Is it possible to know something without realizing how we know it? This is the question Malcolm Gladwell deliberates in his book Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking. Malcolm Gladwell uses the results from various scientific experiments to delve into the phenomenon of “thin-slicing.” Thin-slicing, is defined in psychology as making quick decisions on the basis of limited information. Gladwell stresses that these “thin slices,” are astonishingly accurate, and sometimes more accurate than decisions that are made after long hours of careful deliberation.
Gladwell says that “’thin slicing’ refers to the ability of our unconscious to find patterns in situations and behavior based on very narrow slices of experience.” Gladwell tells us that the ability to thin slice is credited to what he calls the adaptive unconscious: “a kind of giant computer that quickly and quietly process a lot of the data we need in order to keep functioning.” Although I find it normal to allow the unconscious take care of simple tasks such as breathing, and moving, the notion that sometimes we make
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complex judgments and decisions based on an unconscious part of ourselves makes me uneasy. Yet, Gladwell quotes psychologist Timothy Wilson, as saying in his book Strangers to Ourselves: “The mind operates most efficiently by relegating a good deal of high-level, sophisticated thinking to the unconscious… The adaptive unconscious does an excellent job of sizing up the world, warning people of danger, setting goals, and initiating action in a sophisticated and efficient manner.” Therefore, it appears that there is actually more to the unconscious than we originally thought there was. As I tied to comprehend these ideas, my initial thought was that this cannot be right. I asked myself, how can I allow myself to make a complex decision without putting much thought and deliberation into the decision making process? Is making a decision based on the adaptive unconscious reliable? Surely it cannot be more reliable than a well thought out decision. However, as Gladwell points out throughout the book, the adaptive unconscious is something that can be relied upon, and sometimes even more reliable than our conscious thought process. As uneasy as this makes us feel, based on the numerous scientific results mentioned in the book, this idea seems to be true. Gladwell proves from a wide range of situations, from art evaluators to the election of President Warren Harding, from the rock musician known as Kenna to selling cars, thin-slicing and snap-judgments using the adaptive unconscious have proved to be more accurate than careful conscious decision making. One interesting example that stood out to me was how Gladwell described his analysis of speed-dating.
In the experiment, each person was given six minutes to converse with each of the opposite gender. Gladwell explains: “Everyone who sat down at one of those tables was trying to answer a very simple question: Do I want to see this person again? And to answer that, we don’t need an entire evening. We really need only a few minutes.” Most of the participants were didn’t end up selecting the potential partners they had set their minds upon prior to the actual mini-date. The daters were able to thin-slice the situation and “know within the first minute, do I like this guy, can I take him home to my parents, or is he just a wham-bam kind of jerk?” When it came to speed-dating, the daters were smart and able to precisely thin-slice their potential partner based on a six-minute
conversation. Gladwell also describes thin-slicing examples that contained some more scientific relevance. He discusses a psychologist that by watching a few minute video of a couple conversing, can predict with 90 percent accuracy whether they will still be married in fifteen years from now. The psychologist used facial expressions, tone of voice, and chosen words used between the couple to be able to come to his conclusions. He also describes a study where a scientist, by listening to four ten-second clips of doctor-patient conversation, can predict which doctors are likely to be sued for malpractice. The scientist utilized an in-depth analysis of the doctor’s patient-relation skills to reach his inferences. These examples, as well as the numerous others mentioned in the book, tell us something very significant about the adaptive unconscious. It tells us that the unconscious deserves far more recognition than we tend to give.
“People don't rise from nothing....It is only by asking where they are from that we can unravel the logic behind who succeeds and who doesn't”(Gladwell 18).
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.
In the article Threshold of Violence published by The New Yorker Magazine, author Malcolm Gladwell alludes to the cause of school shootings and why they transpire. Gladwell tries to make sense of the epidemic by consulting a study of riots by stanford sociologist Mark Granovetter. Granovetter sought to understand “why people do things that go against who they are or what they think is right, for instance, why typically non-violent, law-abiding people join a riot”(Granovetter). He concluded that people’s likelihood of joining a riot is determined by the number of people already involved. The ones who start a riot don’t need anyone else to model this behavior for them that they have a “threshold” of zero. But others will riot only if someone
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.
Fahrenheit 451 By: Ray Bradbury Life may be confusing to you when your job is to commit arson to any house that has a book in it. At least that's the way it was for Guy Montag. Guy Montag was a fireman and in the future, a firefighters job wasn't to stop fires, but it was actually to start them. In the future, books were known as bad and shameful and if anyone had possession of a book whether it was in their house or in another person's house, then the house was to be burned.
