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The Seven Myths of System 1 Thinking

Your Customers’ Decisions are the Foundation on Which Your Business Rests

If you understand decision-making better:

Your research, advertising, design, innovation and strategic planning will be on much firmer ground.

A Simple Premise of Daniel Kahneman’s:

Our intuitive, instinctive “System 1” thinking plays a far larger part in decision making than our more considered “System 2”.

There are huge differences!

Myth #1: It’s Just Like Left-Brain and Right-Brain

Logical

Slow

Rule based

Tiring

Considered

System 2

Intuitive

Fast

Emotional

Effortless

Automatic

System 1

e=mc2

If the 2 systems were equal, behaviour change strategies based on triggering System 2 (like giving people more information) would work.

Presented with a binary, we naturally fit ourselves into it – so when we read about System 1 and System 2, it’s very tempting to do the same thing.

All human beings use both systems

Triggers and outcomes will be different, though, because System 1 is strongly rooted in an individual’s experiences, habits and emotional associations.

Myth #2: I think I’m a System 2 Person

The two systems work together to make decisions

Working to build positive emotional associations for a brand is something marketers can and should do

Myth #3: System 1 is Emotional, System 2 is Rational

“The answer to a simple question – how do I feel about this – is a proxy

for the answer to a much more difficult question – what do I

think about this?”–Kahneman

Myth #4: System 2 Makes Better Decisions

Using System 2 does not mean making better decisions – simply more considered ones.

A class of children taking a math test are all making System 2 decisions, but their levels of

right answers will vary enormously. If their information is bad, they won’t get any of the

questions right.

Myth #5: My Category is System 2

System 2

11,000,000 bit/sec

50 bit/sec

“We are not thinking machines that feel; we are feeling machines

that think” Antonio Damasio

System 1

For a start, like most passive data, neuromarketing data tells you what’s happening and leaves you to make assumptions about why. But beyond that there are serious limits to

what neuroscience can measure.

Need more content.

Myth #6: Neuroscience Unlocks System 1 Decisions

Myth #7: We Already Know All This Stuff!

Unreliable Witnesses

The real impact of behavioural economics on market research won’t

be felt until we change our assumptions, not just our methods.