Thinking Fast and Slow

This summer, I have focused on catching up on some reading.  I recently finished Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman and was absolutely intrigued by it and its' implications for educators.  The author was a winner of the Nobel Prize in economics after completing ground-breaking work on how people make decisions in the in 1970s. Since then, he has focused on how humans think, process information, make decisions, and evaluate risks.  
In short, Kahneman describes two systems of thought.  System one "operates automatically and quickly, with little or no effort, and no sense of voluntary control" while system two "allocates attention to the effortful mental activities that demand it" (Kahneman, 2011, p. 21).  System two is the system we identify with but Kahneman describes how system one is the one that truly guides our thinking.  Unfortunately, system one can be easily influenced by framing, priming, and other phenomenon.  The most interesting thing is that even knowledge of these "tricks" does not excuse you from their influence.  Throughout the book, several commonly held beliefs are challenged and Kahneman teaches you how to override your system one by slowing down and asking for reinforcement from system two.

Though this book isn't explicitly about pedagogy or education, it is very interesting and relevant to the education profession!  I highly recommend it for anyone who is interested in how the brain works both for and against us and how the decisions you make may really not be yours at all!


References
Kahneman, D. (2011). Thinking fast and slow. New York, NY: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux.

Comments

  1. cbernardoJune 21, 2017 at 4:53 PM

    Thank you for sharing, Stacie! I am trying to create a professional library outside of the books we acquire through our studies at GSU. I've also purchased "Poor Students, Richer Teaching," written by Eric Jensen as well as "That Used to Be Us," by Thomas Friedman. I have yet to read them but will let you know what I think.
    In the process of interviewing for Dr. Sauers' class many leaders have recommended books that I need to check out, too. In a previous post I asked about professional journals but maybe we should also start a list of books we find applicable and intriguing?

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    Replies
    1. UnknownJune 22, 2017 at 1:22 PM

      I love that idea! Maybe I will create a google doc in our folder for people to add to. I'm about to write another post about another book I read so check it out!

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