Reflective System

Reflective System

The Reflective System is controlled, effortful, deductive, slow, self-aware, and rule-following.

Here is a story that illustrates how the two systems work. Sunstein has a son named Declan, who was, at age nine, unable to resist toy stores. Whenever the two of them passed such a store, Declan would clamor to go inside and buy something, even though he would predictably be bored with the new toy in a day or two. Sunstein, of course, dealt with this dilemma by giving Declan a short primer on the two systems. It was Declan’s System 1 that urgently wanted to go into toy stores, although his System 2 fully knew he had enough toys. For a few weeks, the explanation appeared to work, and Declan could pass by toy stores without uttering a word. But one day, he looked seriously at his father and asked, “Daddy, do I even have a System Two?”

As Declan now knows, the Automatic System is rapid and instinctive, and acts without reliance on what we usually associate with the word thinking. When you duck because a ball is thrown at you unexpectedly, or get nervous when your airplane hits turbulence, or smile when you see a cute puppy, it is your Automatic System at work. Though the neuroscience is complicated here, brain scientists are able to say that the activities of the Automatic System are associated with the oldest parts of the brain, the parts we share with lizards (as well as puppies).

The Reflective System is more deliberate and self-conscious. We use this system when we are asked, “How much is 411 times 317?” Most people are also likely to use the Reflective System when deciding which route to take for a trip to an unfamiliar place and whether to go to law school or business school. When we are writing this book we are (mostly) using our Reflective Systems, but sometimes ideas pop into our heads when we are in the shower or taking a walk and not thinking at all about the book, and these probably are coming from our Automatic Systems. (Many voters, by the way, seem to rely heavily on their Automatic System. A candidate who makes a bad first impression, or who tries to win votes through complex arguments and statistical demonstrations, may well run into trouble.)

Most people in the world have an Automatic System reaction to a temperature given in Celsius but have to use their Reflective System to process a temperature given in Fahrenheit; for Americans, the opposite is true. People speak their native languages using their Automatic Systems and tend to struggle to speak another language using their Reflective Systems. Being truly bilingual means that you speak two languages using the Automatic System. Accomplished chess players have pretty fancy intuitions; their Automatic Systems allow them to size up complex situations rapidly and respond with both amazing accuracy and exceptional speed.

One way to think about all this is that the Automatic System is your gut reaction and the Reflective System is your conscious thought. Gut feelings can be quite accurate, but we often make mistakes because we rely too much on our Automatic System. The Automatic System says, “The airplane is shaking, I’m going to die,” while the Reflective System responds, “Plane crashes are extremely rare!” The Automatic System says, “That big dog is going to hurt me,” and the Reflective System replies, “Most dogs are quite sweet.” The Automatic System starts out with no idea how to kick a ball accurately or shoot a basketball into a faraway hoop. Note, however, that countless hours of practice enable accomplished athletes to avoid reflection and to rely on their Automatic Systems—so much so that good athletes know the hazards of thinking too much and might well do better to “trust the gut,” or “just do it.”

The Automatic System can be trained with lots of repetition—but such training takes a great deal of time and effort. One reason why teenagers are such risky drivers is that their Automatic Systems have not had much practice, and using the Reflective System is much slower. Sunstein is hopeful that Declan will develop a fully functional Reflective System before he is old enough to get a driver’s license.

To see how intuitive thinking works, try the following little test. For each of the three questions, begin by writing down the first answer that comes to your mind. Then pause to reflect.

1. A bat and ball cost $1.10 in total. The bat costs $1.00 more than the ball. How much does the ball cost?
2. You are one of three runners in a race. At the end, you overtake the runner who was in second place. In what place did you finish?
3. Mary’s mother had four children. The youngest three are named: Spring, Summer, and Autumn. What is the eldest child’s name?

What were your initial answers? Most people say 10 cents, first place, and Winter. But all these answers are wrong. If you think for a minute, you will see why. If the ball costs 10 cents and the bat costs one dollar more than the ball, meaning $1.10, then together they cost $1.20, not $1.10. No one who bothers to check whether his initial answer of 10 cents could possibly be right would give that as an answer, but research by Shane Frederick (who calls series of questions such as these the Cognitive Reflection Test) finds that these are the most popular answers even among bright college students.

The correct answers are 5 cents, second place, and Mary, but you knew that, or at least your Reflective System did if you bothered to consult it. Econs, the authors’ ideally rational decision makers, never make an important decision without checking with their Reflective Systems (if they have time). But Humans sometimes go with the answer the lizard inside is giving without pausing to think. If you are a television fan, think of Mr. Spock of Star Trek fame as someone whose Reflective System is always in control. (Captain Kirk: “You’d make a splendid computer, Mr. Spock.” Mr. Spock: “That is very kind of you, Captain!”) In contrast, Homer Simpson seems to have forgotten where he put his Reflective System. (Homer once replied to a gun store clerk who informed him of a mandatory five-day waiting period before buying a weapon, “Five days? But I’m mad now!”)

Policy can make the world easier, or safer, for the Homers among us (and the Homer lurking somewhere in each of us). If people can rely more on their Automatic Systems without getting into terrible trouble, their lives should be easier, better, and longer. Put another way, let’s design policies for Homer economicus.