Claims, Reasons, Evidence

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Claims, Reasons, Evidence Warrants from Blink
part 2

• In this review, I go over the main stories that
  Gladwell talks about in the second part of the
  book (Chapters 5, 6 and conclusion) This time,
  however, I try to see the stories in terms of
  claims, reasons, evidence and warrants. I take
  the position that each chapter is an argument in
  itself, and each story is evidence which
  constructs the argument.
• Not all of the arguments Gladwell makes contain
  all the elements, however, and remember that
  often these elements are implicit that is, they
  are not stated directly.
• Remember that each story is used as evidence for
  a main claim, and often supports a sub-claim that
  is part of the main claim. So it isnt always
  simple
• As for acknowledgement, I think we can agree that
  Gladwell is not strong on this component of
  argument His book would be stronger if he
  thought about potential criticisms of his views.

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Chapter 5 Kennas dilemma

• Claim Experts have special knowledge in their
  fields that permit them to exercise Blink
  thinking, but they need to do the  thin
  slicing  within a context. We can find the main
  claim for Chapter 5 on p 179 183
• Reason Because experts spend a great deal of
  effort and time and thought on this field, they
  naturally have more developed ways of
  understanding the field, but they still need the
  context to pick up on the signals that others
  might miss.
• Warrant A general principle like Sometimes life
  doesnt turn out the way you might expect it,
  because other unexpected factors affect the
  situation. Notice that this principle applies on
  all of the examples in Chapter 5

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Evidence for Chapter 5

• Evidence 1 People who play and know music
  really like Kenna, but he cant reach the success
  he would like because non-expert focus groups
  hearing the music out of context dont permit him
  to get the airplay he needs.
• (Note We could counter-argue that Gladwell uses
  another example in the conclusion that
  contradicts this need for context the woman
  behind the screen plays the trombone the best.
  With no context. )

4
Evidence for Chapter 5 A Second Look at First
Impressions

• Evidence 2 Bill Clinton was one of the first
  politicians to apply market research to the
  project of getting elected. But what does this
  kind of information from people tell us?
• By using an unpopular concept (political polling
  instead of using principle) Gladwell creates the
  unstable situation that he promises to render
  stable. Most of us dont like politicians who act
  according to the polls, and dont think our
  thoughts reflect the polls. So the warrant is
  established here that things are not always what
  they seem. This is a general principle that we
  can all understand and agree with

5
Evidence for Chapter 5 Pepsis Challenge

• Evidence 3 Coke made the mistake of imitating
  Pepsi, and it was a mistake because the taste
  test favors a certain kind of decontextualized
  reaction, which has little to do with how people
  drink Coke. Knowing how people react to Coke
  requires a little important context, including
  the packaging, like other products such as
  margarine and brandy.

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Evidence for Chapter 5 The Chair of Death

• Evidence 4 the Aeron chair shows that sometimes
  average people dont really understand their own
  reactions. In this case, the chair was NEW, not
  ugly, in the minds of the people, but market
  research didnt pick up on this difference, as it
  didnt for some famous TV shows, and perhaps for
  Kenna the musician.
• This example furthers the claim that non-experts
  often dont accurately describe their reactions.

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Evidence for Chapter 5the Gift of Expertise

• Evidence 5 The professional tasters have a
  vocabulary and an ability to think about what
  they are tasting, while they are tasting.
  Non-experts actually get more confused when
  talking about things that are subconscious.
• The jam tasters example shows that people can
  taste jam as well as experts, but when they try
  to talk about why they like the jam, they fail
  miserably
• Gladwell then goes back to his original examples
  (the tennis coach) and makes the distinction
  between being an expert at solving a problem, and
  knowing your own mind. To me, this is a weakness
  in his argument because Braden was supposed to be
  an expert in the beginning. But I do agree with
  Gs last statement of his claim in this chapter
  on p 184 Whenever we have something that we are
  good at something we care about, that
  experience and passion fundamentally change the
  nature of our first impressions.

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Chapter 6 Seven Seconds in the Bronx

• Claim G makes his claim on page 232 when he
  says, I think that we become temporarily
  autistic also in situations when we run out of
  time. In other words, we are normally good at
  understanding each others emotions and
  intentions, but in panic situations, we lose this
  blink ability because of our primitive reaction
  to a lack of time.
• Reason Because we are in primitive survival
  mode, our ability to think with any complexity is
  affected.
• Warrant I think the warrant here is the general
  principle We all will do whatever it takes to
  survive, because nature has made us instinctive
  self-defenders. (If we have any sympathy for the
  police officers, it is because they appear to
  truly fear for their lives.)

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Evidence for Chapter 5 The case of Amadou
Diallo

• Four police officers make a terrible mistake
  (perhaps based on racism) and in their fear, kill
  an innocent man because they think he is drawing
  a gun. Because of the lack of time (white space)
  they totally misjudge Diallo. (mind reading
  failure)

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Evidence for Chapter 6Paul Ekman and Face Reading

• Ekman became an expert on reading facial
  expressions and created a list of the involuntary
  facial expressions that we make every day. In
  normal situations we subconsciously use these
  expressions to read the minds of people.
• G. makes this sub-claim on page 213 What Ekman
  is describing, in a very real sense, is the
  physiological basis of how we thin-slice other
  people

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Evidence for Chapter 6The Case of Peter

• Peter, an autistic man, is mind-blind he
  cannot understand peoples intentions from their
  expressions or gestures. Gladwell spends some
  time on this piece of evidence because he needs
  to convince us of the similarity between chronic
  autism and temporary autism what he thinks the
  police officers had when they killed Amadou
  Diallo. He proposes this claim as a question on p
  221.

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Evidence for Chapter 6Arguing with a Dog

• The title here suggests that when we are in an
  extreme state of arousal because of danger, and
  our heart rate goes over 145, we become more like
  an animal because we start using the more
  animal-like part of our brain. G describes many
  police situations such as high-speed chases where
  officers simply lose control.
• G makes this claim in a very short sentence on
  page 229 Arousal leaves us mind-blind.

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Evidence for Chapter 6Running out of White Space

• Gladwell makes the point here that a lack of time
  pressures people (security and police in
  particular) so that they cant think clearly. He
  describes two assassination attempts and various
  police situations to suggest that slowing down
  the situation allows for more complex thought.
• Note At this point, you might be wondering But
  I thought Blink was lightning-fast thought ! Now
  Gladwell wants to slow it down ? I think
  Gladwell would strengthen his argument here by
  acknowledging this natural criticism of his
  argument. But there is no acknowledgment. Can you
  sense this weakness in his writing?

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Evidence for Chapter 6Something told me not to
shoot

• In this section, Gladwell makes the point that
  Blink thinking in periods of high stress can be
  trained. Security people can be trained to
  control their primitive reactions.
• This sub-claim is stated directly on page 238
  Mind-reading, as well, is an ability that
  improves with practice.
• Gladwell then moves back to the Diallo story, and
  by re-describing it, concludes the claim that in
  this particular case, and therefore in other
  cases, a primitive response and lack of time lead
  to mind-blindness.

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ConclusionListening with your Eyes

• Claim Our prejudices can affect our rapid
  cognition, but when they are taken away, we are
  capable of great Blink power
• Reason This is true because people have
  prejudices and use them to make decisions
• Warrant A general principle such as Life is not
  always fair
• Evidence when Abbie Conant played the trombone
  behind the screen, the experts immediately
  recognized her as the best. But when she emerged
  from behind the screen and they saw she was a
  woman, they came face to face with their Blink
  ability versus their prejudices.