WYSIATI — what you see is all there is — is Kahneman's label for a core System 1 property: the mind builds the best story it can from available information and treats that story as the whole world. Missing data is not imagined; doubts are suppressed; ambiguity is resolved too early.
How it works
Confidence tracks coherence, not completeness. A few consistent facts produce a fluent narrative; System 2 rarely demands what was left out. Pallid statistics lose to vivid case details — base rates noted and set aside. In the Tom W / engineer-lawyer experiments, a personality sketch that should be ignored entirely still swamps prior probabilities.
WYSIATI explains why inside-view forecasts feel sufficient, why halo judgments spread from one trait to all others, and why global life-satisfaction answers reflect whatever happened to be salient that day.
What to do
- Ask explicitly: "What would I believe if I had no case-specific information?"
- Seek disconfirming evidence before the story hardens.
- In groups, collect private estimates before discussion — public debate amplifies WYSIATI.