Essay On Blink

According to Nancy Holmstrom, our actions are not free unless we have free will. We must be fully aware of our desires or beliefs in order to be responsible for our actions. Using Holmstrom’s account of soft determinism, it is possible to analyze how truly free our choices are in life, whether they be minor or significant decisions. I will be referencing Holmstrom’s “Firming up Soft Determinism” in order to argue that I had a minimal amount of freedom in choosing to attend the University of Kansas.

The decision making process includes cognitive processes that eventually lead to a choice in action while taking into consideration the alternative possibilities (Allen, Dorozenko, & Roberts, 2016). Not all choices have to lead to an action. The values and preferences of the person making the choice also comes into play when making the final decision. Problem-solving to obtain a certain goal or satisfactory by a solution is the main reason people go through the decision making process (Stefaniak, & Tracey, 2014). This process has many factors that end with one final result or solution. The decisions made can be rational or irrational and can be determined by explicit or tacit knowledge (Qingyao, Dongyu, & Weihua, 2016). Since the decision making process can be very difficult at time, psychologists have viewed the process in different perspectives to get a better understanding (Rossi, Picchi, Di Stefano, Marongiu, & Scarsini, 2015). The different perspectives include; psychological, cognitive, and normative or communicative rationality.

For the most part, our decision-making processes are either sub-conscious or made fairly quickly due to the nature of the decision before us. Most of us don't spend much time deciding what to have for lunch, what to wear, or what to watch on television. For other, more complex decisions, we need to spend more time and analyze the elements of the decision and potential consequences. To assist with this, many people employ the use of a decision-making model. Utilizing a

Decisions are what direct a average person's life. Some decisions are easy some are hard. But that’s the way of life and how it works.

Gladwell presents an interesting concept of “thin slicing” I definitely recommend this book for others to read. I enjoyed reading this book. Malcolm Gladwell was right when he stated on the back cover of the book, that reading this book would change the way I understood every decision I made. It has changed the way I think about making decisions.

Everybody comes to a point in their life when they need to start making decisions between everyday things. Some choices are as simple as ‘what do i want to eat for dinner?’ but some are a bit more stressful like ‘do i want to go to school even tho im feeling a little nauseous, but i would be missing out on a lot of work.’ but some can be very much more stressful..

Every action a person takes is the result of having thought about what it is they think they should do and then doing it. Life is riddled with problems that require solving. Decisions are complex matters that require careful judgment and problem analysis especially when one is in a role where others look up to them and are affected by their decisions.

The notion of choice in an individual’s life is subject to constant questioning. We have what we like to call the freedom of decision-making, but often it simply seems like a facade. Many believe that one’s morals and ethics are solely responsible for the decisions they make, major or minor. Others attribute the external pressures surrounding them and societal factors as the facilitator of choices. Unquestionably, both personal characteristics and societal factors influence the the majority of choices of individuals everywhere. We must consider, however, that one plats more of a role than the other. Pieces of writing such as Christopher Browning’s Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland, Michael Bess’ Choices Under Fire: Moral Dimensions of World War II, and Milton Mayer’s No Time to Think explore the idea of both influential aspects. Nonetheless, more influence can be attributed to societal factors and this idea is supported throughout all of the pieces of writing. Societal factors, for the most part, are composed of a plethora of external pressures that we either actively acquiesce to or subconsciously conform to. Societal factors play a much larger role for the average individual in regards to decision-making and this goes for individuals of all backgrounds and beliefs. This is shown in the lives of the Chambonnais, the Reserve Police Battalion, and the two famous experiments known as the Milgram Experiment and the Stanford Prison

In life, people tend to overthink and overanalyze certain situations and events that occur around them; in reality they should be focusing more on their instincts and quick decisions. This is exactly the point that Malcolm Gladwell makes in the intro to his book, Blink. In order to successfully get this point across, Gladwell blends together a number of different strategies and devices. This is a common practice for established authors, using literary and rhetorical devices in order to keep the audience interested in what they are saying. In the intro to Blink, Gladwell uses the rhetorical devices of plot progression, allusion, and narration to present his beliefs in a way the reader can easily understand.

Why are decisions difficult to make? Are decisions the two paths that will lead us down to our future? Are they like an answer choice on a test, that we feel the need to stress about whether we choose the right or wrong decision? Perhaps people should realize that making decisions can lead us to embark on new life changing journeys.We need to learn that we should not fear making decisions because whatever one we choose, can lead into something extraordinary.Even though we sometimes cannot better the decisions we made, but we can rather better ourselves.In Maya Angelou’s poem, “Caged Bird”, We see the two different people and learn how they deal with tough decision making.” Langston Hughes gives a perfect example in the poem “Mother to Son.” Robert Frost explains how the decisions we make should come from our minds and not someone elses.To everyone who makes the decisions that comes from their heart, will have a better outcome in the end if only they try harder.

In the Poem “Certain Choices” by Richard Shelton, the cause and effect text structure develops the theme that some decisions can make way to subsequent choices. Mr. Shelton states “He died, of course, because of the way he lived”(Richard shelton). His friend made the choice to

The results determined that Gladwell was wrong because when the results came back it indicated there was more of a preference for positive words with images of white people than blacks. Gladwell was stunned by the results of the test because his mother is Jamaican and he would have expected himself to be more color blind during the test. I found the test fascinating because the test seemed predictable but in the end it really wasn’t what he expected. Gladwell also used a lot of inspiring quotes that are eye openers into our minds and judgements on how we think. Gladwell thru his book inspires us to think freely but carefully and with reasoning. Gladwell message to us in this book is to take our time no with making the right decisions no matter what we might be going thru at that time that may influence us to make a quick decisions. Mostly importantly the one thing I will not forget is that we do not have to put a time clock on everything. Gladwell stated, “When time is removed you are subject to the lowest-possible intuitive reaction” (p 112). I took this advice as when you don’t rush you make better decisions when you take your

Whilst entering a bar that your friend recommended, a shady looking guy brushes your shoulder and gives you a strange look, you immediately develop a sense of discomfort and question your friend’s taste in bars. What do you do? You decide to walk in anyway and ask for a drink, a stranger then sits next to you and starts to engage in conversation. You are immediately attracted to this person and develop a sense that they are cultured and educated. Do you respond? What do you say? As the night closes this person asks for your number and suggests meeting again soon. You trust their intentions but you just met them, do you give them your number?

Whether we have free will is widely controversial. The absence of a universal definition poses a primary problem to this question. In this essay, I shall base my argument on a set of three conditions for free will: 1) that the actor is unconstraint in his action, 2) the actor could have acted otherwise and 3) the actor must be ‘ultimately responsible’ (Kane, 2005: 121) for his action. After I have explained them, I shall apply these conditions to three scenarios that cover most, if not any, circumstances that occur when taking choices. The purpose of this essay is to show that if my conditions are true, none of the scenarios is based on free will and thus we do not have free will.

Making decisions is no easy feat, especially when it comes to choices that have the ability to change the direction of one's life. Decisions like choosing what college to go to and what career path to head down are often encouraged to be deliberated as far as years in advance, solidifying the common belief that the more educated the decision, the better it is. English Canadian author Malcolm Gladwell challenges this notion by arguing that snap decisions made by the adaptive unconsciousness have the ability to be controlled and utilized to to become equally as powerful as conscious choices can be. Gladwell executes this message through a well written introduction split up into three parts; the first providing an extended example, the second