Daniel Kahneman

Daniel Kahneman (Hebrew: דניאל כהנמן; March 5, 1934 – March 27, 2024) was an Israeli-American psychologist renowned for empirical investigations into the psychology of judgment, decision-making under uncertainty, and cognitive biases that deviate from rational choice theory.

Daniel Kahneman was born on March 5, 1934, in Tel Aviv, within the British Mandate of Palestine, during a visit by his mother to extended family; his parents maintained their primary residence in Paris, France. His parents, Lithuanian Jews who had immigrated to France, included his father, Ephraim Kahneman, who worked as chief of research in a large chemical factory, and his mother, Rachel (née Shenzon), daughter of a merchant.

Kahneman spent the bulk of his early childhood in Paris amid the escalating threats of World War II, including the Nazi occupation after 1940. As non-citizen Jews, his family faced acute dangers, requiring them to wear the yellow Star of David and navigate strict rationing systems; his mother engaged in coupon trading to supplement scarce goods, an activity that later informed his observations on human decision-making under constraints.

In 1944, Kahneman's father, Ephraim, died of diabetes complications during the occupation. In 1946, following the war's end, he and his mother relocated to Palestine—soon to become Israel—where Kahneman, at age 12, enrolled in high school in Jerusalem and adapted to a Hebrew-speaking environment, further shaping his dual cultural identity amid the nascent state's challenges. These wartime experiences of uncertainty, survival, and behavioral anomalies instilled a foundational skepticism toward intuitive human reasoning, influencing his subsequent empirical approach to cognitive limitations. Kahneman completed his undergraduate studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, earning a Bachelor of Science degree with a major in psychology and a minor in mathematics in 1954 after just two years of study. This accelerated timeline reflected his strong performance in psychological research methods, though he described himself as mediocre in mathematics during this period.