Thinking, Fast and Slow
Daniel Kahneman · 2011
"Two systems drive human judgment — System 1, fast and intuitive, and System 2, slow and deliberate — and most systematic biases occur when System 1 quietly substitutes an easy question for the hard one actually being asked."
You know instantly that 2+2=4 and instantly that a stranger's face looks angry. You do not know instantly what 17×24 is — that takes deliberate work. Kahneman's whole book rests on naming that gap: System 1 (fast, automatic, effortless) and System 2 (slow, effortful, deliberate).
System 2 believes it's in charge, but it's lazy — it tends to endorse whatever answer System 1 hands it rather than checking the work. The mechanism behind most cognitive biases is 'substitution': when System 2 is asked a hard question ('how do I feel about my life overall?'), System 1 quietly answers an easier, related one instead ('how do I feel right now?') and System 2 accepts it as the answer without noticing the swap happened.
What mechanism does Kahneman identify as the source of most systematic cognitive biases?
Read more about the topic
The explanation above is written with AI assistance. These are the originals — go to them to check it.
- Of 2 Minds: How Fast and Slow Thinking Shape Perception and Choice (Excerpt)Scientific American
- Thinking, Fast and SlowWikipedia
Base Rates
"Anchor to what usually happens before adjusting for what makes this case special."