The Rubric for the book talks (35 point total) Review Why you selected the book & is it relevant to the assignment: 3 pts Review of the major points (20 pts) (e.g., what kind of evidence [research?] is used for the arguments, use examples from the book, what did you find convincing, what major psychological theories are covered) Review the overall conclusions (2 pts) What are your overall impressions? What questions are you left with? (3 pts) Would you recommend the book to others? Who would you recommend it to (and why them)? (2 pts) General presentation Timing, talking to the audience, don’t just read off the slides, etc. (5 pts)

A Review of Dr. Daniel Kahneman’s book Thinking Fast and Slow A Review of Dr. Daniel Kahneman’s book Picture from Eva-Lotta Lamm

About the Author and the Book Daniel Kahneman Professor emeritus of psychology and public affairs at Princeton University Long-time collaborator with Dr. Amos Tversky Impact and Influence ”Father/Founder of field of Behavioral Economics” 2002 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, 2013 recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom 2007 American Psychological Association's Award for Outstanding Lifetime Contributions to Psychology “seventh most influential economist in the world,” “top 50 most influential people in finance”. Talk about why I picked it, a bit about Kahneman and his body of research. Can include a few reviews that rave about the book. Talk about the use of narrative here (or maybe save for later)

About the Author and the Book Thinking, Fast and Slow (2011) In many respects this book reviews Kahneman’s research spanning his entire career (spanning nearly 60 years). Cognitive Psychology, with a focus on processes of decision making and choice behaviors (and a bit on happiness and well-being). Aim is to bring this research to the public, to improve watercooler conversations, and maybe even how we go about with our everyday thinking and recognize mistakes I selected it because: I had read and enjoyed it, thought it was accessible I thought that it was a good choice for as a capstone experiences for senior psychology majors I do believe that it could lead to ”better thinking” and “understanding” Talk about why I picked it, a bit about Kahneman and his body of research. Can include a few reviews that rave about the book. Talk about the use of narrative here (or maybe save for later). The about the author part is optional. For me, it played a big part of my selection of this book. That may not have been the case for your book selections.

Coverage Organized around 5 parts: Two Systems Heuristics and Biases Overconfidence Choices Two Selves The book covers a lot of information Many of the chapters use parts of Kahneman’s career/life narrative as examples to illustrate the development of his theories and research Sometimes the same stories come up in different chapters. This helps weave things together (but may feel repetitious at times) Since this book was so long, I don’t think that it makes sense to cover the individual chapters. But it does make sense to kind of cover the 5 main parts. I’ve carried that logic over the rest of the presentation as well.

Part I: Two Systems These chapters center around a class of theories that propose two systems of thinking (he refers to them as “characters” & “useful fictions”) System 1: Characterized as fast, unconscious, and automatic processing. Based primarily on learned associations and priming mechanisms. Generally speaking, this system gives the first interpretation of a situation (always “on”). If it has trouble, then it may call in System 2 (sometimes it may substitute a different question if it can’t come up with an answer) It operates with WYSIATI (What You See Is All There Is) – so decisions may be based on incomplete information Biased to believe (look for confirmation rather than refutation), decisions based on cognitive ease System 2: Characterized by slow and deliberate processing. May be based on logical reasoning, calculating, and conscious thinking. Effortful, requires mental energy, focuses attention (as a result, sometimes is “lazy”) e.g., Recognizing and angry face 1-2 slides about each of the parts, the main points of the chapters in these sections. Include some of his demonstrations and maybe some of the quotes. Make sure to include my thoughts one these sections as well as summarizing the main parts (check my notes from each chapter) 17 x 24 = eg., doing difficult math

Part I: Two Systems Reflections from these chapters We like to believe that we are system 2 thinkers, ignoring the power and persuasiveness of our system 1 thinking (even if they are small and subtle) The Invisible Gorilla demonstration is a really powerful one demonstrating the importance of Attention. I think that an understanding of System 1 and 2 (and more narrowly, the processes of categorization), can help us be aware of some of the underlying causes of behaviors like: biased thinking use of stereotypes Jumping to conclusions Answering the wrong questions (substitution) 1-2 slides about each of the parts, the main points of the chapters in these sections. Include some of his demonstrations and maybe some of the quotes. Make sure to include my thoughts one these sections as well as summarizing the main parts (check my notes from each chapter)

Part 2: Heuristics and Biases People don’t always think about things from a strictly logical and/or probabilistic perspective. Kahneman reviews research that has examined several heuristics and biases that may influence our thinking Examples discussed include: Availability – information that is easy to retrieve factors in heavily, ease of retrieval substitutes for other characteristics (e.g., frequency, size, importance) Sometimes can lead to availability cascades – small events become bigger because of news 1-2 slides about each of the parts, the main points of the chapters in these sections. Include some of his demonstrations and maybe some of the quotes. Make sure to include my thoughts one these sections as well as summarizing the main parts (check my notes from each chapter) Anchoring – we adjust our estimates relative to a particular given number, can impact System 1 through priming & system 2 through active adjustment People feel 40 mph is fast if they were driving 15 mph on the city street, but slow if getting off the highway Substitution – if a question is too difficult, substitute an easier one Affect heuristic: good feelings = lower risk | bad feelings = higher risk

Part 2: Heuristics and Biases Reflections from these chapters People often follow a Rule of Small Numbers (rather the a more appropriate Law of Large Number) Maybe I need to add to my PSY 138 and 231 lectures a little bit on the pitfalls of the rule of small numbers not just the benefits of Large Number Anchoring effects are powerful, and often used against us (e.g., impacting our consumer behavior). Knowing about them can help, but require vigilance. Also need to watch out for availability cascades – sometimes things seem bigger than they are because of the coverage. May be an even bigger issue in our current world of social media.

