System 1 and System 2

Question 1

What are heuristics?

Answer 1

Mental shortcuts that people take when there is no time or resources to analyse the situation thoroughly

Question 2

What are system 1 and 2?

Answer 2

Hypothetical systems of thinking that describe the relationship between intuitive thinking and rational analysis.

Question 3

What are the characteristics of System 1?

Answer 3

Fast

Instinctive

Emotional

Automatic

Unconscious

Question 4

What are the characteristics of System 2?

Answer 4

Rule based

Analytical

Slower

Conscious

Logical

Question 5

How to remember the characteristics of System 2?

Answer 5

RASCL

Rascal

Question 6

What does System 1 use to make decisions?

Answer 6

Past experiences

Question 7

What is the problem with System 1?

Answer 7

Not always accurate

Not always rational

Question 8

What is the name of the study for System 1 and System 2 SAQ?

Answer 8

McClure et al.

Question 9

What year was McClure et al. study made?

Answer 9

2004

Question 10

How to remember the date of the study McClure et al.?

Answer 10

2004 is year of birth

McClure is a Scottish name

Question 11

What is the aim of the McClure et al. (2004) study?

Answer 11

To use a delay-discounting experiment to examine the neural correlates of short-term and long-term preferences for monetary rewards.

Question 12

Which system is thought to be developed first?

Answer 12

System 1

Question 13

How was System 2 developed?

Answer 13

Later by the development of language and abstract thought

Question 14

System 2 can…

Answer 14

override immediate automatic responses and analyse the situation in greater depth.

Question 15

Daniel Kahnemans’ book

Answer 15

Thinking Fast and Slow investigates the interaction of the two systems.

His theory is that both systems are active when we are awake, with System 1 running automatically and System 2 in a background mode, in which only a little of its capacity is engaged, until called upon.

Kahneman (2011) argues that System 2 has the ability to change the way System 1 works, by programming attention and memory.

The example he gives is that when waiting for a relative at a busy train station we can programme ourselves to look for either a white-haired woman or a bearded man, thus increasing the speed of recognition and the distance at which we can recognise our relative.

Similarly, System 1 affects System 2 thinking by governing what we are thinking about.

Question 16

Hypothesis of McClure et al. (2004) study?

Answer 16

The limbic system, which includes the hypothalamus, thalamus, hippocampus and amygdala, is involved in many of our emotions and motivations and will be activated mainly in choices involving an immediate outcome, and the lateral prefrontal cortex and associated structures supporting higher cognitive functions will be activated by delayed choices.

Question 17

Method of of McClure et al. (2004) study?

Answer 17

Participants made a series of choices between smaller/earlier and
larger/later sums of money while their brains were scanned using functional
magnetic resonance imaging.

The specific sums (ranging from $5 to $40) and times of availability (ranging from the day of the experiment to 6 weeks later) were varied across choices. Some of the decisions were more difficult to make than others.

At the end of the experiment, one of each participant’s choices was randomly selected to count and they received one of the rewards they had selected at the designated time of delivery.

Question 18

Results of McClure et al. (2004) study?

Answer 18

Parts of the limbic system associated with the midbrain dopamine system were more activated by decisions involving immediately available rewards.

In contrast, regions of the lateral prefrontal cortex and posterior parietal cortex were activated more by the longer-term options.

The later and larger rewards resulted in the most activation of these regions.

Question 19

Conclusion of McClure et al. (2004) study?

Answer 19

These findings are consistent with a large number of neurophysiological and neuro imaging studies that have implicated the lateral prefrontal cortex areas in higher cognitive functions.

The results suggest that human behaviour is often characterised by a competition between lower level impulsive and automatic processes and abstract reasoning and future planning.