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The Power of Thinking
without Thinking
By Malcolm Gladwell
Overview
This book delves into the idea of thin slicing, explained
by Malcolm Gladwell. It is about recognizing specific
patterns in a determined situation and making a snap
decision based on what was observed.
This technique can be applied in many areas; from
determining if a person will be successful in the future
to estimating whether or not a married couple will get
a divorce.
It is a powerful theory, but like all things, it has its
flaws. Since the idea is to make a decision based on as
little information as possible, it is prone to lead to
errors once in a while. However, by reading this book
and practicing, you might be able to do it with a high
percentage of success.
Key Ideas Chapter-by-Chapter
Chapter 1 – The Theory of Thin Slices
- Malcolm Gladwell begins the first chapter of his
book by relating the story of John Gottman, a
psychologist by profession, who had a visit from a
young couple. The entire visit, a 15 minutes long
conversation on dogs between a married couple, was
videotaped. The participants were hooked up to
machines that measured their heart rate and
perspiration level. By this recording, Gottman could
predict with a 90% accuracy whether the couple would
divorce in the coming years or not.
How Gottman Does It
- Gottman argues that there are subliminal ways on
how couples argue. It isn’t always a direct
confrontation, and what is usually hidden away is the
stuff that is most telling. For instance, Bill would seem
to reply in the affirmative, seeming to agree with
Susan. However, after agreeing with her, he would jab
in a “but” in his statements, thus effectively
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many small ways how people show their contempt.
Finding these small yet seemingly insignificant details is
at the heart of the matter.
The Power of Short Quick Evaluations
- Thin slicing is effective because it basically bypasses
the human mind’s tendency to stereotype things. For
instance, Gladwell presents the image of a muscular
football player. You can’t accurately judge the man’s
IQ right then and there because of the usual bias that
we have because of the preconceived stereotype we
have already made for athletes of the same stripe.
Chapter 2 – The Locked Door
Why is the Door Locked
- Everyone can make snap judgements; that is a fact.
You’ve been thin slicing even before you became
aware that you were doing it. It is a natural function of
your unconscious. Just like everyone else, when asked
how you know what you know, comes the hard-
crushing reality that your best explanation just sounds
like mist dissolving into thin air.
- Gladwell explains that when people make snap
judgements it is often performed behind a closed door
of sorts. He uses the term “the locked door”. The door
is locked and not even you can open it. That is why
when people are asked to explain how they know what
they know instinctively, their explanations rarely come
out as something convincing.
Chapter 3 – The Warren Harding Error
The Road Towards the Worst Presidency
- It was the year 1899 when Warren Harding, then
vying for the presidency of the United States, and
Harry Daugherty, a lawyer and political fixer, had a
meeting that would later change the course of history
in the next few years. If you would care to check the
paper trail, Harding didn’t seem to be something
special – he didn’t even look like presidential material.
On the one hand, he wasn’t really that smart. He never
really distinguished himself either as an editor for the
paper that he was already working on or as a
politician. On top of that, he had a heckler of a record
when it came to having affairs with women.

- Did he run for president? Of course he did. Did he
win though? Yes, he did. And he would go down in
American history as one of the worst presidents the
country has ever had. Why did the people vote for
him? It was just as Daugherty said – he looked like a
charismatic leader and that was all there was to him.
Chapter 4 – Paul Van Riper’s Big Victory
Millennium Challenge
- In the year 2000, the US military conducted what
was dubbed as the Millennium Challenge. It was an
expensive war game. The theme of the said military
exercise was that the army would go against a military
commander in the Middle East. The military men who
participated in said war game stayed in Suffolk,
Virginia, for more than 2 weeks. Paul Van Riper was
designated as the leader of the Red Team (i.e. the
enemy), while on the other hand, the other US
generals took part as leaders of the Blue Team (i.e.
Team USA). That’s basically how war games are setup
in the Pentagon.
- Van Riper had unpredictability on his side - the Red
Team. He viewed the battlefield and used his battle
instincts as he gave orders to his men on the field. Blue
Team was able to destroy the majority of their
communication system, but Van Riper devised a
complex communication code that was rather
impromptu and improvised. Blue Team’s system
wasn’t able to decode the system that Red Team was
using.
- In short, Red Team was able to override Blue
Team’s predictions. Red Team was even able to
destroy the huge majority of Blue Team’s aircraft and
ships. They literally crushed the enemy in spite of their
lack of numbers.
Chapter 5 – Kenna’s Dilemma
- Kenna was discovered by a talent scout who then
referred him to Atlantic Records president Craig
Kallman. His music is rather complex; it doesn’t fit
squarely in any single musical genre. You can almost
say that it is a genre on its very own. The musicians
who heard his music, the producers, and top
executives, loved his music. They all approved that
Kenna was going to be a huge musical star one day.
Kenna even got really good reviews from music critics
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3-PAGE SUMMARY: BLINK
and music reviewers. But there was one problem – the
public didn’t like him.
So Why Did Kenna Fail?
- Gladwell concludes that he didn’t sell simply
because the marketers focused too much on the music
and not so much on selling Kenna.
Chapter 6 – Seven Seconds in the Bronx
- Malcolm Gladwell concludes his book with a tragic
example on how snap judgements can be made
erroneously. He tells the story of Amadou Diallo and
the four police officers who killed him. It was a night
in February, in the year 1999, and Diallo, an immigrant
from Guinea who knew very little English, was standing
outside his South Bronx apartment. While there, four
police officers drove by and thought they were looking
at a burglar who was trying to break into an
apartment. On top of that, the man fit the description
of a serial rapist who had been reported to be roaming
the neighbourhood.
- The police officers who were in civilian clothing
pursued him, but were walking into a tight hallway.
Immediately, the situation became tense. They yelled
for the black man to stop running, but he kept on
running. All of a sudden, one of the officers thought he
saw Diallo carrying a gun. It was in fact his wallet, and
he might have been trying to give it up to the four guys
he thought were trying to rob him.
- One of the officers opened fire upon seeing what he
thought was a firearm. The others followed suit after
hearing the gunshot. Diallo died right then and there.
Gladwell argues that the officers might have reacted
out of confusion rather than out of prejudice against a
black man. They made four mistakes during this
encounter:
1. It was a case of mistaken identity, because
they thought Diallo was a suspected rapist. Some, of
course, argued that this was a case of racial prejudice.
2. They chased Diallo into a narrow hallway,
which was actually headed towards Diallo’s apartment.
3. One officer shot the man because he thought
he was reaching for his pistol or concealed firearm.
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4. The other officers thought the gunshot injured

their comrade, and thus, they opened fire, resulting in
the Diallo’s death.

- One argument about this incident is that it is

another case of conscious racism. Of course, that is
arguably the case, but it couldn’t be proven.
Nevertheless, it can be a possible cause of the poor
snap decision made on the part of the police officers,
even if they were not openly or admittedly racist.

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