The Dangers of Quick Thinking

Reviews of Malcolm Gladwell's new book, Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, have almost universally focused on the somewhat less than eye-opening claim that going with a hunch sometimes beats taking more time to think and decide.

Decisions made in a "blink" can be better than decisions made after pondering piles of evidence and sifting through conflicting scenarios. In sports, investing, even dating, sometimes the first instinct is the best answer.

But what most reviewers have missed, perhaps because of the book's upbeat subtitle, is that the most important conclusions in the book actually warn against relying on intuitive decision-making. Read carefully, Blink is more a cautionary tale than a call to arms. And in that way, it's unlike Gladwell's previous bestseller, The Tipping Point, which offered positive insights about how fads are born and trends spread. ...