Blink

Decisions without Thinking

Blink, by Malcolm Gladwell, was written to show each and every one of us that we have

a special power. What is this special power you ask? It is the power to make quick, rational

decisions based on a limited amount of information. This may seem like a hard concept to grasp,

but we do it all the time every day. Gladwell believes people can harness this power and when

we do, we can become a better people. His first narrative, The Statue That Didn’t Look Right,

gives readers the first glimpse into his world. He tells about an artifact purchase which was

cancelled due to questions about its authenticity based on feelings from various experts

debunking scientific proof. Next he presents a more solid, scientific approach in his narrative

about the Iowa University experiment. This experiment shows that the human body reacts and

gives signals when under stress. At the same time, the mind interprets these reactions and

signals and compensates with more favorable actions subconsciously, without the person ever

knowing or realizing. This is what Gladwell is hoping to achieve: teaching people to recognize

these subconscious actions and use them effectively and efficiently.

The introduction of Blink is a narrative of the Getty Museum’s acquisition of a Kouros in

1983. The narrative starts out with an art dealer named Gianfranco Becchina approaching the

museum offering to sell his Kouros for $10 million.1 The museum agrees because unlike the

other Kouroi found around the world, Becchina’s Kouros is very well preserved. Following

standard procedure, the museum investigates the Kouros to make sure it is legitimate and not a

fraud.

According to the narrative, the museum hires a geologist from the University of

California named Stanley Margolis to investigate the statue. Margolis tests the geological

structure and composition of the statue using a core sample and subjects it to tests using an

electron microscope, electron...