Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, by Malcolm Gladwell, is a celebration of the sheer power of the human mind and its extensive capabilities. By giving real-world examples that show how our subconscious minds are such powerful tools, Gladwell effectively conveys his point that we should not underestimate the capacity of our minds.
The main goal of Blink is to convince the reader that the subconscious mind is to be trusted more than usual. Gladwell illustrates his argument about the subconscious by describing the mental process of “thin slicing,” which occurs when the brain is fed large quantities of data and sorts through it to find the important information. When the subconscious mind picks out the most important data, it reaches a conclusion in only a matter of seconds. At a first glance, it may seem like trusting or acting on any conclusion reached through this process would be a terrible idea, and with good reason. However, Malcolm Gladwell argues that trusting the process of thin slicing can be beneficial by providing numerous examples of how thin slicing is very effective in real world situations. For example, he talks about a situation involving an ancient Greek statue called a kouros to demonstrate his point. When the J. Paul Getty Museum in California managed to obtain a kouros in good condition, it investigated the statue for legitimacy. Even though all scientific tests said that it was a real statue, some people believed otherwise. Just from looking at the statue for a few seconds, some Greek sculpture experts had a gut feeling that it was fake. After conducting their own tests, the experts eventually proved that they were right; how did they know the statue was a fake? The answer is simple: thin slicing. By trusting their initial responses to the statue, the experts proved that a few seconds of thin slicing can be more effective than years of investigation.
Gladwell uses plenty of other stories and studies to support his point about thin slicing, but he also gives cautions and reasons why we should not trust it 100% of the time. This is where the true beauty of Blink lies. Instead of solely dishing out reasons for why the subconscious is so extraordinary, Gladwell argues from the other end of the spectrum. He provides negative arguments against trusting the subconscious, such as the inclination for our subconscious to form conclusions that are biased towards certain genders, races, or ethnicities. However, he presents these downfalls of thin slicing in such a way that does not discourage one from wanting to trust their instincts. Rather, he uses the negative arguments to simply inform the reader of the drawbacks as well as the advantages, so that way one can make the most well informed decisions. As Gladwell says, “The key to good decision making is not knowledge. It is understanding. We are swimming in the former. We are desperately lacking in the latter.”
In all, Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking is a phenomenal piece of insight into the mysteries of the subconscious mind. Malcolm Gladwell does a great job of clearly articulating his point about the subconscious, and even manages to address opposing viewpoints without wavering so much that he contradicts himself. This quality of his writing is what makes Blink such a standout book. Also, what makes this book unique is the fact that its central theme of thin slicing is applicable to all people. “Thin-slicing is not an exotic gift. It is a central part of what it means to be human.” Therefore, this book can and should be read by everyone, but more specifically, psychologists and/or people fascinated with the inner workings of the mind should definitely read and internalize Malcolm Gladwell’s message.