The **Mental Shotgun** is a term [[Coining Terms|coined]] by Daniel Kahneman in [[Thinking Fast and Slow]] which refers to how **we are unable to restrict [[System 1]] to specific and narrow [[Focus]]**. You might want to ask "would this person be a good leader", but your brain inevitably pulls to mind questions like "do they have a strong chin?" which we know are not _really_ related to success as a leader. # Example A study gave participants a button and told them to push it if two words the **heard** (note: NOT read) were [[Closed Rhyming Pairs|rhyming words]]. - Vote, Dote - Vote, Mote - Vote, Goat All three pairs rhyme, so the button was pushed all 3 times, however **the pair that rhymed AND was spelled different took slightly longer**. You may want to restrict your focus to the _sound_ of a word, but your mind will inevitably consider its spelling. This manifests in the hesitation in the study. **** # More ## Source - [[Thinking Fast and Slow]] ## Related