Daniel Kahneman - Thinking, Fast and Slow

System 1 has biases, makes systematic errors in specified circumstances, answers easier questions than asked, and cannot be turned off.

System 1.

People who perform well on attention control tests tend to also do well on tests of general intelligence, but attention control efficiency can predict performance in specific jobs beyond intelligence.

They are more likely to yield to the temptation.

Attention disruption occurs, affecting performance.

Muscles tense up, blood pressure rises, and heart rate increases.

The author suspects that the mild physical arousal from walking may enhance mental alertness.

The law asserts that if there are several ways to achieve the same goal, people will gravitate towards the least demanding course of action.

The author prefers to be still and would rather sit than stand when constructing intricate arguments under time pressure.

The best approach is to recognize situations where mistakes are likely and to try harder to avoid significant mistakes when the stakes are high.

Many viewers failed to notice a gorilla in the video because they were focused on counting basketball passes, illustrating how attention can blind us to unexpected stimuli.

System 1 minimizes effort and optimizes performance by providing accurate models of familiar situations and swift reactions to challenges.

By focusing intently on another target.

Pupils dilate during the computation and contract back to normal size once the work is completed or given up.

Hess's observations indicated that the response to mental effort is distinct from emotional arousal, as pupil dilation is a sensitive indicator of mental effort.

Individuals often experience a conflict between an automatic response and an intention to control it, such as trying not to stare at something distracting.

By observing the changing size of the pupils, which reflects the level of cognitive effort exerted.

It refers to a quick, automatic thought or feeling that arises without deliberate reasoning.

Knowledge that is stored in memory and accessed involuntarily.

Figure 2 shows that some parts of tasks are easier than others, highlighting the conflict between the two systems.

Yes, System 2 can program the normally automatic functions of attention and memory.

System 2 increases its effort to prevent the error and maintain control over behavior.

Surprise activates and orients our attention, prompting us to search for explanations.

System 2 is capable of more complex cognitive operations that require sustained attention and effort, unlike System 1 which operates automatically.

System 1 runs automatically while System 2 operates in a low-effort mode, engaging only a fraction of its capacity.

System 1 generates impressions, intuitions, intentions, and feelings that System 2 can endorse.

Self-control is needed to resist the urge to slow down.

They developed a setup similar to an optician’s examination room where participants leaned on a chin-and-forehead rest, stared at a camera, and listened to prerecorded information while answering questions.

The law of least effort suggests that people avoid tasks that require frequent switching and speeded-up mental work when possible.

System 2 is responsible for overcoming the impulses of System 1, thus aiding in self-control.

The ability to detect and report the target letter K changed throughout the 10 seconds of the exercise, with subjects almost never missing it at the beginning or end but missing it almost half the time when mental effort was at its peak.

Pupil dilation follows an inverted-V pattern similar to detection failures, indicating that it is a good measure of the physical arousal that accompanies mental effort.

The operations of System 2 are often associated with the subjective experience of agency, choice, and concentration.

During the Add-3 task, pupil dilation increases by about 50% in the first 5 seconds, indicating it is much more demanding than holding seven digits.

Hess noticed that pupils dilate substantially when people multiply two-digit numbers, with greater dilation for harder problems compared to easier ones.

As skill increases, the demand for cognitive energy diminishes, leading to fewer brain regions being involved in the task.

The prefrontal area is more developed in humans than in other primates and is involved in operations associated with intelligence.

The pupil data corresponded precisely to subjective experience, showing that longer strings caused larger dilations and that the peak pupil size coincided with maximum effort.

You will read it unless your attention is totally focused elsewhere.

You come to believe that the lines are equally long, but you still perceive one line as longer due to System 1.

As the author speeds up, their ability to think coherently deteriorates, and they become more focused on maintaining the faster pace.

Self-control and deliberate thought draw on the same limited budget of effort.

The law of least effort suggests that people tend to divide tasks into easier steps and avoid mental overload by committing intermediate results to long-term memory or paper.

Tasks that require effort and acts of self-control, overcoming the intuitions and impulses of System 1.

Effortful activities interfere with each other, making it challenging or impossible to perform multiple tasks simultaneously.

It implies a conscious, effortful process of recalling information, which is characteristic of System 2 thinking.

System 1 operates automatically and quickly, with little or no effort and no sense of voluntary control.

The author experiences it as a stroll with no strain, conflict, or need to push themselves, while still exerting physical effort and burning calories.

They set up a closed-circuit system that projected an image of the subject’s pupil on a screen in the corridor, allowing them to watch the dilation and contraction.

System 1 detects simple relations and integrates information about one thing, while System 2 can handle multiple distinct topics and use statistical information.

Tasks that involve holding multiple ideas in memory or performing complex calculations tend to be more demanding and effortful.

The Add-3 task requires holding several digits in working memory simultaneously and associating each with a specific operation.

Intense focusing on a task can make people effectively blind to other stimuli, as demonstrated by the Invisible Gorilla experiment.

A cognitive exercise where participants increment each digit of a four-digit string by 1 while maintaining a steady rhythm.

People often adjust their behavior, such as stopping conversations when a driver is overtaking a truck, to avoid distracting the person performing a task.

