Library Home: Gender & Sexual Diversity Education Resources: Supporting Gender & Sexual Minorities

Social constructs need to be exposed as stereotypes and the product of System 1 thinking, rather than guidelines for living or behavior.

Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
Call Number: BF441 .K238 2011
ISBN: 0374275637
Publication Date: 2011-10-25

Articles about thinking fast and slow
'A machine for jumping to conclusions' Nobel Laureate Daniel Kahneman's new book, "Thinking, Fast and Slow," examines how our ability to think quickly and intuitively can sometimes lead us astray—in predictable ways.

Thinking Fast and Slow" by Daniel Kahneman is a book that explains a lot about why stereotypes/labels/social constructs/archetypes are so powerful.

Social constructs (socially accepted and enforced sterotypes) like race, gender, money, nation, masculine and feminine, old and young, are all System 1 thinking.

System 1 thinking: Fast, self serving and energy conserving - avoids doing the work of a close look at the facts in favor of the easier "jumping to conclusions".

System 2 thinking - the editor/analyzer system, takes energy resources and time. It takes effort to engage and it can create discomfort on many levels as thoughts contradict the comfortable patterns that are more familiar.

Stereotype (en.oxforddictionaries.com) "a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing."

Unfortunately, in the LGBTQ+ environment… there is a lot of fear, defensiveness, and social pressure to conform to new social constructs of what it means to be lesbian or gay or whatever. It would be preferable for people to avoid labels. Just be yourself, not a label.

"we ought to accept the material reality of the body while encouraging people to express themselves and their gendered feelings in whatever way they like."
Social Construct (merriam-webster.com)
"an idea that has been created and accepted by the people in a society Class distinctions are a social construct."
Social Constructs (encyclopedia.com)
" a social construct is an idea or notion that appears to be natural and obvious to people who accept it but may or may not represent reality, so it remains largely an invention or artifice of a given society."

Gender & Sexual Diversity Education Resources: Supporting Gender & Sexual Minorities

Social constructs need to be exposed as stereotypes and the product of System 1 thinking, rather than guidelines for living or behavior.

Stereotype (en.oxforddictionaries.com) "a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing."

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