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“Nothing in life is as important as you think it is when you are thinking about it.”

Daniel Kahneman, Thinking, Fast and Slow, 2011

MindPhilosophy

The story behind the card

Daniel Kahneman (1934–2024) was an Israeli-American psychologist who shared the 2002 Nobel prize in economics for his work on how people make judgements. The line comes from the chapter on happiness in Thinking, Fast and Slow. He called the effect the focusing illusion: whatever you are thinking about, such as a pay rise or a move, seems to matter more to your happiness than it really does. In a 1998 study, students in the American Midwest expected Californians to be happier because of the weather, yet both groups were about equally satisfied with their lives.

Türkçe oku
“Hayatta hiçbir şey, onu düşünürken sandığın kadar önemli değildir.”
Daniel Kahneman, Hızlı ve Yavaş Düşünme, 2011

Daniel Kahneman (1934–2024), insanların nasıl yargıya vardığı üzerine çalışmalarıyla 2002 Nobel Ekonomi Ödülü'nü paylaşan İsrailli-Amerikalı bir psikologdu. Söz, Hızlı ve Yavaş Düşünme kitabının mutluluk bölümünde geçer. Kahneman bu etkiye “odaklanma yanılsaması” adını verdi: İnsanın o an düşündüğü şey, örneğin bir maaş artışı ya da taşınmak, mutluluğu için gerçekte olduğundan daha önemli görünür. 1998'deki bir çalışmada Amerika'nın orta batısındaki öğrenciler, güzel havası yüzünden Kaliforniyalıların daha mutlu olduğunu sandı; oysa iki grup da hayatından aşağı yukarı aynı ölçüde memnundu.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: Daniel Kahneman
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