So this is my last blog entry and I face it with some regret. There’s a lot left to talk about – we’ve only just scratched the surface. Hopefully these conversations will carry over into your classes and you will continue to make deep connections to the material and to those around you.
But I thought now might be a good time to reflect on my thoughts on this whole experience – the blog, your amazing reactions to posts, the school year, and what comes next. And I will end by making you a promise and asking you to make one too.
After two months of focusing on Blink I think we can all see the benefits – and negatives –in thin slicing. We’ve covered quite a range of areas. There was a lot to dig into.
I found the blog to be inspirational in its own way. (Yes, I know I’m a geek.) It was wonderful to see students engaged with the material and each other, and the depth and number of posts was exciting. It was nice to see you all fully invested in this project and your own academic career. Some of the posts were mind-blowing with their insightfulness; their connections to society and self were wonderful to consider and contemplate. You helped me see the world through your eyes and I thank you for that.
And I greet the school year with a bit of trepidation. It is the end of the summer after all, and who likes that? In just three weeks, we’ll be back to work, churning through new material and barreling toward new goals and deadlines.
But I will also consider this oncoming semester as a new opportunity. Blink changed the way I think about things, the way I see things. I’ll let you in on a secret – though it’s probably not as much of a secret as I think.
Your instructors thin-slice you too.
We look at the students sitting in the back row, slouched in chairs, hoodies pulled down over faces, and think those students don’t care about school, grades, etc.
We look at the students who sit in the front row as the good students – only over-achievers sit in the front row, right?
And we look at students who never speak up in class as disengaged; we think their minds are a million miles away. They are happy to muddle through, caring enough to show up, but not enough to fully engage.
In other words, professors thin-slice too. We make snap judgments that are not always right. We are only human.
I’ve been fortunate to go through enough semesters to realize my assumptions are not always right. I have had straight A students who slouch their way through the semester; I’ve had amazing work come from the middle row; and I’ve had students who dutifully sit up front leave with a less than stellar grades.
So as I wrap up blogging for this year, I’ll make you this promise: I will NOT thin-slice. I will not put my biased judgments on you. I will not let previous experiences dictate the way I see you.
Will you promise me the same?
I hope so, because that is the only way we’re ever going to get beneath the surface and become the people – the scholars – we want to be.
First Impressions
To Blink like a shutter on a camera captures a thin slice of time. I actually saw the following event happen to a man who walked into a room full of people that were all strangers to him. In that brief moment of time, impressions were made. The gentleman was old and had dirty shabby clothing on. In observing this man he was being treated differently and he was being ignored and isolated by the others in the room. The first impression by others were to keep their distance from him, people were judging him instantly on his appearance. The stereotyping of the way he was dress was preventing people from getting to know him. In those first few seconds strong impressions were being made of this man, that no one took the time to get to know him. In thse brief moment strong opinions were made, is this fair? In Blink we learn decisions made quickly can be as good as decisions made with a lot of thought, in this case a quick impression of this man, kept people from getting to know him. Snap decisions are not always right and the unconscious part of our brain can also be controled and developed. I learned a great deal from Blink and enjoyed reading it over the summer.
This reminds me of something I saw not too long ago that was really similar. A woman started working at the place I was working not that long ago. Upon first seeing her some of the people had the impression that she wasn’t a person you would want to socialize with because she looked really mean. She was a heavier woman and her face seemed to be in a permanent scowl. After talking to her for only a few minutes I realized how wrong my first impression of her was. Although some quick decisions we make about people could be right, sometimes we couldn’t be more wrong.
The same exact thing takes place at my work all of the time. I lifeguard at the local beach in my town and we have one guard who looks like he could be thirteen, but is actually seventeen. Some of the people who attend the beach look at him and off of first impressions think that because of the way he looks he doesn’t need to be taken seriously. People’s first reactions based off of their unconscious thin-slicing cause them to act out or just take him disciplining them as a joke and move on with their day. But from what they don’t know, he is actually one of the best guards at our beach, and one of the most skilled. He’s made multiple saves this year, including to some people who actually took him as a joke. This just proves that thin-slicing can be good for some reasons but when it comes to judging by people’s appearances, that it can do you wrong as well.
I too have witnessed thin-slicing in action, and I admit, I was the culprit. When I began driving lessons to get my license I was assigned to a new instructor. I soon found out that she was a cafeteria aid at my school and being curious, I scoped her out. This sounds completely judgmental, but I was terribly intimidated by her angry expression, harsh voice, and baggy black clothes. As my first lesson approached, I became more and more anxious. Finally the day arrived and as I got in the car she gruffly asked me how much I had practiced with my parents. I meekly answered her and we were off. My heart was racing; I so desperately did not want to do anything wrong. After about five minutes she directed me to a local Dunkin’ Donuts where she looked at me and said, “I can’t sit in this ******* car without some iced coffee and munchkins! What size do you want?” My initial impression was so far from the hilarious and caring person I found her to be. To this day she will honk her horn if she sees me while shes driving around.
I am very glad that you have promised never to thin slice, through vigorously reading Blink we have all discovered that this is a dangerous practice. Although our first impressions may sometimes be correct, they more than often need to be either altered or further developed. Unfortunately, we are all guilty of thin-slicing at some point however. Despite this, the truely important thing is the action that we take from our discoveries of thin-slicing, do we consider all of the facts or simply go with our gut, do we over-analyze, it look at the situation holistically.
I would have to agree with you Dylan, thin slice is a method that can leave some people with a missunderstanding or missconception of a certain situation. As you said “do we consider all of the facts or simply go with our gut” this is the big discussion that I look forward on having in a class room setting. Though you maybe right while using thin-slice this may not always be the outcome, and this is why it is a dangerous practice.
An experience similar to this is what kept me from meeting my friends earlier in my high school years. When i came into school the first day of freshman year i formed opinions of every person i first met without taking the time to get to know them. After a few months i began to talk to alot of these people and realized that they were great people and my judgements were completely wrong. If it hadn’t been for me thin-slicing i would have first taken the opportunity to get to know them rather then judge them by my first impression of them. Thin-slicing is something that only applies to games and gambling and clearly has no place in everyday life.
It is quite interesting when one observes thin slicing in the action. There are those cases that have been shared in which there is a person who is singled out and isolated because of a simple factor such as their appearance. I too have seen this occur on several occasions when this exact event occurs. However i have also been a witness to thin slicing someone and being correct about that person. A kid that graduated a year before me came to work at the business i was employed at. He got in through a friend but he was a shady character and not one to be trusted (at least this is the effect that thin-slicing provided to myself as well as my boss as we discussed this). As it turned out two weeks after this person began working a large sum of money was stolen and then again several days later more was stolen again. Fortunately for modern technology the culprit was caught on video from cameras and it was found to be this new shady worker.
