Blink or Miss !!!

"Great decision-makers aren't those who process the most information or spend the most time deliberating, but those who have perfected the art of `thin slicing' — knowing the very few things that matter."
Malcolm Gladwell in Blink

In the today's fast moving world where we have to make so many decisions and perpetually there is an information overload hovering over our mind, what a person can do? Well, Thin Slicing. Thin-slicing is a neat cognitive trick that involves taking a narrow slice of data, just what you can capture in the blink of an eye, and letting your intuition do the work for you. Our mind takes usually two seconds to arrive at a conclusion about a person, situation etc.

Though Mr. Gladwell says that Thin Slicing is different from Intuition, I beg to differ from him on it. He says "Intuition strikes me as a concept we use to describe emotional reactions, gut feelings--thoughts and impressions that don't seem entirely rational. But I think that what goes on in that first two seconds is perfectly rational. It's thinking--its just thinking that moves a little faster and operates a little more mysteriously than the kind of deliberate, conscious decision-making that we usually associate with thinking." He might define intuition as a concept with emotional reaction and gut feelings but I believe those gut feelings are originated in us because of our past experiences which are lying in our sub-consciousness/unconsciousness and let us conclude to a decision. Anyways, no point in discussing the nomenclature of terms out here, when you can learn so much from the book. He picks up the e.g. from real life situations like marriage, World War Two code-breaking, ancient Greek sculpture, New Jersey's best car dealer, Tom Hanks, speed-dating, medical malpractice, how to hit a topspin forehand, and what you can learn from someone by looking around their bedroom etc. to make it quite a comfortable reading for even not so voracious readers (unlike me). The language is simple, words easy and examples perfect.

Gladwell also illustrates, how reacting intuitively to a situation can have disastrous consequences. The problem with thin-slicing, Gladwell correctly explains, is that it uses contextual cues, internal stereotypes and even prejudice to tell us what to do. For e.g. in one of the chapters he explained how people in spite of claiming (consciously) that they are not racist, they were connecting the black faces to not so good words. In another a small survey resulted in how ladies and blacks were being sold cars at high premiums. So, to thin-slice or not to thin-slice, that is the question. Unfortunately, Blink does not provide us with a clear answer. Gladwell hints that ultimately we should only rely on thin-slicing when our intuition has been honed by experience and training.

We all do thin slicing in our lives in different situations but what Blink might help us to understand is that it’s not the right option always. And as I mentioned in starting, we need to build a habit of concentrating on the things that matter while taking a decision. Most of the times we end up taking our decision on the basis of secondary factors for temporary satisfaction and not the real ones (whether it is a normal day to day problem in office or college or its a big issue at home/ relationship or society).

Thought of the post: Don’t overfeed your brain, while taking decisions. Keep things simple :)