Blink: The Power Of Thinking Without Thinking

860 Words2 Pages

What is thin slicing?
In rapid cognition, one of the critical areas of focus is referred to as thin-slicing. Thin-slicing is a psychological term which refers to the ability to intuitively make quick decisions on the basis of minimal amounts of information. According to Gladwell, people “think without thinking”. He explains that people faced with events requiring rapid judgments indulge in thin-slicing thereby exhibiting the ability of the mind to instinctively find solutions in situations based on very narrow slices of knowledge. He further makes the observation that this occurrence is what makes the unconscious mind so fascinating. (Gladwell 23)

The author also opines that the individuals who become great decision makers have perfected the …show more content…

In business practice, decisions are often arrived after going through lengthy consultations, meetings, among other rituals. The people involved are usually overwhelmed by the copious amounts of information and data analysis necessary to craft practicable decisions. In such instances, some people tend to exhibit an innate ability to make decision by following their intuition. Although, the decisions made from first impressions may be accurate, they usually cannot be easily explained, hence no action is taken. However, for tough decisions thin-slicing could be used if the decision-makers are experienced and show no …show more content…

To be a successful Financial Advisor a person has to surmount the huge demands on their ability to give relevant advice. There are very many variables in play whenever the Financial Advisor is approached by a potential customer such as their attitude, behavior, knowledge of the problem, information to be analyzed, extent of the financial problem, urgency of the problem among others. A good Financial Advisor when faced with this flood of information has to learn to quickly pick the relevant information critical to his decision. He should be able to unconsciously edit those first impressions and adjust the level of his advice accordingly (Gladwell 89). Therefore, decision makers should use thin slicing as tool to sift through huge amounts of data or when they encounter a complex situation that requires a fast decision.
Do you agree that too often, the analysis of too much information can result in bad decisions?
Yes, I agree that analysis of too much information can result in bad decisions. Some situations may necessitate taking snap decisions especially where the probability of loss or damage is considerable. When making a decision, it is expected that the collected information helps to arrive at an accurate decision. However, if there is too much information to navigate through the decision maker may suffer from analysis paralysis, thereby distorting the

Open Document