Question

He provides a nice summary of this in the very last paragraph of the reading (page 58 of the photocopied book pages). In speaking specifically of System 1, he notes, “… It is the source of your rapid and often precise intuitive judgments. And it does most of this without your conscious awareness of its activities. System 1 is also… the origin of many of the systematic errors in your intuitions.”

1. With that in mind, I’ll leave the first part of this Reflection rather open-ended. Upon reading the selections from the book, what made the largest impression on you about our cognitive processes? That is, what aspects about what Kahneman is saying did you find most surprising, intriguing, or illuminating? Explain why, making specific reference to the reading.

2. In a larger sense, what is the reading (and Kahneman) saying about humans’ ability to be rational beings? Explain why you say what you do, again making specific reference to the reading.

Source from page 58 of “Thinking, Fast and Slow”, by Daniel Kahneman.:

On the first week of the experiment (which you can see at the bottom of the figure), two wide-open eyes stare at the coffee or tea drinkers, whose average contribution was 70 pence per liter of milk. On week 2, the poster shows flowers and average contributions drop to about 15 pence. The trend con-tinues. On average, the users of the kitchen contributed almost three times as much in "eye weeks" as they did in "flower weeks". Evidently, a purely symbolic reminder of being watched prodded people into improved be-havior. As we expect at this point, the efect occurs without any awareness. Do you now believe that you would also fall into the same pattern? Some years ago, the psychologist Timothy Wilson wrote a book with the evocative title Strangers to Ourselves. You have now been introduced to that stranger in you, which mav be in control of much of what you do, although you rarely have a glimpse of it. System 1 provides the impressions that often turn into your beliefs, and is the source of the impulses that often become your choices and your actions. It offers a tacit interpretation of what hap-pens to you and afound you, linking the present with the recent past and with expectations about the near future. It contains the model of the world that instantly evaluates events as normal or surprising. It is the source of your rapid and often precise intuitive judgments. And it does most of this without your conscious awareness of its activities. System 1 is also, as we will see in the following chapters, the origin of many of the systematic er-rors in your intuitions.

Answer 1

1- The human behavior is a very complex term to understand, it is dynamic and frequent sometimes we behave in a very precise manner while other times our behavior shows non-systematic patterns. The process of cognition depends on many related aspects such as senses, perceptions, social and psychological biases, motion hallucinations and delusions. In this article, we can easily see the different aspects of human behavior and cognition. Our choice of actions combines with needs and ambitions, if we have some critical need to act in a particular manner, we try to do something supportive while needless acts show the low level of cognition and logical attitudes. Every act of human behavior does not show essential integration, sometimes we act for nothing depends on the situations, every act cognitively important to develop a particular behavior but it depends on the conditions and values.

2- Daniel Kahneman is not limited to the aspects of cognitive human behavior, he used different logical and critical evidence to analyze the behavior pattern at a time. When we believe that our acts are attracting people in a positive manner, we try to deal with enhanced active participation because of secondary need satisfactions.

Every individual act in a different manner due to different needs and cognition levels, in the experiment, we could see that people are following the trend without knowing because of needless acts, if they had a strong need, they wouldn’t try to control the expenditure. Every human behavior follows a unique pattern sometimes we follow a common pattern but exceptionally similar at every time.