In all honesty, I believe that this post is one of my favorites from this entire blog because I think it has the power to truly bridge the gap between students and professors. Where we are able to come to agreements that as humans we are infallible, there grows more common ground to bridge the gap in student-professor relations. Posting on a unified site, “agreeing to disagree”, and welcoming different opinions has equipped each and every entering freshmen with open-minded ideas that will aid us as we embark on a new segment of our lives. Moreover, understanding that even our professors thin slice us will do two things: primarily, view them as fellow humans will make the classrooms even more fertile places of learning, and secondly that we must be mindful of the first impressions we send out, as we are constantly being thin-sliced by the world around us. Of course, we must not mistake this desire for positive first impressions to overshadow our individual personalities, but we must constantly keep in mind the people we want to grow up to be, and how we are taking the steps to get there.
Emily I agree 100% when you say “veiw them as fellow humans will make the classrooms even more fertile places of learning,and secondly that we must be mindful of the first impressions we send out”. Often walking into a new class, I assume not just myself, but many others too judge a teacher and how the class will be by things like how the clasroom is setup, what is on the walls and so on. We don’t realize what we’re doing, but we do it anyway. This past summer my friend told me she was saw our health teacher on vacation, she was weirded out! But, then I thought about it and I realized it’s not weird at all! Teachers are people too!! They go on vacations too! I just finished the book and I realized that thin-slicing happens more often than not,whether we know we’re doing it or not.
The book taught me an awful lot on your first impression of people. I think it was a great choice for students going to their first year of college, because you meet so many new people who you automatically judge, or think one thing about them that could be SO wrong. Although the last chapter about music I found kind of boring , I still got a lot out of it.
I also agree with Emily. All students and teachers thin slice when they enter the classroom. I use to get frustrated when teachers would tell us to “not judge a book by its cover” when they would do it. There would be students that would hang in the back of the classroom but they would be at the top of the class. They had no right to assume that those students were troublemakers of didnt care about the class. After reading Blink we can all realize that teachers are human too. After reading this post it makes, it encourages students to keep and open mind when the school year starts.
Your comment just so happens to be the exact same thing I was thinking. As I was reading, I kept saying to myself “thin-slicing is judging, and everyone says not to judge. But this just provides evidence that everyone does it!”. It made me think back to the times when teachers would react in certain ways to students in my classes who did not seem like “ideal students,” when those students were getting better grades and doing more work than the students the teachers liked the most, which, as you said, the teachers had no right to do. This post also showed me that some teachers realize what they’re doing and promise not to do it, and encourages me to keep an open mind as well.
I also agree. Blink has taught me a lot about first impressions and judging a book by its cover. It is hard to overcome judging when some people do it everyday. Blink made me realize that thin-slicing can be used for better or for worse. Our lives will always be looked at by other people but the main thing is to focus on yourself.
Thin slicing definitely can be used for better or for worse. I think everyone has to watch out for thin slicing especially during the first few days of school. It can be hard not to stereotype and thin slice and not only do professors do it to students but it works the other way around, without us even knowing it. Students all get in class and try to pin a teachers’ personality in just the first few minutes. This book made me aware of what we students do and I’m going to try not to do it anymore especially when I have a clean start at UMD!! 🙂
Blink talks about thin-slicing in good and bad ways, i feel that it is trying to make it look more positive than anything. I agree that with the fact that people all around us are judgmental and there is nothing we can about it. No matter what we do or where we are people will judge us in different ways. They will come to conclusions about us that may not necessarily be true. We need to focus on not making judgments unconsciously, because if everyone makes an effort to stop things would change. Blink taught me different ways of thinking and pointed out that they may not all be good ones.
When you talked about how being mindful of our first impressions being important it really opened a new door to me. I have always been different in a nerd kind of way, and not always caring of these first impressions. At least to other students that may be true. Thin-slicing can be very confusing, and can do wrong or right. So we should be wary of this, especially since we are all freshman. We all have different skills and personalities to offer. So while meeting new people it might be hard not to thin-slice. However if we are open and aware of thin-slicing, then we might be able to change our views on others. Thin-slicing reminds me of the quote “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” While the book mentions having less information is sometimes better, with some things it’s just not true. Or at least in my opinion.
I respect your efforts as a college professor to overcome the troubles of thin-slicing, especially with understanding that everyone interacts in a different way to different environments and different people. The other day I watched one of my favorite movies which correlates to Gladwell’s themes so well. That movie was The Breakfast Club. A group of students in a Saturday detention all fitting different stereotypes in high school become the most unlikely friends. Thin-slicing was the cause of that unlikeliness. People address the problem of stereotypes in high school often, but these cliques cannot be eliminated without first understanding and then controlling the power of our minds. These cliques seem to form instantaneously as students step into their school building. Judgments upon judgments that we may not even be aware of flood our minds deep from our unconscious and separate us into these groups. After reading this book, I am fully prepared to mentally shut out these judgments and shut that door to my unconscious. I will not let myself feel intimidated by a seemingly strict teacher only to find out too late that with a little bit of time after classes that particular professor happens to be the easiest person to talk to. I will not misjudge anyone for any petty qualities my unconscious would normally pick out so easily. So with that being said, I welcome all of my fellow classmates and all of the professors at UMD to stand up to your unconscious and open your minds.
As I was scanning the varied replies to the original post, I suddenly realized that I had, in fact, been “Thin-Slicing” the first few sentences of each student’s reply. I found myself unwittingly in-depth reading the first few sentences of each individual reply, and quickly glancing over the rest of the post for sentence fragments that stuck out to me. I shut down repl, after reply, without even realizing it, or realizing why.
Like many of the subjects in Gladwell’s book, I do not know why I picked certain comments, or even what qualified a particular post to register as interesting in those few split seconds. After I realized what I was doing, I slowed down and began reading through full replies and comments. Once I had done so, I realized that the posts I had previously shunned were the ones that actually stuck with me, and sparked my true interest.
Jonathan’s reply was one of the posts that I had first agreed to skip. On a whim, I later returned to it, and read it thoroughly, realizing that I had been thin-slicing every reply. His sentence, “Judgments upon judgments that we may not even be aware of flood our minds deep from our unconscious…”, is what threw me out of my, for lack of better wording, thin-slicing stupor. He’s right, completely right. Every day we thin-slice countless situations, objects, and most importantly, people.
There is nothing we can do to to stop these sudden mind boggling breakdowns of a person, it’s what we are wired to do. However, I like Jonathan, am fully prepared to shut out these flash judgments, and let my conscious mind, and the actions of that person do the deciding for me.
After reading the first few sentences of your post i realized that I had been doing the same thing. I would read the few first sentences of a post and then skim the rest and when I came to yours I just stopped. I didn’t even realize I was doing it. I went back to a few of the ones that I skipped over and read more into and saw that all the ones that I skimmed through I agreed with more than the ones that I fully read. Weird.
I also realized I’ve been doing exactly the same thing. I had even done it to Gladwell’s book! I quickly scanned over the first few pages and decided I was not going to enjoy the book without even realizing I was thin-slicing. After I sat down and actually started reading it, I realized I was mistaken and was also pulled out of that “stupor” you mentioned.
It looks like this book has forced us all to face the fact that we think without thinking, just as the title suggests, and makes us determine whether or not making these snap judgments is good to do or not.
