An experiment is a rare opportunity… to see the world as it truly is, without all the noise. It’s Kahneman’s brilliant way of saying we can cut through our own mental clutter. This idea is the absolute bedrock of clear thinking in business and life.
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Meaning
At its core, this quote means that a well-designed experiment is our one of our only chances to see cause and effect in its pure, unadulterated form.
Explanation
Look, we’re swimming in a sea of variables all day, every day. Our brains are constantly making snap judgments based on incomplete data, on stories we tell ourselves, on what we *think* is happening. An experiment, when done right, is like hitting the pause button on all that chaos. It systematically removes the “confounding influences”—all those other factors that could be causing the result you’re seeing. What you’re left with is a glimpse of a fundamental truth. It’s reality, naked. And that’s incredibly powerful, and yeah, incredibly rare in the messy real world.
Quote Summary
| Context | Attributes |
|---|---|
| Original Language | English (4131) |
| Category | Education (345) |
| Topics | observation (5), science (16) |
| Literary Style | academic (9) |
| Emotion / Mood | calm (552) |
| Overall Quote Score | 74 (83) |
Origin & Factcheck
This quote comes straight from Daniel Kahneman’s 2011 masterpiece, “Thinking, Fast and Slow.” It was published in the United States and has become a cornerstone of modern behavioral economics. You won’t find it misattributed to other thinkers; this is pure Kahneman, distilling a lifetime of research into a single, potent sentence.
Attribution Summary
| Context | Attributes |
|---|---|
| Author | Daniel Kahneman (54) |
| Source Type | Book (4744) |
| Source/Book Name | Thinking, Fast and Slow (54) |
| Origin Timeperiod | 21st Century (1995) |
| Original Language | English (4131) |
| Authenticity | Verified (4744) |
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 | An experiment is a rare opportunity to observe reality stripped of confounding influences |
| 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 14: Tom W’s Specialty, Approximate page 232 (2013 edition) |