Big Think is a great site for learning more about different ideas and some of the new knowledge we’re developing in different areas, I enjoy it a lot.

Recently, they posted this article about a new book on decision making from a Nobel Prize-winning Psychologist, Daniel Kahneman, “Thinking Fast & Slow“.

Essentially, it explores our two different mental systems – “fast thinking” and “slow thinking”.

“According to Kahneman, there are very few circumstances in which system one – more impulsive and emotional than system two – is your best guide. As a rule, he’d advise everyone to slow down their decision making whenever possible. In general, system one is most reliable within your area of expertise. A chess master, for example, might be able to make a great move based on gut instinct (though even in this case, slowing down couldn’t hurt) because she’s internalized tens of thousands of possible patterns of gameplay.”

In other words, when you’ve been well-trained and practiced in a certain area of decision-making, you’re able to trust that “fast thinking” system, because it has a good body of reference material to work from. In other cases, though, you’ll do better engaging your “slow thinking” system (your pre-frontal cortex).

The article also has a short video that’s worth watching.