I’ve been interested in psychology for quite a few years (it was my major after all), but I couldn’t get through Thinking, Fast and Slow the few times I’ve attempted to read it. It’s very popular in the psychology world, but my mind really wasn’t really up for it. Is it now? “Yes” is what I’ve been telling myself, so let’s begin with chapters 1 through 3.

The book is divided into five parts. The first part is titled “Two Systems”, and quite obviously, the first chapters are setting the stage to answer the question “What are the two systems?” and we get into right away in Chapter 1.

System 1

This character is our subconscious. It’s the mind running behind the scenes. It’s the automatic thinking, for things that are quick and immediate thoughts that take little to no effort. It’s our FAST thinking. Examples include:

• Answer 2+2
• Orient to the source of a sudden sound
• Drive a car on an empty road

Pretty much things you could do without your attention.

System 2

Let me introduce you to our conscious mind, System 2. This character is activated when something takes your attention; when there’s a demanding thought, some choice to be made, or something happens that requires your concentration. It’s our SLOW thinking. Examples would be:

• Brace for the starter gun in a race
• Search memory to identify a surprising sound
• Tell someone your phone number
• Fill out a tax form

System 2 is activated whenever you need some form of focus.

Review

Both Systems are always active when we are awake. System 1 is running automatically while System 2 is in a “comfortable low-effort mode, in which only a fraction of its capacity is engaged.” (Footnote, Thinking, Fast and Slow, Loc 427).

These two systems work together in a loop. System 1 continuously generates suggestions for System 2 in the form of impressions, intuitions, intentions, and feelings. If System 2 agrees with these suggestions, the impressions and intuitions turn into beliefs, and impulses turn into voluntary action. (Footnote, Loc 427)

However, the loop is stalled when an immediate impulse from System 1 goes into question. Like if we get angry and System 1 decides the best response is to flip over the table, or if we’re driving at night and System 2 decides that paying attention would be a good idea. So our System 2 is in charge of our self-control and usually has the last word.

When our attention and effort is fully required, our System 2 is completely engaged. This is especially true when a new type of task is required of a person. System 2 steps in and “can program memory to obey an instruction that overrides habitual responses.” (footnote Loc 644) It’s the system that is called upon when following rules and comparing objects on multiple attributes, and making deliberate choices between options.

Switching between tasks is effortful for our minds. This understanding (for me) drives the reason why keeping focus on one task without distractions for a period of time is important to get into a “flow state.” With constant distractions, your mind is spending energy trying to stay on task.

This leads into why it seems that laziness is built into our DNA. As Kahneman points out, the “law of least effort” comes into play for not just physical exertion, but also mental exertion. If there are several ways to accomplish a task, humans naturally gravitate towards the least demanding option. We want things to be easy, and often times, not doing something is the easiest route. Repeat that enough times, and not taking action becomes programmed into System 1 as a default setting.

It’s why taking action, even when you know it’s totally the right thing to do, becomes so difficult at times. We’ve done it to ourselves and getting System 2 to beat this instinct from System 1 is tough. And as System 2 exerts more self-control and uses mental energy, (to take action, or to do the right thing) the ability to have self-control depreciates over the day, which is “ego depletion”.

The idea of mental energy was actually proven by Baumeister. Effortful mental activity is expensive in glucose. When performing difficult cognitive reasoning or a difficult task that requires self-control, your blood glucose level drops. So, this means I should go eat something with glucose (chocolate) after writing this, right?

Lessons

Big lesson learned from Chapter 3: Do the hard tasks early! Eat the frog in the morning. Your afternoon self will thank you.

Being able to “take action” when we want to won’t come easy. I honestly believe it’s a life long challenge. No matter where you are in life, you will run into times where “taking action” will take more effort than either Systems want. But the only way to train your Systems to take action, is by taking that one step, whether it tiny or microscopic, every single day. This is the driving factor behind my article “How I’m Beating Depression.”

Our System 1 is much stronger than our System 2. And in order to improve our “self-control”, it would be more impactful in the long run to edit our System 1 vs. having System 2 make these energy consuming “self-control” decisions all the time.

In conclusion, I’m way more into this book now than I was 5 years ago. I’m not entirely sure how to have a “conclusion” for this article, so I’ll just end with, see you next week for the next chapters of Thinking, Fast and Slow. (Note: really need to work on the ending…)