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Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking

novella

novella

Active Member
Has anyone read or heard about the new book Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell?

The idea is that people can make very good judgments based on very immediate impressions. Studying a problem can improve your judgment in some cases, but not all.

The theory is that subconscious processes inform very good decisions based on first impressions. Basically, hunches are worth paying a lot more attention to.

What do you think about this theory? Do you think experience bears it out?

Here is a link to a recent review:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/16/books/review/16COVERBR.html?ex=1108616400&en=78e7d97efaea1792&ei=5070
 
interesting stuff. I'm not going to write a response because I'm sick at the moment, but I'll come back ...

in the hours just before dawn.
 
Sounds like the book is just a bunch of case studies with similar results and no experimental data. I would be wary. However, I think we've all had "a hunch" that was right, and we may or may not have been sure why it was right. How many of our hunches have been wrong though? Our memories may tend to downplay the times that it was wrong while hanging onto those few times we were right.
 
RitalinKid said:
Sounds like the book is just a bunch of case studies with similar results and no experimental data. I would be wary. However, I think we've all had "a hunch" that was right, and we may or may not have been sure why it was right. How many of our hunches have been wrong though? Our memories may tend to downplay the times that it was wrong while hanging onto those few times we were right.
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The author's contention is not that hunches are always right or that we shouldn't give time and study to a problem. It's about the legitimacy of intuitive judgment, that intuitive judgment can get humans 90% of the way to a good solution in many cases, and that this is particularly true when a person has deep experience with the problem set.

Aside from that, there is experimental data. The first case discussed (the marriage counselor who can judge with 90% accuracy the outcome of a marriage within 15 minutes but improves to 95% if given an hour with the couple) is set up with sceintific controls and is statistically sound.

Experience is essential, though. The book is pointing to the extraordinary ability we have to make very fast, good decisions using subconscious processes. I think that's pretty cool, and I certainly see it at work all over the place.
 
It's definitely interesting. It would also explain why older people can intuitively tell you something about somebody, be unable to give any logic for it, and still be right. I bet it deals with experience and complexity of the problem being asses.....

Damn you, Novella. Now, I'm thinking about buying this book! I have too many others to read.
 
The quality of intuitive reason is very interesting to me, since as I get older I feel that I am not as quick at working out "logical" solutions (i.e. math) but am much more intuitive. Does anyone else feel that way?
 
ritalinkid, if you're into this sort of thing, check out thought as a system by david bohm. it'll give you a fresh perspective on how the mind works. bohm was once a pioneer of quantum physics, and was on close terms with albert einstein, niels bohr, robert oppenheimer and krishnamurti. he's really fascinating. part of his theory is that not only does thought create the problem in the first place, but it simultaneously tries to solve it, and continues to create activities to solve the problems that stem from its solution, and so on. you could equate this process to trying to stop water ripples using your hands. if you’ve ever done it, you know that the harder you try to stop them, the more of a disturbance you create. on the other hand, if you see how a problem operates, then you will see the solution, and the problem will go away on its own. I suppose you could call this intuition, but awareness is a less limiting term, I think. anyway, the point is that there really isn't anything to fight against. thought doesn't know this, though. being unintelligent, it thinks it isn't doing anything, just observing what is "out there", when, in fact, it is constantly participating in and giving shape to the experiences which we embrace as reality.
 
novella said:
Ritkid, don't buy the book. Just Blink and you'll have a pretty good idea what's in it! :)
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After blinking several times, I gave up and went to Borders. Actually, I walked in with no intention of buying this book, but you know how books are. They jump off the shelves, right into your hands, and before you know it, you're both drunk at the end of the night walking out the door together.

So far, it's a pretty good read. Bobby, I think you'd like it. He discusses how you can prime people to behave a certain way by having them read certain words. He then notes how disturbing it is that we appear to be running on autopilot without knowing it. I personally believe this may be religion's big draw. You read a book with words like "virtue" and "charity", and you let someone say these words to you repeatedly, and these acts prime you to act that way. So far, all the examples aren't completely relevant, but the research he reports about is. I would recommend it.
 
RitalinKid said:
He discusses how you can prime people to behave a certain way by having them read certain words. He then notes how disturbing it is that we appear to be running on autopilot without knowing it. I personally believe this may be religion's big draw. You read a book with words like "virtue" and "charity", and you let someone say these words to you repeatedly, and these acts prime you to act that way. So far, all the examples aren't completely relevant, but the research he reports about is. I would recommend it.
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This priming thing makes me think of how these words are used:

kid = wiseguy, probably white

youth = budding criminal, probably black

boy = innocent little male person

child = state-protected young person involved in litigation
 
It's nice to have the time to post again. I was starting to worry that I would never get time to get back here. I could whine all day, but I won't. Instead, I'll just say that I've missed you both.

