Short Summary Of Blink By Malcolm Gladwell

Within Blink, writer Malcolm Gladwell explores the psychology of snap decisions and quick thinking. He illuminates how our subconscious biases affect the way we think and behave. He concludes that we shouldn't always rely on our snap judgments. Jumping to a quick conclusion based on first thought or opinion could be good, but also could be completely wrong. Throughout the story Gladwell uses certain cases in, “Blink”, to demonstrate how someone's inner self or subconscious effects his or her decisions. In his introduction he explains a case about a statue going into an art museum. The museum was approached by an art dealer in 1983 who claimed to have a sixth century B.C. Greek statue for sale, a Kouros. Officials at the Getty Museum were very

They finally took it down and ran more tests and it finally came back that it was a reproduction of the original statue. Gladwell refers back to this case through the story to represent how they knew at first glance something was not right. “Thin Slicing” is a major topic that stood out from the rest of the information while reading the book. It is relevant in today’s society because it has to with taking minute details about someone or something and using that thin slice to develop a larger opinion of him, her, or it. Gottman for the University of Washington can determine how a marriage will endure/last in fifteen minutes of testing. He has workers in his lab to code the facial expressions, tone and messages the couples give to one another in a set environment. The couples send their messages of contempt, anger, disgust, defensiveness, or neutrality subconsciously, so Gottman and his assistants do not study the couples' words nearly as much as they do their reactions and gestures. His research shows that you don’t have to show a great deal of knowledge about someone to understand their personality and what is to come of that person in the

This topic stands out the rest of the way and is used frequently, making it very crucial when it comes to quick decision making in tough situations. Chapter three of the book describes one of the themes of the story, Intuition vs. Experience. We often do not realize that our intuition is always based off of our daily experiences. The author says not matter how unbiased a person truly is their intuition relies on the race-related experiences that shape their lives. Towards the end of the book another major theme arouses which is, awareness. Gladwell simply asks the ready to be aware, to give credence to their first impression; and the second impression that comes along after the initial judgement. What he truly wants is to realize that or subconscious is affected but our everyday experiences in society. If you are not aware of this you judgement will be brainwashed and not you’re on decision. It will be based on what others have told you, not what you see or experience. The book has changed the way that I think of something when I first see it. Always go with your first gut because most of the time it is right. I also learned to be aware and go by what I experience and not what others tell