Processing Information:

Fundamental Thinking Habits

Processing Information: Fundamental
Thinking Habits
• Dual mode thinking principle by Daniel Kahneman's book "Thinking,
Fast and Slow" (2011).
• Human thinking occurs along a continuum of two modes: automatic
and deliberate.
Automatic System (Fast, Intuitive):
• Fast, unconscious, effortless, uses intuition.
• Prone to jumping to conclusions, believing recalled information is
true.
• Primarily handles routine actions, choices, instinctive reactions.
Deliberate System (Slow, Reasoning):

• Slow, conscious, controlled, effortful, uses reasoning.

• Reserved for complex understanding, solving problems, thoughtful
decisions.
• Requires effort, self-control, and attention.
Interaction between Automatic and Deliberate
Processing
• Automatic thinking continuously senses surroundings, functions
without conscious thought.
• Deliberate thinking applies controlled, focused processing for
planning, decisions, goals.
• Interaction between two modes is crucial; unconscious automatic
processing informs conscious deliberation.
• Automatic thinking sets in motion preconscious forces like beliefs,
preconceptions, biases.
• Deliberate reasoning often unaware of prior automatic processes,
leading to potential faulty information.
 Attention, Perception, Cognitive
Evaluation, and Cognitive
Consistency—The Processing Steps
Attention, Perception, Cognitive Evaluation, and Cognitive Consistency—
The Processing Steps
Attention and Perception:

• Begin with attention (noticing) and perceptual selection.

• Selectively perceive a subset of cues due to information overload.
• Guided by expectations, beliefs, existing knowledge, or salient cues.
Cognitive Evaluation:
• Categorize new information by grouping with similar concepts.
• Sorting process of classifying and categorizing lies at the core of
thinking.
• Make automatic meaningful distinctions, increasingly elaborate and
abstract.
• Brain distinguishes between new and related/familiar information.
Cognitive Consistency
• Organize new information using cognitive consistency.
• Compare new info to prior mental representations.
• Integrate new info with existing knowledge based on fit and similarity.
• Brain checks if new info aligns with what's known, adding something
new.
• Conforming info is easily integrated and remembered; non-
conforming info may be forgotten.
• Behavior Result: Perceiving, evaluating, and checking consistency led
to behaviors.
Attention, Perception, and
Preconceptions in Thinking
Perception and Reality:
• Human understanding and behavior based on perceptions.
• Perception shapes attitudes, attributions, and behaviors.
• Reactions to situations are influenced by individual perceptions.
• Different individuals react to the same situation based on their
perceptions.
Attention and Perception
• Attention and perception automatically notice, select, and organize
information.
• Attention processes filtered by assumptions, values, knowledge, etc.
• People focus on partial information and may act on it.
Preconceptions and Thinking
• Preconceptions are stored mental representations guiding attention
and perception.
• Assumptions, beliefs, and situational cues influence perception.
• Automatic thoughts driven by preconceptions can distort deliberate
processing.
Social Interactions and Expectations:
• Expectations arising from social interactions can lead to self-fulfilling
prophecies.
• Examples of teachers, nurses, and managers influenced by
expectations.
Social Interactions and Expectations
• Expectations arising from social interactions can lead to self-fulfilling
prophecies.
• Examples of teachers, nurses, and managers influenced by
expectations.
Physician Perception in Healthcare
• Physician perception impacts patient interactions and outcomes.
• Patient–physician communication affected by perceptions.
• Positive physician perceptions linked to better patient care and health
outcomes.
Effective Management Skill
• Management skill: eliciting thoughts, reducing differences in
understanding.
• Preconceptions, distortions, and shortcuts are inherent to thinking.
• Questions, discussion, and debate counter implicit assumptions.
• Effective managers check mental models, assumptions, and
encourage critical thinking.
Creating Common Meaning
• Effective thinking involves working through preconceptions,
assumptions, and habits.
• Focus on deliberately creating common meaning, not just procedural
steps.