“A reliable way of making people believe in falsehoods is frequent repetition, because familiarity is not easily distinguished from truth.”
Kahneman argues that the human mind is inclined to jump to irrational conclusions based on false realities. In that, we seek cognitive ‘shortcuts’ to arrive at a conclusion in making decisions and tackling problems. Therefore the book delves into the workings of cognitive thinking to decipher the thought processes we adhere by. The statement expresses the fact that cognitive biases arise due to our gravitation towards the most probable occurrences. In there, our minds create external realities by relying on past familiarity to an event due to its frequency. Rather than rely on deep reasoning the reliance on recurrent ‘falsehoods’ makes us incapable of discerning them from actual truths.
“The confidence that individuals have in their beliefs depends mostly on the quality of the story they can tell about what they see, even if they see little.”
On cognitive biases, Kahneman stresses the overconfidence that the human mind has based on the causality of events. The assertion highlights that the ability to convince our minds through a narrative determines our confidence in our beliefs. Even though the truths we have access to are limited it does not really matter to our perception of reality. The overall quality of the narrative we attach to what we experience and observe is the main determinant of the assurance.
