In chapter 4, Gladwell continues his purpose to extol the value of "thin-slicing," or those insightful first impressions, and begins discussing how we can control those impressions to our benefit. Here he begins with the story of the Millennium Challenge, a war game conducted in 2000 by the U.S. Joint Forces Command. His point in this story is that Paul van Riper, a retired Marine Corps general who acted as the rogue commander, used the power of first impressions within a set of guidelines to win the challenge against his data-driven opponent. He won by allowing his field personnel the freedom to act on gut instincts during the heat of "battle."
Gladwell takes this concept into the civilian world when he examines the improvisational acting group Mother. Spontaneity is the key to good improv. Only when acting on their split-second instincts can actors create side-splitting comedy. Yet the acting troupe provided a general rule for their thin-slicing: Say yes to everything. This shows how we can control and use our thin-slicing ability to our benefit.
Gladwell then goes on to discuss the "perils of introspection" and warn against overthinking problems and relying too heavily on too much data. The example of doctors in the emergency room trying to diagnose heart attacks shows that by developing an algorithm that uses only the most applicable data, doctors can then use their instincts to give patients better care.
Chapter 4 is key to Gladwell's premise in the Introduction that "we can . . . teach ourselves to make better snap judgments." Here he introduces the reader to "doctors and generals . . . [who] owe their success, at least in part, to the steps they have taken to shape and manage and educate their unconscious reactions."
If you follow the link below, you’ll find a brief summary for each chapter of Blink.
Chapter Four is titled “Paul Van Riper’s Big Victory: Creating Structure for Spontaneity.” Here Gladwell uses examples from the U.S. military, fire fighters, emergency room personnel, and even a comedy improvisation troupe to analyze how people in stressful situations make successful spur-of-the-moment or spontaneous decisions. Each one of these groups straddles a line between needing as much information as possible, and acting as quickly as feasible. The studies that Gladwell presents show that having more information at one’s fingertips can actually mean less success. Yes, a high degree of past practice is involved, and yes, using instincts that draw on that experience are key factors. But people have no time to scrutinize every piece of information on the spot. This is particularly noticeable in the examples of the military war game in the Middle East and the Cook County Hospital emergency room in Chicago. They have to go with brief details based on the whole picture. Gladwell summarizes it this way:
There are, I think, two important lessons here. The first is that truly successful decision making relies on a balance between deliberate and instinctive thinking. … The second lesson is that in good decision making, frugality matters.
In other words, less can be more.
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