Review of "The Characters of the Story"

The picture is from : "Thinking Fast and Slow - The Marine Shop"

It is the first chapter of Thinking, Fast and Slow which is written by Kahneman. He makes an introduction to reflections of System 1 and System 2 in daily life. He aims to reveal how these two systems show a difference and what their effects are.

From the book, p.21

As you can see in the picture on the left, it is a woman's face. We make some more predictions about it easily as well. The woman is ready to say something and probably with an annoying attitude. We see there is a reason that disturbs her. When we look into her gesture, we learn she is angry. Well, how do we know that? Kahneman argues it is in favor of System 1.

To get attention for System 2, Kahneman gives this example: 17*24. He emphasizes it is not easy to calculate it immediately. We cannot know the answer easily, so we have to focus on the problem. We have to pay attention to the problem. Despite knowing the answer has no extreme values, we don't know the correct answer. So, we have to use System 2 to calculate it. We have to use it to learn that the answer is 408.

These are some features of System 1:

• Detect one object is more distant then another.

• Orient to the source of a sudden sound.

• Answer to 2+2=?

These are some features of System 2:

• Focus on the voice of a particular person in a crowded and noisy room.

• Compare two washing machines for overall value.

• Fill out a tax form.

Interaction between System 1 and System 2 is incredible. System 1 has more responsibility to get input from outside, so it makes decisions that are basic but essential for life. Then System 2 has a responsibility to rethink about System 1's input and how it is evaluated. Interestingly, it may be a reason to believe our decisions. We are prone to think that I made a choice, but it seems a little bit wrong when we understand this mechanism of System 1 and System 2.