On my Bucket List 2010 I listed being less judgmental as a goal for 2010. It was on my list for 2009 as well. I’ve been told I am too quick to judge and it’s detrimental to my relationships with people. Right away, I decide if I think I’m going to like the person or if I’m not. It’s not the final opinion of the person, but more times than not it is. I’ve done this my whole life, you take social ques from the new individual and deduce a rough judgment of the person. Recently I’ve been feeling guilty for doing this because so many people have scolded me; never judge a book by it’s cover they say. Well, I’m done feeling guilty and I don’t think I’m going to stop judging…thanks to Malcolm Gladwell.
I am a big fan of Malcolm Gladwell’s work, owning all of this books. Currently, I’m reading his second book, Blink. The book’s tag line is, “The Power of Thinking Without Thinking.” The basic premise of the book is that we automatically and very quickly jump to conclusions about particular situations and more times than not, we’re correct.
“Snap judgments are, first of all, enormously quick: they rely on the thinnest slices of experience. But they are also unconscious.”
Admittedly, I am not done with the book. However, if you’re ever read a Gladwell book, he keeps the same basic theory and just backs it up with a handful case studies. After reading the first 100 pages, I firmly believe that I have a very reliable thin slicing ability. Just because I make a snap judgment, that doesn’t mean I’m totally off. I will be more conscience of initial judgments but that doesn’t mean I won’t listen to them. To date, they have served me quite well. I should mention that Malcolm Gladwell does make references when thin slicing backfires. Most noteably, he mentions Warren G. Harding. His height and good looks fooled everyone. Low and behold, he was considered one of the worst presidents of all time. This is why I will be more conscience of my judgments, but again, I trust myself far too much not to thin slice.
*Maybe I’ll write a better post when I’m done reading the book.