This post left me thinking of the importance of an interesting introduction. On many occasions throughout our high school campaigns I’m sure many of us have been lectured on the importance of the introductory paragraph in an essay. However, I was not completely satisfied with the reasoning behind its purpose. I thought that if the entire essay were to be read, then why would the introduction be so much more important than the other areas. Now after some pondering I understand that even if the entire essay were to be read, the reader would already have a general opinion on the essay by the end of the introduction, and that opinion would only get more difficult to change as the essay went on.
Just another example of how thin-slicing applies to life in school I suppose.
As an incoming freshman I also agree with Jonathan in that I respect your efforts to not thin slice us students. During my high school experience there were many instances wherein I witnessed teachers “thin-slice”. The majority of the time teachers saw below average students and talked down to them more than they ought. I knew many of these students and ironically enough they were exceptionally bright students. Needless to say the teacher I am referring to stopped talking down to a select few students after the first few test scores came out.
Professors, teachers, parents, and other authoritative positions hold a great amount of power with their snap judgements and how they choose to react to them. Their positive reactions can be a great source of motivation and enable a better sense of self confidence for a student or their negative connotations of an individual can restrict a student’s initial thirst to learn. I am excited to see that some professors such as yourself are trying their best not make assumptions.
Blink has also opened my mind to better ways of approaching, understanding, and respecting people. My goal is to keep this open minded perception and apply it to every one that I meet.
It has always been my biggest frusteration when I lose interest in a subject, because of the teacher. Especially when I struggle with a subject, it is the teacher and the way they deal with my questions that gets me through their class. My senior year math came so easier for the first time all high school, because of how positive my teacher was. I know that college professors are more hands off than high school ones, which is a concern to me because I need constant positivity from the teacher.
This post intrigues me with how you have announced that the professors are only human too and have the ability to thin-slice. As a student, I know that people who are older and hold a place of authority in our lives can be seen as intimidating and eventually appear to have lost humanity in our eyes. It is our own version of thin-slicing that seems to cloud our judgement and stray our eyes from the truth. In all honesty, you are right. Teachers are only human. They are not monsters who pray upon bad grades to thrive, which seems to be common opinion among high schoolers and middle schoolers. I also like how you described the thin-slicing professors use upon us students. I am the one who sits in the middle, not raising a hand to comment or trying to actively engage in the conversation. In a way, you are right. Some of the kids who don’t engage are miles away in their happy place. But the others, like I, are actively listening. In my case, I wouldn’t engage because I wasn’t comfortable speaking out amongst my peers. Others don’t feel that their ideas are up to par with those of the actively engaged, and so feel discouraged. I guess in my own expirience, thin-slicing has never been beneficial, but a bit of a social hindrence.
I’ve run in to problems just about everywhere with thin slicing. There’s only been one time it’s been pretty accurate in my last two years as a trumpet section leader. People who came from the middle schools didn’t end up working as hard as they had in the past. I was only a jazz band section leader my junior year, but I started to develop what the kids that were coming in (usually the 3rd trumpets) were going to need to improve on in order to maintain their progress because they were always the same skill level usually. Of course, I should have thin sliced the rest of the section stopping progress, because my upper-classmen were always the ones who interrupted me by stating or asking something completely irrelevant that drew me off track until time was up. I also don’t usually engage for the same reason. That also probably is a result of thin slicing. Its completely unconscious for me. Some of us develop that because we quickly assess the intelligence level of the rest of the class and If we feel ours is substandard to that, we simply don’t bother to engage because we don’t want to feel inferior. Even when I consciously want to engage, it seems like something just prevents the words from coming to mind. In that case, it truly is a social hindrance.
I agree with the part about thin slicing never being beneficial. Thin slicing to me is like a positive look on prejudice. Since prejudice is defined as ‘an unfavorable opinion or feeling formed beforehand or without knowledge, thought, or reason’, then thin slicing is exactly that. The first judgement of something is never always right, especially the younger you are. When I was a younger I remember going to football, hockey, or lacrosse practices thinking that certain drills or certain things the coach wanted us to do would not help for game situations. At first I considered them dumb, or that they had no point, as well as other players on the team. But after a couple practices at the beginning of the season and later on during the year of playing both on varsity practices and games, I realized that everything we did had a meaning behind it. Even though at first I thin sliced the drills as being pointless, I later learned through the knowledge of experience that the drills along with all the hard work meant much more and eventually made me a better and self determined athlete.
This post, I believe, strongly sums up exactly what this book’s purpose was for us as an incoming class. Perfectly stated, yes, professors are only human–just as we students are only human, as well. Thin slicing is only an accurate process to a certain extent–but so often it misleads us and has us passing unfair judgements, which I can say, personally, happens to me most often in school. I am a fairly confident student, and push myself, but there are certain days where I slouch, or certain classes that I especially struggle in and, therefore, would rather feel out the scenario than speak out constantly–and, for those reasons, teachers sometimes would perceive me as a whole other person. I had teachers who strongly believed, at times, that I just “didn’t care”, when in fact, I just didn’t get it. Thin slicing is one dangerous situation, no?
Luckily, that’s what reading Blink really did for me. I was always an open minded person, but Blink really does hammer the notion into your head that you can’t judge at first glance. For me, I am refreshed by the thought that college is a fresh start–new professors to get to know, new students to engage with. I am excited to give my all, but also comforted by the fact many professors are aware–perhaps because of Blink–that I am not necessarily what I seem in the first few minutes of meeting me. I am not defined by my tired days when I slouch, and I am not defined by sitting in the middle row. I am also striving to give each professor a chance–I will not instantly dislike the teacher who may be having a bad day, for example.
Overall, I’m grateful for what Blink taught me about respect and fair chances–an open mind to all!
Thin slice is a dangerous situation. Like you Caitlin i too have been in a class during my school year where the teacher thought i “didnt care” or put little to no effort in their class. Like it has been said many times before even teachers/proffessors are only human as well. their thin slice simply was wrong. I am a very well energized student but was found in a situation where i was uncomfortable and didnt seem as myself. i would have to agree with you that the book Blink is given to us as an opportunity of seeing our college experience as a new start with a new enviorment.
I have worked at a day care/ preschool over the past year. When I first started working there I was curious about all the children and wanted to learn more about each one. As a human-being though, I thin-sliced these innocent youngsters. I thought greatly of some and not so greatly of others. I ended up working full time over the summer and realized that all the children had good and bad moments. I learned more about their individual families and households. I found out that this one boy who was only four-years-old, incredibly shy and quiet, is an orphan. He stays with his great aunt for most nights, but she is dying from cancer. Since the preschool was private and very expensive I thought his parents were merely lazy and never bought him clothes. I would say hello to him, but I never took the time to play with him because I thought he was shy and wanted to be alone. Now that I know more about him I believe he does not know how to interact with others, and I should have tried to help him.There was another little girl who always bit teachers and would hurt other kids; I thought of her as a misbehaved demon. However, she was taken out of the school a month later because her parents were being arrested for child abuse. I should never have made snap judgments on these children. I should have treated them just as well as the adorable behaved children.
