Many people feel that educated decisions are the best ones, that the more you study, the more you know. Blink, written by Malcolm Gladwell, challenges that notion. He wishes to alter the belief of the average person, and writes with the “desire to push the world in a certain direction, to alter other people’s idea of the kind of society that they should strive after.” Most people in today’s society would much rather trust the decision that comes with a plethora of meticulous research, analysis, and studying to back it up. Malcolm Gladwell’s purpose is to convince us of just the opposite: that sometimes, even against more rational judgement, our split-second decisions are the best. He argues that when people put their instincts to use responsibly, …show more content…
the world flows more smoothly. Gladwell backs up this claim through the use of logical appeals, irony, and rhetorical questions, creating a book that demonstrates just how much can come from “the power of thinking without thinking.” One of the most powerful ways one can prove a point is through the use of cold hard data.
In order to prove that snap-decisions can actually be helpful in everyday situations, Gladwell includes a variety of studies and statistics. He describes an experiment in which participants were asked to gamble and choose between either a red or blue card. The game was designed in such a way that picking blue cards would be the only way to consistently win money. Although participants were consciously oblivious to this fact until around the fiftieth card, Gladwell explains how “Iowa scientists found that the gamblers started generating stress responses to the red decks by the tenth card, forty cards before they were able to say that they had a hunch about what was wrong with those two decks” (15). The study is a perfect example of what one’s unconscious- in this case demonstrated through a person’s sweat glands- can pick up on before our mind is consciously aware of it. Gladwell includes a variety of studies throughout his book, ranging from the effects of asking a student to identify their race before an exam, to how quickly a person walks down a hall after being “primed” with words associated with being old. Each further backs up his claim and proves how much power the unconscious holds, as well as what can come when society puts that power to
use. Blink could easily become a boring book. Most people don’t end a long day looking forward to submersing themselves in 469 pages of numbers and facts. Because of this, Gladwell’s main obstacle in proving his point is keeping his audience engaged and reading until the end. One of the ways he accomplishes this is through the use of rhetorical questions. With every explanation as to why a certain situation unfolds a specific way, he precedes with a “why?” or “how?” : “Why was Thomas Hoving so sure, in those first two seconds, that the Getty’s kouros was a fake?” (317) , “How could New Coke fail?” (272). These questions contribute to the flow and tone of his writing, adding energy to a subject that can easily turn dry and unentertaining. Without them, the topic would become a hassle to learn about, and the purpose of his book would go unfulfilled. Malcolm Gladwell writes with the goal of convincing people of the power that can come from the thought processes deep beneath our conscious. Blink does just that, building this argument through the use of studies, statistics, and rhetorical questions. By the end of the book, one is convinced of the strength of the knowledge a split-second decision can hold, even if it may go against more logical judgment. Gladwell hopes that through trusting instincts and honing in on the subconscious, one can avoid easily preventable mistakes, creating a society that functions more smoothly.
When we go about our daily lives there are many things that go undetected. One such undetected event goes on inside our own head. Thinking without thinking, an idea brought forth in Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink, where your brain is processing information that you aren't even aware of yet. Some of the best outcomes are produced from this “idea”. Another huge topic in this novel is the idea of “thin slicing”. Where your brain can come to a conclusion within seconds of analyzing the situation. Thin slicing is proven in this book to be more resourceful than putting any length of thought into a situation. But in order for Gladwell to drive home his ideas, he is going to need the help of some psychologists tests to prove that he is right.
The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell looks at a number of social epidemics and analyzes their build up to the point where they tip. “Tipping” is that point where an epidemic booms, or grows, to its maximum potential. Gladwell begins defining “tipping” with a literal example of the famous shoes, Hush Puppies. Once considered old-fashioned, Hush Puppies experienced a social boom in the mid-90s when hipsters in New York made them trendy again. Gladwell continues explaining “tipping” with a medical epidemic of syphilis in Baltimore. Gladwell introduces us to three essential rules of epidemics: the Law of the Few, the Stickiness Factor and the Power of Context. The Law of the Few says a key factor in epidemics is the role of the messenger: it spreads through word-of-mouth transmission. Gladwell explains this theory with an example of how Paul Revere managed to spread the news of British invasion overnight. Gladwell continues to explain that there are several types of people that create these types of epidemics. They are called Connectors, Mavens and Salesmen. Connectors are those people that are very social and can literally connect with people with as little as two degrees of separation. Mavens are those that know a lot about a lot of different things. They may recommend a certain restaurant and you must go because you know what they told you about it is true. And Salesmen are exactly that: people that are easily social and persuading.
You can’t judge a person accurately based on their visual aspect alone. In the book Blink by Malcolm Gladwell, a man named Amadou Diallo is killed by the police due to bad judgment on his appearance. Diallo is approached by the police at midnight; Diallo is sitting on a porch, looking up a down the street. The police found this subspecies and one police officer think Diallo looks like a push in burglar that has been around. The police approach Diallo and this scares Diallo, he is an immigrant with not very good English; Diallo runs from the police to his home as he tries to enter the building, he reaches in his pocket and an officer yells “gun” and they unload their guns on Diallo. The police subsequently found he was reaching for his wallet. The police were in the wrong for chasing Diallo, they had no
Perseverance pushes people towards what they believe in, a person’s perseverance is determined upon their beliefs. A person with strong beliefs will succeed greater to someone who does not. In the novel Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, Guy Montag perseveres against society as well as himself in order to demolish censorship. Perseverance embraces values and drives people closer to their goals.
