Daniel Kahneman (1934–2024)

The article chronicles the life and career of Daniel Kahneman, a prominent psychologist who made significant contributions to cognitive and social sciences. Born in Tel Aviv and educated in Israel and the United States, Kahneman's early work focused on visual perception and methodological approaches to measuring cognitive errors. His groundbreaking collaboration with Amos Tversky led to the development of the 'heuristics and biases' programme, which challenged traditional economic theories of decision-making. Their research, outlined in seminal papers like 'Judgment Under Uncertainty' and 'Prospect Theory', revealed systematic violations of expected utility theory and introduced a more descriptive model of human decision-making. The article also discusses the controversies and debates sparked by their findings, as well as the lasting impact of Kahneman's work on behavioural economics and cognitive psychology. It concludes with a reflection on Kahneman's post-Nobel years and his influential popular science book, 'Thinking, Fast and Slow', which popularized the concept of dual-process theories of the mind.