There is more than one subtle concept that we should judge in a person, and what they show is not what we should judge. As Malcolm Gladwell demonstrates by all the different experiments and situations, it is not always what we can see that we should judge. I judged the children on their behavior and the way they appeared. Thin-slicing is what I ended up doing after I learned more and more about each family. Cook County’s showed the logarithm, and that is what everything in life is: a huge logarithm. A doctor should not judge a person saying their heart hurts only by asking them their age. A boss should not judge a possible future employee on one item in his apartment, but all items in his apartment. A commander on the battle field should not just play it as a video game and choose one possible way to win, but should explore all opportunities. Actors need to learn to not be closed minded either and be ready to improvise. Everyone judges everyone. As a preschool teacher, I did not want to be judged by the students or their parents. As a student, I don’t want to be judged by my teachers. As a new student at UMASS Dartmouth, I don’t want my peers to judge me. That is why I chose to respond to this post because we all are in the same situation. We all have read Blink and understand the benefits of thin- slicing, yet we should only use it in positive ways. I want to be known for who I am, and I want to allow people to let me know who they truly are too.
I agree with Emily and Caitlin. The original post and the comments have already said what I wanted to, but Blink by Gladwell has made me think about many experiences where I have thin-sliced and made a fool with myself and other times where it made me look like the a genius.
My personal experience with an extreme case of thin-slicing was my first day of orientation at Umass Dartmouth earlier this summer. I walked into this chance to meet future peers, friends, best friends, roommates, and even enemies with a pessimistic attitude. I noticed a lot of different races especially, African American and thought “o my gosh, I am definitely going to transfer already, I know it”, I am not a racist for I am Asian but I have lived my whole life in a dominantly white community and catholic private schools also dominantly white. Thin-slicing refers to the ability of our unconscious to find patterns in situations and behavior based on very narrow slices of experience. I thin-sliced all of the first day, until the second day where I was stuck between two other ethnicities and I started a normal conversation. It was very different from what I expected, they did not speak with slang and they thought the same way I did, because they grew up in dominantly white area. I came out successful from orientation with new friends and thoughts that other people are in similar situations and think similar thoughts too. Thin-slicing is something we all do even if we do not think about it; Gladwell has shown us that no matter what we think, we always have pre-thoughts that influence our future thoughts and decisions.
I think that a promise to not thin-slice is a promise that cannot go fully completed. As said you are only human, and it is a natural human instinct to thin slice whatever we see. In Blink we see both the upsides of thin-slicing and it’s downsides. Students post about how thin slicing led to hasty and unjust judicial sentences, and about how the same process allows an ice hockey goalie to perform at his or her best. Although a lot of students tend to look down upon thin slicing I wholeheartedly encourage it, it may not be the fairest but is simply the most efficient. Perhaps it is just where I am in my life. In college especially the mind tends to use appearance based discrimination.
MW.com defines shallow as “…: lacking in depth of knowledge, thought, or feeling”. Is thin slicing shallow? Thin slicing actions are made without a depth of knowledge and with minimal thought. Furthermore is making such hasty assumptions based upon thin slicing negating our ability to judge something with compassion? When we see a forty year old-going on sixty working at McDonalds we instinctively think the worst of them. Yet how do we know that burger-flipping is the only way that person can support their children? Or that he or she was not just laid off from his desk job, and desperately needs money to pay his rent? But does this mean we should show the same compassion to McDonald’s employees worldwide, because there certainly are people who deserve the place they are in.
Where do you fall on this issue? Is it a matter of human compassion, robot-like efficiency, both, neither?
Zach I totally agree with you about the thin slicing promise. Thin slicing is something that we do automatically and there for cannot promise not to do it. Maybe we can only promise not to go by what our thin slicing has told us? I’m not sure where I fall on the encouraging/looking down apon thin slicing. Maybe I’m somewhere in the middle. I don’t think thats it’s just college that the mind uses apperance based discrimination. I think that that happens often, just alot more in college, where people are facing a very new situation and trying to fit in or find friends like themselves.
This year I did an experiment on myself – professional style muscle-building. I put in countless hours of research into it, to make sure it went right. I went from 148 lbs. @4% bodyfat to 183 lbs. @7% bodyfat in the course of half a year. I had to intake 4,000 calories a day and hit the gym four days a week. Needless to say I was a lot more muscular than when I started. Besides my weightlifting results I wanted to see if other people would have different reactions to my new appearance.
People who treat you like your worse than garbage suddenly have heart to heart moments with you. Girls are easier to get in the clubs. Nobody tries to rip you off anymore. Suddenly car crashes are always the other person’s fault. The guy using the urinal when you are in line waiting for one pees at insanely quick speeds.
People are thin-slicing you from the second you enter a room, most usually upon appearance. But sometimes this is expected..When I go to the club I don’t care a woman’s personality in the least, I just want to grind on her and maybe get lucky at the end of the night.
But wait! Before you judge me for that last paragraph let me say that the basis of normal relationships is the physical attraction. If you deem a girl or guy hideous, you aren’t going to try to start up a conversation with them. Why do you think girls (and the metro guys) take pictures of themselves from 400 angles than only decide to use one of those pictures to put on facebook. By the time we reach college our sexual interests are peaking- which makes us base people upon appearance even more.
I too agree with the thin-slicing promise and that it is a natural human instinct to thin-slice whatever we see. I mean our instincts are defense mechanisms and are supposed to warn us aren’t they? When you thin-slice people you can be wrong about them but usually your right. Even Blink constantly beats the fact that thin-slicing is a lot more efficient and usually more accurate. From what i’ve learned when I look at someone and something says that person looks like trouble i’m usually right. I don’t think encouraging thin-slicing is necessarily a bad thing either as long as you can keep an open mind about someone or something.
I find it interesting when you bring up the natural “human instincts” that is tied to thin-slicing, because I too found myself thinking of how humans must of evolved this trait as a defensive mechanism in order to survive. you see a dangerous situation that calls for a split second decision, and think slicing is a life saver, literally!
I agree with this too. I think that it’s almost impossible to thin slice. The fact that you say that you won’t thin slice is almost too hard to believe. Thin slicing, I personally think, is something that we do to quickly analyze something and it helps us make decisions or assumptions. I don’t think that there is a way to not thin slice at all. Then again, we aren’t always right and quite frankly I think that thin slicing is somewhat bias.
I also agree. You can’t stop thin slicing it is a natural occurence.Some may choose to be more openminded about what thier thin slicing tells them about a person or situation, as for me, I want to use thin slicing more and go with my first instinct after reading Blink. Thin slicing may give you a wrong impression about something but as shown in the book it does good more times than not. Sure occasionaly thin slicing fails like when the police officers shot and killed Diallo, but nothing is perfect and people will always make mistakes. After reading Blink i am going to be prone to trust my first instinct,
I agree with that. This entire book explains how it is nearly impossible to not thin-slice. A person may claim that they do not thin-slice, but in reality everybody makes judgements off of almost everything we see in everyday life, and in my opinion the most common area to thin slice is a person’s appearance. When we see a person for the first time we immediately feel a sense of security, fear, etc. Without thing slicing you would have no feelings and, as Zachary has said, be like a robot.