A Look into the Human Mind In his powerful novel, Slaughterhouse Five, Kurt Vonnegut tells of a man named Billy Pilgrim who has become unstuck in time. He walks through a door in 1955 and comes out another in 1941. He crashes into a plane in 1968 and ends up displayed in a zoo on the planet Tralfamadore, making love to Earth porno-star, Montana Wildhack. He ends up in the cellar of a slaughterhouse when Dresden is bombed to ashes during World War II; Billy, his fellow Americans, and four guards were the only ones to live through the bombing. The Boston Globe best explains the book when it says it is “.poignant and hilarious, threaded with compassion and, behind everything, the cataract of a thundering moral statement” (back cover).
Imagine a society where owning books is illegal, and the penalty for their possession—to watch them combust into ashes. Ray Bradbury’s novel, Fahrenheit 451, illustrates just such a society. Bradbury wrote his science fiction in 1951 depicting a society of modern age with technology abundant in this day and age—even though such technology was unheard of in his day. Electronics such as headphones, wall-sized television sets, and automatic doors were all a significant part of Bradbury’s description of humanity. Human life styles were also predicted; the book described incredibly fast transportation, people spending countless hours watching television and listening to music, and the minimal interaction people had with one another. Comparing those traits with today’s world, many similarities emerge. Due to handheld devices, communication has transitioned to texting instead of face-to-face conversations. As customary of countless dystopian novels, Fahrenheit 451 conveys numerous correlations between society today and the fictional society within the book.
Neuroscientists claim that due to unconscious brain activity, we are “biochemical puppets” (Nahmias). Through experiments conducted by neuroscientists like Itzhak Fried, neural activity is shown to occur before a conscious decision is made. Fried concluded that this was a predetermined occurrence
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.
“The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking.” ― Albert Einstein In Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, Guy Montag meets a girl who is different from the others in the city. The city is full of people who watch television almost all of the time rather than doing something with their life.While he doesn’t think very much, she thinks and observes often. Over the next few weeks of seeing her daily, his way of thinking completely changes. Being a fireman, the change in the way he thinks is so difficult to fathom so that he steals a book from one of the houses the firemen had to burn. Montag is figured out by his boss and has to burn down his own house. Soon afterwards, Montag must go on the run to avoid being arrested. The government is on guard trying to find him to show people what'd happen if they were to break laws. Getting help from an older man who had learned to handle the knowledge while Montag could not, Montag is able to make it out of the city quickly with little damage done to himself. Ray Bradbury is warning readers of the horrible impacts caused by laziness and how the government can take advantage of weak minded people.
An Eye for an Eye was written by Stephen Nathanson. Mr. Nathanson, like many, is against the death penalty. Mr. Nathanson believes that the death penalty sends the wrong messages. He says that by enforcing the death penalty we “reinforce the conviction that only defensive violence is justifiable.” He also states that we must, “express our respect for the dignity of all human beings, even those guilty of murder.”
The study of psychology began as a theoretical subject a branch of ancient philosophy, and later as a part of biological sciences and physiology. However, over the years, it has grown into a rigorous science and a separate discipline, with its own sets of guidance and experimental techniques. This paper aims to study the various stages that the science of psychology passed through to reach its contemporary status, and their effects on its development. It begins with an overview of the historical and philosophical basis of psychology, discusses the development of the various schools of thought, and highlights their effects on contemporary personal and professional decision-making.
In the book Fahrenheit 451 the theme is a society/world that revolves around being basically brain washed or programmed because of the lack of people not thinking for themselves concerning the loss of knowledge, and imagination from books that don't exist to them. In such stories as the Kurt Vonnegut's "You have insulted me letter" also involving censorship to better society from vulgarity and from certain aspects of life that could be seen as disruptive to day to day society which leads to censorship of language and books. Both stories deal with censorship and by that society is destructed in a certain way by the loss of knowledge from books.
The researchers, Timothy Judge and Daniel Cable, say that much of the problem is the result of subconscious decisions based on entrenched social
The beginning of this book puzzles the reader. It doesn't clearly state the setting and plot in the first chapter; it almost leaves the mood open to how the reader interprets it. In the romance story The Notebook, by Nicholas Sparks, the plot then shifts from a nursing home to a small town -- New Bern, North Carolina. It baffles the reader so much that it urges one to read on. The romance of Noah and Allie in this book is so deep and complex that it will bring a tear to the eye of any reader.
George Herbert throughout his poem “The Collar” puts his thoughts, feelings and complaints on paper on freedom restrictions. He resolves to break free from the binds fastening him to the life he fights to be free from. In various ways, countless things hold down and confine us from doing certain things daily. All the way through history people fought for the rights that tied them down for what they believed in. Herbert explains in his poem that one requires some restrictions even if we cannot understand the motive behind it.