Stress

Permanent stress leads to enlarged amygdalas and diminished pre-frontal cortices. Our brain is adapting by reshaping itself to be better at responding to threats and less adept at emotional regulation and complex thought. This likely results in a reliance on what Kahneman calls “System 1 thinking”, which is more susceptible to errors in logical reasoning and is at the root of cognitive bias.

This is supported by Bruce McEwen’s (neuroendocrinology) research into overstressed medical students, which found that they are more likely to miss diagnoses and make routine mistakes than their less stressed counterparts.

Living with constant stress makes it more more difficult to reach a state of Flow thinking (Csikszentmihaly).