Thinking Fast & Slow… (System 1 vs. System 2)

You are running in a race. You catch and pass the person in second place. Which place are you now in? More than likely, you said 1st place.

Based on the work of Nobel laureate, Daniel Kahneman, we know our brains have two distinct information processing systems. These systems are known as System 1 and System 2.

System 1, or fast thinking, is what your brain uses for a variety of routine sub-conscious tasks. System 1 thinking is sometimes referred to as zombie processing. System 2, or slow thinking, is what your brain uses to complete more conscious, complex tasks.

Most of the time, System 1 does its job rather well. Yet, sometimes this intuition based approach can require System 2 to come in and correct something.

Take our question from above… Although your instinct told you that you would be in first place, System 2 knows better. By passing the person, you become the person in second place. You still have your work cut out if you want first.

Want one for the road? How many of each animal did Moses take on the Ark? None. The Ark was Noah’s.

This was Article 20 from the Studio Quick Facts Series.

References:
Duhigg, C. (2012). The power of habit: Why we do what we do in life and business (Vol. 34, №10). Random House.

Evans, J. S. B. (2003). In two minds: dual-process accounts of reasoning. Trends in cognitive sciences, 7(10), 454–459.

Eyal, N. (2014). Hooked: How to build habit-forming products. Penguin Canada.

Forrester, J. W. (1994). System dynamics, systems thinking, and soft OR. System Dynamics Review, 10(2–3), 245–256.

Kahneman, D. (2011). Thinking, fast and slow. Macmillan