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Summary Of Blink: The Power Of Thinking

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Blink: The Power Of Thinking Without Thinking is a novel that is based on the thoughts of the subconscious mind. It encompasses many different ideas, explanations, and examples on how people make quick observations. A majority of the book covers the points of thin-slicing and snap judgments. Gladwell goes into depth about thin-slicing. Thin-slicing allows for someone to observe a subject for a very brief amount of time and make the same conclusions as someone who spent a long time observing the same subject. He notes that this occurred in the dorm room experiment, where strangers spent 15 minutes in a dorm room and were able to identify character traits that close friends were able to, also. Additionally, in Dr. Gottman’s married couples experiment, he was able to tell if people were in healthy relationships by simply watching one argument.
Another point he made was that humans often make snap judgments. Snap judgments are hurried decisions that your subconscious is in charge of, when given lots to take in and little to no time. Snap judgments are influenced by experience and prior knowledge. They vary from person to person. Decisions can be made in the spur of the moment without having given much thought. Sometimes, these spontaneous decisions can be good , …show more content…

Although one may deem themself as having certain beliefs, their subconscious may actually betray them, and deep down, they may have different values. This happens because as people grow, they are shown racial bias, stereotypes, and overall, given unique experiences. People absorb the information that is fed to them and although they hold their own values and morals, their subconscious keeps track of prior knowledge. Gladwell portrayed this by pointing out that most people found IAT’s, tests where you have to match people to certain traits, difficult to complete. I didn’t realize that at times, the conscious mind is overtaken by the

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