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Blink by Malcolm Gladwell
Review by Tania Vikki
EPSY 5180
Summer 2009
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What the book is about
• Blink is about snap judgments. Not how to
make them, but how they are made, who
makes them the best, and what factors are
involved.
• Blink uses a good author’s voice, and shows
its meanings through many, many examples.
• It is not well organized, in terms of nonfiction,
and its ideas loop or are not clearly stated or
summarized.
Main ideas of Blink
• Experts can judge things in a few moments, called thin-slicing,
very accurately.
• Our snap decisions are influenced heavily by bias, stereotype,
and stress.
• Less is more. The less information we have, the better our
decisions can be. Otherwise we can be overwhelmed with
information.
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and a
• Our thinking happens behind
a ‘locked
door’.
decompressor
needed
to see this picture.
• Analysis can blockare
our
intuition.
• We must learn the weaknesses of our decision-making, and
try to correct for them.
• Sometimes thoughtful analysis is best, especially for minor,
straightforward decisions. Other times, intuitive decisions are
best, such as when there is a lot of information, or the decision
is complicated.
Examples of Expert Opinion Thin-Slicing
• Determining a fake ancient Greek statue of a
kouros.
• Prof. Gottman’s prediciton of successful marriages
• Morse code ‘voice’ interpretation during WWII
• Film directors
• Bird Watchers
• A tennis expert predicting a ‘double fault’
• Van Riper, a military general
• Taste testers
• Music entertainment leaders judgment of Kenna
• Dr. Ekman’s determination of emotions based on
facial features
• Experienced cop
• Experienced Firefighter
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Bias, Stereotype, and Influence
Examples:
• Museum curators
• Effects of priming
• Power of suggestions - rope activity
• Warren Harding - best-looking worst
President ever
• IAT tests - your subconscious is a racist, so
prime yourself!
• Why are so many CEO’s tall?
• Car dealers are unfair, except for one…
• Aeron chair - works great, looks awful. Will it
sell?
• No women in the orchestra
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Less is more, examples
•
•
•
•
•
Curators confused by a large amount of data
Cook County heart attack prediction formula
JFCOM vs. Van Riper in the military game
Battle of Chancellorsville
Selecting a car from 12 choices, not just 4
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The Stress Factor
• People think best between 115 and 45
bpm under stress. After that, it all breaks
down, stereotypes have more influence,
and we stop reading people’s faces (like
temporary autism)
• Examples: good athletes, good-call cops
vs.Diallo shooting cops, Rodney King
beating cops, other bad-call cops
• White space - the time and distance
between you and the event or threat,
determines your effective/good response.
No white space in Diallo case, or Reagan
assassination attempt.
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Locked Door: We can’t tell how we think.
•
•
•
•
Double fault prediction
Rope activity
Speed-dating choices
Red vs. blue deck
selection
• Fireman sensing
basement fire
• IAT testing
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Analysis can block intuition
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• Improv comedy - accept all
possibilities
• JFCOM actions, and Hooker’s
• Introspection can lead to
dissonance resolution, rather
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• Face recognition vs.
description
• Speed-dating reflections
• Rope activity reflection
Correcting for Weaknesses
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Screen for music auditions
Screen for defendants in trials?
Experienced cop’s decision to wait to shoot
One-man instead of two-man cop patrols.
Positive priming for IAT test
Stress exposure for bodyguards
Sports statistics vs. fan beliefs
Intentional fairness of a car dealer
Using a heart attack formula
Control first impressions, where possible
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When to use intuition, and when to analyze?
Analyze: Simple, small
decisions:
• Simple kitchen
appliances (Dutch)
• 4 car choice
When a machine or
formula is proven
correct
• Cook County Hospital
Intuition: Big, complicated
decisions
• IKEA furniture (Dutch)
• 12 car choice
• “a mate or a profession”
-Sigmund Freud
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Conclusion
Blink is about
judgments, how they
are made, what
influences them,
and their quality.
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