Thinking fast and slow by Daniel Kahneman is an exciting book that will help readers understand how the human mind works, analyzing the surroundings and making decisions. This exploration that earned Daniel Kahneman a Nobel peace prize is close to 500 pages and shares excellent details of our thinking process.<\/p>\n
Two Systems: Kahneman explains there are two systems; System 1 and System 2.\u00a0System 1 works speedily and is automatic with little or no effort, while system 2 is slow, deliberate, and effortful, working with concentration, choice, and decision-making.<\/p>\n
The Lazy Brain: \u00a0“Laziness is built deep into our nature”[1]<\/a>. Who has the time to engage in complicated problems when we have System 1 for easy retrieval? Thinking Fast and Slow can help avoid common biases of intuition, the assumptions leading to quick decisions that we jump to without much deliberation that Kahneman calls “Heuristics.”[2]<\/a><\/p>\n Kahneman’s large volume comes with a great deal of information that I find overwhelming and eye-opening, like others that I have come across on brain health. A few other authors have brought my attention to Brain Health, and I find a lot of similarities with Daniel Kahneman’s work.<\/p>\n Dr. Troncale adds, “In 1954, the limbic cortex was described by neuroanatomists. Since then, the brain’s limbic system has been implicated as the seat of emotion, addiction, mood, and many other mental and emotional processes.”[3]<\/a><\/p>\n Dr. Rhoton’s research on trauma reveals, “Medical doctors as early as 1985 began discovering that early-life traumas were impacting their adult patients negatively and started thinking more in-depth about what that might mean throughout someone’s lifespan.”[4]<\/a> My interest in addressing refugee childhood trauma found Rhoton’s work and concepts towards trauma treatment essential for post-traumatic growth. “We all have a unique range of tolerance to the environment that whenever that range is taxed, we immediately move into an adaptive or mitigating process”[5]<\/a> It comes back to our brain and how it gets activated when we encounter various stressors. Childhood trauma issues, whether during war or other challenges that children face, will affect their behavior for a lifetime. Dr. Rhoton explained that when the sympathetic nervous system is activated, it changes the part of the brain we use. It is not a logic system; it is a reactive system”[6]<\/a> The lizard brain is what Dr. Rhoton calls the part of our brain, and he says, “the suppressed executive function system is distracted with survival demands”[7]<\/a> The lazy brain or lizard brain seems to have a lot in common especially the absence of logical thinking and being more reactive instead of following normal moral reasoning processes. \u00a0“It is the part of the brain that is phylogenetically very primitive. Many call it the “Lizard Brain” because the limbic system is about all a lizard has for brain function. It controls the fight, flight, feeding, fear, freezing up, and fornication.”[8]<\/a><\/p>\n [1]<\/a> Daniel Kahneman, Thinking, Fast and Slow<\/em>, Farrar, Straus and Giroux. (New York, 1934).<\/p>\n [2]<\/a> Ibid.<\/p>\n [3]<\/a> Joseph Troncale, \u201cYour Lizard Brain, the Limbic System and Brain Functioning\u201d (April 22, 2014), https:\/\/www.psychologytoday.com\/us\/blog\/where-addiction-meets-your-brain\/201404\/your-lizard-brain.<\/p>\n [4]<\/a> Robert Rhoton, Aubrey Thomas, and Eric Gentry, Transformative Care, A Trauma-Focused Approach to Caregiving<\/em> (Arizona Trauma Institute, 2019).<\/p>\n [5]<\/a> Certified Family Trauma Professional (CFTP) Online Training<\/em>, Online Course, 2016.<\/p>\n