Blink By Malcolm Gladwell Analysis

1851 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Bias in everyday life

Snap judgements are those immediate conclusions we make when we meet someone for the first time or experience something new or different. Many of us make snap judgements every single day of our lives without even being conscious of it. In fact, it only takes us a couple seconds to decide whether we like something or not. Snap judgements are a mental process we all do unconsciously. According to our class reading “Blink” by Malcom Gladwell, Gladwell states that most of us have experienced snap judgments, but we feel like we should not trust it. Snap judgements are not always precise but Gladwell believes we should ignore these odds and trust our snap judgements. Malcom Gladwell introduces the term “thin-slicing” to us which states that our …show more content…

Gladwell proves this by the example of the Implicit Association test. This test is based on judgements that a person makes based on the looks of another person. When someone meets a person for the first time they make a snap judgement about them in about two seconds. Gladwell uses a car salesman as an example to show bad snap judgements that are made by us on a daily bases, which shows how thin-slicing is not always right. Bob Golomb is a car salesman that never judges someone by their looks and helps everyone who arrives to his dealer. He is known as one of the best car dealers around the world. The moment a customer arrives he has to make a quick decision on what he will do to sell them a car. Many salesmen tale a look at the customer and judge them by their looks. If they look like they are not able to afford what they are selling they do not even bother to help them out. The thin-slicing being performed here to make a snap judgement is not right and shows how sometimes a snap judgement cannot be trusted. If salesman had more of an opened mind towards people and not be so quick to judge them based on their first judgement they would probably sell more things than they do …show more content…

Gladwell believes we should always trust our snap judgements and he gives many good reasons why we should, but at the end of the day I believe we should not always trust our snap judgements. Sometimes it may come to it and they may be right, but if we can avoid it I think we should. We have all experienced it unconsciously and never really thought about how this happens of why it happens and whether we should trust it. Sometimes we do trust it and other times we feel like we should not and that is why Gladwell is trying to persuade us that the best thing to do is always

Show More
Related

  • Analysis of Fade To Black by Alex Flinn

    595 Words  | 2 Pages

    1) The story takes place in Pinedale, Florida. Where a HIV-positive Pinedale High School student named Alejandro Crusan or Alex for short, was attacked while in his car. A witness named Daria Bickell says that she was a student from the same school, name Clinton Cole at the crime scene.

    Read More

  • The Ethics of Belief by William Clifford: The Moral Obligation to Justify Your Beliefs

    683 Words  | 2 Pages

    ... from previous experiences and bases future decisions on what they have experienced. When a person makes a decision that isn’t justified, they unknowingly change how they view future problems. If the decision has not been based in truth, it allows them a certain amount of unearned freedom to make wrong decisions, as opposed to when one make a proper decisions. It is crucial that every decision made is justified in order to keep their moral compass steady and to make the proper decisions when the choice is hard.

    Read More

  • Tone Of Outliers By Malcolm Gladwell

    117 Words  | 1 Pages

    Malcolm Gladwell, in the nonfiction book Outliers, claims that success stems from where you come from, and to find that you must look beyond the individual. Malcolm Gladwell develops and supports his claim by defining an outlier, then providing an example of how Stewart Wolf looked beyond the individual, and finally by giving the purpose of the book Outliers as a whole. Gladwell’s purpose is to explain the extenuating circumstances that allowed one group of people to become outliers in order to inform readers on how to be successful. The author writes in a serious and factual tone for the average person in society of both genders and all ethnicities who wants to become successful in life.

    Read More

  • Rice Paddies And Math Testing Chapter 4 Summary

    530 Words  | 2 Pages

    While inherent/innate skills may be beneficial, it is the other stuff that really leads to success. Basically, Gladwell has taken a stereotype, which is defined by Merrimack-Webster as, “a widely held but fixed or oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing,” and helped perpetuate it, in my opinion. The common stereotype that Asians are good at math is a widespread belief in America. And Gladwell's oversimplification and, in my opinion, brilliant way of correlating factors has just strengthened the stereotype that already exists, whether he meant to or not. So, as much as I admire his ability to tidily wrap up an argument in a way that makes me tend to think, “Wow, that makes complete sense,” Gladwell has unmistakably joined the “I perpetuate stereotypes club” by writing this chapter. The thing is that stereotyping doesn’t always have to hold a negative connotation. I think that people sometimes mix-up what a stereotype is and what an ethnic slurs (ethnophaulisms)

    Read More

  • Book Analysis Of Malcolm Gladwell's David And Goliath

    1360 Words  | 3 Pages

    David and Goliath is the story of a young shepherd whom lacking of any kind of combat training, managed to overcome a giant, who was sophisticated in combat tactics, just using his wit. In modern times, that act is used as an analogy to compare people who against all odds overcome a difficult situation in their lives.

    Read More

  • Fahrenheit 451 Book Analysis

    1248 Words  | 3 Pages

    Everyone has the ability to look at where the world is today and picture what the future might hold. That’s exactly what Huxley, Orwell and Bradbury did in their futuristic novels, though exaggerating quite a bit. In Huxley’s novel Brave New World, he depicts a society where people are decanted from bottles instead of being born from mothers. George Orwell gives us a glimpse at a world where everything is regulated, even sex, in his novel 1984. Bradbury foresaw the future in the most accurate way in his novel Fahrenheit 451; writing about a future without literature to guard the people from negative feelings, just as our college campuses in America are doing by adding trigger warnings to books with possible offensive content.

