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It would appear that our existing methods for making decisions are inadequate in today’s fast paced, techno enhanced, highly competitive world and
time is right for a new approach that facilitates better decisions…faster. The question facing us then is, To Blink or not to Blink, that is question. Does Gladwell have a better solution?
In Blink, Gladwell mixes scientific research with idealism to suggest that intuition is often superior to reasoned thinking.
Richard A. Posner, judge of United States Court of Appeals for Seventh Circuit and a senior lecturer at University of Chicago Law School, suggests that there are two types of thinking. One is intuition or hunches, snap judgments, emotional reactions, and first impressions--in short, instant responses to sensations. The second type of thinking is reasoned or articulate and is domain of logic, deliberation, reasoned discussion, and scientific method. Reasoned or articulate thinking is model of rationality, while intuitive thinking is often seen as primitive.
There are numerous examples in Blink of what, on surface, might appear to be intuitive thinking. Posner on other hand suggests that there are many instances when answer appears in a flash like intuition, but are in fact are result of deliberative processes that have become unconscious simply by becoming habitual.
Gladwell and Posner agree that we are drowning in information. They also agree on unconscious cognition regardless of whether from intuition or experience and habit. Most importantly, they have both created more awareness of real problem – need for an approach to decision-making with improved results.
