I’m working on a theory about System 1 vs. System 2 thinking. Traditionally, System 1 is your intuitive, heuristic, snap-decision mind. System 2 is your logical, reasoned, deliberate mind. As I understand it, the premise of the book Thinking Fast and Slow is that our System 1 feeds a lot more decision-making into our System 2 than we might think, and a lot of the time what we think is our reasoning for a decision is actually justification to backfill support for the judgement call that our System 1 made.

It is recommended that we can become more aware of this, and use it to our advantage to be more cognizant of when our System 1 might be leading our logic astray. By taking in new information and reconsidering your heuristics you can affect what kind of decisions your System 1 intuitively makes, but this is presented as an efficiency goal more than anything else. Ultimately, you strive to rely on your System 2 to apply reason to the intuitions your System 1 is supplying when making a decision.

I think it is natural to assign decision-making to the System 2 mind, because that is where we feel that our thinking, rational, conscious self resides. However, I posit that there are actually two populations with regards to decision-making authority: those for whom it primarily lies with System 2, and those for whom System 1 is the actual boss, whatever System 2 might think.

To explore this, consider the case where the intuitive decision made by System 1 is one that System 2 doesn’t fully agree with. We are told that the thing to do is to slow down and let System 2 work through the reasoning free of the biased input coming from System 1. It may be difficult and uncomfortable to make a choice contrary to what System 1 would prefer, but it is the task for our wise and reasoned System 2 to make that call and override.

This does not match the experience that I, and I think many others, face. In my case, it seems more to me that System 1 is the one making the decisions. System 2 may want final say, but it lacks the authority to enforce it. This is borne out in the experiences where “I” have reasoned through a decision, have come to a different conclusion than what my intuitive System 1 has provided, desperately want to put my reasoned decision into action, but am powerless to make it happen.

If System 1 is the boss, all the reason in the world is useless. System 1 has taken stock of the available information and made a judgement call. System 2 can explain different ways of thinking about it until it’s blue in the metaphorical face, but that won’t change the facts on the ground and therefore has no sway over System 1’s decision.

If you want to change the decisions System 1 is making, you need to give System 1 different information. Sadly, this means that your main way of steering your choices only works on future choices, but dealing with this reality is better than living in hopeful ignorance. You can think of System 1 as your boss, who you need to ‘manage up’. If you don’t like the decisions your boss is making, that should be your cue to work on bringing your boss new information that might change their perspective. Stomping your feet and yelling about how it’s the wrong decision is just going to get you a negative performance review.

It’s not your decision, because “you” aren’t the boss.