Thought-Watching is Corrective - M. Gladwell: Blink

Malcolm Gladwell's 2005 book "Blink" deals with rapid cognition.

In the concluding chapter he explains:
"We don't know where our first impressions come from or precisely what they mean, so we don't always appreciate their fragility. Taking our powers of rapid cognition seriously means we have to acknowledge the subtle influences that can alter or undermine or bias the products of our unconscious...Too often we are resigned to what happens in the blink of an eye. It doesn't seem like we have much control over whatever bubbles to the surface from our unconscious. But we do, and if we can control the environment in which rapid cognition takes place, then we can control rapid cognition."

An overview of the book on the Business Summaries website runs through the main points made, each backed up by fascinating anecdotes:

..."Remember that sometimes extra information is not helpful at all. Sometimes too much information confuses rather than helps when finding a solution or making a decision.

Truly successful decision making relies on a balance between deliberate and instructive thinking. Deliberate thinking is a wonderful tool when you have the luxury of time and a clearly defined task.

In good decision making, as well as in making snap judgments, less is more. Overloading the decision makers with too much data and information makes decision-making harder and not easier...

...The rock musician known as Kenna is an example of the sort of person who is constantly at odds with your expectations. This is reflected by his songs (which are hard to classify) and his career (which was difficult to launch).

People who truly know music love him. They hear one of his songs and in a blink of an eye, their instinct tells them that he is the kind of artist whom other people are going to like. But this is where the problem comes in. Whenever there is an attempt to verify this instinct, such as a market survey or research, the results turn out to be disappointing...

... Executives and decision-makers like market research because it provides certainty. Market research is a score or a prediction that executives can point to if someone asks why he made that decision was made.

Unfortunately, few realize that in making the most important decisions, there can be no certainty. This is the reason why musician Kenna did badly when he was subjected to market research. His music was new and different, and being new and different is always vulnerable to market research...

...First impressions vary from one person to another and only people who are experts in their field are able to reliably account for their reactions. These experts can express their first impressions and gut feels more accurately and more extensively.

It does not mean that the reactions of people outside their areas of passion and experience (i.e. not experts in a particular field) are always wrong. It just means that reactions from non-experts are hard to explain and easily disrupted...

Read the rest at: Business Summaries - Blink by Malcolm Gladwell