You are more likely to learn something by finding surprises in your own behavior than by hearing surprising facts about people in general.
Interpretation
Self-reflection leads to deeper learning than passive information consumption.
This quote emphasizes the value of introspection and understanding oneself over merely absorbing information about others. Daniel Kahneman suggests that personal experiences and the surprises we find in our own actions can offer more profound insights and lessons than external facts that may not resonate or connect with our own lives clearly.
In practice
During a workshop on personal growth, one might say, 'As Daniel Kahneman suggests, we learn more from surprises in our own behavior.'
We think, each of us, that we're much more rational than we are. And we think that we make our decisions because we have good reasons to make them. Even when it's the other way around. We believe in the reasons, because we've already made the decision.
The average investor's return is significantly lower than market indices due primarily to market timing.
Banks are run by executives, and executives protect themselves, and that does not always mean that banks are going to behave rationally.
Laziness is built deep into our nature.
Through some combination of culture and biology, our minds are intuitively receptive to religion.
It's very easy for trusted companies to mislead naive customers, and life insurance companies are trusted.
The only thing that you absolutely have to know, is the location of the library.
When I was 13, I started working in a nightclub with Ray Charles. That's the greatest school in the world, the school of the streets. Ray taught me how to read in Braille. He was only two years older than me, but it was like he was 100 years older.
As I made my way home, I thought Jem and I would get grown but there wasn't much else for us to learn, except possibly algebra.
Look at any country that's plagued with poverty, disease or violence; the antidote is girls. Girls are the antibodies to many of society's ills.
For 300 years, higher education was not disruptable because there was no technological core.
I believe the teacher's work is largely negative, that it is largely a matter of saying, "This doesn't work because ..." or "This does work because ..." The because is very important. The teacher can help you understand the nature of your medium, and he can guide you in your reading.
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