I totally agree with you on having both benefits and negatives while dealing with Blink. Personally i was not too motivated to read this book, but once i actually started it i found it very intriguing. It is undeniably a very interesting book, but like most books they have their down falls. Some of the examples seemed to drag on or not apply to us. Then the examples would be brought up within another example which was confusing. What i really liked about the book was that it showed you how we as humans have implicit bias’ and how we can change the way we see people and give them a chance rather than judging them with the bias’ we hold.
I also found many parts of the book inspirational like with the study that Ekman and Friesen started. I honestly find it utterly fascinating that they sort of discovered the hidden emotions that we express on our faces everyday. That the slight movement in a muscle in our face can show an emotion that we are harboring within. Them discovering it is just amazing, it makes you want to do something also to better the world in some way.
This reminds me of story my health teacher once told my class in high school. She started off by telling the class to imagine a family, a father and three children, entering a city bus. The bus is full of people. The kids are obnoxiously rowdy and making noise whenever they can. The father didn’t do one thing about his kids. Now she told the class to come up with a general first impression of the family. Because we are human, we first think that the family is disorganized and inconsiderate because they are rambunctious and the father isn’t doing anything. After our first impressions were made she then told us that the mother had passed away just a few days ago. She called this sudden change in judgement of the family a paradigm shift. We totally change the way we think about the family when we realize that the mother had passed away. This shift in our judgements is what makes us human, it also helps us to avoid doing that same thing in the future. Like you said about the students in the different rows, we can only truly judge someone based on past experience with that person. You can’t judge someone you’ve never had a conversation with. Of course, to err is human and we all snap judgements before we have time to process the situation and person as a whole.
I have to say this is my favorite blog entry because I have been on the receiving end of thin-slicing by teachers. Before I grow accustomed to a class, the fellow classmates, and my teachers I am very quiet. I will sit and absorb what is occurring around me such as the discussion or lecture. I don’t like speaking unless I understand what is going on and I can back up what ever I say. Because of this however I am that person who attends class and hardly ever talks. Teachers have assumed before that I was the average student who showed up to class to do average work and just pass.
Though anyone who knows me will soon realize that I am actually very engaged in class whether I speak or not. Not to sound like a geek but I do love school and enjoy going to class. I know everyone can sympathize that no one wants to sound stupid when they make a comment in class and I feel that holds back a lot of students like me. This is when thin-slicing by teachers becomes dangerous because this lack of speech must be saying that a student has a lack of confidence, not a lack of attentiveness. I understand to make snap judgements its just the way we work as human, clockwork almost. But I also know from my experience that once you start to learn more about someone who can change your impressions of a person. I don’t know how long it takes teachers to see a students work ethic but all my relationships with teachers have been really positive so they seem to look past where I sit or how quiet I am in class and let my work show the true person I am. Besides halfway through the year I can’t be quiet!
I’m sit everywhere in a class room, I don’t care what row it is but because of this I have sat with people much different then I am. Someone I sat next to skipped class a lot and didn’t act like he was ever paying attention. That student was smarter than me but you wouldn’t have know that. He got good grades and tended to score just as well if not better than me on some of our exams. Teachers would figure by the way he dressed and acted he was a slacker and wasn’t going to get good grades but he did very well.
It just goes to show that one must look past their snap judgements of person and truly get to know them, you might be surprised by what you find out!
I respect your efforts towards not thin-slicing. People often forget how easy and effortless it is to thin-slice. Reading your post made me not only want to become more conscious of my thin-slicing towards my soon to be class mates, roommates, and professors but to be more conscious of my thin-slicing to the people I encounter at work. Though I only have a few more shifts before I leave for college. I am faced with the prospect of thin-slicing every time I encounter a customer. Gladwell introduced a character named Bob Golomb. Golomb was a car salesmen from New Jersey, who found success by simply treating every one of his customers equally. A task that sounds so simple, yet the inability to perform this task is more commonly achieved.
Before this school year takes off I wanted to test Golomb’s philosophy. I work in retail so opportunities are abundant. The other day I had the opportunity to sell a very expensive printer to an older man. The man carried himself with confidence and cracked a few jokes every now and again. But to anyone thin-slicing him would not have taken the time to explain the ins and outs of every printer simply because he was wearing ripped clothing, had uncombed hair, a greasy bear-like beard, and only a had a few teeth left in his mouth. I mean how could a man who obviously didn’t take care of himself be able to take care of a nice printer and how would he even be able to afford this? Those would be the questions I would have asked myself if I was being too distracted by his appearance due to my thin-slicing. The gentlemen not only bought one of our most expensive printers, he walked out of the store with the most expensive warranty we offer on printers. It was a big win for the store’s market basket, but a bigger win for my self confidence in my ability to overcome thin-slicing. Golomb was right after all.
I’m very glad you promise to try and avoid thin slicing, because as you said, those first assumptions may not always be right. Personally, I have been the target of misguided first impressions, and it’s not a desirable feeling. Knowing that you were evaluated, often inaccurately by your peers just from their immediate perception is almost insulting in a certain way. While it may not be accurate, it is certainly very convenient for people, and that is why people use it so frequently, often without even realizing it. They usually can’t sit a person down and question them to learn about their true feelings and motives, and the truly important information about a person, so instead, they work with what they can. And while thin slicing is a great tool for assessing situations and solving problems quickly, it is far less effective when dealing with people. It can often be very destructive, as well. If teachers notice that a student has taken the back row, for example, they might automatically have lower expectations for him, or treat him differently. The truth is, seat choice can be totally random sometimes. Sure, occasionally, people will take the back seats to avoid the teachers keen eye more readily, but more often than not, this is not the case. Thus, avoiding thin slicing when it comes to judging people is definitely a good thing to do, both for the person doing the thin-slicing, and the person being thin-sliced.
Reading these comments, it seems that the majority has a negative connotation about thin-slicing, and disregarding the information that the brain is readily equipped with. I don’t enjoy being “that guy” that has to disagree, but after reading Blink, I feel much more likely to thin-slice (on purpose) upon entering college. Not to suggest that I’m going to undertake an effort to be a judge of students and teachers, deciding whether they’re good or bad right away. Yet, after the examples Gladwell provided, and provided by others, college seems like not only the most appropriate time to read Blink, but also the most perfect time to act on it. Especially thin slicing. This sounds like a somewhat negative statement, as if I’m keeping a narrow mind to base each class, professor, and peer on my first experience with them. However I believe that thin-slicing, done properly, is in fact keeping an open mind. To rule out someone based on a snap judgement is narrow thinking, but so is ruling out a snap judgement. Like the example of hearing a song for the first time, hating it, but then having it grow on you until you’ve become obsessed with it. You remember you didn’t like it, but you still gave it a chance. I believe this is the proper way to act and to thin-slice; pay close attention to your initial reaction, because it is a good guide, but also be open to a change in opinion.
Everyone like to claim that they dont judge people and accept everyone. No matter how acceptign people are and how non judgmental they are, its human instinct to have biases. I am not saying these have to be strong biases but they are there. The most accepting person in the world would try to get other people to be more like them right? So wouldnt this person be annoyed with close minded people and have a bias towards them?
