Readings Influence Perception of Decision Making

The readings make one introspective related to intuition and heuristics and cognitive biases. In the video lecture Dr. Kahneman illustrated how a single word evokes responses that are similar across an audience with immediate accuracy. In his article he used number sets to demonstrated that people anchor and make adjustments that are not always accurate based on intuitive estimates, much like the video drawing of a man walking into a tunnel that gave the illusion of bigger size when and all drawings of the man were identical sized.

In the video, the intuition system 1 which was quick, automatic, with slow learning, associative coherence, and effortless seemed of value. The intuitive assumptions were particularly significant when related to heat under the boots of a fireman and the need to abandon the fire immediately. It would seem that there is value in recognition of intuition and the skill acquired. Then he compared it with the reasoning system2, slow, controlled, flexible, and effortful and rule governed to draw conclusion that one cannot function well without the other. Reasoning collects data and make judgments and draws conclusions that may be quite different from those derived from intuition. In his article, one concluding comment was that statistical principles are not learned from everyday experiences. Another conclusion was that people usually do not detect the biases in their judgments.