Gladwell's arguments in Blink and their persuasive effectiveness

¶ … Blink:

An Assessment of Gladwell's Goals for the Book

In the best-selling book, Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking (Gladwell, 2006) author Malcolm Gladwell seeks to accomplish three specific goals or tasks that when taken together change the perception and value of time and effort spent deliberately on decision outcomes. The three aims or goals of the book include first convincing the reader that decisions made very quickly can be just as reliable and sound as those made deliberately and through extensive analysis; second, that the reader needs to learn to trust their own instincts more and not second-guess or be wary of them; and third, to convince the reader that instantaneous or snap judgments can be educated and controlled (Gladwell, 2006).

Analysis and Critique

What is unique about the approach Malcolm Gladwell has taken to write this book is that instead of creating a logical, highly structured taxonomy of empirical and theoretical research to support his three points, he takes a more story-telling approach. Included in the research leading to the completion of this book are 25 scientific studies, 12 case studies, 22 anecdotes, all weaved into a unified story line that supports each of the three key points of the narrative (Hogarth, Schoemaker, 2005). This isn't a book that takes a defensive tone however in support of its three admittedly controversial points.

For example in Chapter 3 where the contest of thin-slicing is defined and discussed, Gladwell is quick to point out where thin-slicing doesn't always work. He contends that thin-slicing can be detrimental in areas where a person doesn't have an intuitive sense of judgment including previous experience. Yet he ends the chapter supporting and proving the point that thin-slicing works extremely well in situations were people have a strong frame of reference and intuition to guide them (Hogarth, Schoemaker, 2005). This aspect of thin-slicing is well supported with research yet Gladwell at times struggles to get beyond judgment and anchor the text back to the excellent research he cites.