I agree with your comment. Everyone likes to think that they don’t judge people and that they never would, but there’s always the factor of having an opinion, and having an opinion on someone isn’t necissarily judging, but its, well, having an outlook on them. Even the most openminded person, as you said, wants people to be more like them; openminded, which is judging the people who are not openminded. I believe that even though thin slicing may not be the best option when it comes to meeting someone, its something we as people will always do whether we choose to ignore the feeling or thoughts that come from thin slicing or not. The point is that it will always be there, taunting or helping us along the way.
One place that thin slicing has led to some very poor decisions is in sports. I a very guilty of thin slicing on the athletic field. Everytime that I would go out for the captains hand shake at the beginning of the game I would judge the entire other team based on thier leaders. This proved to reliable most of the time but sometimes it led me astray. One perfect example was when I towered over the other teams captain and felt that he was intimidated. I thought we a good shot at winning but they proceeded to slaughter us. This taught me the lesson that people should be judged more on thier proformance than what initial impression/ vibe you get from them
In a perfect society, no judgements would be made. Unfortunately, there will never be a perfect society. Judgements are made during interactions all the time. The way one presents himself,or herself, will give another person some impression. Like Nils, I made a bad judgement upon my opponent. She was very tall and I immediately thought she was going to have great speed. I was worried she’d beat me to every ball. As the soccer game took place, I quickly found out that her height actually worked to my advantage. She was extremely clumsy and it was much easier to get the ball by her. However, it’s my natural instinct judge her ability by the way she looked.I can not change that about myself, and I do not think anyone else can stop themselves from doing the same.
well this book is better then i thought it would be and my first thought when i picked the book up at the school store was why are they making us read this for. All other books I have read for summer homework was something more story type but then it made sense that this book is different because its going to be a different style of schooling. I also realized that Blink was picked for us, incoming freshmen because its our time to make our own decisions for the good or worse. Thin slicing came in the begining of Blink and that is the most important tool that can be learned from the book. Thin slicing came at a time for us, the incoming freshman because we need to take it and use it in a way that doesnt make others feel left out. We should forget thin slicing all together, then we can make friends that we may not have thought could become a friend.
From Blink I have realized that we thin slice people without even realizing it. We build first impressions based on what we see. To fight this instint reaction will be difficult, human nature is hard to fight, but to put the effert is apprieated. First impressions aren’t always correct which is also shown in this book and has been talked about on this blog. As freshmen we will all think slice each other to get an idea of the stanger we will be spending a good part of our time with. I agree that we shouldnt base too much on this fisrt snap decision of someone.
was anyone else amazed by Gottman’s ability to break down several marriages through such short encounters. like right in the beginning of the book page 34, he mentions how by listening to the a small interaction will a couple he made the conclusion that they should hire lawyers and find out who gets custody of the kids…. i honestly thought the book was going to be dull but it was somewhat interesting.
Honestly, I was very relieved to ‘hear’ you won’t thin-slice in order to get to know us. The book wasn’t horrible to me, but it frusterated me a bit. I definitely do NOT believe that you can figure out as much from thin-slicing that ‘Blink’ seems to advocate. In my opinion, you really can’t know someone from seeing their bedroom, or a videotape of someone’s conversation. There is so much more to human beings than you can see by just scratching the surface.
Not to be argumentative or anything but I have to say yes I agree that there are sometimes more than others that there is more than meets the eye to people but I do have to acknowledge that you really can figure out a person from that rapid cognition in the brain. Instantly, you begin to start to piece together what a person could say next by basing it on their body language their tone of voice, or other context cues that go off that cause you to thin slice. You may not be able to help it sometimes but it’s just like how people can finish each other’s sentences even if meeting for the first time. Something unconscious within our minds can piece together and predict and come to a conclusion about a person and how they will react or do next. What may seem surprising to us in that moment is really just second nature to us, it really is quite astounding and amazing.
I think alot of times I thin slice my teachers without meaning too. Like the second I walk into a classroom and sit down, or the first five minutes of the first lecture I unconciously thin slice my teachers. In most of my experiences, a teacher I thin sliced on the first day in a negative way always turned out to teach some of my least favorite classes. Teachers who I thin sliced in a positive way always seemed to teach classes I loved. I think that thin slicing definatley helps me decide whether or not I like a class or not, and it is very useful in that scenerio, however I can see the harmful effects of it becuase I do not want to write someone worthwhile off right away.
I think its tough to appropiately thin-slice. On one hand, its not right to judge someone right away because more likely than not, people do nit show their true feelings. But then, how can you thin slice right? Everyone has to have some type of judgement over others whether they know each other or not. Either way, there is no way around it
I like your comment and i agree with you. Everyone is always telling us as we go through school “don’t judge a book by its cover” and to never just put a label on someone before getting to know them or there side of the story on something that might have happened. But then again, it’s always human nature to but SOME form of label so we know how to proceed with the person. Say one person was interested in talking to people who are easy going and not party animals, our first instinct would be to go up to a girl in the library who is reading a book in a corner, not talking to anyone. In doing this, we automatically put a label on this person. We put the “quiet and timid” label to them, when really, they could be a college student studying the afternoon away, waiting to party it up at night. so we could have been wrong to begin with. Thin slicing a situation or a person can end tragically, and it could end on a positive not, but your comment has a good point to it. There is no way around thin slicing.
This post is one that really hits home to me. I do agree that teachers and students alike “thin-slice” each other, size each other up for the semester. We are all guilty of this, because it is in our nature. But then, we must also realize this happens in our everyday lives, probably at least once a day, if not more. I feel Gladwell’s story of the car salesman is a particularly convincing example of this. I work at a local restaurant as a hostess, and I am constantly asked by the wait staff to not sit them with a specific clientele. This is thin-slicing at its peak. Like the car salesman, Golomb, I think everyone who walks through the doors is a potential customer looking for fair, equal service. Others will disagree with me. People would have thought, being in the 21st century and all, that we would have over come racial divides, sexual preferences, social standings and other qualities that also make us all different. However, I do not believe we have over come these characteristics. This is a major draw back as humam beings, that we still can look at someone and not get over their outward appearences, to know the true character of the person within.
This blog reminded me a lot of Blink’s first chapter. The reason why the art piece was determined to be a fake was because the man who claimed it to be so, had a vast amount of experience in museums and gallaries. This is the same case with teachers and students. Entering college, we all have had numerous amounts of classes where we have all “thin sliced” every single person in the room. By now, our snap judgements of classroom personalities are well trained. For the most part, we can all pick out the class clown, overachievers, delinquents, and so forth. On occasion, one can be fooled by another individual, but Gladwell never claims that “thin-slicing” is perfect.
Rapid cognition is a powerful tool we all have and whether or not we self consciously know it, we use it everyday. The classroom is just a great example.
To adress the matter of you trying not to “thin-slice” us students, I don’t think that’s possible. I feel that it’s human nature to make personal assumptions when meeting a new person or people. Of course, it is very plausible for you to “thin-slice” us, but keep it to your self untill you have learn more about who are.
