Daniel Kahneman

In 2002, psychologist Dr. Daniel Kahneman won a Nobel Prize for his work economics and the psychology behind it. Author of the popular book *Thinking, Fast and Slow*, he is also known for spearheading the behavioral economics movement. He stressed the difference between thinking intuitively and thinking analytically, stating that one is easiest to do when the rest of the process is at a standstill, the other we do simultaneously because we are used to integrating it into our every day lives. Daniel Kahneman has also spent a great portion of his life attempting to study happiness, in some ways he admits he never came much closer to an answer, as happiness to him is hard to determine based off a set of questions. The reason he won a Nobel Prize was due to his work on decision making and it's implications on our economic decisions, that even when dealing with numerical data we tend to make our decisions based on that feeling we get in our gut: intuition. This theory was called prospect theory, whom he created with the late Amos Tversky.

What Kahneman worked on was changing the economic system we knew for the better, by attempting to reassess the behaviors humans have that make us reckless in decision making. His work type of work had yet to be done at the magnitude of what he achieved and applied. His work integrated psychological insights about decision making into the field of economics, allowing the field to drastically shift . Kahneman writes about how we can make decisions by assimilating our emotions during old experiences while we are having new ones, pushing us away from making decisions based on facts or statistics but rather, how we feel.

### Thinking, Fast and Slow

Apart from Kahneman's Nobel Prize-winning work in economics, Kahneman's book, *Thinking, Fast and Slow* brought him widespread acclaim after its 2011 publishing. In it, Kahneman posits that humans have two models of thought: one is "System 1" which tends to be fast, instinctive and emotional, whereas "System 2" is more deliberate, logical and slow. Kahneman explores the mistakes and biases of System 1 and shows that loss aversion and overconfidence can muddle judgement. Kahneman reported slow thinking is a skill to be practiced, and explores how to think more carefully and deliberately.

In a review for *Thinking, Fast and Slow*, Good Reads reported this book "transforms the way we think about thinking."

### Personal life

Kahneman was born in Tel Aviv, Israel in 1934. Kahneman grew up in France during WWII and fled with his mother and sister to Palestine after the death of his father.  Kahneman received his Bachelor's degree in psychology at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Kahneman was then drafted for Israeli military service for two years and was a second lieutenant. After his military experience, Kahneman received his PhD in psychology from the University of California.  He has taught at both Princeton, Stanford and Harvard University, and recently retired. He has been called the "world's most influential living psychologist".  His latest work has involved "experienced utility," meaning the utility of outcomes as people live them.

Kahneman was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2013

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 https://www.ubs.com/microsites/nobel-perspectives/en/laureates/daniel-kahneman.html
2. ↑ https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium.MAGAZINE-why-nobel-prize-winner-daniel-kahneman-gave-up-on-happiness-1.6528513
3. ↑ https://www.forbes.com/sites/stephaniedenning/2016/12/28/the-undoing-project-how-to-judge-a-book-by-its-cover/?sh=2a9e27f51372
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 https://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/27/books/review/thinking-fast-and-slow-by-daniel-kahneman-book-review.html
5. ↑ https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11468377-thinking-fast-and-slow
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/economic-sciences/2002/kahneman/biographical/
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 https://www.britannica.com/biography/Daniel-Kahneman
8. ↑ https://kahneman.socialpsychology.org/