Think Slowly, Think Surely? On Daniel Kahneman’s “Thinking, Fast and Slow”

The psychologist Daniel Kahneman, Nobel prize-winner for economics in 2002, has contributed to some notable advances in economic theory with his work on “prospect theory”, which goes to the heart of behavioural economics, and, more recently, with his work on the economics of happiness. In a book that appeared in the USA in 2011, Thinking, Fast and Slow, he presents the core of his analyses and theories in a highly concrete form. Charles du Granrut has read this work for Futuribles and offers a critical review of it here. He begins by outlining the two main styles of thinking of individuals, as Kahneman conceives them –fast and intuitive and/or slow and rational– before going on to note the main “cognitive biases” that are likely, in his view, to impair reasoning (errors, incoherence, prejudices, the halo effect….). Du Granrut then runs through the various criticisms that have been levelled at this analysis of the decision-making process. He also describes Kahneman’s prospect theory and the way it has been applied within the framework of “liberal paternalism” through the “nudge” concept. Lastly, he notes the contribution made by Kahneman’s analyses of individuals’ perceptions of happiness, not just in the economic field but also, and most importantly, in the area of public policy. All in all, Kahneman’s work is now often integrated into traditional economic theory, while enabling us all to be aware of –and hence potentially forearmed against– the various biases inherent in human thinking.