To see how your brain works in automatic mode, take a look at the following picture.
When you see this face, your experience easily connects what we usually call vision and intuitive thinking. You quickly and confidently determined that the woman in the photograph had dark hair, and just as easily realized that she was angry. Moreover, you understood something about the future. You felt that now she would utter some very unkind words, and probably in a loud and harsh voice. This premonition came to your mind automatically and effortlessly. You weren’t going to judge her mood or predict her actions, and the reaction to the photo didn’t feel like an action. It just happened. This is an example of fast thinking.
Now look at the following task:
× 17 24
You immediately realized that this was a multiplication problem, and you probably realized that you could solve it with paper and pen, or maybe without them. You also intuitively estimated the approximate range of possible outcomes. You will quickly realize that the answers 12 and 609 are not suitable, but it will take you some time to reject the number 123. The exact solution did not come to mind, and you yourself felt that you had a choice as to whether to solve the example or not. If you haven’t done it yet, you should now try and at least partially calculate the result.
By following these steps in sequence, you have gained the experience of slow thinking. First, you retrieved the cognitive multiplication program you learned in school from memory, and then you applied it. I had to work hard to calculate. You felt the load on your memory because of the large amount of material, because you had to simultaneously keep track of what you have already done and what you are going to do, and at the same time not forget the intermediate result. The whole process was the work of the mind: purposeful, laborious and orderly, a pattern of slow thinking. Not only your mind was involved in the calculation, but also your body. You tense your muscles, your blood pressure rises, your pulse quickens. An outside observer would notice that your pupils dilated during the decision. They shrunk back to normal size as soon as you’ve completed your work and found the answer (408) or as soon as you quit solving the example.
Two systems
For several decades now, psychologists have been persistently interested in two modes of thought: the one that triggers the portrait of an angry woman, and the one that triggers the multiplication problem. There are many names for these modes. I am using terms originally coined by psychologists Keith Stanovich and Richard West and will be talking about two systems of thought: System 1 and System 2.
- System 1 works automatically and very quickly, requiring little or no effort and without giving a sense of intentional control.
- System 2 highlights the attention needed for conscious mental effort, including complex calculations. System 2 actions are often associated with a subjective sense of activity, choice, and concentration.
The concepts of System 1 and System 2 are widely used in psychology, but I go further in this book than others: it can be read as a psychological drama with two characters.
When we think of ourselves, we mean System 2 — the conscious, intelligent self that has beliefs, makes choices and decides what to think and do. Although System 2 considers itself to be the main actor, in reality the hero of this book is the automatically responding System 1. I believe that it effortlessly generates impressions and feelings, which are the main source of System 2 beliefs and conscious choices. The automatic actions of System 1 generate amazingly complex thought patterns, but only the slower System 2 can arrange them into an ordered sequence of steps. The following will describe the circumstances in which System 2 takes control, restricting the free impulses and associations of System 1. You are invited to consider these two systems as two entities, each with its own unique abilities, limitations, and functions.
Here is what System 1 can do (examples are ranked in ascending order of complexity):
- Determine which of the two objects is closer.
- Orient yourself towards the source of the harsh sound.
- Finish the phrase «Bread with …».
- Draw a grimace of disgust at the sight of a vile picture.
- Determine the hostility in the voice.
- Solve example 2 + 2 =?
- Read the words on the big billboards.
- Drive a car on an empty road.
- Make a strong chess move (if you are a grandmaster).
- Understand a simple sentence.
- Determine that the description «a quiet, neat person with a lot of attention to detail» is similar to a stereotype associated with a certain profession.
All of these actions are in the same category as the response to an angry woman: they are automatic and require little or no effort. System 1 capabilities include our inner skills that we share with other animals. We are born ready to perceive the world around us, recognize objects, direct attention, avoid losses and be afraid of spiders. Other activities of the mind become quick and automatic after much practice. System 1 remembered the connection between ideas (the capital of France?) and learned to recognize and understand the subtleties of situations that arise in communication. Some skills, like the ability to find good moves in chess, are acquired only by expert experts. Other skills are given to many. To determine the similarity of a description of a person with a stereotype of a profession, broad linguistic and cultural knowledge is required, which many people have. Knowledge is stored in memory and we access it without conscious intention or effort.
