An urgent, timely, and compelling message with nearly limitless implications. Share your opinion of this book. Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our A psychologist and Nobel Prize winner summarizes and synthesizes the recent decades of research on intuition and systematic thinking.
He begins with the distinction between System 1 and System 2 mental operations, the former referring to quick, automatic thought, the latter to more effortful, overt thinking. We rely heavily, writes, on System 1, resorting to the higher-energy System 2 only when we need or want to. The author then explores the nuances of our two-system minds, showing how they perform in various situations. Psychological experiments have repeatedly revealed that our intuitions are generally wrong, that our assessments are based on biases and that our System 1 hates doubt and despises ambiguity.
He reviews many fundamental concepts in psychology and statistics regression to the mean, the narrative fallacy, the optimistic bias , showing how they relate to his overall concerns about how we think and why we make the decisions that we do.
Some of the later chapters dealing with risk-taking and statistics and probabilities are denser than others some readers may resent such demands on System 2!
These are not hard and fast rules, but Meyer delivers important reading for those engaged in international business. Yet they face a wider array of work styles than ever before in dealing with clients, suppliers and colleagues from around the world. When is it best to speak or stay quiet? What is the role of the leader in the room? When working with foreign business people, failing to take cultural differences into account can lead to frustration, misunderstanding or worse.
