Blink 40-98

Summary :

           The second discovery that Gladwell expresses in this book is how the brain can realize things that we wouldn't normally think that we realize. In one experiment, they used 4 college students their friends, their rooms and 4 complete strangers. Most of their friends have known them for years so when they were asked to describe their friend's personalities they thought it would be easy. They brought the strangers up to the rooms and the only way they could determine their personalities was by looking at their belongings. The strangers and the friends were asked the same questions. In the end they found out that the strangers knew the students even better than their friends. The reason for this was when people meet each other they sometimes portray a different person that they really are. People choose to tell the truth or lie about how they really feeling. But they can't pick decorations for they rooms that don't reflect their personality. That's why it was easier for the strangers to figure out what kind of people the students were.

         In another study in a school a few students were given a list with different words to read in the principals office. Reading the random words students couldn't find the connection. After reading a list of descriptions of old people, walking out the office the student was much slower than usual. This is due to the fact that there's a part of the brain that recognizes the words and makes you act as what you read on the paper.

Quote:

          “The people primed to be rude eventually interrupted – in average after about five minutes, but of the people primed to be polite, the overwhelming majority – 82 percent – never interrupted at all.” (Gladwell 55)

Reaction:

           After reading this sections I was really amazed on how the brain recognizes things unconsciously. The example in the quote describes this process. The quote suggests that if a student read a list of adjectives that describe bad or angry behavior a student is more likely to interrupt a conversation than a student that has read description of calm and happy behavior. The brain also recognizes different behavior patterns that can represents someone's personality.