value for that you own is seen to be even
more valuable by others whom do not own that item. In your mind you have a
maximum amount that you would pay for the item. However, you find that if you
gave away this item you could make significantly more than what you originally paid
for. This is called the endowment effect. However, to give up this item depends
on your reference point. We are more apprehensive of the idea of loses than we
are to achieving a possible gain. He states, “The response to a loss is
stronger than the response to a corresponding gain” (Kahneman, 293). I relate
closely to this because I consider myself a miser. No matter what I buy, I
never want to let go of my money because I always feel as if I am losing my
item in which I hold value to even though what I am purchasing could be equivalently
significant.
Additionally, I gave much thought to an example he has described
in Chapter 28 as well. “A single cockroach will completely wreck the appeal of
a bowl of cherries, but a cherry will do nothing at all for a bowl of cockroaches”
(Kahneman, 302). This scenario made me think that the negative traits always
overpower the positive ones no matter what it is. For example, you decide to rent
a house with five other people and you are given the biggest room of the house
which includes a master bathroom, top quality furniture, beautifully painted
walls, and spacious vicinity for activities. Everything sounds perfect expect
for the fact that there is black mold growing in the corner by the vent. No
matter what this room has to offer, you decide that you no longer want this
room because of the one negative trait it holds.
For the creative part of this book report I decided to come up with an exercise that depicts heuristic number 1: Priming. Pick the picture that correlates the most with the word “bliss.”
You probably picked the picture of the beach because you
correlated the word bliss with the idea of being peaceful and being surrounded by
a serene environment.
Because this was my first and only psychology class that I have
ever taken, I thought that this book was considerably difficult for me to read
in my opinion. However, after reading Thinking
,Fast and Slow I came to a conclusion that what Kahneman was explaining
about how and why our minds do what they do is not far off for what I believe
prior to reading this book. I feel as
though I already use the solutions the book describes in each heuristic to a
problems that I may have encountered. Trusting expert intuition is a heuristic
in which I can connect too. If I suspect that something is wrong with my body I
tend to do research first to lay out all possibilities before going to a doctor’s
office now. Unlike others, I do not trust expert intuition fully. I like to do
my own research before fully trusting what an expert has to say. Like Kahneman,
I too am skeptical of experts. There have been a few incidences where specialists
came to a conclusion that happened to be completely wrong. After feeling sick
and under the weather for a few weeks I decided to visit a doctor’s office to
test for Streptococcus. The results came back negative and they told me to go
home and mouthwash with salt water. A day or two later I could not breathe
without the feeling the sensation of knifes scrapping down my throat. After
being hospitalized, I was told that I had a combination of Streptococcus and
mononucleosis. After this experience I no longer trust expert intuition to an
extent. Rather, I research information for myself now to avoid possible
misleading opinions of experts who may or may not know the extent of their knowledge
in order to rule out any mistakes.
I am also aware of the heuristic the illusion of validity in
chapter twenty. Unlike some, I prefer not to assume something is accurate just
because I am one hundred percent confident that it is unless hearing someone else’s
opinion. This could be the reason why I am
frequently neutral with a lot of debates, arguments, and when it comes to
picking sides. Just because I am confident in what I believe is to be true,
does not mean that it is factual.
However, I do omit subjectivity which is described in
chapter twenty five. Because everyone has their own reference point to which
they uphold to, I tend to forget that what I give minimal value to could be of
even more value to the next person. I have developed a scenario for this specific
heuristic. You are a working middle class pedestrian crossing the road and next
to you is a nonworking lower class pedestrian also crossing the road. You both
come across a twenty dollar bill. For you, this could be gas money for the car
you already own; not a big deal. However, for the other this twenty dollar bill
could possibly put a full meal on the table for their family. This twenty
dollar bill for you is not of the greatest value, but for the next it could
hold a much higher value.
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