Thinking, Fast and Slow
Daniel Kahneman's 2011 account of two modes of thought and the biases of fast thinking.
At a glance
Key ideas
Two systems, Heuristics and biases, Overconfidence …
See all 5Criticism
Replication
Connections
Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky
See all 2
Also on this page: Key facts · Links · Sources · Related pages
- Kahneman divides thinking into System 1, fast, instinctive and emotional, and System 2, slower, deliberate and logical.
- The book summarises several decades of research suggesting that people have too much confidence in human judgment.
- It covers his work on cognitive biases, prospect theory and happiness, much of it done with Amos Tversky.
- Some of the priming studies it cites have been questioned in the replication crisis.
Why it matters
- It brought the research behind behavioural economics to a general readership and sold over a million copies by 2012.
Key facts
- Author
- Daniel Kahneman1
- Published
- 20111
- Research help
- Jason Zweig of The Wall Street Journal helped write and research it over two years1
- Sales
- Over one million copies as of 20121
- Awards
- 2011 Los Angeles Times Book Prize (Current Interest); National Academy of Sciences Best Book Award, 20121
Key ideas
-
Two systems1
System 1 is fast and automatic; System 2 is slow, effortful and logical.
-
Heuristics and biases1
Anchoring, availability and substituting an easy question for a hard one lead to systematic errors.
-
Overconfidence1
People overestimate how much they understand and underestimate the role of chance.
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Prospect theory and loss aversion1
People act more to avert a loss than to achieve a gain, and value changes relative to a reference point.
-
Two selves1
The remembering self rates an experience by its peak and its end, not its duration.
Criticism
-
Replication1
An analysis of chapter 4's priming studies found low reliability; Kahneman said he "placed too much faith in underpowered studies".
Connections
Written by
Related
- Amos TverskyMuch of the research in the book was done with Tversky
Links
Sources
Last checked against its sources today
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