Blog 6- Concluding Blog

 Concluding Blog- Blink, by Malcolm Gladwell

Malcolm Gladwell

The main theme in the book, Blink, is focused on rapid cognition, which the author calls “thin-slicing”.  After reading several chapters, I can conclude that the book explores the thought process and how decisions are reached by people within a few seconds. The chapters have different examples and interesting stories on how people act on their inner feelings in making quick decisions and choices.  It usually does not matter if someone spends a lot of time thinking about something before making a decision, or they just make a decision quickly.  The result or outcome would be the same. I found this interesting, because if people thin-sliced  more, work would get done faster, and it would still be accurate.  This would save everyone a lot of time.  The example in the book that I like best is the Kouros Statue where the Getty museum spends over a year analyzing the statue.  They reach the conclusion that it is real and authentic,  and spend millions of dollars purchasing it.   However, after the statue is placed in the museum, visitors at the museum instantly are able to determine that the statue is a fake.    I found this interesting, because it is amazing how some people can achieve a level of expertise, while others can not. 

 

I would definitely recommend this book.  The author’s style of writing engages the reader and creates a personal relationship by having a conversation with the reader throughout the book.  This makes the book very interesting to read, and captivating.  This book creates awareness to the reader of how the conscious and unconscious mind work.  It is very interesting because of the many examples and scenarios it discusses. Everything was thoroughly explained, and the examples used were very helpful.  Before reading the book, I would advise to the reader to do a little bit of research in cognitive development so that they can have a better idea of what researches say on the subject. This will enhance their ability to comprehend and have a better understanding of what the author is writing about.  I would also tell them about the themes of the book, and how its main focus is the unconscious and conscious mind, through thin-slicing or rapid cognition.  I would recommend this book to young adults and above since the concepts that the book discusses require a level of maturity and understanding, to gain the maximum benefits from the book.  After reading the book, the ideas surrounding the benefits of thin-slicing can be debated by those with different views, as well as how the unconscious and conscious mind work, which is always an interesting conversation topic.  Definitely worth reading!

Blog 5- The Warren Harding Error: Why We Fall for Tall, Dark, and Handsome Men

Chapter 3: The Warren Harding Error: Why We Fall for Tall, Dark, and Handsome Men

This chapter, tells the story of Warren Harding, who is known to be the worst American president.  The only reason Harding was appointed president, is because he was very charming and had a very charismatic personality.  After moments of seeing him and listening to him speak, people would “thin-slice” into thinking that he is very intelligent, and believe that he would make a great president.   The main purpose of this chapter is to bring awareness to the concept of thin-slicing and how it does not always lead to positive results. The author wrote, “Many people who looked at Warren Harding saw how extraordinarily handsome and distinguished-looking he was and jumped to the immediate-and entirely unwarranted-conclusion that he was a man of courage. They didn’t dig below the surface. The way he looked carried so many powerful connotations that it stopped the normal process of thinking dead in its tracks.” This type of thinking is referred to as ‘making a snap judgment’, and people are not aware or cognizant that they actually do it. This chapter also talks about the Implicit-Association Test (IAT), which is designed to show the strength of how people automatically associate words to categories or concepts in their memory.  The tests measure the level of attitudes and feelings people have on an unconscious level towards different words and images. 

Example- IAT Test

The author writes, “The disturbing thing about the test is that it shows that our unconscious attitudes may be utterly incompatible with our stated conscious values.” I found it very interesting to see how the unconscious mind works in making assumptions.  I also liked how the example of Warren Harding is used in showing how people jump to conclusions. When they see a charming, good looking gentleman, they automatically think he is also smart and courageous.    

I really enjoyed how the chapter included some examples of the IAT tests.  I thought this was very effective and interesting, especially since I never heard of these tests before.  I liked reading about how this concept can cloud people’s judgment, into making snap decisions, which are not realistic. This chapter relates back to the main theme of the book, which is thin-slicing.  I found it very interesting, because this was the first chapter that discussed negative outcomes from thin-slicing.  From this chapter, I learned how thin slicing, is not always as accurate as we think.  Even though we all thin-slice, we need to be careful to make sure this rapid cognition does not lead to bad decisions or assumptions. 

