If, like me, you’re the kind of person who finds it hard to make decisions, then Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink might just be the book you have been waiting for. Because Blink is all about rapid cognition — that is, those moments when we make snap judgements, for example, when meeting someone for the first time or looking at something we’re thinking of buying.
He analyses exactly what goes on in our heads when we make split-second decisions and compares this to the thought processes involved when we take longer to come to a decision. Interestingly he claims that, “There are lots of situations — particularly at times of high pressure and stress — when fortunately haste does not make waste.”
What makes Blink a really interesting read is the number of stories that Gladwell includes to support his theories. One such story involves doctors in the Emergency Room at Cook County Hospital in Chicago. After told to change the way of diagnoses, instead of asking for information such as the patient’s age and weight and medical history, they were going to focus only on the patient’s blood pressure. And now Cook County is one of the best places in the US at diagnosing chest pain.
Of course, there are occasions when we leap to the wrong conclusion. In his research, Gladwell discovered that almost all the CEOs of the top companies in the US are tall. There is no actual relationship between height and intelligence, but for some reason, corporations overwhelmingly choose tall people for leadership roles. There is something going on in the first few seconds of meeting a tall person which makes us think of that person as an effective leader, which unfortunately stops us from making an informed decision.
All in all, Blink is a fascinating study on an activity that we all do several times a day. Read it and make better decisions.
【小题1】What does the underlined word “snap” in the first paragraph mean?| A．Instant. | B．Decisive. | C．Hesitant | D．Important. |
| A．By obtaining the patients’ medical history. |
| B．By basing diagnoses on patients’ blood pressure. |
| C．By abandoning regular ways of diagnosing patients. |
| D．By inquiring about current health condition of the patients. |
| A．Tall people tend to be capable leaders. |
| B．A person’s height and intelligence are closely related. |
| C．CEOs of top companies usually draw right conclusions. |
| D．The first impression of a person can result in bad judgement. |
| A．To honor a writer. | B．To recommend a book. |
| C．To introduce a research. | D．To explain a phenomenon. |
