Member-only story
Quick and Slow Thinking
System 1 and System 2 Processing
Daniel Kahneman used the terms System 1 and System 2 in his 2011 book “Thinking Fast and Slow”
In essence, he was making the distinction between ‘automatic’ and ‘deliberate’ thought processes.
Kahneman was using the terms defined by Stonovich and West in their 2000 paper Individual Differences in Reasoning: Implications for the Rationality Debate. Behavioural and Brain Sciences, 23)
System 1: “is the brain’s fast, automatic, intuitive approach”. System 1 activity includes the innate mental activities that we are born with, such as a preparedness to perceive the world around us, recognise objects, orient attention, avoid losses — and fear spiders! Other mental activities become fast and automatic through prolonged practice.
System 2 is “the mind’s slower, analytical mode, where reason dominates” Usually, system 2 activity is activated when we do something that does not come naturally and requires some sort of conscious mental exertion.
A really interesting example of the difference between the two systems can be highlighted in this puzzle.
A bat and a ball together cost £1.10. The bat costs £1 more than the ball. How much does the ball cost?