Some of the actions on this list are completely involuntary. You can’t stop yourself from understanding simple sentences in your native language or noticing a loud, unexpected sound; you can’t stop yourself from knowing that 2 + 2 = 4, or remember Paris if someone mentions the capital of France. A number of activities, such as chewing, can be controlled, but they are usually performed on autopilot. Attention is controlled by both systems. Orientation to a loud sound usually happens involuntarily, using System 1, and then the attention of System 2 is immediately and purposefully mobilized. still pay attention to it, at least for a while. However, attention can be diverted from an unwanted object, and the best way is to focus on another goal.
The various functions of System 2 have one thing in common: they all require attention and are interrupted when attention is switched. For example, using System 2, you can do the following:
- Prepare for the signal to start the race.
- Watch the clowns at the circus.
- Hear the voice of the right person in a crowded noisy room.
- Note the gray-haired woman.
- Identify the surprising sound by rummaging through memory.
- Intentionally speed up the pace.
- Monitor the appropriateness of behavior in a particular social situation.
- Count the number of letters «a» in the text.
- Dictate your phone number to the interlocutor.
- Park where there is little space (unless you are a professional valet).
- Compare two washing machines for price and features.
- Fill out a tax return.
- Check the consistency of complex logical arguments.
In all these situations, you need to be attentive, and if you are not ready or distracted, then you will cope worse or not cope at all. System 2 can change the operation of System 1 by reprogramming the normal automatic functions of attention and memory. For example, while waiting for a relative at a crowded train station, you can tune in to look for a gray-haired woman or a bearded man, and thus increase the chances of seeing her or him from a distance. You can stretch your memory to remember the names of the capitals that begin with the letter «H», or the novels of French existentialist writers. When you rent a car at London Heathrow Airport, you will probably be reminded that «we drive on the left side». In all these cases, you are being asked to do something out of the ordinary, and you will find that it takes constant effort to do so.
We often use the phrase “be careful” — and it is quite fair. We have a limited amount of attention that can be allocated to various activities, and if we go beyond the available, then nothing will work. The peculiarity of such activities is that they interfere with each other, and that is why it is difficult or even impossible to perform several at once. It is impossible to calculate the product of 17 24 when turning left in heavy traffic; not even worth trying. You can do several things at once, but only if they are easy and do not require too much attention. It’s probably possible to talk to someone sitting next to you if you’re driving down an empty highway, and many parents find—albeit with some embarrassment—that they can read a story to their child while thinking about something else.
Everyone is more or less aware of the limitations of attention, and our behavior in society takes into account these limitations. For example, if a car driver overtakes a truck on a narrow road, adult passengers quite reasonably fall silent. They know not to distract the driver; in addition, they suspect that he is temporarily «deaf» and will not hear their words.
Focusing on something, people, in fact, «go blind», not noticing what usually attracts attention. This was best illustrated by Christopher Chabry and Daniel Simons in The Invisible Gorilla. They made a short film about a basketball game where the teams play in white and black jerseys. Spectators are asked to count the number of passes that the players in white shirts will make, ignoring the players in black. This is a difficult task that requires full attention. About halfway through the video, a woman in a gorilla suit comes into the frame, crosses the set, thumps her chest, and walks away. She is in the frame for 9 seconds. The video was seen by thousands of people, but about half of them did not notice anything unusual. Blindness comes from the task of counting, especially from instructions to ignore one of the commands. Spectators who have not received this task will not miss the gorilla. Seeing and navigating are automatic functions of System 1, but they are performed only if some amount of attention is devoted to the corresponding external stimuli. According to the authors, the most remarkable thing about their study is that people are very surprised by its results. Spectators who have not noticed the gorilla are at first sure that it was not there — they are not able to imagine that they missed such an event. The gorilla experiment illustrates two important facts: we can be blind to the obvious and, moreover, we do not notice our own blindness.