Research Paper on "Blink the Power of Thinking"

Research Paper 5 pages (1399 words) Sources: 1 Style: MLA

[EXCERPT] . . . .

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.

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