Kahneman roughly splits the way we think in to two different systems.
They are ways and attributes of how we think, and are not strictly defined by a specific place, different from the traditional 'left brain-right brain' dichotomy
Because they're easy to remember the two ways of thinkning are called system 1 and system 2 because they are short
System 1 is involved in intuitive responses and actions.
System 2 is involved with cognitive and throughtful processes.
Judging emotions of a person's face is a system 1 action
Long form multiplication, like 345x288 is a system 2 action
2+2 = 4 is a system 1 action
Reversing in to a small parking space is a system 2 action.
Some system 2 actions can be incorporated in to system 1 actions, through repeated doing.
Doing system 1 and system 2 actions can be very difficult or impossible, depending on the task
Attention and effort
Kahneman outlines the relation between mental effort and system 2
Generaly we will prefer to stay out of system 2 for as long as possible.
He uses the Add-1 and Add-3 tasks as examples of maximum effort in system 2
Add - 3 is a game where your'e adding 3 digits up on a string of four digits under time pressure.
Pupils will dialate and the brain gets aroused when it has to work hard
As soon as you have solved the problem or given up, your pupils will go back to normal
Kahneman talks about how the brain can start to commit certain actions which are quite difficult in to learned behavious, such as counting the number of f's in a page.
This pattern becomes harder as you try and switch to another equally hard or harder task
The gorrilla experiment, where people are asked to count the number of passes between a team, shows that when cognitive effort increases, system 2 begins to prioritise attention to the most important task, and will ignore the gorrila.
In the same way system 1 will often take action, without you even being consiously aware of it(hitting the breaks in a car accident)
The Lazy Controller
Kahneman gives an example of walking and thinkning
At a certain pace it's easy to think, at another much harder
There is only a certain amount of things we can do at any given time.
Kahnemen references to some studies on the idea of ego depletion
Kahneman references the work done on flow, showing that focus can be maintained in a certain area, without any effort, because the task itself is enjoyable enough to be seen as effortless.
Ego depletion doesnt always happen. It is also not in the same part of the brain as cognitive strain. → Just because you're being cognitively strained doesnt mean your ego is being depleted.
Ego depletion is the force that causes people who have already withheld from temptation to give in to more temptation
Bat and ball question is shown as well as roses and flowers example.
Kahneman shows the idea of questions which have an intuitive but incorrect answer to them
System 2 can in some people, and at some times, be quite lazy. It delays thinkning or checking that a problem is correct
Some references made to the marshmallow test, and the outcomes of the children years later showing that chidlren who could delay, we're usually more intelligent.
Also some references made to the idea that focussing on a task, can improve intelligence in children. → Does this translate to adults?
Some final examples on people who say or do things without checking to see if they're correct, or the right thing to do.
"Blurting out the first thing that comes to your mind" → Lazy system 2.