Imperative 3: Understand that customers\u2019 minds can be in conflict with themselves<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\nDaniel Kahneman\u2019s book Thinking Fast and Slow<\/em> also covered the concept of the two types of thinking. Using another team\u2019s research, he described a human brain as having two ways of thinking, the fast, intuitive way (which he calls System 1), and the slow, rational way (which he calls System 2). We access the fast, intuitive way first. It is an emotional type of thinking, our \u201cgut reaction.\u201d But our slow, rational way of thinking, both logical and laborious, may or may not agree with the conclusion our intuitive thinking produces. Sometimes the System 2 thinking overrules the System 1 conclusion outright.<\/p>\nHowever, the two kinds of thinking are not always at odds. Sometimes they enhance one another\u2019s conclusions. Sometimes they work together to reach a conclusion.<\/p>\n
The two ways of thinking don\u2019t always interact either. Many times the System 2 thinking doesn\u2019t even start, quite content to allow the System 1 thinking to carry on with its emotional conclusions, never inspired to weigh in at all. It rests while the System 1 thinking interprets events and creates outcomes. In fact, System 2 lets System 1 take the lead most of the time.<\/p>\n
Is System 2 just lazy then? Not exactly. We developed these two ways of thinking for evolutionary reasons. System 2 takes a lot of energy to think; System 1 doesn\u2019t. So when we were still hunting and gathering for our food, which takes a lot of energy and sends us out into the jungle to forage (and flee predators, as the case may be), we chose to conserve our energy as long as possible.<\/p>\n
Today we conserve energy for different reasons. An example is the concept of cognitive depletion. Cognitive depletion (also called Ego Depletion) refers to the state of mind a person reaches when they are tired where they no longer make good decisions. This short video explains the concept in more detail:<\/p>\n