Blink: the Power of Thinking Without Thinking Author: Malcolm Gladwell
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Author: Malcolm Gladwell • Author: Blink • Author: The Tipping Blink: The power of thinking Point • Writer for the New without thinking Yorker • One of Time Magazine’s 100 most Rapid Cognition influential people • Canadian! • Warning for this info: oversimplified Story of the day Kouros • The statue that didn’t look • In 1983, an art dealer claimed he had a right… perfectly preserved Kouros which he tried • Kouros: Statue of a nude to sell to the J. Paul Getty museum for 10 male youth (left leg forward, million dollars arms at side), only about 200 • The museum proceeds slowly, running in existence, most are multiple tests on the kouros recovered badly damaged or in fragments (Greek origin) Kouros Problem: • Statue was made of dolomite marble and • The statue didn’t look right • One art historian first noted this while staring at the was covered by a layer of fingernails of the statue but couldn’t articulate the calcite…important because dolomite turns problem into calcite over the course of hundreds or • An expert on Greek sculpture also felt it was fake the moment she saw it but wasn’t sure why thousands of years…didn’t appear to be a • A former museum director noted that his first thought contemporary fake upon seeing the statue was “fresh”, not the expected reaction to a 2000 year old statue • The kouros was purchased by the • No one could articulate the problem, every one of these museum after a 14 month investigation experts, however, had an instinctive sense that the statue was a fake • The statue was sent to Athens to be • Soon, however, the case falls apart…the authenticity of documents called into investigated by the foremost sculpture question (postal code), incredibly careful experts examination showed that the design of the • Every expert thought something was kouros mimicked several different styles wrong on first glance but couldn’t articulate and time periods why • Later analyses showed that you could age • One expert noted that on first glance, he the surface of dolomite marble using a felt “intuitive repulsion” potato mold • Statue turned out to be a modern forgery • Still, all scientific tests on the authenticity of the statue checked out • None of this would have been discovered in the absence of “intuitive repulsion” that occurred in many the first moment they glanced at the statue Mother always told us… An example • Haste makes waste • Picture a gambling game in which you are • Look before you leap faced with 4 decks…two red and two blue • Stop and think • Each card in each deck either wins you • Don’t judge a book by it’s cover money or costs you money, your task is to maximize winnings and minimize losings • We’re taught that we’re better off gathering as much information as possible and spending as much time deliberating as possible…but is it the case that doing so is actually a bad idea? An example • Most people figure out how to play after turning over 50 cards but can’t articulate the rules • What you’re not told: the red decks are a • After 80 cards, you’ve figured out the minefield…high rewards but when you game and can explain why to avoid certain lose you lose big decks • The only way to win is by taking cards • This makes sense, it’s learning…we have from the blue decks, steady payouts, low experiences, think them through, and draw penalties conclusions • How long will it take you to figure that out? • What if we measure knowledge in a different way though (similar to implicit learning) • Participants are hooked up to a machine • In a high stakes situation where a lot of that measures activity of the sweat gland, information is being taken in in a short period of below the skins in the palm of their hands time, our brain uses two very different strategies (skin conductance…responds to stress as to make sense of the world well as temperature) • 1) Conscious strategy – we think about what we’ve learned and reach a logical and definitive • Stress responses are generated to the red conclusion, but it takes us awhile to get to this decks after only 10 cards are turned over, point (slow moving) 40 cards before conscious knowledge • 2) Unconscious strategy – operates far more kicks in quickly, very smart, identifies patterns • After 10 cards people draw from the blue immediately, the only downside is we’re not aware of it deck moreso • It’s the second strategy that influenced the • People have actually figured the game out experts examining the kouros well before they know they have The Adaptive Unconscious The Adaptive Unconscious • The part of our brain that leaps towards • The mind operates efficiently by leaving a conclusions (not to be confused with lot of high-level sophisticated thinking to Freud’s notion of