Part 3: Overconfidence The “Outside view” Planning fallacy – planning with the assumption that everything will go as smoothly as possible (rarely goes that way) Sunk cost fallacy – unwillingness to quit something because of the effort already put into it Cognitive Illusions: Illusion of understanding: Hindsight bias Illusion of skill Illusion of validity Intuition vs. formulas 1-2 slides about each of the parts, the main points of the chapters in these sections. Include some of his demonstrations and maybe some of the quotes. Make sure to include my thoughts one these sections as well as summarizing the main parts (check my notes from each chapter)

Part 3: Overconfidence Reflections from these chapters Beware the substitution that underlies the Halo effect We are “wired” to want coherent narratives/stories. We are uncomfortable with doubt. I wonder whether this underlies the current distrust of science? The discussion of intuition vs. algorithms was particularly interesting given our current context of “Big Data” Why is it so hard to overcome the planning fallacy? Even when we know about it, we still tend to underestimate the resources (e.g., time, money, etc.) needed to complete a task

Part 4: Choices This section focuses on the work for which Kahneman won his Nobel Prize. The central theory for these chapters is Prospect Theory Before Prospect theory: Utility Theory – Prospect theory: Loss aversion Reference point 1-2 slides about each of the parts, the main points of the chapters in these sections. Include some of his demonstrations and maybe some of the quotes. Make sure to include my thoughts one these sections as well as summarizing the main parts (check my notes from each chapter). Here there are so many chapters I used 3 slides for the parts

Part 4: Choices Prospect Theory helps explain several effects (here are some examples) The Endowment Effect – changing the reference point illuminates the differences between buying and selling Bad Events – Goals can serve as reference points The Fourfold problem Overweighting small probabilities Rare Events – tend to look at rare events as possibilities rather than as probabilities Risk Policies – tend to be risk-averse for gains and risk-seeking for losses (but this can be costly). Think broadly (grouped decisions over the long-term) rather than narrowly (single separate decisions) 1-2 slides about each of the parts, the main points of the chapters in these sections. Include some of his demonstrations and maybe some of the quotes. Make sure to include my thoughts one these sections as well as summarizing the main parts (check my notes from each chapter). Here there are so many chapters I used 3 slides for the parts

Part 4: Choices Reflections from these chapters There was a lot covered in these chapters. I was especially struck by: Think like a Trader (or Econ) – try to think about the long-term probabilities rather than short-term events. Be careful about framing biases I think that, while understanding why I make my own decisions is important, the content here really helps me gain a greater perspective on why other people may make the choices that they do. So even if I don’t agree with their choice, understanding why they may have made it is really important.

Part 5: Two selves This final section of the book contrasts our “remembering selves” with our “experiencing selves” These two approaches impact happiness & Well-being somewhat differently 1-2 slides about each of the parts, the main points of the chapters in these sections. Include some of his demonstrations and maybe some of the quotes. Make sure to include my thoughts one these sections as well as summarizing the main parts (check my notes from each chapter)

Part 5: Two selves Reflections from these chapters These chapters made me think a lot about Mindfulness Also it suggests that looking at many of the findings/research in this book from a cultural perspective may be very important (it usually is, but often isn’t done)

Overall thoughts and conclusions Kahneman’s conclusions/take home messages: We operate with two general cognitive systems 1 & 2. Our behaviors are the result of outcomes generated by properties of these systems. Sometimes they are in conflict, sometimes they lead to errors, always they are influenced by context. Generally, we ”think like Humans” rather than “Econs” Rather than think in terms of larger probabilistic information, we think based on What You See Is What You Get (based on what gets activated/retrieved/attended) We want coherent stories and that leads to over confidence and confirmation bias Happiness and Well-being are separable. They are linked to different “selves:” one is based in our moment-to-moment experience, the other based in our remembering of the past.

Overall thoughts and conclusions My conclusions/thoughts: I really enjoyed this book. While it is relatively easy to read (in part because of his use of his life narrative as a frame), it also is firmly grounded in solid research (his own as well as that of other researchers). In a sense the book can be seen as “a users guide” for thinking Awareness of errors and biases in thinking, both your own and others “Learn to recognize situations in which mistakes are likely and try harder to avoid significant mistakes when stakes are high” (pg 28) The errors that we make reflect the processes that we normally use. And Kahneman is clear that most of the time those processes lead to correct (or correct enough) behaviors

Recommendations I’d strongly recommend this book to people interested in human behavior. I’d also recommend it to folks who are interested in making better decisions, planning, and understanding of one’s own beliefs. I think that the book is intended to be accessible to a wide range of people, with different backgrounds (e.g., interests, level of education, different jobs, etc.). The use of narrative helps with this. However, it covers a lot of material and I suspect that some folks will find that it is too dense.

For Fun This is just something that I came across while I was looking for visuals to include in my presentation. YOU DON”T NEED TO INCLUDE SOMETHING LIKE THIS PAGE Thinking Fast And Slow (1). Daniel Kahnerman Animated Book Summary (2016) | Part 2