Daniel Kahneman is an Israeli-American Psychologist, and winner of
the 2002 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. He is most notable
for his work in the psychology of judgment and decision-making, behavioral psychology,
and hedonic psychology. Daniel is a well-rounded, multi-faceted
individual, with major influences in both his respective Psychological and
Economic fields. His original vocation was in Psychology, and later he established his foothold in economics following his collaboration with renowned cognitive and mathematical psychologist, Amos Tversky. Daniel Kahneman was born in Tel Aviv, in what
is now Israel in 1934, while his mother was visiting her extended family. His
parents were both Lithuanian Jews, whose permanent home became France after they immigrated there in the early 1920's. Kahneman's parents
were both very intelligent and held substantial wealth. His father was even
the Chief of research in a large chemical factory. Daniel was a very
introverted individual in his early years, and drew his first graph in 1941.
The graph summarized his family's wealth over the passage of time.
Modest work for a future influential mind of our generation. The
vast wealth and security that he and his family enjoyed during his youth were
quickly usurped by the German Nazi regime during World War Two, because of their
Jewish stature. During his youth he had a close encounter with a German
SS officer that would further influence his passion for psychology.
During the Nazi occupation of France all Jews were required to bear the Star
of David on their persons, and they were also subjugated to a 6 P.M. curfew
everyday where they were to remain in their households. One day however,
Daniel was playing with a local Christian friend, and happened to forget about
the curfew. He turned his sweater, bearing his Jewish mark, inside out in
an attempt to elude consequential action, and walked his friend home.
Upon his journey home he came across an SS officer of the Nazi army. At
this point he was certain that he would face the harsh punishment for violating
curfew, and when the officer beckoned him over, he began to fear for his very
life. But, instead of inflicting punishment, for which Daniel had
assumed, the officer greeted him with a smile, showed him a picture of a boy,
and gave him a huge hug, sending him back on his way with a little money to use
for food. It was at this moment that Daniel understood many of the things
his mother talked about regarding people, and that most individuals hold a much higher
complexity than what most people believe upon first impressions. Although
Daniel did not understand this at the time, this occurrence would have a huge
impact on his decision to pursue Psychology as his original field of study.
After World War Two, and the liberation of France from the German
stranglehold, Daniel and his family ascertained their freedom once again.
Some time after this, during his adolescent years, he went off to the
Hebrew University in Jerusalem where he, in two years, obtained a major in Psychology
and a minor in Mathematics. From here he spent some brief time in the
military, and then went on to become an undergrad professor. It was in
his beginnings as an undergraduate professor that laid the foundation for a
program of research on judgment under uncertainty. Daniel Kahneman's main
contributions to the economic world came in the mid-1970's when he began
collaborating with Amos Tversky on why we make wrong decisions. In their
1979 paper on prospect theory, Kahneman and Tversky examined a simple problem
of economic risk, and through this, quantified how most people, consistently,
make a less rational choice. His work was important because it did not
treat economics as a self-correcting machine, like most economists do, but instead
as a system prey to the fallacies of human perception. His work also led
to the birth of behavioral economics. Kahneman and Tversky were awarded
the Nobel Memorial Prize in 2002 for their work on economic decision-making.
Unfortunately I did not know who this man was before I enrolled in
Professor Arvan's Econ 490 course. I wish I would have been aware of such
an esteemed individual, for his work could have had a major impact on my own
decision making at different crossroads of my life. His work is important
for the economic 490 platforms solely due to the main focus on decision-making.
Decision-making is without a doubt a major aspect of economics, and can
easily facilitate understanding of the different topics that will be discussed
in the economics of organizations. Largely it will provide a guide as to
why certain choices made in different economic situations provide more benefits
than others, and why certain choices are more costly. Through this
learning, we the students will be able to apply this knowledge to our own
economic decision making in our daily lives.Friday, September 6, 2013
Daniel Kahneman Introduction
Daniel Kahneman is an Israeli-American Psychologist, and winner of
the 2002 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. He is most notable
for his work in the psychology of judgment and decision-making, behavioral psychology,
and hedonic psychology. Daniel is a well-rounded, multi-faceted
individual, with major influences in both his respective Psychological and
Economic fields. His original vocation was in Psychology, and later he established his foothold in economics following his collaboration with renowned cognitive and mathematical psychologist, Amos Tversky. Daniel Kahneman was born in Tel Aviv, in what
is now Israel in 1934, while his mother was visiting her extended family. His
parents were both Lithuanian Jews, whose permanent home became France after they immigrated there in the early 1920's. Kahneman's parents
were both very intelligent and held substantial wealth. His father was even
the Chief of research in a large chemical factory. Daniel was a very
introverted individual in his early years, and drew his first graph in 1941.