unconscious) the unconscious much like pilots planes • Essentially a giant computer that quickly can fly on autopilot and quietly processes a lot of information • Adaptive unconscious sizes up world, to allow us to function normally warns of us dangers, sets goals and • Quick decision making process initiates actions • What do you do when a truck is bearing • We tend to switch back and forth between down on you or someone throws a punch conscious and unconscious modes of at you? thinking How quickly can you determine a Rapid cognition professor’s teaching effectiveness? • We tend to be suspicious of rapid processing • Ambady & Rosenthal (1993) due to how we’re taught to think (more research, • Students shown a 10 second, 5 second, or more tests, etc.) 2 second clip of a professor with the sound • Present purpose turned off and are asked to rate teaching – 1) To convince you that the decisions we make rapidly are often as good as those we make after a effectiveness good deal of time and thought • Ratings compared with ratings at the end – 2) To determine the situations in which our of the semester unconscious fails us (why did that museum purchase the kouros?) • No difference in ratings – 3) Snap judgments can be controlled and we can teach ourselves to make better snap judgments How rapid cognition applies Keep in mind… • Decision making • …our unconscious is powerful, but fallible, • Attention it can be thrown off, our instinctive • Automaticity reactions can go awry • Expertise • Normally when this happens though, there’s a reason Thin slicing: a little knowledge goes a long way • Couples seated on chairs facing each other with electrodes and sensors clipped • John Gottman, to their fingers and ears (measures heart Washington University rate, skin temperature, sweat) • Marital stability and relationship analysis • Chairs are motion sensitive to determine • Claims to be able to how much people move around assess the likelihood of • Videotape interactions in which couple is divorce just by asked to talk about a contentious issue watching brief from their marriage interactions What can be learned in 15 SPAFF minutes? • Gottman analyzes all interactions with • Can you tell if someone’s marriage is SPAFF (specific affect), a coding system healthy/unhealthy when viewing them with 20 categories corresponding to any having a discussion about a single topic? emotion that may be expressed during the conversation (e.g. contempt is 2, anger is • To really know a couple, wouldn’t you 7, defensiveness is 10) need to see them interact over time in • Students code every second of every different situations? interaction • Gottman says no, 15 minutes is all it takes • The coded information is then added to an to predict future relationship success equation that also factors in the data from the electrodes and sensors How much can you tell from the Thin-slicing data? • If you look at one hour of interaction, • A critical aspect of rapid cognition ability to predict whether the couple will • Thin-slicing is the ability of our still be together in 15 years is 95% unconscious to find patterns in situations • If you look at 15 minutes, can still predict and behaviors based on narrow slices of with up to 90% accuracy experience • Even after viewing only 3 minutes, your • When our unconscious thin-slices, it is ability to predict marriage stability is quite doing an automated, accelerated, high unconscious version of what Gottman • How can one be so accurate with little does with his videotapes and calculations information? Thin slicing… Expertise • …comes about due to expertise • As people become experienced at coding • What Gottman is able to do comes about due to SPAFF, patterns of behavior jump out that his years of experience coding tapes wouldn’t be perceived otherwise (e.g., eye • Claims he can now here couples discuss things rolling, word choices, yes-but, tone) over dinner and know whether or not they’ll • What is actually being measured is make it positive and negative emotion • Our unconscious is able to thin slice for the independent of what is said…interactions same reason, lots of experience with things that appear positive can actually be very makes them automatic (like driving a car) negative What exactly is our unconscious Expertise basing it’s decision on? • As people become experienced at coding • Fists – distinctive patterns SPAFF, patterns of behavior jump out that • A fist is a term used in Morse code, even wouldn’t be perceived otherwise (e.g., eye though dots and dashes are standard, rolling, word choices, yes-but, tone) everyone has their own specific fist – dots • What is actually being measured is and dashes are formed with various positive and negative emotion independent of what is said…interactions spacing and rhythm for each individual that appear positive can actually be