Blink: The power of the first 2 seconds

First impressions, mind reading, snap decisions and thin slicing.

Those are strong concepts, some of them even mind boggling. But these are the very concepts that Blink, the book by Malcolm Gladwell is all about. This book will help you think about the way you think, especially in the first two seconds of meeting someone or seeing something. The two seconds where our unconscious takes over and let’s us think without thinking.

First impressions

The book has many examples about first impressions. About instinctively knowing whether a statue is a forgery or whether a service at tennis ends up as a double fault. These are examples from real life where experts knew instinctively what the right answer was in a blink. But not only experts do this, we all do this all the time. The first two seconds we look at something or at someone are the two most decisive seconds we can imagine. It’s hard to grasp, but most of the information we use to make decisions are packed into those two seconds.

Thin slicing is the concept behind the 2 seconds. In those two seconds we observe a lot, but our unconscious picks out only a small amount of decisive information. But as it is our unconscious doing this, we don’t consciously know what those critical pieces of information are. It’s something we learned to feel intuitively or instinctively. Blink takes a look at studies that have been conducted about what those thin slices are in particular situations.

One of the studies I really liked was a study about facial expressions. In this particular study the movements of the face were broken down into the smallest bits of muscle contraction (action units). Every movement was identified and facial expressions where tagged with these action units. By methodologically eliminating action units from an expression and asking lots of people to interpret it, the decisive action units where determined. They thin sliced the human face (although that sounds gruesome…). Nice fact: the results of this research have been used to create realistic facial expressions in animated movies.

When it goes wrong

First impressions aren’t always right, we know that from experience. Gladwell looks at this side of the phenomenon too, very much so even. The two most important lessons I learned from are that less is more and that we’re biased.

When it comes to decision information, more information does not improve decisions, it might even make them worse. More information does make us surer about our decision, however wrong it may be. This conclusion is from a study in which this very concept was tested with a group of therapists. But Blink has more examples, from diagnosing heart failure in the ER to assessing battle situations and combat decisions in war.

But what baffled me was the concept of Implicit Associations and how they make us biased. Implicit Associations (IA’s) are associations we have between words or concepts, without knowing we have them. For instance, the association between Man and Career and between Woman and Family are stronger for most people than vice versa. But there are many more IA’s based on sex and race and many other aspects. If you’re interested you can test some of your own IA’s at Harvard’s website. There’s even one for the US presidential candidates right now.

The IA’s are tricky. They exist unconsciously and we might disagree with them consciously. But they affect us no matter what. Gladwell comes with examples of this too. Asking for race before filling in a test for instance, reminds black people of their race and the associated implicit (mostly negative) associations. They actually score a lot worse on those tests as compared to when they are not asked for race! Another example shows that when students are asked to think about what requirements a professor needs for a job, they are “triggered” into a mindset that aids them, and they score better at a test than if they weren’t asked that question beforehand.

How to use it

This is where the book falls short. In the short chapter “Conclusion. Listening with your eyes: The lessons of Blink” there’s another example. The best we can learn from Blink is the knowledge and awareness that this phenomenon exists. And that it has an enormous influence on how we decide.

By being aware of this, we have the ability to look at decision situations and try to take out factors where the implicit associations hinder us from making an objective decision. But there are no practical tips on how to do this, you’re all on your own on this one.

Conclusion

Blink is a book that’s easy to read and the writing is very pleasant. The concepts in the book are dazzling and the examples and studies sure make you think about this remarkable ability of human beings. Once finished you have a deeper insight in this phenomenon, but Blink fails to translate this into practical day-to-day tips or habits.

The thing that stuck the most is the power of the Implicit Associations. This can be made practical by helping yourself with empowering thought and pictures, before you do something (like a test). This is not just a trick, it really works.

Nevertheless, I recommend this book for two main reasons: It’s a fun book to read and you gain insight in the way this unconscious phenomenon affects our lives.