    Read More

  • Review of Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451

    1494 Words  | 3 Pages

    Review of Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 In Ray Bradbury's novel Fahrenheit 451, the author utilizes the

    Read More

  • Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451: A Dystopian World

    1329 Words  | 3 Pages

    An icon in the writing of science fiction, Ray Bradbury wrote Fahrenheit 451 in a style that shows a dystopian world where books are burned, and many people are living for satisfaction and fun. This shows the digression/regression of the intellect of a future society. This world he created is likely partially inspired by Bradbury 's observations of how the society of his day and age is turning out with some extremities and imagination added in. Fahrenheit 451 first appeared as a short story with the name "The Fireman" in Galaxy Science Fiction in 1950. Three years later it was expanded and re-edited and made into the book, Fahrenheit 451, published in 1953. Being re-copyrighted in 1979 (47th printing). Ray Bradbury has an attractive life of

    Read More

  • Five Themes In Johnathon Haidt's The Righteous Mind

    958 Words  | 2 Pages

    We definitely notice how quick people are to judge others by their statements and beliefs if they go against our own- but if it’s our own belief, we tend to defend it until the end. In this point, Haidt talks about the confirmation bias, which is the tendency to seek out and interpret new evidence in ways that confirm what you already think. People tend to think “there is evidence that supports my theory, therefore my theory is right.” The main point in topic number three is that people tend to be close-minded when it comes to being wrong. No one likes to be wrong, so we tend to find ways that support how we feel and what we think is right in order to justify out thoughts and feelings. Our intuitions come first, our strategic reasoning comes

    Read More

  • Blink The Power Of Thinking Without Thinking By Malcolm Gladwell Blink Summary

    715 Words  | 2 Pages

    Before starting this reading assignment I never thought to question why I make the decisions I do in such a short amount of time. After reading Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, written by Malcolm Gladwell I have a better understanding of how we as individuals perceive and react to information. This book provides insight on how to critically asses and understand the way our minds operate on a deeper level. The book consists of 6 chapters, each providing insight on how the decision making process works and how it affects what we do with every second of the day. Throughout each chapter there are subsections with personal stories, case studies, or examples that help provide an alternative view on how the decision making process is carried out under normal circumstances.

    Read More

  • Discrimination In Ageism

    1525 Words  | 4 Pages

    When an individual unintentionally enters a room full of an unfamiliar crowd, he or she is bound to be embarrassed, but also have an apprehensive sensation of how others in that room will distinguish them. A situation like that establishes a moment in which that person realizes that all eyes are gaping at that individual. Just when that person could consider forgetting what just happened, unfortunately judgments start circulating among the unfamiliar crowd. As most people know, judgments are based off of a person’s appearance, race, religion, or a quality that doesn’t appeal to the person analyzing them. Obviously, judging is something that takes place whether someone likes it or not, but there are certain limits to it that many cross by adding

    Read More

  • Essay On Outliers By Malcolm Gladwell

    1089 Words  | 3 Pages

    This can be deduced by his claims that “people don’t rise from nothing” and that they were the product of “ . . . hidden advantages and extraordinary opportunities and cultural legacies . . . where and when [they] grew up . . .” He provides these claims in a quick summary of the overall purpose of the book in order to alert his readers of what is going to be covered and how it is going to be covered. As a result of the bluntness of those claims, his readers have a clear understanding of what is to be expected when analyzing the information presented to them and feel no need to worry about hidden bias being present. (Gladwell 19)

    Read More

  • Caroline Sacks Argument Of Big Fish

    567 Words  | 2 Pages

    Gladwell speaks to us in chapter three of what he calls the argument of big fish in a little pond vs little fish in a big pond. He tells us that there are moments in life that we have to make decisions; and the best decision is that it is better to be a big fish in a small pond than vice versa. To prove his argument, he gives us the example of Caroline Sacks.

    Read More

  • Small Change By Malcolm Gladwell Analysis

    1567 Words  | 4 Pages

    Technology has had a negative impact on this generation- we have lost and forgotten many things because of it. In Malcolm Gladwell’s “Small Change: Why the Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted”, he discusses the difference between social media activism and “real” activism and the loss of human connection that he has identified. He believes that with social media activism, we lack the connections a community should have because we don’t get together in person- we are satisfied with being connected through technology. He also thinks that as time goes on, we will only get worse when referring to the ideas that we are delusional because the issues we fight about (such as getting phones taken away) aren’t as important as we think.

    Read More

  • Summary Of Malcolm Gladwell's Troublemakers

    841 Words  | 2 Pages

    Malcolm Gladwell’s “Troublemakers” is an article in which he explores the way societies make generalizations. Malcolm explains how Ontario has banned pit bulls due to a boy being attacked and people viewing that one example to be enough to distinguish all pit bulls as vicious and bloodthirsty. He goes on to employ that all dogs even resembling pit bulls or that have some pit bull mixed into them have been banned as well, because anything that looks like a pit bull has now been deemed dangerous for the people in that society. Not only does Malcolm point out other ways societies generalize people, like racial profiling a terrorist, but he distinguishes how steps could have been taken to eliminate the threat of the pit bull but it seemed to just

    Read More

More about Blink By Malcolm Gladwell Analysis

Open Document