TOW #8 - Thinking Without Thinking

In Malcolm Gladwell's Blink, Gladwell explains how subconscious thinking affects everyday choices. Malcolm Gladwell is a renowned author who has written many psychology books. He cites many surveys and studies to establish his ethos. Gladwell writes Blink because everyday, people are making mistakes by letting their subconscious control their thoughts. He says, "if we can control the environment in which rapid cognition takes place, then we can control rapid cognition. We can prevent…mistakes" (253). This text can apply to everyone, and everyone is affected by not taking control of their subconscious. His audience however is mainly those interested in psychology or how the brain works because that is the context of most of his works, including Blink. Gladwell uses logos and narration to support his purpose. Logos is shown through the many studies that he uses to back up his claims. For example, he shows that "most police officers - well over 90 percent - go their whole career without firing at anyone" (222). By using logos, he shows that he is not making up the information that he is writing, but is giving his evidence and then coming to a conclusion. It helps the audience see why Gladwell thinks what he thinks and gives the audience the choice to agree or disagree with him. Gladwell also uses narration to describe stories of the instances he describes. By using stories, the audience can understand what the effect of subconscious has in a variety of situations. This also makes the audience more interested because it gives them a story to go along with what Gladwell is trying to prove, not just a list of facts. Gladwell effectively uses narration and logos to show that the subconscious can allow anyone to make instant choices that will have drastic effects. However, Gladwell shows that if one can think about their subconscious, and try to eliminate the way their subconscious affects them, they can be a lot more effective in their decision making. For example, when orchestras started to have blind auditions, they selected better musicians because they weren't affected by their first-impression of their look, only their impression of their music. I think that Gladwell effectively showed his purpose because his narration and logos lead the audience to reach the same conclusions as him. I agree that it is important to focus on subconscious and be aware of it, and hopefully it will change the way that I make decisions in the future.