Quotation
Last reviewed:
“I will use a cumbersome abbreviation for it: WYSIATI, which stands for what you see is all there is.”
Daniel Kahneman · Thinkers beyond philosophy · Modern · 2011
What does it mean?
WYSIATI names the habit of jumping to a conclusion on the evidence in hand, as if the evidence you do not have were not missing. The usual reading is that the story feels complete because absent facts do not announce themselves. A competing reading treats the abbreviation as advice to decide quickly on purpose. He is diagnosing a feature of intuitive thinking that he says comes up all through the book. The sentence is chapter 7. Cumbersome is his joke about the abbreviation. The content is that unseen information has no weight inside the story System 1 has already built.
Did Daniel Kahneman really say this?
The library’s label is Well attested. His abbreviation and his gloss, in chapter 7. 'Biases' is not a theme in this library's list, so the card is filed under mind and knowledge. The sentence is his.
Where it comes from
Thinking, Fast and Slow (2011), chapter 7, A Machine for Jumping to Conclusions
Approximate date: 2011.
How to use it
A governor's report in a Leeds school, two pages and very coherent, is easy to treat as the whole of the child. Ask what a person who disagreed would have put on page three. If you cannot say, you are inside the abbreviation.
A mindset reading
Coherence is a feeling. He does not think it is a measure of how much you saw. The halo effect, which his profile links, is one way a good first impression fills the gaps.
Understand the philosophy
Chapter 7 is 'A Machine for Jumping to Conclusions'. The key term is WYSIATI. Chapter 1's System 1 is the machine. The sentence about consistency mattering more than completeness is the same chapter's account of why a thin story works. Overconfidence, in chapter 20, is what the feeling becomes when you trust it.
- mind
- knowledge
FAQ
What does it mean?
WYSIATI names the habit of jumping to a conclusion on the evidence in hand, as if the evidence you do not have were not missing. The usual reading is that the story feels complete because absent facts do not announce themselves. A competing reading treats the abbreviation as advice to decide quickly on purpose. He is diagnosing a feature of intuitive thinking that he says comes up all through the book. The sentence is chapter 7. Cumbersome is his joke about the abbreviation. The content is that unseen information has no weight inside the story System 1 has already built.
Did Daniel Kahneman really say this?
Well attested. His abbreviation and his gloss, in chapter 7. 'Biases' is not a theme in this library's list, so the card is filed under mind and knowledge. The sentence is his.
Which work is it in?
Thinking, Fast and Slow (2011), chapter 7, A Machine for Jumping to Conclusions Approximate date: 2011.