Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking

Reading Check and Short Answer questions on key plot points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.

Introduction-Chapter 2

Reading Check

1. What is a “kouros”?

2. In 1983, how much did the Getty Museum pay for an inauthentic kouros?

3. How long did it take the Getty Museum’s technical team to determine that the kouros was a fake?

4. What is the name of the researcher who manages a “love lab” near the University of Washington campus, as described in Chapter 1?

5. As discovered in the “love lab,” what did researchers learn is the minimum ratio of positive to negative feelings that a couple should have for a successful marriage?

6. During World War II, the British used thousands of women as interceptors of German Morse Code transmissions. Before long, the women learned to recognize individual operators by their “fist.” What is “fist,” in this context?

7. What did tennis coach Vic Braden have a knack for predicting about a tennis player’s serve?

8. What physical sensation does art historian Bernard Berenson feel when he is in the presence of a fake piece of art?

9. In Chapter 2, Gladwell writes about those who experience damage to a particular part of the brain, which makes them unable to experience intuitions. What is that part of the brain?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. In the Introduction, Gladwell describes an experiment that involves four card decks—two red ones, and two blue ones—which scientists used to test subjects’ instincts and intuition. Briefly describe how that experiment worked.

2. What are the three purposes Gladwell had in writing Blink, as stated in the Introduction to the book?

Paired Resource

“Malcolm Gladwell Answers Research Questions from Twitter”

• In this video, Gladwell answers the web's most searched questions about research, a few of which are discussed in Blink.
• Questions that Gladwell addresses in this clip include: How do you avoid confirmation bias? Is the 10,000-hours rule actually real? Does anyone go to libraries anymore? Is Wikipedia a reliable resource? Did McDonald's fries taste better when we were kids?
• What strikes you about Gladwell’s research methods and his approach to research, as discussed in this video? If you were to research the main questions posed in Blink, what sources would you seek out, as part of your own research?

“The Love Lab”

• Filmed and published by the Gottman Institute, this primary source video shows live footage from Dr. John Gottman’s “love lab” in Seattle.
• The “love lab” is one of the examples Gladwell draws upon in Chapter 1, in his discussion of how Dr. Gottman uses couples’ own intuition/instincts in his assessment of the success and happiness of romantic couples, as well as the overall health and longevity of said couple.

Chapters 3-4

Reading Check

1. Before Warren Harding became President, he was a senator in what state?

2. In what year was Harding elected President?

3. According to Gladwell, what was the main reason why Harding was elected President?

4. Over half of all Fortune 500 CEOS are what height or taller?

5. In 2000, planners of the Millennium Challenge war game approached what Marine commander about playing a rogue Middle Eastern military leader?

6. According to Gladwell, what is the main rule of improv?

7. What is Gladwell’s term for an over-explanation that interferes with the ability to see a situation clearly?

8. Who is the “Goldman algorithm” named after? Provide the person’s full name and the field in which they worked.

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What is an “implicit-association test”? Provide an example of at least one such test in your response.

2. Briefly describe Gladwell’s example regarding the Millennium Challenge. Why does he include this in the text? What larger point does it make?

Paired Resource

“A Marine General Led a Fictional Iran Against US Military – And Won”

• In this video, We Are The Mighty shines a spotlight on the Millennium Challenge discussed by Gladwell in Chapter 4.
• What are the potential flaws in this experiment? Is it possible that it is not illustrative of the benefits of Fast-and-Frugal Thinking, as Gladwell suggests?

“What Podcasting with Rick Rubin Has Taught Malcolm Gladwell”

• Journalist Erin Vanderhoof explores what Gladwell learned while working on the podcast Broken Record with “super-producer” Rick Rubin.
• The focus of Broken Record is a music podcast “in a world without liner notes,” that revisits old classic albums for a new generation of music lovers.
• How does Broken Record connect with Gladwell’s research interests in narratives like Blink? What are some potentially common themes between the two, even while being disparate pieces of media?

Chapter 5-Afterword

Reading Check

1. What is the name of the U2 manager who predicted that Kenna’s rock music would “change the world”?

2. What sort of product testing—which is often misleading according to Gladwell—did Coca-Cola use while developing “New Coke?”

3. In the 1940s, Louis Cheskin developed a new name and brand identity for margarine, the product he was tasked with finding a way to boost sales. What was the new name for the product?

4. Food tasters consider dozens of attributes when testing various foods, rated on what type of scale?

5. Who was charged with first-degree manslaughter and second-degree murder in the 1999 killing of Amadou Diallo?

6. What is the name of the trombone player featured in the opening anecdote of the Conclusion?

7. In the Afterword, Gladwell suggests perhaps that placing what object in courtrooms might reduce the effect of unconscious bias during trials?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. In Chapter 5, what is Gladwell’s point in telling the seemingly unconnected stories about Kenna’s rock music, New Coke, and Louis Cheskin?

2. Gladwell attempts to explain the two main reasons that led to the wrongful killing of Amadou Diallo at the end of Chapter 6. In his estimation, what happened?

Recommended Next Reads 

The Bomber Mafia: A Dream, a Temptation, and the Longest Night of the Second World War by Malcolm Gladwell

• Published in 2021, The Bomber Mafia weaves together the stories of “a Dutch genius and his homemade computer, a band of brothers in central Alabama, a British psychopath, and pyromaniacal chemists at Harvard to examine one of the greatest moral challenges in modern American history.”
• A departure from popular psychology like Blink, The Bomber Mafia is focused on a very specific historical period (World War II). However, like Blink, Gladwell remains a keen observer of human motivations, and attempts to uncover the origins of human persistence and innovation, particularly during difficult times of war.
• The Bomber Mafia on SuperSummary

The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell

• Published in 2006, The Tipping Point is Gladwell’s debut book in which he explores “the science behind viral trends in business, marketing, and human behavior.”
• In The Tipping Point, Gladwell established his trademark narrative style, one that thoughtfully examines cultural phenomena—in this case, viral trends—through a pop psychological lens.
• The Tipping Point on SuperSummary