So, you think you’re making good decisions, but are you really? And, how do you know? Do you trust your gut, or lean on your analytical mind? And, what about the hidden scripts and noisy inputs that affect nearly every decision you make, without you being aware of any of it? How do we make better decisions?
Today’s guest can help. Daniel Kahneman is one of the most influential psychologists and thinkers in modern history, his ideas have literally changed the way we live, work, relate, see the world, make decisions, and build solutions, organizations, industries, societies, and lives.
Best known for his remarkable work with Amos Tversky, which explores how we reason and make decisions, his research was, in no small way, seminal in the creation of the field of behavioral economics. He’s been awarded the Nobel Prize, as well as the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Kahneman is Professor Emeritus of Psychology and Public Affairs at Princeton University, and he holds honorary degrees from Harvard, Yale, Cambridge, the Sorbonne and others. His New York Times best-selling book, Thinking, Fast and Slow, has sold more than seven million copies worldwide. And his most recent book, Noise: A Flaw in Human Judgment, explores how unrecognized, systemic influences affect our decisions in ways, both rational and not, that remain completely hidden to us and often lead to profound unfairness and inequality.
We talk about key ideas from his research spanning more than 6 decades. But, we also dive deep into the life experiences that shaped him. Fascinatingly, Kahmeman’s curiosity about humans and all our complexities was sparked as a young Jew living with his family in Nazi-occupied France during World War II, and running for years, before fleeing. His sometimes harrowing experiences triggered questions and curiosities that powerfully influenced what would become a lifelong devotion to understand why we do the things we do.
We explore those early experiences, and he shares where some of the seeds were first planted that would later grow into the body of research and work that have changed the world.
You can find Daniel at: Princeton University | The Nobel Prize
If you LOVED this episode:
- You’ll also love the conversations we had with Charles Duhigg about how unknown influences and habit and ritual effect our behavior.
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