Mind & Self

Human Psychology

Why people do what they do

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Two Systems Thinking

Two mental gears run your day: a fast automatic one and a slow effortful one. Most decisions feel deliberate but were already settled by the fast one.

Notice when System 1 is dressing up a snap call as careful reasoning.
Force a System 2 check on any decision worth more than a week of regret.
Use friction or a written rule to slow yourself down on high-stakes choices.

Concepts (2)

System 1 vs System 2
A dual-process model of cognition where System 1 is fast, automatic, and intuitive while System 2 is slow, deliberate, and effortful.
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Default Mode Network (DMN)
A network of brain regions, including the medial prefrontal cortex and posterior cingulate, that becomes active during self-referential thought, mind wandering, and rest.
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All Human Psychology glossary

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Heuristic
Mental shortcut that's fast but sometimes wrong.
Bias
Systematic error in thinking, not random noise.
Prospect theory
Kahneman/Tversky model: losses loom larger than gains.
Steelman
The strongest possible version of an opposing argument.
Replication
Re-running a study to see if the result holds up.
Conformity
Adjusting behaviour to match a group, even against private judgment.
Attribution
How we explain causes of behaviour, to character or to circumstance.
Anchoring
First-number effect on subsequent estimates.
Default Mode Network
Brain regions active during self-referential thought and mind-wandering, tied to rumination and creativity.
Affect heuristic
Leaning on immediate emotion to judge a probability or value.
Status games
Ranking by prestige (competence-based) vs dominance (fear-based) in any social group.
Attachment style
Secure, anxious, or avoidant relational patterns shaped by early caregiving.