QuoteProject
We think, each of us, that we're much more rational than we are. And we think that we make our decisions because we have good reasons to make them. Even when it's the other way around. We believe in the reasons, because we've already made the decision.
Daniel Kahneman
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

Our beliefs about our rationality often blind us to the true nature of our decision-making processes.

In this quote, Daniel Kahneman emphasizes how humans tend to overestimate their rationality and the motivations behind their decisions. He argues that we frequently construct justifications for our choices after making them, rather than making decisions based on objective reasoning. This suggests a fundamental bias in our self-perception, where we fail to recognize the influence of emotions and preconceived notions in our decision-making.

Themes

Decision MakingRationalityBiasSelf-PerceptionJudgment

In practice

Example use cases

This quote can be used in a lecture about cognitive biases to highlight how people justify their decisions post hoc.

More from Daniel Kahneman

The average investor's return is significantly lower than market indices due primarily to market timing.
Daniel KahnemanRead
Banks are run by executives, and executives protect themselves, and that does not always mean that banks are going to behave rationally.
Daniel KahnemanRead
Laziness is built deep into our nature.
Daniel KahnemanRead
Through some combination of culture and biology, our minds are intuitively receptive to religion.
Daniel KahnemanRead
You are more likely to learn something by finding surprises in your own behavior than by hearing surprising facts about people in general.
Daniel KahnemanRead
It's very easy for trusted companies to mislead naive customers, and life insurance companies are trusted.
Daniel KahnemanRead

Similar quotes

The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity.
Dorothy ParkerRead
Everyone is influenced by everybody but you bring it down home the way you feel it.
Thelonious MonkRead
Never invest in any idea you can't illustrate with a crayon
Peter LynchRead
There is no possibility of relaxation if you have a mind and an ego; the ego is the center of the mind. You will be tense, you will remain tense. How to relax? Is there any way to relax? There is no way unless understanding is there. If you understand the nature of the world, the nature of the very existence, then who are you to worry, and why be in a worried state continuously?
RajneeshRead
You want to dig your well where you have the best chance of finding water with the least amount of digging
Theodore LevittRead
Laugh at a bad reputation. Fear a good one that you could not sustain.
Robert BressonRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.