One mind, two systems

In his award-winning 2011 book, Thinking, Fast and Slow, Daniel Kahneman has popularised the ‘dual-systems’ theory of cognition, and we’ve found it a very useful concept for helping participants in our workplace training programmes to understand and manage their minds better.

The central idea that we have two modes of cognitive thinking, an automatic, fast system, and a controlled, slow system. We use the unconscious quick system all the time without noticing, and the conscious, deliberate system when we need to carefully think things through.

We’re working on a few video guides to this and other core concepts in psychology, for our e-learning programmes and forthcoming phone app. In the meantime, though, we’ve found this excellent introduction from the nice folks at ASAP Science. Enjoy!

Want to learn more about your mind? Find out more about Mindapples’ new e-learning programmes.

And remember to check out our illustrated guides, The Mind Manual and A Mind for Business, published by Hamlyn Press and Pearson/FT.