Malcolm Gladwell, author of "The Tipping Point" and a frequent contributor to "The New Yorker," published "Blink" last year. The book discusses the validity of our gut feelings, lending some weight to the idea of love at first sight and the often-scorned women's intuition. This book backs up claims my mom has been making for years.
"Blink" is a compilation of people's research discoveries of the veracity of our initial snap judgments. Gladwell outlines his arguments and the supporting case studies very lucidly. In a way, he makes the validity of intuition accessible to everyone, a commendable act ?though almost redundant, since we are all born with this instinct.
There are experts who can predict with scary accuracy whether or not you and your significant other will still be in a relationship 15 years from now merely by watching an innocent 15-minute conversation between the two of you. This kind of analysis might be beneficial in the early stages of a college romance, though frankly, who wants to know the future?
Scientists Silvan Tomkins and Paul Ekman are responsible for cataloguing the range of emotional facial expressions in humans. People's faces go through the motions of a series of expressions so rapidly that one does not necessarily recognize the importance of each eyebrow twitch and nostril flare. Gladwell's point is that subconscious recognition of each new arrangement of muscles might subconsciously make us aware of what the person is really feeling. I had a lot of fun watching my friends talk after reading this chapter; sadly, I had no idea what an eye roll, followed by a creased forehead and finished with a smirk, said about our friendship or about her feelings toward her boyfriend.
Both examples involve an intense and thorough study of people's behaviors, with focused breakdowns of things most of us don't have the time or discipline to learn. It is interesting to know that such research is being done and that the results have bearing on our behavioral tendencies. Much of Gladwell's book is bringing research of this kind into the limelight. This is important because it would seem that the general public is increasingly disconnected with the validity of the gut.
A rather somber revelation that this book presents is the negative unconscious values that are ingrained in our psyches. For instance, tall men have a much better chance of rising to the status of C.E.O., men are still more likely to get prominent positions in their professional fields than women, and hardly anyone is capable of racial neutrality. These associations are not correct, but they are inherent to our society and difficult to unlearn.
Gladwell explains why brilliant musicians are unknown to the public and puts a cap on the argument about which is better, Pepsi or Coke. "Blink" reminds us to give more weight to what we feel, that in professional, intellectual, and emotional fields intuition can take one from being good to great.