1. 1
The Seven Myths of System 1 Thinking

2. Your Customers’ Decisions are the Foundation on Which
Your Business Rests
If you understand decision-making better:
Your research, advertising, design, innovation and
strategic planning will be on much firmer ground.
A Simple Premise of Daniel Kahneman’s:
Our intuitive, instinctive “System 1” thinking plays
a far larger part in decision making than our more
considered “System 2”.

3. There are huge differences!
Myth #1: It’s Just Like Left-Brain and Right-Brain
Logical
Slow
Rule based
Tiring
Considered
System 2
Intuitive
Fast
Emotional
Effortless
Automatic
System 1
e=mc2
If the 2 systems were equal, behaviour change strategies based on
triggering System 2 (like giving people more information) would work.

4. Presented with a binary, we naturally fit ourselves into it – so when we read about System 1
and System 2, it’s very tempting to do the same thing.
All human beings use both systems
Triggers and outcomes will be different, though, because System 1 is strongly rooted in an
individual’s experiences, habits and emotional associations.
Myth #2: I think I’m a System 2 Person

5. The two systems work together to make decisions
Working to build positive emotional associations for a brand is
something marketers can and should do
Myth #3: System 1 is Emotional, System 2 is Rational
“The answer to a simple
question – how do I feel
about this – is a proxy
for the answer to a
much more difficult
question – what do I
think about this?”
–Kahneman

6. Myth #4: System 2 Makes Better Decisions
Using System 2 does not mean
making better decisions – simply
more considered ones.
A class of children taking a math test are all
making System 2 decisions, but their levels of
right answers will vary enormously. If their
information is bad, they won’t get any of the
questions right.

7. Myth #5: My Category is System 2
System 2
11,000,000 bit/sec
50 bit/sec
“We are not thinking
machines that feel; we
are feeling machines
that think”
Antonio Damasio
System 1

8. For a start, like most passive data, neuromarketing data tells you what’s happening and
leaves you to make assumptions about why. But beyond that there are serious limits to
what neuroscience can measure.
Need more content. 
Myth #6: Neuroscience Unlocks System 1 Decisions

9. Myth #7: We Already Know All This Stuff!
Unreliable Witnesses
The real impact of behavioural
economics on market research won’t
be felt until we change our
assumptions, not just our methods.