You know, a remarkable aspect of your mental life is that you’re rarely stumped. It sounds like a compliment, but Kahneman’s revealing a glitch in our brain’s operating system. It’s the reason we jump to conclusions so quickly.
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Meaning
This isn’t about your intelligence; it’s about your brain’s relentless need to have an answer, any answer, immediately. It’s about the illusion of intuitive confidence.
Explanation
Okay, so here’s the thing. We all walk around with this incredible machine in our heads, System 1—that’s Kahneman’s fast, intuitive thinking. And its primary job is to make sense of the world *instantly*. It hates uncertainty. So, it takes shortcuts, connects dots with whatever information is available, and serves you a ready-made answer. The crazy part? You usually accept it without question. You’re not stumped because System 1 is working overtime in the background to make sure you always have a narrative, a feeling, a gut reaction. Even if it’s wrong. It’s why you can glance at a person and instantly form an opinion, or hear a statistic and feel like you understand it completely. Your mind abhors a vacuum.
Quote Summary
| Context | Attributes |
|---|---|
| Original Language | English (3668) |
| Category | Personal Development (697) |
| Topics | cognition (2), confidence (100), thinking (18) |
| Literary Style | observational (27) |
| Emotion / Mood | calm (491) |
| Overall Quote Score | 75 (124) |
Origin & Factcheck
This line comes straight from Kahneman’s 2011 masterpiece, “Thinking, Fast and Slow.” It’s a foundational concept in the book, introduced early to set the stage for his entire thesis on cognitive biases. You sometimes see this idea paraphrased elsewhere, but the specific phrasing is uniquely his.
Attribution Summary
| Context | Attributes |
|---|---|
| Author | Daniel Kahneman (54) |
| Source Type | Book (4032) |
| Source/Book Name | Thinking, Fast and Slow (54) |
| Origin Timeperiod | 21st Century (1892) |
| Original Language | English (3668) |
| Authenticity | Verified (4032) |
Author Bio
Dr Daniel Kahneman transformed how we think about thinking. Trained in Israel and at UC Berkeley, he built a career spanning Hebrew University, UBC, UC Berkeley, and Princeton. His partnership with Amos Tversky produced prospect theory and the heuristics-and-biases program, culminating in the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences. He engaged broad audiences through bestselling books and practical frameworks for better decisions. He continued writing and advising late into life, leaving ideas that shape economics, policy, medicine, and management. If you want to dive deeper, start with the Dr Daniel Kahneman book list and explore his enduring insights.
| Official Website
Where is this quotation located?
| Quotation | A remarkable aspect of your mental life is that you are rarely stumped |
| Book Details | Publication Year: 2011; ISBN: 9780374275631; Latest Edition: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2013; Number of pages: 499. |
| Where is it? | Part II: Heuristics and Biases, Chapter 8: How Judgments Happen, Approximate page 91 (2013 edition) |