Fast Brain and Slow Brain

Do you know how many decisions the brain makes in a day?

Actually, it is about 30,000 times. That is an incredibly high number, isn't it? (laughs)
I was also shocked when I first learned this...

You don't really feel like you are consciously choosing something that many times a day, do you?

That is to be expected, because the number above includes not only conscious decisions but also those made unconsciously.

If you were to consciously choose between A and B 30,000 times a day, you would be too exhausted to do anything else.
In fact, conscious choices are said to be around several dozen to several hundred per day.

In other words, there are two types of brain decision-making:
conscious
and
unconscious, and the vast majority of choices are made unconsciously.

Unconscious choices include habits and intuition, and they are very convenient.

If we didn't have this, let's consider the example of driving a car.
You would have to consciously judge everything as follows...

🚦 Flow from entering an intersection to turning right
(Conscious decision-making)

① Checking surroundings
What color is the traffic light? Judge whether it is safe to proceed

② Checking oncoming vehicles
How many are there?
How fast are they going?

③ Judging timing
Can I turn right now?
Calculate whether I will make it in time

④ Judging whether to signal
Is now the right time? Too early? Too late?

⑤ Thinking about steering
How much should I turn? When should I start turning?

⑥ Judging accelerator and brake
When should I switch pedals?
How should I adjust the speed?

⑦ Judging positioning after the right turn
Which lane should I enter?
When should I straighten the wheel?

This is exhausting. (laughs)
You wouldn't be able to focus on driving at all.

In short, automating a great many actions is what unconscious decision-making is.

However, while this unconscious decision-making is convenient, it also has a
troublesome side. Because you are not conscious of it, you cannot recognize assumptions or biases, which can sometimes lead to
incorrect decision-making.

Today's topic is about such human decision-making.

The content is cited from "Behavioral Economics is the Strongest Academic Discipline" by Namika Sagara, SB Creative Publishing, June 2, 2023.

Behavioral economics has been a hot topic in recent years, but to put it simply, it is
the study of irrational human decision-making
.

Since economics is the study of rational human decision-making, there is a distinction between the two.

If you are interested, please pick it up. You can also read it on Kindle.

(Below is the quoted section)

As mentioned above, there are two types of human decision-making:

1. Fast decision-making (answering unconsciously and instantaneously)
2. Slow decision-making (answering consciously and after careful thought)

We will call the former System 1 and the latter System 2.

Here is a sudden quiz:

A baseball bat and a ball cost $1.10 in total.
The baseball bat costs $1.00 more than the ball.
If you buy them separately, how much does each cost?

What is your immediate answer?
Bat $1, ball 10 cents
didn't you think that?

I fell for it perfectly too, but this is wrong. (lol)
The correct answer is
bat $1.05, ball 5 cents
.

If you answer using System 2, which thinks carefully, I don't think you will make a mistake.
However, if you use System 1, which makes instantaneous decisions, the possibility of making a mistake, that is, making an irrational decision increases.
This is what is called a cognitive bias.

In our daily decision-making, we frequently use this fast System 1.
And with System 1, there is a high possibility of making irrational decisions.
I think that just knowing in what situations System 1 becomes dominant will increase the number of times you can make the right judgment.

Specifically, there are said to be the following 6 cases where System 1 becomes dominant:

* When you are tired
* When there is a large amount of information or many choices
* When you don't have time
* When your motivation is low
* When the information is simple and too familiar
* When you lack energy or willpower

I have a feeling that in the top 3 scenes,
it's true that I often make mistakes...
right? (lol)
Because many of the things we decide in a hurry are almost like gambling.

It feels important to recognize that you are in one of the 6 states above when making a decision.

Finally,
as examples of irrational decision-making using System 1,
I will introduce the following 8 biases in behavioral economics.

(End of quoted section)

How was it?

The fast brain's decision-making, System 1, is very convenient, but
as shown in Figure 1 above, it also has the potential to lead to many incorrect decisions.

It makes you feel like humans are very irrational beings, doesn't it? (laughs)

However, I really like that kind of irrationality.
Because unpredictable things often happen.

If everything in both work and private life were wrapped in rational decision-making,
it would surely be suffocating.
At that point, you wouldn't even be able to tell the difference between a human and an AI.

By the way, the researcher in my house
likes to sleep on top of the refrigerator.

To get on top of the refrigerator, the following steps are necessary:

Jump onto the kitchen cupboard
→ Walk over narrow appliances
→ Jump from the edge of the microwave

...It looks like an irrational decision... Is the floor not good enough?...