Automatic thinking causes us to simplify problems and see them through narrow frames. We fi ll in miss- ing information based on our assumptions about the world and evaluate situations based on associations that automatically come to mind and belief systems that we take for granted. In so doing, we may form a mistaken picture of a situation, just as looking through a small window overlooking an urban park could mis- lead someone into thinking he or she was in a more bucolic place. page 12

I think that the results from the research conducted on culting stigmatized identity affecting students' performances made me realize how much of a mental toll stereotypes can play on people. It's disheartening and ironic simultaneously to see how the high and low sides of the caste-system groups collectively performed worse when they were told their respective roles. It influences the way that I think as a student going to an international school because it is interesting to see how these ideas can parallel to students around me. Regardless, this passage relates to today's inquiry question because it can be used and argued to reflect how poor people shape individual economic actions due to neglect and stereotypes affecting their life subconsciously.

Automatic thikning causes us to simplify problems and see them through narrow frames. We fill in missing information based on our assumptions about the world and evaluate situations based on associations that automatically come to mind and belief systems that we take for granted. In so doing, we may form a mistaken picture of a situation, just as looking through a small window overlooking an urban park could mislead someone into thinking he or she was in a more bucolic place. page 6

(Question)

Throughout this passage I noticed that automatic thinking or "thinking fast" is commonly portrayed as being bad due to its associations with irrational decisions, prejudice, and intuitive. Given this context, what are the positive benefits of automatic thinking and why did the author fail to shed light on this in the book?

I would say that this section of the book relates to today's inquiry because it teaches us more about the first system of thinking and how it can be malicious to mainly use this for our everyday thinking. For example, statistically poor people fail to make it out of the bottom income threshold for most of their life. I hypothesize that this is due to their lack of choices, power, and education in order to think deliberately.

Individuals who must exert a great deal of mental energy every day just to ensure access to necessities such as food and clean water are left with less energy for careful deliberation than those who, simply by virtue of living in an area with good infrastructure and good institutions, can instead focus on investing in a business or going to school committee meetings. page 13

(Thoughts)

The author is portraying the realistic survival instincts that poor people are forced to face to by subtly hinting towards automatic thinking. In turn, this helps to visualize factors that differentiate poor and rich people in monetary value. This passage relates to today's inquiry question because it clearly says that the answer is due to forced economic choices for basic food necessities (i.e. food, water, and shelter). In other words, rather than having time to think "slow" or deliberately by evaluating a whole spectrum of options, poor people have minimal decisions on what they have and can do.