Blog 4- The Locked Door: The Secret Life of Snap Decisions

Chapter Two: The Locked Door: The Secret Life of Snap Decisions

This chapter starts off talking about Vic Braden, who is one of the world’s top tennis coach, and former tennis player.  Vic is able to tell if the tennis player (does not matter who it is, women or men) was going to double fault on their serve, or not.  He is able to make very accurate predictions that were mostly all correct. “He thin-slices some part of the service motion and –blink! -he just knows”.  I found this very interesting, since Vic had no idea how he was able to do it, but he did it based on a snap judgement. “Snap judgments are, first of all, enormously quick: they rely on the thinnest slices of experience. But they are also unconscious.” This quote, relates directly to the theme of the book. People who make these rapid decisions need to go with there “feeling”. 

I liked how this chapter included different examples of successful people, who are only successful because of this feeling or hunch that they get.  George Soros, who is an investor and billionaire, would get back pain, as a way of telling him what to do next. “George Soros is so good at what he does: he is someone who is aware of the value of the products of his unconscious reasoning. But if you or I were to invest our money with Soros, we’d feel nervous if the only reason he could give for a decision was that his back hurt.”  Basically, decisions are made on hunches, as opposed to analyzing the facts.  This chapter relates back to the idea of “thin-slicing” with making a quick judgment.  Not all decisions are based on facts and logical, but rather they are based on hunches and emotions that are felt. Some of the most impactful decisions are simply based on a hunch.

Blog 3- The Theory of Thin Slices: How a Little Bit of Knowledge Goes a Long Way

Chapter One: The Theory of Thin Slices: How a Little Bit of Knowledge Goes a Long Way

The main idea of this chapter is something called “Thin-slicing” which refers to “the ability of our unconscious to find patterns in situations and behavior based on very narrow slices of experience.” This basically means, making quick assumptions, before actually doing research on the topic.  This chapter talks about John Gottman, who is a psychologist working at the University of Washington.  He videotapes married couples having a 15-minute conversation.  The topic can be anything, but the one he used was that they needed to talk about their dog.  After 15 minutes, John Gottman would analyze the video, looking at the facial expressions, gestures, and tones of their voice, and he would be able to conclude if the couple will end up divorcing in the future, or not. “We thin-slice whenever we meet a new person or have to make sense of something quickly or encounter a novel situation.” I found this quote very interesting, since everybody “thin-slices” without even knowing.  This chapter is full of examples of “thin-slicing”.  It can be seen in basketball, bird watching, or even in the military.  Where people need to draw conclusions in a short and quick amount of time, we are able to make accurate assumptions on a limited amount of information.  The decisions we end up with are quite accurate and conclusive based on the information we know.  

I really liked this chapter because of all of the different scenarios, where thin- slicing is seen. In particular, I thought it was very cool how in one of his experiments, he got random strangers to go into students dorm rooms, and they had 15 minutes to analyze the room and answer a short questionnaire, regarding the personalities of the students.  These students were able to come up with very accurate results.  “They were more accurate at measuring conscientiousness, and they were much more accurate at predicting both the students emotional stability and their openness to new experiences.  On balance, then, the strangers ended up doing a much better job”. What this suggests is that it is quite possible for people who have never met us and who have spent only twenty minutes thinking about us to come to a better understanding of who we are than people who have known us for years.” This chapter relates back to the main idea of the book, which is looking at the unconscious mind, and rapid cognition. This book focuses on how “thin-slicing” is much quicker, and usually accurate in determining conclusions, and going with our gut feeling as opposed to making a decision on the facts that we have before us.  Thin slicing is the means of making wise decisions based on limited information that we have on hand.