Blink: The Power of Thinking

¶ … Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking What is so remarkable about BLINK: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking (Gladwell) is that common assumptions and perceptions of how decisions are best made, from thorough empirical analysis to the use of large yet unwieldy methodologies, are turned upside down.

Malcolm Gladwell has organized this book into six chapters, each with a different aspect of how intuition, a technique he calls thin-slicing, the power of the glance or the military term coup d'oeil in addition to how accumulative learning is drawn on by our brains in milliseconds to make decisions. The premise of Gladwell's book is that often intuitively-based decisions are more effective than those that are based on lengthy analytics using empirical research and methodologies.

At first glace, ironically this premise is easily dismissed as being too cursory and entirely counter to how learning institutions of all types including colleges and universities instruct students as to how they can make the best possible decisions. Paradoxically however Gladwell cites a wealth of academic data to support this thesis, and through a combination of anecdotal stories used to illustrate his point supported by cited research from the academic community, the book's premise emerges with a high degree of credibility.

Analysis of Thin Slicing Gladwell introduces us to University of Washington psychologist John Gottman, whose research into attempting to validate thin-slicing is exceptional in its accuracy and in its implications for marriage counseling. One of the more famous vignettes of this book, which states that trained counselors can ascertain if a couple will have a harmonious future or not by watching eight-second of their dialogue together would seem incredulous if it were not for the research-based context Gladwell uses in the second chapter of his book to describe this insight.

The concept of thin-slicing continues with examples of how British intelligence analysts, many of them women, during the second Word War could over time distinguish and differentiate between the several Morse Code operators in the Nazi divisions positioning themselves throughout Central and Western Europe, throughout France for example.

The British intelligence analysts were eventually able to recognize the specific attributes and characteristics of the Nazi Morse code operators purely by the duration of their dash and dot points, and the lightness or heaviness of their hands on the Morse code transmitters. In this way British intelligence was able to map the movement of Nazi troops and their eventual massing for a potential invasion of the United Kingdom.

Gladwell uses this example to illustrate the point that pattern recognition is inherent in all relationships, and while the British intelligence analyst were interpreting only the tempo and unique Morse code sending styles of Nazi operators, that marriages are much more intricate with many more opportunities to send and receive these messages over time. He points out that in relationships there is more of a tolerance for aberrant or angry behavior, often with the rationalization being of the person having a difficult day.

Even with the factor of empathy included, there is still the finding of how predictive pattern recognition is in the development of perceptions and attitudes in relationships. Gladwell continues on in this second chapter analyzing how the many facets of a marriage are also impacted by thin slicing and pattern recognition, citing how contempt is in fact measured, even quantified, within people's minds and has direct implications on a person's immune system over time as well.

This is one of the more ambitious analyses that Gladwell attempts to make in his book, tying thin-slicing, its accumulative effects on health, and the resulting positive or negative impact on a spouses' health. Yet the book conveys this with citied research and if one point can be learned from reading Gladwell seamlessly move between academic research and popular, anecdotal data, it's the fact that he has an innate ability as a writer to interweave the empirical and analytical very well.

Gladwell's ability to do this consistently and with interest throughout the book carries the reader through some of the more pedantic and even dull sections and brings credibility to the sections on how thin slicing assisted in cleaning up New York as well.

Further into the chapter on thin-slicing Gladwell treads into the world of medical malpractice with the hypothesis that the lack of eye contact and the initial impressions patients have of doctors not interested in their condition, only looking to move quickly through their over-committed schedules, is that leads to malpractice. So Gladwell is saying that it is the perception of a lack of caring, not the actual competency of the physician, that more than anything else defines how a patient perceives their treatment or not (p. 39).

Again, as Gladwell does so well in this book, he mixes the empirical research, this time with auditory analysis by physicians and then in-clinic analysis of treatment results and arrives at the conclusion that doctors with the highest malpractice claims instantly give the impression they are "talking down to you..." (43) and in general communicating a complete lack of empathy.

The power of the Glance or coup d'oeil Gladwell next moves into the areas of how the military has complex, methodologically diverse approaches to defining how they will move their supply chains, troops, and in a combat theatre, position themselves for victory. Throughout nearly 20% of the entire book, Gladwell discusses how the methodological approaches to warfare have been mediocre at best.

His concentration within the writing is more on how the past is no predictor of the future, and that intuitive insights of coup d'oeil or the power of the glance, are exceptional in their academic research support. Further, Gladwell takes greater effort to make sure the full context of how the power of the glance in a military operation so the strategic context of this lesson can be seen.

The alacrity and speed he attributes to the leaders who practice a more coup d'oeil-based approach is dramatic in the quickness with which results are achieved. The Harding Error is a fascinating look at how thin-slicing has a negative side as well. Harding, in 1899, is described by Ohio politics party boss Harry Dougherty as nothing short of an Adonis, or Roman god.

Because during this period of the nations' history the connotation of being tall, athletic, handsome and from the Midwest of the United States all combined to create the perception of exceptional comp0oitnecy and intelligence as well. Nothing could have been further from the case for Warren G. Harding. As Gladwell dissects and evaluates how Harding found himself in the White House, incapable of leading the nation, his earlier analyses and contents of how powerful thin-slicing is when it goes wrong.