Today it’s great to chat with Daniel Kahneman, one of the most influential psychologists of all time. Kahneman is known for his work on the psychology of judgment and decision-making as well as behavioral economics, for which he was awarded the 2002 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. He is author of the bestselling book Thinking, Fast and Slow and co-author of the recent book Noise: A Flaw in Judgment. In 2013, Kahneman received the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Barack Obama.
Topics
[1:11] Daniel’s early childhood
[4:11] Daniel’s experiences in Nazi-occupied France
[6:38] Daniel’s escape from Nazi-occupied France
[10:59] Daniel’s recollection of the birth of Israel
[14:39] How Daniel’s work in the army influenced his work
[20:50] Daniel’s work at UC Berkeley
[23:02] Daniel’s shift in focus from perception & attention to judgment & decision-making
[28:18] The importance of “adversarial collaboration”
[34:52] The development of Daniel’s ambitions in psychology
[37:23] The difference between System 1 and System 2 in psychology
[47:29] Daniel’s thoughts on the free will debate
[50:34] Daniel’s thoughts on individual differences in System 1
[53:54] Daniel’s thoughts on Seymour Epstein’s dual-process model
[57:15] Scott and Daniel discuss individual differences in System 1
[1:02:48] How Daniel moved into investigating hedonic psychology
[1:08:44] Daniel’s response to the current research on well-being
[1:16:00] Hope vs hopefulness as a psychological intervention
[1:19:55] The distinction between the science of well-being vs. the application of the science of well-being
[1:27:00] The link between wealth and happiness
[1:31:15] The difference between bias and noise
[1:36:38] The issue of noise across various disciplines
[1:31:39] What is decision hygiene?
[1:42:47] How Daniel has grown over time as a person
[1:45:38] Daniel’s reflections on winning the Nobel Prize
[1:48:09] What Daniel would study today and where he sees behavioral economics going
[1:50:46] What Daniel wants his greatest legacy to be
[1:53:12] Daniel’s advice to young psychologists
Thanks for this interesting discussion with a huge contributor to psychology.
Regarding Kahneman’s comments on the predicament surrounding concepts like consciousness, feelings, free will, I am wondering what you think of neuropsychologist and psychoanalyst Mark Solm’s recent research and position on consciousness, i.e. consciousness arising from the brainstem and manifested as affect?
Hi Scott
you and Daniel Kahneman discuss the science of well being in your interview. Is it not time to go the next step and establish a formal science of well being? We have the science of psychopathology which is the formal study personality and behavioural disorders. Why not, for example, have a science of psychoeuology which is the study of well being. Here ‘eu’ means ‘well’.
This can include the study of psychological health, resilience, positivity, creativity, hope, optimism, happiness, competence, success, grit, self-efficacy, self-fulfilment, identity, search for meaning, rich cognitive experiences such as peak experiences and flow experiences; and positive emotional states such as joy, love and ectasy as examples.
The formal recognition of this science of well being would help move attention away from cults and ideologies in psychology such as positive psychology, humanistic psychology, existential psychology and gestalt psychology to what does the research reveal?
A truly fascinating discussion – thank you.
I am interested in how Hope arises in these explorations and the concept and usability of hope contextually in current settings?