By By Jesse Cataldo
The people Malcolm Gladwell introduces the reader to in “Blink” seem to possess psychic, if not otherworldly, abilities.
There’s the psychologist who can, from an hour of video, predict with 95 percent accuracy whether a couple will stay together. There’s the tennis coach who spots double faults before the ball even meets the racket. There’s the art historian who identified a seemingly flawless counterfeit statue with one quick glance.
It turns out that these apparently extraordinary forecasts are actually simple mental functions created by the confluence of finely honed intuition with good old fashioned snap judgments, a subconscious process Gladwell labels “thin-slicing.”
“Thin-slicing,” a term coined by Gladwell, is “the ability of our unconscious to find patterns in situations and behavior based on very narrow slices of information.” More commonly referred to as “instinct” or “a feeling,” this function of our brain is most notable because it pre-empts our actual thought process. The result is a specific feeling, a veiled notion that we are unable to vocalize.
“Blink,” the second book from Gladwell, a staff writer for The New Yorker, seeks to establish such an abstract concept in concrete terms. What causes these lightning fast, subconscious reactions? Can they always be trusted? Are there ways in which these feelings can be harnessed to our own benefit? In answering these questions and others, Gladwell provides an enthralling, utterly absorbing book that teaches us a whole lot about powers we never knew we had.
Exposing his journalistic background, Gladwell works his way through the subject with a combination of people profiles and scientific facts. He draws stories and insights from a variety of professionals and experts.
Among these is Paul Ekman, a respected scientist and purported mind reader who enlightens readers about the role facial expressions play in the unconscious transmission and reception of information. We learn about the unfortunate power latent stereotyping holds over our decisions from Abbie Conant, a classical trombonist who struggled to succeed playing a male-dominated instrument.
Along the way, Gladwell explains why war will always be unpredictable and taste tests never wholly accurate, peppering in enough fascinating information about obscure facets of the human mind to keep the reader following his narrative.
Of course, an in-depth journey into the darkened corners of the unconscious mind would be nothing without discussing its shortcomings. By this token, Gladwell does a commendable job of showing how our immediate can be dangerously untrustworthy.
A prime example is Warren Harding, who we learn was a mediocre congressman who became president largely because he looked presidential. Harding turned out to arguably be the worst president in our history. Since thin-slicing is based on our personally-held information and experiences, Gladwell notes that it’s just as fallible as our conscious minds.
With this in mind, he carefully and astutely broaches the highly controversial shooting of Amadou Diallo by New York City police. As Gladwell sees it, Diallo was not the victim of direct and blatant racism, but of the negative side of thin-slicing.
We learn how, in high-stress situations, the unconscious mind takes over, narrowing our focus and allowing prejudices and preconceived notions to run rampant.
He’s also careful to point out that, in most cases, the more amazing examples of thin-slicing require large amounts of prior background and experience. Most people would not be successful in identifying the fake statue or presciently spotting the double fault because they lack the background necessary to judge the situation. As potent as thin-slicing may be, it can’t give us what we don’t already have.
With “Blink,” Malcolm Gladwell has provided us with an informed and well-rounded portrait of our ability to thin-slice; a sometimes useful, sometimes dangerous tenant of our minds that pre-existed the capacity for rational thought.
Regardless of how we choose to interpret these “feelings,” these unintelligible voices deep in our heads, at least now we know where they’re coming from.
Final Grade: A