Free Custom «Blink» Essay Paper

Introduction

Blink: The power of Thinking without Thinking is a book written by Malcom Gladwell. It represents the popular science from the psychology perspective. It also presents the mental activities, and how they work automatically and rapidly even in intensely little information. Therefore, this paper is to discuss how psychology is portrayed in the book. Aspects such as rapid cognition are the kind of thinking within a twinkle of an eye is figured in this discussion.

Discussion

The book is majorly about the instant thinking of human in a blink of an eye. For instance, you walking in town and you see an attractive cloth, and then within a short time you make up your mind buying it. This action focuses on the mind of an individual jumping into a conclusion within a short time. Therefore, ‘Blink’ is a book that talks about the two seconds that a human mind takes to jump it a conclusion.

The book highlights the aspect of intuition. This refers to a concept that is used to describe psychological emotions and reactions, feelings and thoughts, and impressions of an individual. This is identified in the first two first seconds of rational thinking. Thinking as presented in psychology operates faster and instantly than a conscious decision making. Gladwell discusses how the ability of an expert can easily be changed by their likes and dislikes (Glawell, 2005, 79). In addition, stereotypes and prejudices contribute significantly to their downfall. Considerably, he uses various examples of the society experiences with ‘thin-slicing.’

In addition, Gladwell explains that there are two forms of unconscious bias. These are psychological priming, which identifies the ability of mind to make decisions. They indicate implicit association tests that denote the rate at which the decision is made. He argues that instinctive ability of the human mind to read someone’s thoughts or feelings by just looking at his face as to good perception. He suggests that the principles of good decision are not based on knowledge, but the understanding we got towards a certain situation.

In psychology, we figure out the rapid activity of rapid cognition. This involves the usefulness of thinking that takes place instantly. Psychologically it is not true especially in children who are always told to observe various aspects in society with regard to; think before you act. This is not true because some situation require immediate solutions and no waste of time. Moreover, our snap decisions and first feelings offer the exact basic means of psychological understanding (Gladwell, 2005, p. 74).

The mental functions and behaviour of a person are affected by the kind of information he or she perceives. In this case, Gladwell uses an example, in a hospital, in Chicago. He denotes that the patients in the hospital get diagnosed to recovery because of a new form of instructions to the doctors. The doctors gather less information about the patients (Gladwell, 2005, 121). In addition, they are expected to encourage patients to zero on their sufferings, especially those with chest pains. Psychologically, the cognition of the information perceived by the doctor limits the heart pressure and thus mental functions work efficiently.

In psychology, ‘the power of thin slicing’ is never omitted. This term means that human beings possess the ability to make decisions under the thinnest experiences accounted. Trivial misunderstanding can result from thin-slicing. For instance, African-Americans suffer worse conflicts in all times because of misunderstanding between the two parties. The cognitive perspective they have towards each other is psychologically rooted. Their mental ability is affected by how they look upon each other. For instance, characteristics such as skin colour, age, weight, and colour have been psychological differences between the two groups.

Psychology plays a vital role in rapid cognition. The human mind makes decisions rapidly, but they are affected by the situation in which one is exposed to. For example, thin-slicing can be ineffective when police officers jump into wrong conclusions about a law offender. Here, rapid cognition goes wary. Therefore, it is necessary to be keen on powers of rapid cognition. When two people meet that are dating, rapid cognition in the first two seconds determines their decisions (Gladwell, 2005, p. 176). Psychologically, the character traits they see in each other denote the decision they are to make to each other. Similarly, marriage will only last for the short period that a couple is observed.

Malcom does not understand how the human brain perceives the information from a tennis coach when a player double faults. This is even when there is no slight collusion between the ball and the tennis racket. This represents the aspect of rapid cognition within the mind of a human being, and thus the correct decision is made. Generally, Blink reveals good decision makers are not based on the amount of information or the much time taken. He argues that the best decision makers are those who have expertise in the skill of ‘thin-slicing’ (Gladwell, 2005, p. 265).

In conclusion, Blink represents the role of cognitive psychology in rapid cognition. The human behaviour and mental activities are affected by the first two seconds he perceives information on something. Therefore, he or she makes the fastest decision at that time. Malcom argues that thin-slicing is an adoptable skill for good decision makers. Equally this is true considering that some situations within the society require acute psychological mental activities which can yield fats decisions. Therefore, Blink is a considerable book in the field of psychology as it portrays the psychological behaviours within the human mind.