Thinking 101 by Woo-kyoung Ahn

THINKING 101 is an instructive text by Woo-kyoung Ahn, the John Hay Whitney Professor of Psychology at Yale University. She does an excellent job of explaining psychology topics of interest to our students. There are chapters that cover eight ideas like Confirmation Bias, Causal Attribution, and Delayed Gratification. While students may have been introduced to many of these concepts in another context, Ahn adds value by interweaving relate-able, real life applications. For example, she recommends practicing and writing out responses to interview questions so as to improve fluidity and to more objectively evaluate whether you would hire yourself for the position. In another chapter titled “The Perils of Examples,”Ahn acknowledges that “vivid examples are more convincing, easier to understand and harder to forget than decontextualized, abstract explanations.” There, she illustrate the law of large numbers with comments about solicitation letters from Save the Children and her own son’s interest in sports. Ahn seems to sincerely want to show her readers “How to Reason Better to Live Better” and her passion for these topics is evident.