Thinking, Fast and Slow: Important People

The most crucial person to the work described in Thinking, Fast and Slow other than author Daniel Kahneman is Adam Tversky, who was Kahneman's primary research partner on the studies discussed in the book. However, there are also other researchers whose work influenced Kahneman and Tversky’s findings who are mentioned in the book.

Adam Tversky (1937–1996)

Thinking, Fast and Slow highlights the results of Kahneman’s work with Israeli cognitive and mathematical psychologist Amos Tversky, Kahneman’s closest research partner from 1969 into the early 1980s. Whereas Kahneman was shy and given to self-doubt, Tversky was extroverted and confident, even flashy. The complementary mix of their personal styles resulted in a spectacularly successful collaboration. The relationship eventually cooled, partly because Kahneman grew tired of Tversky’s attracting more public attention. The two men reconciled when Kahneman was informed of Tversky’s terminal illness. Tversky died in 1996. Kahneman said in 2002 that he thought of his Nobel Prize in Economics as a joint award to him and Tversky, for their work together. (Nobel Prizes are not awarded posthumously.)

Maurice Allais (1911–2010)

Allais was a French physicist and economist and the winner of the 1988 Nobel Prize in Economics. The paradox Allais devised as a challenge to expected utility theory is described in Chapter 29.

Daniel Bernoulli (1700–1782)

Daniel Bernoulli was a Swiss mathematician and physicist and a member of the Bernoulli family of prominent Swiss mathematicians. His argument that rational choice should be thought of as maximizing psychic utility, not monetary wealth, is detailed in Chapter 24.

Francis Galton (1822–1911)

Sir Francis Galton was a English polymath who discovered the statistical phenomenon now known as regression to the mean, which is described in Chapter 17. Galton is now most remembered as a leading 19th-century proponent of of eugenics, a highly controversial social movement based in racist thinking.

Gary Klein (born 1944)

American research psychologist Gary Klein. As described in Chapter 22, he and Kahneman were friendly adversaries who collaborated to investigate the reliability of experts’ intuitions.

Paul E. Meehl (1920–2003)

American psychologist Paul Meehl, author of Clinical vs. Statistical Prediction (1954). Chapter 21 describes the controversy generated by Meehl’s argument that in many academic and commercial contexts, simple algorithms can consistently outperform experienced human professionals in making predictions about the future.

Paul Slovic (born 1938)

American research psychologist Paul Slovic, Kahneman’s friend and occasional collaborator. His investigation into the influence of emotion on judgment is described in Chapter 13.

Richard Thaler (born 1945)

Thaler is mentioned frequently by Kahneman, who referred to his relationship with Thaler as “the second most important professional friendship in my life.” Chapter 27 highlights policy recommendations made by Thaler and co-author Cass Sunstein in Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness (2008). Thaler was awarded the 2017 Nobel Prize in Economics.

Next section Key Terms