Psychologist and Nobel prize winning economist Daniel Kahneman was recently interviewed in TIME Magazine. Mr Kahneman, the author of Thinking Fast And Slow, talks of people being blind to their own blindness.
"We're generally overconfident in our opinions and our impressions and judgements. We exaggerate how knowable the world is."
As an example Mr Kahneman says that during the 90's when there was terrorist activity in Thailand, people were asked how much they would pay for a travel insurance policy that paid $100,000 in case of death for any reason. Others were asked how much they would pay for a policy that paid $100,000 for death as a result of a terrorist act. Mr Kahneman said that people were prepared to pay more for the second policy even though the second event was far less likely.
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