27A- Reading Reflection Number 3

For this reflection, I have chosen to read Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman. This book explores the ideas of two separate thinking systems. The first system, System 1, is your fast, automatic thinking system, comparable to your fight or flight response. The second system, System 2, is correlated with slow and logical thinking, being able to make decisions and inferences based on common sense, past experiences, and reactionary responses you have witnessed prior. Kahneman wants us to benefit from each system as we can equally appreciate them; however, it is said that we can fail when we use one system in a situation where the other system would have worked better in our favor. We also should not look past System 1 as its benefits are the reasons we have survived as a species, it is our fight or flight. We make automatic choices that do not have to be thought about consciously. I was most surprised that each system can be confused with the other and when using one system instead of the better one for the current situation. I also thought it was surprising that Kahneman broke up human responses into thinking systems, hence the title, Thinking, Fast and Slow. I would definitely recommend this book to friends, as it provides a lot of interesting information on how we think and how we have come to be. I believe a lot of people do not categorize thinking this scientifically and I think that this would be a great book to read to broaden your understanding.