Here are a few examples he uses in reference to priming. The major research that he cites used priming to link kind words to kind acts. Two groups of students were told to arrange 5 words into 4 word sentences. For one group of students, the string of words included a word that in some way conveyed the idea of kindness. The other group's string of words included a rude word. The students were unaware and thought they were being tested for intelligence. They were directed down the hall to turn in their tests, and on the way, they were stopped by an actor who attempted to hold them up in the hallway for 10 minutes. The people who had been primed with rude words spent an average of five minutes talking and listening before excusing themselves. 82% of the people that were primed with kind words spent the whole 10 minutes talking to the person, and these were New Yorkers! Sorry for furthering any stereotypes, but the author pointed that out too. Essentially, the simple act of reading the words primed the people for a response. You can see how going to church and reading your Bible everyday could very possibly make you a nicer person if you skip all the fire and brimstone parts, which more and more preachers/priests are doing.

The other research found that black children taking standardized tests could actually be primed to do worse on tests by placing the "Specify your race" section at the beginning, before the testing began. That was a shocker. Already, as kids, people begin to pick up on, "I'm a certain race; I'm not supposed to be good at this activity."

If I had to change anything about the book, I would add more numbers. I like to see the raw data, stats, etc. If you don't give me that, I feel like you might be hiding something.
 
I like that part about "reading your bible everyday can make you a nicer person", because it takes something most people consider to be a virtue, and turns it upside down. to an extent we all like hearing those stories about the person who risked his life helping someone, because we're in pain psychologically, and by doing OK-sounding things, we hope it will clear away. but the problem is really us wanting to escape from pain. I mean, we can hurt each other. I can make someone think he's supposed to suck at standardized tests. I can condition him. that's a fact. but it's an illusion to believe that merely not hurting each other will help us understand why we want to hurt people in the first place.
 
I understand what you're saying, bobby, and I'm not saying I disagree, but I want to reiterate what I said earlier to make sure I'm getting across the whole idea of priming. The idea of priming is that just reading a group of words with similar qualities attached to them in rapid succession, not reading a sentence that conveys that idea, will make you act a certain way. I'm not sure if I made that clear earlier.

Straight from the book:

Make four word sentences.

1. him was worried she always
2. from are Florda oranges temperature
3. ball the throw toss silently
4. shoes give replace old the
5. he observes occasionally people watches
6. he will sweat lonely they
7. sky the seamless gray is
8. should now withdraw forgetful we
9. us bingo sing play let
10. sunlight makes temperature wrinkle raisins

This contains words that relate to a state of being old.
 
bobbyburns said:
I like that part about "reading your bible everyday can make you a nicer person", because it takes something most people consider to be a virtue, and turns it upside down. to an extent we all like hearing those stories about the person who risked his life helping someone, because we're in pain psychologically, and by doing OK-sounding things, we hope it will clear away. but the problem is really us wanting to escape from pain. I mean, we can hurt each other. I can make someone think he's supposed to suck at standardized tests. I can condition him. that's a fact. but it's an illusion to believe that merely not hurting each other will help us understand why we want to hurt people in the first place.
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I think part of communication is feeling the effect you have on another person. Sometimes you can alleviate their pain, lift it from them, just through a sympathetic act. Sometimes you can do the opposite, and hurt a person. Not all of the time, but maybe half of the time, that has a lasting effect on me, the actor, when I do something. But my resulting feeling is not the intended outcome. When I set out on these forays, I'm only thinking about what I think is true.
 
in these two lines, are you talking about the same effect?

novella said:
I think part of communication is feeling the effect you have on another person.
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Not all of the time, but maybe half of the time, that has a lasting effect on me, the actor, when I do something
Click to expand...
 
bobbyburns said:
whoa . . .
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Yeah, that's what I said. Just reading words with deep associations in your mind can effect you're actions. I really can't get over how just reading the phrase "African-American" can have such a negative affect on test scores.

My roommate was a psychology major, and he said that in an experiment, they found out that holding a pencil between the teeth instead of the lips would actually affect how much people smiled and laughed while reading a comic strip.

Of course, as Gladwell points out, when people find out that they're being primed, these methods lose most if not all of their affect. How many times a day are you primed? Are retailers using it? Does Wal-Mart prime you with their smiley face guys all over the store? Do restaurants use it by putting certain words in their menus? Do preachers say "love", "compassion", and "grace" to get you to treat people a certain way? Does Bin Laden use the words "infidel", "satan", and "jihad" constantly with the intentions of getting his followers to act a certain way without even thinking about it? Methinks so. Another question is: now that you recognize it, will you be able to identify it and overcome it? Hmmm. Maybe. Maybe not.
 
ok. I kinda see what you're saying, but I don't want to read something into it that isn't there. I honestly don't see the connection between feeling the effect you have on someone and understanding your relationship to him or her.
 
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