Daniel Kahneman was Professor of Psychology and Public Affairs Emeritus at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs, the Eugene Higgins Professor of Psychology Emeritus at Princeton University, and a fellow of the Center for Rationality at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Through his career he held professor posotions at several universtiies: UBC, UC Berkely, and Hebrew University of Jeruselum. He is recognized as a pioneer in integrating insights from the psychological sciences into economics. He was at the forefront of “behavioral economics”. His work gave a nuanced, practical understanding of how humans make decisions and the many implications thereof. He won the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences (2002), the Lifetime Contribution Award of the American Psychological Association (2007), and the Presidential Medal of Freedom (2013).
In this video I summarize what I think are 3 of the most interesting questions he answered:
The best of Daniel Kahneman: 8 Life-Changing Insights
Below are what I consider some of the most important insights contributed by Kahneman…
The Peak-End Rule states that assessment of an experience is based on a combination of the peak emotional tone of the experience and how it ended.
In one study, participants were made to submerge their hand in cold water. One group held their hands in the water for say a minute. In the second group, participants left their hands in the water for an additional 30 seconds but during that time the temperature of the water was increased slightly. The second group reported a less unpleasant experience than the first even though they suffered for 30 seconds longer. Essentially, they remembered the whole thing as less cold because of how it ended. This shows that the ending of the experience had far greater influence on perception than the duration or actual amount of net suffering.
This has some provocative applications. For instance, this was replicated in patients receiving colonoscopies. One group got a colonoscopy wherein the scope was left in for three extra minutes, but not moved, creating a sensation that was uncomfortable, but not painful. The other group underwent a typical colonoscopy. Kahneman found that, when asked to assess their experiences, patients who did the longer procedure rated their experience as less unpleasant than patients who did the usual way (even though they had three more minutes of discomfort).
When it comes to remembered happiness what matters is the peak emotional tone and how it ended.
REFERENCES
Kahneman, Daniel (2000). "Evaluation by moments, past and future" (PDF). In Kahneman, Daniel; Tversky, Amos (eds.). Choices, Values and Frames. Cambridge University Press. p. 693. ISBN 978-0521627498.
Redelmeier, Donald A; Kahneman, Daniel (1996). "Patients' memories of painful medical treatments: real-time and retrospective evaluations of two minimally invasive procedures". Pain. 66 (1): 3–8. doi:10.1016/0304-3959(96)02994-6