Mental Shortcut Quotes

We are constantly misled by the ease with which our minds fall into the ruts of one or two experiences

If you jump to conclusions, you make terrible landings.

Everybody generalizes from one example. At least, I do.

This is the essence of intuitive heuristics: when faced with a difficult question, we often answer an easier one instead, usually without noticing the substitution.

If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.

People who face a difficult question often answer an easier one instead, without realizing it.

This is how the human mind works. We see exceptions and spin them into rules. We take slices of information and make sweeping conclusions, as another pair of psychologists, Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky, found in their pioneering work on judgment and decision-making.

An instrument that sometimes expresses thought, sometimes obscures thought, but most often replaces thought.

Intuition is reason in a hurry.

Intuition is a suspension of logic due to impatience.

Historical analogy is the last refuge of people who can't grasp the current situation.

The first thought is often the best.

It's a disease of critics that once they've labeled someone, it's very hard to change their perspective. It's laziness.