Book Review Of Blink By Malcolm Gladwell

For the first half of our course in mediation, we have been looking how people typically make decisions and how a mediator can use certain strategies to help bring people together to make constructive decisions that is beneficial for both parties and minimizes conflict. These themes are laid out and explored deeper in Malcom Gladwell’s novel, Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking. This book focuses on how people make sudden judgments and decisions, while never even consciously aware of these decisions or the factors that influenced their decision-making processes. Gladwell describes this phenomena as an “automatic pilot,” where “the way we work and act and how well we think and act on the spur of the moment are a lot more susceptible to outside influence than we realize.” It is important to note that while these quick assessments come from the unconscious and cannot exactly explored in depth, the author argues that ways do exist to reasonably explain these “blink” decisions. For a mediator, the ability to identify and understand this unconscious human behavior can come in handy. By understanding and being able to anticipate how someone while react to and with both verbal and nonverbal communication, they can minimize the poor decision-making that many of us fall into when we let our unconscious judgments take control. One technique Gladwell

“When we talk about analytic versus intuitive decision-making, neither is good or bad. What is bad is if you use either of them in an inappropriate circumstance.” Preparation for mediation uses both these methods. While it is important have an opening statement, certain points you wish to cover, question outlines, and knowledge of background information when available; much of the actual mediation is left to chance. A good mediator needs to be able to think on their toes, always ready to react and assess the parties and their