Leadership+Book+Summary

Blink

Malcolm Gladwell explores the world of rapid cognition in the book //Blink: The Power of Thinking without Thinking.// Rapid cognition is what occurs when people first observe something. This can be a person or an object. Gladwell opens the book with a story about a statue that “didn’t look right”. There was not actual evidence, but rapid cognition insisted something was not right. In actuality, the statue was a fake. How can this happen? Gladwell offers thoughts, theories, and data. Rapid cognition uses “thin-slicing” which enables the unconscious to “find patterns in situations and behavior based on very narrow slices of experience.” Gladwell (2005). This thin-slicing enables the unconscious to make quick, but sophisticated judgments. It is a necessary device that is used when decisions must be made quickly. Often these decisions are inexplicable to the person who makes them. Coherent thought is not used in these decisions, they are based on what the subconscious decides is right. Based on prior knowledge or subtle hints (such as facial movements) the subconscious makes decisions for the person without that person taking part in the decision making process. This is a process that is usually helpful and almost unnoticed. However, there are times when thin-slicing can cause problems. Unconscious associations may interfere and cause biases that are not part of our conscious. Attitudes have two levels: conscious or stated values and unconscious or the immediate, automatic associations that are made. These two levels may be very different. However, the unconscious attitude is a predictor of how we act in certain spontaneous situations. Once these attitudes are discovered, they can be changed, but only through deliberate methods. Thin-slicing involves the making of complicated decisions on the spur of the moment. However, this spontaneity can have structure provided. Spontaneity can be successful in the most stressful situations if it is operating under control. One way of achieving this control is to avoid an overload of information. Too much information requires the conscious to take over the decision making process and rapid cognition is no longer possible. Necessary information can be processed through rapid cognition and a decision made in a split second. Gladwell also writes that experts in certain areas have trained their rapid cognition and are able to tell people what they liked, disliked, were suspicious about, or most comfortable with. While most people use thin-slicing almost without noticing, experts use thin-slicing to give them specific information. They can explain why the person, food, or object makes them react the way they do. They are able to trust their first impressions (within their field of expertise) implicitly. Gladwell contrasts these experts with those who seem to have impaired or non-existent thin-slicing abilities. This occurrence is usually linked to a physical condition. Autistic people are considered “mind-blind”. They are unable to interpret most non-verbal cues, they are only able to base conclusions from literal meanings of words. This also occurs when the body is under extreme stress. The body begins to shut down, things seem to move in slow motion, and tunnel vision occurs. The body no longer has the ability to use rapid cognition. There are two basic lessons that we can learn from //Blink//. First, if rapid cognition is to be successful, there must be balance between deliberate and instinctive thinking. Deliberate thinking, which takes time and effort, helps rapid cognition in its accuracy. Second, in successful rapid cognition, complex problems need to be reduced to their simplest elements. This frugality allows for the appearance of definite patterns which allows decisions to be made appropriately and quickly. These lessons allow us to have pure //Blink// moments, and in that moment, “a small miracle happened, the kind of small miracle that is always possible when we take charge of the first two seconds.” Gladwell (2005).

Gladwell, M. (2005). // Blink: The power of thinking without thinking. // Boston, MA: Little, Brown & Company.