Analysis Of Thinking, Fast And Slow By Daniel Kahneman

For this course, I chose to read “Thinking, Fast and Slow” by Daniel Kahneman as I was interested by the focus on cognitive thought processes. I am fascinated by the ability for the brain to store such great amounts of information and to use this information in such a limitless number of ways, allowing us to perform highly complex tasks in relatively little time. Additionally, we still know relatively little about how the brain actually stores this information and utilizes it properly. In the beginning of his book, Kahneman presents us with one of his own theories for how the brain performs cognitive processes, presenting a two-system model. These two systems correspond to the “fast and slow” of the title. System 1 is our fast thinking system, the one which “operates automatically and quickly, with little or no effort and no sense of voluntary control” (Kahneman 20). He defines this system as performing quick, automatic activities such as understanding simple language, recognizing ingrained phrases, and comprehending aspects of sensory stimuli. System

However, this in result means that mere continuous exposure to 17×24 would generate the same effect, meaning that 17×24 could no longer be a System 2 action, per Kahneman’s explanation. Similarly, the only difference between recognizing one’s phone number, a System 1 task, and telling someone else your phone number, System 2, is the process of changing one’s thoughts into words, which is slow and artificially boosts the action time. This lack of a distinct difference brings to question the definitions of System 1 and System 2. At what point does a math equation pass from System 1 to System 2? If I must speak my answer to “2 + 2” does that turn it into a System 2 process? This vague definition becomes prone to conflicts and