I like this particular post because it shows us that no matter who we are, we can apply anything we learn to improve our lives. Blink is a book that tries to explain how our mind can work in two ways. If we understand the way we think (or blink, in this case), we can put that knowledge into application and communicate with one another better. Communication is key because it allows us to exchange ideas with one another and this exchange is what makes us smarter.
Whether we are the “student” or “professor” in a student-teacher relationship, whether we are the “parent” or “child” in a family relationship, or whether we’re “the businessman in the red car ” or “the hobo on the street corner”, in an everyday stranger-to-stranger relationship, there are always some snap-judgments (thin-slices) we need to overcome in order to allow us to understand each other and relate to each other better. We can misjudge someone SOOO easily that we can miss out on them entirely. Maybe, the hobo knows more than you think, I don’t know. Even worse, maybe your mom and dad know what they are talking about and their not just on your case.
Or maybe, THE WORST: your teenager has things under control.
Reading books and listening to what others have to say gives you insight that is drawn from personal experiences. That knowledge is extremely valuable. It gives us the amazing opportunity to communicate and learn from one another. The author transports his ideas into our head and if we’re open to what he has to say, we can re-evaluate our understanding of our world through another one’s eyes. One thing that I took away from this book was that you can always come to expect the unexpected. I hated this book at first. I didn’t trust the authors credentials but I still learned something. As humans we are not always 100% correct in the way we perceive something but if we accept that fact, if we’re open minded, we can learn something from someone that we could have never learned at first glance.
Whether people like it or not everyone is engaged in thin slicing. They might not realize what they are doing or how they are going about there thought process, but these are just somethings that we go through in life. I do agree that thin slicing is very harsh and can be bad sometimes, but we just have to learn to deal with it. Everyone has their own opinions on things and that will never change know matter what we do or how hard we try. Priming on the other hand was a very clever way to change ones mind set. I thought it was different and it definately had me thinking. All in all the book was very interesting and I’m very glad I had a chance to read it.
A promise is a promise, but it can always be broken in the littlest of time. I’ve read a comment about how thin-slicing seems to always be used as a negative connotation, but I believe that it is what you make it seem to be. Thin-slicing to me is just like a defense mechanism… People use it as a wall. We don’t talk to people we don’t know and we don’t become friends with those who don’t look like us. It’s like cliques. You see something and you automatically assume. As a professor, I feel like you can not thin-slice, because it is your job to bring out the best in students. Assumptions as a professor would only make you seen childish and or immature. Your assumptions based on the students who sit in different rows aren’t judgemental. That is typically what is portrayed by the media, thus concluding to your “thin-slicing.” All in all, maybe the word thin-slice shouldn’t be used for being judgemental, it should be used in place of stereotypes.
After reading this one post, I couldn’t help but smile because you pretty much read my mind. We, as a species, cannot stop these quick unconscious thoughts—they are unconscious and our conscious minds cannot fathom the depth of the unconscious. Stereotypes, opinions, knowledge that we don’t even think we know, are all embedded in our brains and, although we do not notice it, play an important part in the decisions we make and the thoughts we think.
I do not want to make snap-judgments or thin-slice either, but I cannot promise that I will not make them because I know for a fact that I will. It is a part of having a brain in my opinion. However, what I will promise, is not to act on my judgments. It is not fair to those around us. They do not deserve to be treated in a certain way just because of the way they look or talk. I already try to give everyone the benefit of the doubt and after reading Blink I am going to try even harder.
I look forward to meeting everyone with a smile on my face and an open mind.
Unfortunately I can’t promise to not thin-slice people. No matter how hard we try our subconscious will always have its opinion on what is happening and the people we meet. There is no way to suppress the deepest parts of our minds and I don’t think we would want to if we could. I can however promise to try my hardest to see past the thin-slicing of my inner mind and to attempt to see people for who they really are and not just take them at surface value. I think that making us aware of how we thin-slice people we meet is what makes Blink the best summer reading book we could have read. What with all of the new people we will be meeting come the beginning of our college career, I think it is very important that we are able to recognize and identify what is just our thin-slicing talking. I can’t imagine missing out on a potential friend just because my subconscious is quick to judge people. Thank you Blink and Mr. Gladwell for giving me the opportunity to enjoy the adventure of college friend-making to its fullest.
i don’t think i can resist to thin slice someone, it is very hard to mentally stop yourself from judging someone when you meet them, because a basic way of gatehring information is to LOOK at someone. just by looking at someone your brain begins to formulate an answer of sorts, it is able at first glance to produce an answer, for instance, if you look at someone wearing a soccer uniform, your brain says “oh, he most be a soccer player” its tha ability to use these hints to create an answer in such a small amount of time that makes it hard to judge someone
I see the minds predilection for “thin slicing” as a challenge to overcome. it may be only natural to make snap judgements about others, and sometimes it can possibly be useful to do so, but utility does not equal morality, and I believe that through the application of will one can remove prejudice from their actions entirely. whether or not the prejudice remains in some vestigial form inside the subconscious (as supposedly demonstrated by the race association tests referenced in the book.) is irrelevant when one roots it out of their words and deeds.
I think that thin slicing is an imporant tool used by everyone to quickly judge the situation they are in, but having the time to actually get to know someone can be a lot different than the original impression. I’m glad to hear that were going to avoid thin slicing this year, and I think its great we have an entire school year to get to know each other and formulate our own opinions over time. I have a feeling that unconcious thin slicing will be inevitable, but hopefully we can recognize that the certain “gut feelings” we are having may or may not be correct.
It takes alot of courage as a professional to not thin-slice. Although I am not faced with meeting or dealing with the same people that you are on a daily basis, I have been put in similar situations as you have and I wish I could have handled them without pre-judgement. The last three years I have lived in Minnesota. Playing on a hockey team we had new players come in every year. From the time new teamates arrived I caught myself asking myself if I would get along with them or not. I immediately judged them on how they dressed, talked, and if they were good enough to play on the team or not. I also worked at a health facility during my time there. I worked on the sales staff and everyday I would have to meet new customers who were interested in joining the club. This really helped me learn how not to judge a person. I had to give tours and be sociable with them no matter their race, gender, or sexual preference. I hope I can carry on what I learned on the sales staff to college when I am forced to meet new people that do not have the same interests or preferences that I have.
As said by others, I really love this post. It just another example of how everyone tends to “thin-slice” or judge based on a small amount of information, which could often be very misleading. Through middle school, I had a hard time fitting in because people would judge me based on my appearance alone, and from that judgement, choose not to socialize with me. It frustrated me to no end! Overtime, it caused me to vow to myself, “I’m never going to judge someone based on appearance alone!” Even as I made that vow, I found myself doing it anyway! I feel like it’s so drilled into youths brains that appearance means everything, even when we know it’s wrong we can’t stop ourselves. Someone dressed in black baggy clothes? That’s a dangerous and seedy, and mean person. Someone dressed in bright colors accented with flowers and sparkles? Well that person has to be extremely nice and fun loving. Through experience, I’ve learned that’s not always true, but still adults seem to stress judgements like that anyway. Although I can’t stop myself from judging, I’ve come up with a new solution. “I’ll judge you on first impressions, but I’ll ALWAYS give you the chance to prove me wrong.” With this in mind, I’ll hang out with someone that I’ve gotten the first impression of not liking, more often than not, I find myself changing my judgements completely.
