Daniel Kahneman
Daniel Kahneman (1934–2024) was an Israeli-born psychologist, described as "one of the world's most influential living psychologists until his passing in 2024,"[^c12] who transformed the understanding of human judgment and decision-making[^c1]. In collaboration with [[amos-tversky|Amos Tversky]], he developed [[prospect-theory]] and the [[heuristics-and-biases]] program — work that earned him the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences in 2002 for having integrated psychological insights from research into economic science, especially concerning human judgment and decision-making under uncertainty.[^c5] He authored the international bestseller [[thinking-fast-and-slow|Thinking, Fast and Slow]] (2011), which introduced the [[dual-process-theory|System 1 and System 2 framework]] to a global audience and has sold over 10 million copies across more than 30 languages.[^c13]
Kahneman's research challenged the classical economic assumption of rational decision-making by demonstrating that people rely on mental shortcuts — heuristics — that produce systematic biases, and that losses are felt more acutely than equivalent gains, a phenomenon known as loss aversion. His work with Tversky at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) at Stanford during 1977–78 is widely recognized as the birthplace of [[behavioral-economics]]. Together, they upended the study of human decision-making and launched a field that now informs policy, finance, medicine, and technology worldwide.
In the 2020s, Kahneman's dual-process framework was extended by researchers proposing third cognitive systems to account for artificial intelligence. The [[tri-system-theory]] adds System 3 — artificial cognition operating outside the human brain — while the System 0 model frames AI as an external, pre-cognitive processing layer. These extensions, along with the related concept of [[cognitive-surrender|cognitive surrender]], explore how human reasoning changes when AI systems become active participants in decision-making. Kahneman's influence also extends through the [[behavioural-insights-team|Behavioural Insights Team]] ("Nudge Unit") and the global network of over 300 government-affiliated behavioral science units, as well as through the [[choice-architecture|choice architecture]] and [[nudge-theory|nudge theory]] frameworks developed with [[richard-thaler|Richard Thaler]] and [[cass-sunstein|Cass Sunstein]].