The graph summarized his family's wealth over the passage of time.
Modest work for a future influential mind of our generation. The
vast wealth and security that he and his family enjoyed during his youth were
quickly usurped by the German Nazi regime during World War Two, because of their
Jewish stature. During his youth he had a close encounter with a German
SS officer that would further influence his passion for psychology.
During the Nazi occupation of France all Jews were required to bear the Star
of David on their persons, and they were also subjugated to a 6 P.M. curfew
everyday where they were to remain in their households. One day however,
Daniel was playing with a local Christian friend, and happened to forget about
the curfew. He turned his sweater, bearing his Jewish mark, inside out in
an attempt to elude consequential action, and walked his friend home.
Upon his journey home he came across an SS officer of the Nazi army. At
this point he was certain that he would face the harsh punishment for violating
curfew, and when the officer beckoned him over, he began to fear for his very
life. But, instead of inflicting punishment, for which Daniel had
assumed, the officer greeted him with a smile, showed him a picture of a boy,
and gave him a huge hug, sending him back on his way with a little money to use
for food. It was at this moment that Daniel understood many of the things
his mother talked about regarding people, and that most individuals hold a much higher
complexity than what most people believe upon first impressions. Although
Daniel did not understand this at the time, this occurrence would have a huge
impact on his decision to pursue Psychology as his original field of study.
After World War Two, and the liberation of France from the German
stranglehold, Daniel and his family ascertained their freedom once again.
Some time after this, during his adolescent years, he went off to the
Hebrew University in Jerusalem where he, in two years, obtained a major in Psychology
and a minor in Mathematics. From here he spent some brief time in the
military, and then went on to become an undergrad professor. It was in
his beginnings as an undergraduate professor that laid the foundation for a
program of research on judgment under uncertainty. Daniel Kahneman's main
contributions to the economic world came in the mid-1970's when he began
collaborating with Amos Tversky on why we make wrong decisions. In their
1979 paper on prospect theory, Kahneman and Tversky examined a simple problem
of economic risk, and through this, quantified how most people, consistently,
make a less rational choice. His work was important because it did not
treat economics as a self-correcting machine, like most economists do, but instead
as a system prey to the fallacies of human perception. His work also led
to the birth of behavioral economics. Kahneman and Tversky were awarded
the Nobel Memorial Prize in 2002 for their work on economic decision-making.
Unfortunately I did not know who this man was before I enrolled in
Professor Arvan's Econ 490 course. I wish I would have been aware of such
an esteemed individual, for his work could have had a major impact on my own
decision making at different crossroads of my life. His work is important
for the economic 490 platforms solely due to the main focus on decision-making.
Decision-making is without a doubt a major aspect of economics, and can
easily facilitate understanding of the different topics that will be discussed
in the economics of organizations. Largely it will provide a guide as to
why certain choices made in different economic situations provide more benefits
than others, and why certain choices are more costly. Through this
learning, we the students will be able to apply this knowledge to our own
economic decision making in our daily lives.
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Before commenting on the substance, let me encourage you in the future to have several shorter paragraphs with line spaces between them. It is hard to read a big block of text on the screen as you've got above.
ReplyDeleteKahneman's recent book, Thinking Fast and Slow, is worth a read if you really want to understand decision making and the type of mistakes humans typically make. We impute causality incorrectly with some frequency, coming up with explanations when the truth is that the outcome resulted from random factors. We ignore potential information we might yet obtain but that is currently out of reach and act as if we understand things fully nonetheless. These behaviors are directly germane to our course.