Blink summary

Though thoroughness can often be a virtue, in decision-making it rarely makes sense to scrutinize every last bit of available information. Usually it’s more effective to concentrate on a few important facts and block out the rest.

Let’s say you’re observing a couple and want to accurately predict whether their relationship will last. To do so, it’s best to concentrate on a few particular key signs: if you spot a hint of contempt in their interactions, for example, that’s a strong indicator that problems could be on the road ahead.

We constantly use snap judgments in everyday life. When it comes to love, for example, we know if we feel attracted to a person the instant we meet them. Football players on the other hand use their “goal instinct” to help them automatically move into a scoring position. Some investors even listen to their back pains to know when it’s time to sell their stocks.

In all of these situations, the decisions are reached in the unconscious part of the brain.

The unconscious influences our actions in a very specific way.

For example, in one study a group of people were asked to play Trivial Pursuit, but before starting they were divided into two groups and given a task: the first group was asked to think about what it would mean to be a professor while the other thought about what it would mean to be a football hooligan.

Would you be surprised to hear that you’re telepathic? In fact, we can all read minds. All we have to do is look at a person’s face: emotional expressions reveal precisely what that person is thinking.

What’s more, scientists have shown that emotional expressions are a universal phenomenon. Everyone in every region of the world can recognize a happy, angry or sad facial expression.

It’s a market researcher’s job to figure out which products will work well on the market and which won’t. Nevertheless, researchers often fail to predict consumer behavior.

For example, several decades ago, Coca Cola carried out a number of taste tests and was forced to conclude that its rival, Pepsi, scored much higher than Coke. As a response, the company changed its recipe and introduced a new kind of Coke to the market, aptly named New Coke. All taste tests indicated it would be a huge hit.

Would you say people these days still have racial prejudices?

Using simple association tests, psychologists have shown that racial prejudices are in fact deeply anchored in people. For example, it has been demonstrably shown that many US citizens find it more difficult to associate positive qualities with the word “black” than with the word “white.” Incredibly enough, this unconscious prejudice has even been found among the black populace.

By now you’ve seen how strongly unconscious prejudices and stereotypes can influence your decisions. If you want to avoid this, you have to consciously shield yourself from potentially misguided information.

For instance, for many years, the prevailing opinion in the music world was that only men could be professional musicians like violinists or bass players. Women, regardless of how talented they were, were not considered viable candidates for the job. Simply put, they were the victims of stereotyping and prejudice.