Words Like Locusts Flew From Her Fingers

Malcom Gladwell and “Blink”

Salon.com Books | Before you can say …: “[Gladwell creates] an entire nomenclature to describe the intricacies of rapid cognition. We get, first, ‘thin-slicing’ — ‘the ability of our unconscious to find patterns in situations and behavior based on very narrow slices of experience.’ By thin-slicing, our minds can just know; we can look at a situation, gather its essence in a few seconds or so, and extract meaning, order and truth amid the chaos of the moment.”

But not always. Particularly when what we’re looking at is very unusual or otherwise unfamiliar to us.

Since I was just writing a few days ago about the cognitive difficulties scientists face when they rely too heavily on what their “instincts” tell them about a situation, I was particularly interested to see that Malcolm Gladwell has written a new book discussing some related ideas.

I had never heard of Malcolm Gladwell before. Apparently, he’s big with the New Yorker magazine. I like the New Yorker but I don’t subscribe and, to tell the truth, I haven’t read one in years. It’s seeming like maybe I should start up again! Follow this article’s links to some of Gladwell’s pieces and I think you’ll see why. Interesting!

Anyway. I just wanted to point out Gladwell’s comments because they fit in so well with what I was talking about in my last couple of posts–how our minds have evolved to find patterns and assign meanings.