Thinking Fast and Slow - Study Notes - Version 2: 05

Chapter 5: Cognitive Ease

mind is always active to maintain & update certain q’s — e.g. Is anything new going on? A threat? Things going well? Shd attention be redirected? Task req. more effort? — these assessments determine (among other things) whether extra effort is req’d fr. S2

the mind constantly measures cognitive ease, i.e. how well things are doing, whether extra effort fr. S2 is needed — cognitive strain

e.g. sentence printed in clear font, or repeated, or primed, is processed w. cogn. ease — hear speaker when you are in a good mood (or even when pencil stuck crosswise in your mouth to make you “smile”) induces cogn. ease — converse also true for cogn. strain
causes of ease or strain have interchangeable effects — when at cogn. ease, mood is good, like what you see, believe what you hear, trust intuitions, current situ’n feels comfortably familiar — also thinking likely to be rather casual & superficial — when strained, more vigilant & suspicious, more effortful, less comfortable, make fewer errors — but also less intuitive, less creative

illusion of familiarity — e.g. shown fictitious names, days later given list of names, asked to pick out minor celebrities, will include the fictitious names — sense of familiarity for minor items ß sense of ‘pastness,’ an illusion, only because you recog. the word more easily — cognitive ease of S1 (see illustration above) — illusion ß not aware of why cogn’ly easy

some illusions are predictable when judg’t based on sense of cognitive ease or strain (see illustration above) — beliefs biased by anything that makes it easier for associative machine to run smoothly — freq. repetition à false beliefs, familiarity is confused w. truth

reduce cogn. strain — e.g. print w. max contrast betw characters & background, strong colours, high quality paper, simple lang. — memorable ß rhyme, rhythm — if quoting a source, source’s name easy to pronounce
know a statement is true ß strongly linked by logic or assoc’n to pre-existing beliefs or pref’s, comes fr. trusted source — i.e. sense of cogn. ease — BUT cogn. ease can have many sources, we are not always aware of which
sense of ease or strain has multiple causes, hard to separate them —but not impossible, req’s strong motiv’n to overcome superf’l factors that produce illusions of truth
usually lazy S2 adopts the suggestions of S1

· symmetry: S2 ßà cogn. strain — i.e. cogn. strain mobilizes S2

· e.g. puzzle w. obvious but wrong answ. dupes people less when printed in small font, strain awakens S2

cogn. ease of S1 gives good feelings — e.g. IPOs more successful for companies w. easy to pronounce names — the mere exposure effect: repeating unknown word increases good feelings about it, even unconscious (word shown rapidly) — biology, repeated stimulus, learn ∃ no bad consequences

tests of creativity
these go together: good mood, intuition, creativity, gullibility, increased reliance on S1
these go together: sadness, vigilance, suspicion, an analytic approach, increased effort
happy mood loosens the control of S2 over performance, more intuitive & creative, but less vigilant, more prone to logical errors
good mood = things gen’ly going well, environ’t is safe, OK to let guard down
bad mood = things not going very well, may be a threat, vigilance is req’d

· “Let’s not dismiss their business plan just because the font makes it hard to read.”

· “We must be inclined to believe it because it has been repeated so often, but let’s think it through again.”

· “Familiarity breeds liking. This is a mere exposure effect.”

· “I’m in a very good mood today, and my System 2 is weaker than usual. I should be extra careful.”