“Blink” by Malcolm Gladwell

“Blink” was a quick read and very informative. It presented a re-evaluation of the merits of snap judgments. Here is an outline of the book’s main points:

Introduction

1. Gladwell wants to convince readers that “decisions made very quickly can be every bit as good as decisions made cautiously and deliberately.” (14)
2. A question to ponder: “When should we trust our instincts, and when should we be wary of them?” (15)
   1. Examples of snap judgments (“rapid cognition” or “adaptive unconscious”) vs. conscious decisions: debating the authenticity of a Greek statue; noticing the rules of a card game; judging the efficacy of teachers by viewing only 2 seconds of a taped lecture (13)
3. Most importantly, Gladwell wants to convince readers that “our snap judgments and first impressions can be educated and controlled.” (15)

Chapter 1

1. John Gottman “analyzes an hour of a husband and wife talking, [then predicts] … with 95% accuracy whether that couple will still be married fifteen years later.” (21)
   1. Another study got it down to 3 minutes; “The Mathematics of Divorce”—codes every conceivable emotion in a conversation
2. “thin slicing”—“the ability of our unconscious to find patterns in situations and behavior based on very narrow slices of experience.” (23)
   1. helps explain how Gottman can predict divorce (pattern recognition similar to “fists” in Morse code)
3. “Four horse men” that predict imminent divorce: defensiveness, stonewalling (more common with men), criticism (more common with women), and contempt (33)
   1. most important sign of trouble: contempt (33)
4. Judging people by their bedroom/personal belongings is better than judging them by actually meeting them, because you avoid misleading comments that people say about themselves.
   1. Personality evident with “identity claims” (deliberate expression of self); “behavioral residue” (inadvertent clues); and thought and feeling regulators (changes to personal space that affect one’s feelings when inhabiting space) (37)
   2. “You can learn as much-or more-from one glance at a private space as you can from hours of exposure to a public face.” (37)
5. Malpractice: Patients don’t just sue because they received bad medical care, but also because they weren’t treated well as a person (didn’t like the doctor).
   1. Doctors who didn’t get sued spent 3 minutes longer “orienting” with patients (i.e. had more caring tone of voice, asked personal questions, came across as more respectful rather than domineering). (41)

Chapter 2

1. Priming:  2 groups of African American students took the GRE.  One group had to identify their race before starting the test.  That group got half as many questions right as the other group.
   1. This is an unconscious process; the group who performed poorly were not aware of priming.
   2. Brings up the debate of free will vs. outside influences (58)
   3. Ventromedial area: the part of the brain that works out contingencies and prioritizes (59)
2. Speed dating: unconscious vs. conscious wants in an ideal mate (67)
   1. People’s explanations of what a perfect mate would be don’t match their actions = a “storytelling problem”
   2. Culprit: We are quick to provide explanations for things we really don’t know/can’t readily explain.
   3. “We learn by example and by direct experience because there are real limits to the adequacy of verbal instruction.” (71)
   4. Suggestion: We should feel comfortable saying “I don’t know” more often.

Outline of the rest of the chapters coming soon!