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Good Thinking picks up where Thinking Fast and Slow (Kahneman, 2011) left off by showing how slow deliberation and fast intuitions underlie some of the greatest insights that changed the world.
After reading Good Thinking, you will be wiser in two ways: You will know how the best and brightest thinkers judge the ways we decide, argue, solve problems, and tell right from wrong. But you will also understand why, when we don't meet these standards, it is not always a bad thing. The answers are rooted in the way the human brain has been wired to make us kinder and more generous than economists think we ought to be, but more resistant to change and persuasion than scientists and scholars think is good for us. Click here to purchase paperback from Amazon.com Click here to purchase Kindle version |
Praise for Good Thinking
Cambridge University Press Staff Pics: Top 5 Recommended Reading and Gifts, Dec, 2012.
"an entertaining and accessible review of the classical theories of reasoning and decision making." -- Dr. Mike Oaksford, University of London
"...considers both the strengths and weaknesses of our mental machinery" Daniel L. Schacter, Professor of Psychology, Harvard
"In Good Thinking, psychologist and philosopher Denise Cummins reveals how economists, philosophers and other experts have helped to define what makes a decision rational or a judgment moral. She lays out the seven basic tenets that guide our critical thinking and explores tactics to correct faulty logic."--Victoria Stern, Mind Books Roundup, Scientific American, Nov, 2012
"By serendipity, I came across Good Thinking, and I am glad I did. I thought I had a fairly decent reading knowledge of Behavioral Economics, and I had not come across a number of ideas in this book. I have found Cummins' observations very useful additions on my work on financial decision-making under uncertainty. -- Charles Faulkner, featured in The New Market Wizards, The Intuitive Trader, and others as well as the author of several programs on metaphoric change.
"...a witty and articulate overview of critical aspects of human thought processes...The astute examples anchor the topics squarely in readers' everyday experience." --Dr. Richard Gerrig, Professor of Psychology and Psycholinguistics, SUNY at Stonybrook
"Good Thinking will take you on a quick and engaging tour of the landscape of human thinking, surveying the phenomena that psychologists and philosophers have found there."
Keith Holyoak, Distinguished Professor of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles
"... the book illuminates the strengths and the pitfalls of the ways people think; readers may be surprised at human cognitive fallibility ... offers a compelling discussion of the current work in cognitive neuroscience that reveals the neural complexities of thought process ... readers who choose to look at this interesting book will be making a good decision ... Recommended ..."
B. C. Beins, Choice
"...Good Thinking is cleverly written and well pitched to a college- or university-level audience of undergraduates who would benefit from an excellent survey of concepts and theories that are not likely to be seen elsewhere in a single collection, and it represents some of the more powerful ideas that our intellectual culture considers as the basis for rationality. Virtually every idea in Good Thinking can be gotten elsewhere either in its original form or as part of extended volumes on a specific topic, but having them tied together in a single book written by a single hand gives more life and cohesiveness to the ensemble than might otherwise be the case ... a pleasant way to stimulate the appetite for more ... For some time to come, Good Thinking will be a relevant and useful resource for educators as well as those who seek to reflect on our Western thought traditions and their origins."
Dr Donald MacGregor, Senior Research Scientist, Decision Science Research Institute, Eugene, Oregon
"Denise Dellarosa Cummins - philosopher and psychologist - explores the way experts across various fields argue and deal with very challenging issues that directly impact our lives ... A very interesting book for philosophical practitioners, mainly due to the author's interdisciplinary approach and ability to summarize relevant outputs from both human and neurosciences."
Fernando Salvetti, Philosophical Practice: Journal of the APPA
Cambridge University Press Staff Pics: Top 5 Recommended Reading and Gifts, Dec, 2012.
"an entertaining and accessible review of the classical theories of reasoning and decision making." -- Dr. Mike Oaksford, University of London
"...considers both the strengths and weaknesses of our mental machinery" Daniel L. Schacter, Professor of Psychology, Harvard
"In Good Thinking, psychologist and philosopher Denise Cummins reveals how economists, philosophers and other experts have helped to define what makes a decision rational or a judgment moral. She lays out the seven basic tenets that guide our critical thinking and explores tactics to correct faulty logic."--Victoria Stern, Mind Books Roundup, Scientific American, Nov, 2012
"By serendipity, I came across Good Thinking, and I am glad I did. I thought I had a fairly decent reading knowledge of Behavioral Economics, and I had not come across a number of ideas in this book. I have found Cummins' observations very useful additions on my work on financial decision-making under uncertainty. -- Charles Faulkner, featured in The New Market Wizards, The Intuitive Trader, and others as well as the author of several programs on metaphoric change.
"...a witty and articulate overview of critical aspects of human thought processes...The astute examples anchor the topics squarely in readers' everyday experience." --Dr. Richard Gerrig, Professor of Psychology and Psycholinguistics, SUNY at Stonybrook
"Good Thinking will take you on a quick and engaging tour of the landscape of human thinking, surveying the phenomena that psychologists and philosophers have found there."
Keith Holyoak, Distinguished Professor of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles
"... the book illuminates the strengths and the pitfalls of the ways people think; readers may be surprised at human cognitive fallibility ... offers a compelling discussion of the current work in cognitive neuroscience that reveals the neural complexities of thought process ... readers who choose to look at this interesting book will be making a good decision ... Recommended ..."
