A Modern Guide to Thinking, Fast and Slow

Daniel Kahneman’s Thinking, Fast and Slow introduced a broad audience to cognitive biases and heuristics, and encouraged readers to reflect on their own thinking. Since the book’s publication in 2011, however, science has faced what’s now called the replication crisis. Across fields, many famous findings have failed to reproduce. Among them are some of the studies featured in Thinking, Fast and Slow.

Kahneman himself acknowledged this problem. In a 2012 letter to leading priming researchers, he wrote, “Your field is now the poster child for doubts about the integrity of psychological research.” He urged the community to confront doubts straight on.

Thinking, Fast and Slow remains a valuable book on human judgment, but it should be read with an awareness that some of its most famous studies have not held up. I wrote this guide to help. It highlights which findings are robust and which have failed to replicate. It is meant as a companion to read alongside the book.

1. Part I: Two Systems
2. Part II: Heuristics and Biases
3. Part III: Overconfidence
4. Part IV: Choices (in progress)
5. Part V: Two Selves (coming soon)

Note: This project is ongoing, and I welcome corrections or suggestions for additions.