The Black Swan:

Why We Do Not See

Rare Events

The Happy Turkey

Food per day in kg

Days of life

30 60 90 120 150 180 210 240

Christmas Day

Why do we behave like happy turkeys?

A psychological approach

based on

Thinking, Fast and Slowby Nobel Prize winner

Daniel Kahneman

Overview

•Our mind: a machine that produces associations

•Priming (creating a basic attitude)

▫Lady Macbeth effect▫Honesty Box effect

• Environmental Priming

ASSOCIATIONS

rat

•Pupils widen •Face twists•Expression of disgust•Move away from the sight•Heart rate increases•Hair on the arms rises•Start to sweat→ We react as if the experience was real

Associations:Automatic reactions to the word

(and to the images associated with it)

Idea 4

Emotions + feelings

facial expressions gestures

Associations

Idea 5

Idea 3

Idea 1

Idea 2

memoriesactivated

Idea “RAT“

stronger memory

EXPERIMENT

SO_P

Priming(automatische Aktivierung von Einstellungen z. B. in Vorurteilen/Stereotypen)

SOUP

SOAP

The idea of “food” primes the idea of “soup”

The idea of “bath” primes the idea of “soap”

unconscious

unconscious

Lady Macbeth (Shakespeare)

▫ Lady Macbeth wants to become the queen of Scotland▫ her husband (Macbeth) is not a king▫ Lady M. sends husband to kill king Duncan▫ Macbeth kills the king but forgets to take dagger (Dolch)

▫ Lady M. fetches dagger▫ her hands covered with blood▫ washes her hands (thinking the sin is gone, too)▫ Later: nightmares

her subconscious (Unterbewusstsein) stored picture of bloody hands => wants to wash them all the time

Experiment Priming: “Lie to your friend …”

… on the phone!” (Group 1) … in an email!” (Group 2)

“Go to a shop and buy mouthwash or soap.”

What do you think the people in each group bought?

Group 1 => prefer mouthwash over soapGroup 2 => prefer soap over mouthwash

Lady Macbeth Effect

Honesty Box Experiment

• Office kitchen

• Minimum contribution: 15 pennies

• One week: picture

• One week: eyes

When do you think the people paid more?

Source: „Thinking , Fast and Slow“ (Daniel Kahneman)

Kahneman’s Results

Time

Actions

Priming and environmental protection

All the arctic ice melts: => Sea level rises by 6 m