B. C. Beins, Choice
"...Good Thinking is cleverly written and well pitched to a college- or university-level audience of undergraduates who would benefit from an excellent survey of concepts and theories that are not likely to be seen elsewhere in a single collection, and it represents some of the more powerful ideas that our intellectual culture considers as the basis for rationality. Virtually every idea in Good Thinking can be gotten elsewhere either in its original form or as part of extended volumes on a specific topic, but having them tied together in a single book written by a single hand gives more life and cohesiveness to the ensemble than might otherwise be the case ... a pleasant way to stimulate the appetite for more ... For some time to come, Good Thinking will be a relevant and useful resource for educators as well as those who seek to reflect on our Western thought traditions and their origins."
Dr Donald MacGregor, Senior Research Scientist, Decision Science Research Institute, Eugene, Oregon
"Denise Dellarosa Cummins - philosopher and psychologist - explores the way experts across various fields argue and deal with very challenging issues that directly impact our lives ... A very interesting book for philosophical practitioners, mainly due to the author's interdisciplinary approach and ability to summarize relevant outputs from both human and neurosciences."
Fernando Salvetti, Philosophical Practice: Journal of the APPA
Correction of typographical error on, page 41: The denominator for the 40-year-old is 9+178=187, not 178. The calculations for the data at age 50 show the correct denominator of 20+215=235.
Seven Powerful Ideas That Changed the World
1. You can’t always get what you want, but you can figure out what is most likely to get you what you want.
2. The game changes when you aren’t the only one playing.
3. Thinking can be automated, so we can build machines who think.
4. To find out what’s true, you should try to find out what’s false instead.
5. To decide what causes what, you need to think of alternatives.
6. Some conclusions follow logically from others, others don’t, and there are rules for telling the difference.
7. Problem-solving is just searching for means to reduce the difference between your current situation and your goal--even so-called "insight" problem-solving.
1. You can’t always get what you want, but you can figure out what is most likely to get you what you want.
2. The game changes when you aren’t the only one playing.
3. Thinking can be automated, so we can build machines who think.
4. To find out what’s true, you should try to find out what’s false instead.
5. To decide what causes what, you need to think of alternatives.
6. Some conclusions follow logically from others, others don’t, and there are rules for telling the difference.
7. Problem-solving is just searching for means to reduce the difference between your current situation and your goal--even so-called "insight" problem-solving.
Answers to the insight problems listed in Box 8.3 on pages 165-166 of Good Thinking
1. Click here for the answer. http://pbskids.org/zoom/activities/games/stepthroughhole.html
2. I've numbered the circles to make this solution easier to see:
0 6 1 2 9
1 2 3 4 5
3 4 5 7 8
6 7 8 9 0
So 6 and 9 moved up to the second line, and 0 moved to the bottom.
3. $30. He invested $60 in the horse, and ended up with $90 when all the trading was done.
4. Here's how: We start with four chains with 3 links each.
OOO OOO OOO OOO
We open each of the links in the first set so it looks like this:
-- -- -- OOO OOO OOO
That cost us 6 cents, 2 cents to pry open each of the 3 links.
Now we use the open links to connect the remaining segments together, like this:
OOO--OOO--OOO--
We close all of the links, looping the last one back to attach the last O and the first O together. That costs us 9 cents, 3 cents to close each of the 3 links. 6+9=15 cents.
5. The easiest way is to divide the garden into four circles, like this:
OO
OO
Then plant each tree in the exact middle of each circle.
6. They are both equally contaminated. Think of it this way:
Start: Bowl A has 2 t oil; Bowl B has 2 t vinegar
Step 1: Bowl A has 1 t oil; Bowl B has 2 t vinegar + 1 t oil
Step 2: Bowl A has 1.5 t oil + 1 t vinegar; Bowl B has 1 t vinegar + 1.5 t oil
7. How to draw the figure without lifting your pencil from the paper. Start where the gap is shown on the top line, move your pencil to the left all the way around to the same place. Then follow the path down and change direction when you reach the gaps, like this:
1. Click here for the answer. http://pbskids.org/zoom/activities/games/stepthroughhole.html
2. I've numbered the circles to make this solution easier to see:
0 6 1 2 9
1 2 3 4 5
3 4 5 7 8
6 7 8 9 0
So 6 and 9 moved up to the second line, and 0 moved to the bottom.
3. $30. He invested $60 in the horse, and ended up with $90 when all the trading was done.
4. Here's how: We start with four chains with 3 links each.
OOO OOO OOO OOO
We open each of the links in the first set so it looks like this:
-- -- -- OOO OOO OOO
That cost us 6 cents, 2 cents to pry open each of the 3 links.
Now we use the open links to connect the remaining segments together, like this:
OOO--OOO--OOO--
We close all of the links, looping the last one back to attach the last O and the first O together. That costs us 9 cents, 3 cents to close each of the 3 links. 6+9=15 cents.
5. The easiest way is to divide the garden into four circles, like this:
OO
OO
Then plant each tree in the exact middle of each circle.
6. They are both equally contaminated. Think of it this way:
Start: Bowl A has 2 t oil; Bowl B has 2 t vinegar
Step 1: Bowl A has 1 t oil; Bowl B has 2 t vinegar + 1 t oil
Step 2: Bowl A has 1.5 t oil + 1 t vinegar; Bowl B has 1 t vinegar + 1.5 t oil
7. How to draw the figure without lifting your pencil from the paper. Start where the gap is shown on the top line, move your pencil to the left all the way around to the same place. Then follow the path down and change direction when you reach the gaps, like this:
8. The trick is to let the pens overlap so that some of the animals are in two pens. Here is one solution.
9. This is one way to divide the figure into four equal parts.
10. Here is one way to arrange 10 pennies so that you have five rows (lines) of four pennies in each row. The rows are horizontal and slanted.