The fact that I’m posting this just before deadline might give someone the first impression that I’m lazy or a huge procrastinator, and while sometimes that is true, in this case I couldn’t find a way to organize my thoughts and so I sat up every night since I finished the book thinking of something to say or how to say it. If you didn’t know that, I’d bet you’d settle with the easiest answer, ‘This girl is a super procrastinator.’ when in fact that judgement would be wrong!(Well, in this specific case anyway. 🙂 )
As a city kid that went to some schools with less than fantastic reputations, it’s refreshing to see something like this coming from a school official. At highschool I was pretty used to being thin sliced, although I didn’t understand it was happening until after I had read Blink. Reading this makes me even more eager to start school and meet my professors. Thank you for such an inviting post.
I definitely thin slice people when I am at work because as a cashier in a grocery store, I see all varieties of people (everyone needs to buy food). I can’t help but judge the people who I spend approximately 1-5 minutes interacting with, based on their food choices and how they pay for food. Even though I do not know the person, I judge who they are based on the fragment I get of the person. I do not try to do this but I cannot help but look differently at a customer who buys ten bottles of wine than a person who buys only the store brand grocery items. I know in my mind that I cannot accurately understand the person’s full being on this one interaction, yet my brain does it automatically. Gladwell does a great job of putting this automatic response into words and in a way that we can consciously think about what we do.
I know I will thin slice people when I go to my classes, but I will have a greater understanding of the negative side of thin slicing. I hope to give more people a chance than I did in high school; the wider variety of people should allow me to consciously interact with students and professors as I journey through my freshman year and over the course of my college experience.
This is eye opening considering people can easily make snap judgements about us as individuals, and almost read our minds in a way. The way we present ourselves is a very important thing in the world, as people can quickly judge how they think you are.
Blink is a great book for anyone trying to understand how people make decisions and you will learn when it is appropriate to trust your instincts and when it is appropriate to use other tools help raise your situational awareness.
Blink is an amazing non fiction book and it is great for people who are willing to make good decisions and for people who want to improve in their behavior. It is also a book that will teach you about your intuition and natural instincts to react to certain situations and how to react that appropriate way. Also, it teaches us a lot about our unconscious and how very important it is to us on a day to day basis.
I have learned a lot from reading Blink and have become aware of my own snap judgments. I recall many times when I have seen people walking down the street with expensive clothing and massive amounts of jewelry, and thinking that they must be rich. I also remember feeling bad as I was walking by people sitting on the side of the road wearing old dirty clothing, begging for spare change or food. Blink made me think about these individuals though, and realize how little those judgments we make during our initial reaction to their appearance, reflect the truth. For example there is a gentlemen who occasionally comes into the place I work. His physical appearance and the way he talks makes everyone think that he is on the lower end of the social ladder, and financially not well off and I watch other customers judge him as such. I know this man however, and I know his background and the fact that he is actually one of the richest men in the entire town, and was once a very well respected part of law enforcement. But most people thin-slice and come to their own conclusion- which a lot of the time is far from reality.
Reading Blink certainly has made me aware of how I thin-slice others. While shocking and a bit unsettling, it has made me appreciate the people around me because I have realized that there is an infinite amount of history, experience, and knowlegde that others possess, of which we might never be aware.
Since reading Blink, anytime I start to make judgements about someone I am meeting, I take a second to consider why I feel the way I do about them, and note any biases I may have. I admire that you are making a promise not to thin-slice your students, not many teachers seem to do the same. I myself have often been the student in the back of the room, but I have always been a respectful and attentive listener. I always studied hard, took copious notes, and would see the teacher after class if I had questions. What always bothered me in this regard was that teachers would assume I was not putting forth much effort because I was too shy to raise my hand in class, or to sit in the front of the classroom. So in my new perspective of others, I could only hope that my professors would be kind enough to return the respect.
“I’ve been fortunate to go through enough semesters to realize my assumptions are not always right. I have had straight A students who slouch their way through the semester; I’ve had amazing work come from the middle row; and I’ve had students who dutifully sit up front leave with a less than stellar grades.”
You say that professors thin-slice because they are “only human”, and it’s interesting to think that maybe students take advantage of this. Everyone has an image of the nerdy, straight A student who sits in the front of the class and nods at everything the professor says. If you want to come across as that student, why not imitate that behavior? Unfortunately, the people who see this as a means to an easy A likely aren’t looking to do the work.
As for me, I have a tendency to be one of the quiet kids, and for that I appreciate that you’re trying not to thin-slice us. I took a philosophy class this summer in a room with 6 or 7 other people. At times it got eerily quiet because no one wanted to speak up. I made some great connections and ideas throughout the class, but it was hard enough trying to break the silence. Add to that the fact that I can’t always put into words what I’m thinking. I usually ended up writing down my thoughts and passing when the professor called on me. One of my goals for this year will be to try to articulate my ideas, even if they end up sounding like gibberish.
In everyday life people will look at you and make a judgment and you do the same. It is easy to do and everyone does it. It may not be to bad but you may never know how that person really is if you judge them. You will have some kind of mind set on them and never change it. So instead of judging people right off the bat get to know them and it may surprize you what you find.
I’m so glad that we were given a book like blink to read for summer reading. It was very interesting looking into what makes you have that gut feeling, and when to trust your intelligent mind over your instincts. I’ve already started to try and apply “think-slicing” in my daily life, and can’t wait to put it to use as a college student. This book also explained prior situations that have occurred in my life. Thanks for the good read.
Blink is an incredible book and explains a lot about everyday life, and also situations that do not come around to often. When I have gotten an incredible adrenaline rush in a situation, I’m not going to say what situation i was in, i used to tell myself it felt exactly like a dream when the situation was over. However, after reading blink and the situations about heart rates being over 145 per minute i have realized that what blink says is completely true. I couldn’t hear anything and i couldn’t think i just acted very aggressively and instinctively. there were many examples of this with great stories. great book.
Blink is not only a great book because of the subject matter, I believe it is also a great book because of how it was composed. The numerous different scenarios that Gladwell provides for the reader do an outstanding job of not only backing up his instinctive decision making claim, but also of grasping the readers attention. While i found most all of the examples interesting, I particularly liked a few in which i related to. By showing his many different examples Gladwell keept me, as a reader, hooked on the book.
When directly engaging the reader, I believe one of the most important lessons it teaches is that we need to think about how our own thin-slicing can effect each and every day of our lives. Upon completing my reading of Blink, I have begun to think about my own actions and I can only hope that I limit my thin-slicing and snap judgements. Another lesson the reading ahs taught me is that this process of controlling our own thin-slicing is an extremely slow one. It requires repetition and a certain kind of dedication. I encourage everyone to do their best and make this year a great one!