System 2 engages in tasks that require effortful thinking, such as naming the position of words, which is not a routine action.

System 2 is mobilized when System 1 encounters difficulties or when a surprising event occurs.

Mental life is likened to a comfortable walk, occasionally interrupted by jogging or rare sprints, with tasks like Add-1 and Add-3 being sprints.

Pupil dilation can indicate the level of cognitive effort, with larger dilations associated with more demanding tasks.

People describe flow as a state of effortless concentration so deep that they lose their sense of time, themselves, and their problems.

Unlike an electrical circuit that trips when overloaded, System 2 selectively protects the most important activity, allocating spare capacity to other tasks as needed.

The author invites readers to think of the two systems as agents within the mind, each with their own personalities, abilities, and limitations.

Heart rate increases by about 7 beats per minute, and pupil dilation occurs, which can stop or shrink if the task exceeds their capacity.

Time pressure drives effort by forcing individuals to refresh and rehearse information quickly, similar to a juggler managing multiple balls.

Such tasks create a hurried character, and without a strong working memory, individuals may find themselves working uncomfortably hard.

The size of the pupil varied second by second, reflecting the changing demands of the task, with an inverted V shape response indicating effort buildup and relaxation.

Psychopathic charm refers to the ability of some individuals to manipulate others into believing they are different or trustworthy.

System 2's operations are effortful, and it exhibits a reluctance to invest more effort than necessary.

The analogy compares mental effort to electricity usage, where both have limited capacity and respond differently to overload, with mental effort being selectively allocated to important tasks.

The sophisticated allocation of attention has been honed by evolutionary history, improving survival by quickly orienting and responding to threats or opportunities.

System 1 is prepared to perceive the world, recognize objects, orient attention, avoid losses, and fear certain stimuli like spiders.

People can be blind to obvious stimuli and are unaware of their own blindness.

They require attention and are disrupted when attention is diverted.

Task sets refer to the ability of System 2 to program memory to follow instructions that override habitual responses.

Cognitive illusions are illusions of thought that can mislead our understanding and perception.

They noted that during intense cognitive tasks, such as Add-1, individuals may become effectively blind to their surroundings.

They often find themselves returning to the point where the reading lost its meaning, illustrating the struggle between attention and distraction.

System 1 allows for automatic and almost effortless steering of the car around bends, enabling experienced drivers to drive while conducting a conversation.

You must learn to mistrust your impressions of the length of lines when fins are attached and recognize the illusory pattern.

Walking and thinking are normally easy and pleasant, but at extremes, they compete for the limited resources of System 2.

Because it is a pupil-dilating task that requires significant mental effort, which can be distracting and unsafe while driving.

He proposed the state of 'flow' for effortless concentration.

System 1 originates impressions and feelings automatically, serving as the main source for the explicit beliefs and deliberate choices of System 2.

System 2 constructs thoughts in an orderly series of steps and can take over to override the automatic impulses of System 1.

System 2 can follow rules, compare objects on several attributes, and make deliberate choices between options.

This type of thinking is a prototype of slow thinking, often associated with System 2.

The teacher warned against taking on the patient, suggesting he is likely a psychopath and that you will not be able to help him.

Switching tasks is effortful, especially under time pressure, as it requires overcoming newly acquired tendencies and managing multiple pieces of information.

System 1 automatically generates feelings of sympathy for patients, which are not under our control, while System 2 is taught to recognize cognitive illusions related to these feelings.

They are described as fictitious characters to simplify the understanding of mental processes and to make it easier to think about judgment and choice.

Using 'System 1' and 'System 2' is quicker and takes less space in working memory, which is important for cognitive processing.

They become fast and automatic through prolonged practice and learning associations between ideas.

The pupil remained small and did not noticeably dilate during casual conversation, indicating it required little to no mental effort.

The Müller-Lyer illusion demonstrates the distinction between impressions and beliefs, as people perceive the lines to be different lengths despite them being identical.

System 2 represents a voluntary activity that requires effort, should not be performed while making a left turn, and is associated with dilated pupils and an accelerated heart rate.

In a state of flow, maintaining focused attention on absorbing activities requires no exertion of self-control.

Examples include detecting distance between objects, completing phrases, making facial expressions, and recognizing hostility in voices.

System 2 prevented James from reacting foolishly to the insult, implying that without effortful control, he might have responded aggressively.

The author uses active sentences to describe System 2's functions as a form of description rather than an explanation, despite criticism from colleagues.

A strong attraction to a patient with a history of failed treatment is a cognitive illusion, similar to the Müller-Lyer illusion, indicating a danger sign.

Errors of intuitive thought are difficult to prevent because System 1 operates automatically and System 2 may not recognize the error.

A System 1 response is an automatic, quick reaction to a stimulus, often occurring before conscious recognition.

It implies that we have a limited budget of attention that we can allocate to activities, and exceeding this budget can lead to failure.

It serves as a more challenging version of the Add-1 task, pushing cognitive abilities further.

In emergencies, System 1 takes over and assigns total priority to self-protective actions.

It means that their perception may not accurately reflect reality, leading to a misunderstanding or misjudgment.

By slowing down and consciously engaging in more deliberate and analytical thinking.