Blink - Book Review
Xavier Labour Relations Institute
Managing Human Behaviour Assignment
Blink by Malcolm Gladwell
A book review by Narendran Santhanam (G10031)
Contents Introduction 3 A brief summary 3 Evaluation 5 Conclusion 5
Introduction “Blink” by Malcolm Gladwell is a book about how we think without thinking, about choices that seem to be made in an instant – in the blink of an eye – that actually aren’t as simple as they seem. The book deals with the smallest components of our everyday lives—the content and origin of those instantaneous impressions and conclusions that spontaneously arise whenever we meet a new person or confront a complex situation or have to make a decision under conditions of stress.
A brief summary
Gladwell starts the book with a riveting example of the statue that didn’t look right and an experiment using a gambling game to drive home the point that our mind unconsciously does reach a conclusion swiftly when faced with a situation where we have to take decisions.
Gladwell calls this process of swift intuitive conclusion, “thin slicing” and explains the concept by citing a series of experiments and instances - how a psychologist named John Gottman predicts the strength of marriages just by listening to a few minutes of conversation between a couple, how a psychologist Samuel Gosling was able to assess the personality of college students just by observing their dorm room for 15 minutes, how listening to the frequencies of a doctor talking to a patient can be sufficient to determine the likelihood of the doctor to get sued and how the film producer Brian Grazer was able to recognize Tom Hanks’ talent the first time he met him.
The next concept that Gladwell explicates is that though we make these “snap” decisions as he would call them, we are not sure why we make a certain decision or a judgement – it’s always done behind a closed door, our unconscious. He again cites numerous examples from psychological experiments to expatiate
Managing Human Behaviour Assignment
Blink by Malcolm Gladwell
A book review by Narendran Santhanam (G10031)
Contents Introduction 3 A brief summary 3 Evaluation 5 Conclusion 5
Introduction “Blink” by Malcolm Gladwell is a book about how we think without thinking, about choices that seem to be made in an instant – in the blink of an eye – that actually aren’t as simple as they seem. The book deals with the smallest components of our everyday lives—the content and origin of those instantaneous impressions and conclusions that spontaneously arise whenever we meet a new person or confront a complex situation or have to make a decision under conditions of stress.
A brief summary
Gladwell starts the book with a riveting example of the statue that didn’t look right and an experiment using a gambling game to drive home the point that our mind unconsciously does reach a conclusion swiftly when faced with a situation where we have to take decisions.
Gladwell calls this process of swift intuitive conclusion, “thin slicing” and explains the concept by citing a series of experiments and instances - how a psychologist named John Gottman predicts the strength of marriages just by listening to a few minutes of conversation between a couple, how a psychologist Samuel Gosling was able to assess the personality of college students just by observing their dorm room for 15 minutes, how listening to the frequencies of a doctor talking to a patient can be sufficient to determine the likelihood of the doctor to get sued and how the film producer Brian Grazer was able to recognize Tom Hanks’ talent the first time he met him.
The next concept that Gladwell explicates is that though we make these “snap” decisions as he would call them, we are not sure why we make a certain decision or a judgement – it’s always done behind a closed door, our unconscious. He again cites numerous examples from psychological experiments to expatiate