Hello NoCookies,
I was a bit sceptical when I read the note on the author in the prologue: a journalist having written articles about “childhood, development and the flu, not to mention hair dye, Shopping and what it takes to be cool”… what could he say about neuroscience? Well, I must say I am enjoying the reading. It’s easy to read. He does not deepen into complicated explanations but he gives instead plenty of examples to prove the snap decision theory. That’s the point that I like most so far.
What I am curious about is the continuation, he has for the time being illustrated that we all have this unconscious intelligence and that we are capable of thin slicing information. But how can he train us to take advantage of it? Always following our guts? Let’s see…
If you are interested about this subject and how free we are to chose against our unconscious , you can watch the following Punset’s programs. It’s amazing how biological factors decide for us!
Hey Mónica! Thanks for your comments! I will watch Punset, sounds interesting! For those non-Spanish in the group, Punset is a very prestigious scientist from Spain and he has this tv programs where he talks to experts about different subjects, it's really interesting; however, I don't know if there are subtitles available...
ReplyDeleteAbout the book, I'm halfway the first chapter. I haven't had the time to really continue but so far, in two seconds (exercising for that purpose) what comes to my mind is that yes, we get to know a lot with that first hunch, but how can we trust it? And most important, how can it help us make the educated guess when we need to confront something immediately with little information...
I hope the book will guide us into it... And I agree, great examples! Maybe you cannot extract 100% conclusions from them, but they are pretty good doing the job! Like the first "kouros" story, wow!
I'll continue reading this evening...
Night NoCookies!
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments, guys!
I agree with you regarding the fact that the book is easy to read, the author does manage to express his ideas by means of down-to-earth examples and easily comprehensible language. I have enjoyed reading it so far. But as a person that normally pays attention to small details, I haven't read by now (just finished chapter 2) really surprising data. However, the book has provided me with some food for thought...
I once accompanied a friend to a speed-dating event, as I waited for her I thought that such a short time wouldn't be enough to get a reasonable guess about someone but, as Gladwell describes, sometimes we try to reason aspects that do not really have an explanation. Tricky thing then, can we always trust that first hunch? I guess we cannot avoid trusting it as it emerges spontaneously but what we need to bear in mind is that, as humans, our locked door might be wrong.
When the writer deals with the married couples I have found it kind of scary...I haven't been married but have had some personal relationships...do you really believe that by looking at a couple's behaviour for a while it is possible to successfully tell whether they will split or not?
Anyway, it's kind of funny but I see myself observing people's behaviour - don't worry, I do it subtly.
Have a nice week! Looking forward to hearing from you!
Moni, come on! We all know it was you in the speed dating thing!!!
DeleteSorry, Rocío, it wasn't meeeeeee!
DeleteI think the experiments the book talk about are interesting, but I don't see anything we didn't know already: sometimes snap decisions are right, but sometimes are wrong too!!
ReplyDeleteHow many times have we met a person we really liked at first sight? And after a while we may think our first impression was so right... or so wrong! what a whacko he or she was!
I have to admit that I am pretty skeptical about all these issues and experiments.
I watched most of Punset's programs suggested by Monica. At some point, one of them assured that when studying the brain, we cannot be certain that we are interpreting the signals in the correct way. That comment puzzled me and got me thinking if we can trust the conclusions of all these studies...
As Monica M., I have to say I also found it scary when I read about the experiment with the married couples. I hoped I was in the small percentage of the unpredictable ones… ;-)
ReplyDeleteI agree the book is easy to read and entreating, but despite the curious examples so far, the author has not convinced me yet of the goodness and power of thinking without thinking. Maybe because I consider myself quite inaccurate when it comes to gut feelings, particularly regarding first impressions about people. I also agree with what Arantxa points out regarding the uncertainty of brain studies' conclusions.
Having said that, I still look forward to keep reading and learn how, as the author says we can all do, cultivate the ability of knowing in the first two seconds.
Thanks for the links, Miguemon!
I'm quite the opposite to you Macarena. When it comes to first impressions on people, there is always something that tells me if someone is honest and good or not...not sure what it is, but after some time of getting to know that person, I find out that my first impression was right.
DeleteI certainly envy that, Monica. Let's see if Mr. Gladwell will help me get better… :-)
DeleteA few more things to think about:
ReplyDeleteWhen the author talks about speed-dating, he says hat we just need only a few minutes to know if we want to see a person again. Do you agree?
At other point, regarding some experiments such as Maier’s with the ropes, he says we need to accept our ignorance and say “I don’t know” more often. Have you found yourself making up explanations because you did not really know the answer about a decision you made?
What about the suggestion of finding out if somebody will make a good employee by dropping by the person’s house and taking a look around? Did it make you think about your house and what it would say about you?
The one experiment that didn't quite add up to me was the one from the "Primed for action" section. Walking slower and feeling old just because of some sentences you read that had some words referring to old age sounds fishy to me...
ReplyDeleteI agree, I don't think I would walk slower after some sentences, maybe the experiment wasn't detailed... Have any of you tried the tests he cites from a Harvard website? I'm curious about them, maybe I'll try them.
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