"Burn em' to ashes, then burn the ashes",imagine a fireman saying these words, fireman that burn things to ashes instead of putting the ashes out; that use flame throwers instead of water hoses. In the futuristic distopian society created by Ray Bradbury in the book Fahrenheit 451 is the harsh reality that main character Montag must go through with his drug addicted wife, a retired English Professor named Faber, and a very intelligent fire captain named cap. Beatty, as well as a teenage girl named Clarise that is the symbol of purity. .
“There is pleasure in the pathless woods, there is rapture in the lonely shore, there is society where none intrudes, by the deep sea, and music in its roar;...” These are the thoughts of Lord Byron, a british poet, on experiencing the power of nature. A similar sentiment is seen in Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 as one of the main themes. The thought is expressed a little differently, but it can be seen in many situations throughout the book. Although people try to feel alive using objects or superficial feelings, nature and people are what truly bring a person the feeling of being alive.
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 North Korean government is known as authoritarian socialist; one-man dictatorship. North Korea could be considered a start of a dystopia. Dystopia is a community or society where people are unhappy and usually not treated fairly. This relates how Ray Bradbury's 1953 novel Fahrenheit 451 shows the readers how a lost of connections with people and think for themselves can lead to a corrupt and violent society known as a dystopia.
Malcom Gladwell, is an author of numerous New York Times Best Sellers, who uses several techniques in his writing to clarify and support his argument. Gladwell’s techniques are using stories to appeal to the reader’s emotions. Using scientific facts and research to logically strengthen his argument. Also, writing about controversial issues to establish credibility with the readers. These techniques are found in “Offensive Play”, “Small Change”, and “Harlan, Kentucky”, works by Gladwell.
The Majority of people today believe that the society in Fahrenheit 451 is far-fetched and could never actually happen, little do they know that it is a reflection of the society we currently live in. In Ray Bradbury's novel Fahrenheit 451 books are burnt due to people's lack of interest in them and the fire is started by firemen. Social interactions is at an all time low and most time is spent in front of the television being brainwashed by advertisements. In an attempt to make us all aware of our faults, Bradbury imagines a society that is a parallel to the world we live in today by emphasizing the decline in literature, loss of ethics in advertisement, and negative effects of materialism.
Eagleman talks about unconscious learning, and explores how much of what we do daily is learned and directed by the unconscious mind. The first example is changing lanes: when we’re driving, we do it without thinking. However, when asked to describe how they change lanes, many people are flummoxed. Changing lanes is so automatic that when the conscious mind tries to take control, it confuses our brains and our gears become out of sync. The second example is chicken sexers: people who can sort chick hatching even though male and female chicks look exactly alike. The third example is plane spotters: people who could distinguish between enemy and ally planes thousands of feet in the air. In both cases, the people just knew! They couldn’t explain how they knew. Rather, after trial and error, their unconscious picked up on the slight cues that allowed to them tell the difference. The conscious mind, on the other hand, was unaware of this
1.Author: Ray Bradbury an American novelist and horror author wrote dozens of books like Fahrenheit 451, The Illustrated Man, and The Martian Chronicles. He also wrote lot’s of short stories and he was a playwright. He was born August 22, 1920 in Waukegan, Illinois. Ray Bradbury graduated from a Los Angeles high school in 1938.
Well, let's take a look at the brain. From being in class, my awareness about what I'm doing, what I'm seeing, what I'm hearing, what I'm thinking has come to reflect upon not just what, but how is it all being done by my brain. This morning I woke up, my eyes opened, I looked out my window, I saw the sun rising, it was this beautifully deep yellow/orange color. I thought, "How beautiful" and I smiled with a sense and feeling of wonderment. It could be said that I experienced nothing out of the ordinary this morning. Yet, if I could narrate these few activities in terms of the networking of neurons resulting in my eyes opening, my sight of the sun, my ability to perceive its color, my inner acknowledgment of its beauty and the emotions that sight evoked in me, you would be reading for a very long time and what I did this morning would indeed present itself in quite an extraordinary light. It is in recognition of this, with respect to the brain's aptitudes, that Howard Hughes in his paper, "Seeing, Hearing and Smelling the World" quoted May Pines in expressing, "We can recognize a friend instantly-full face, in profile, or even by the back of his head. We can distinguish hundreds of colors and possibly as many as 10,000 smells. We can feel a feather as it brushes our skin, hear the faint rustle of a leaf. It all seems so effortless: we open our eyes or ears and let the world stream in. Yet anything we see, hear, feel, smell, or taste requires billions of nerve cells to flash urgent messages along linked pathways and feedback loops in our brains, performing intricate calculations that scientists have only begun to decipher"(1).
The unconscious is the largest part of the mind. All the things that are not easily available t...