Thin Slicing

After reading Malcolm Gladwell's Blink, his sequel to his Tipping Point, and thoroughly enjoying it, I started to think about one of the main themes of the book a little more. Gladwell asserts that there is an ability that humans possess in their unconscious mind, which is the ability to thin slice.

He describes thin slicing as, "the ability of our unconscious to find patterns in situations and behavior based on very narrow slices of experience," (Gladwell, 23). He goes on to argue that thin slicing is a skill that people gain through life experiences , social surroundings, and personal character that allows them to make snap judgments about situations in the, pardon the pun, blink of an eye. He also goes on to say that these snap judgments are for the most part, on the money.

So why am I bringing this up? Well I have been thinking about college and about going out in general. Why is it that people subject themselves to spending money to pregame before going to the bar, paying cover to get into the bar, and then shelling out even more money for drinks at the bar? Why is it that people do this multiple evenings in a week?

I think it has something to do with Gladwell's theory of thin slicing. We consciously decide to subside our subconscious ability to accurately thin slice by going to the bars, clubs or parties. By purposely sequestering our ability to make decisions and snap judgments about other people, through the vehicle of alcohol nonetheless, we allow ourselves to become more "social" and have more "fun" overall.

Bars and other institutions are set up in a way so that it maximizes first impressions and opportunities to engage in thin slicing. The dim lighting, the large amounts of people, the alcohol, and the loud music make prolonged interactions very hard to establish, and also make thin slicing properly less accurate. By taking away many of the sensual aspects and mental cognition that is required for thin slicing, we are less capable of feeling the "vibe" with other people and are more prone to making bad decisions.

So why is it that I, along with a majority of college students, continue to go about our drinking binges, and bar going ways? Since thin slicing is right a majority of the time, it has the ability to inhibit the number of social interactions that we may have or pursue. This is because most people naturally put their guard up and are aware of the sketchiness or ulterior motives that are roaming around bar situations. When the ability to thin slice is inhibited however, people are more free flowing, social, and more prone to have shorter term relationships. If you ever go to the bar sober, you're much less likely to interact with strangers, bartenders, acquaintances or anybody else outside of your immediate circle of comfortable friends because you can use thin slicing to eliminate anybody you do not want to interact with. As the drunk bargoer, it is much more likely you end up in the morning, with a phone number with a strange name that you would have never gotten if your ability to thin slice was still present.

So what this leads me to conclude is that bars are not necessarily where the scum of the earth congregates, it is just a place where you're less likely to weed out the scum from the people you want to carry out meaningful relationships with. There is probably an even dispersal of "seedy" and "wholesome" types all around, but only in situations where thin slicing is subdued, do bad decisions and wrongful judgments usually arise. As young college students, many of us are actively trying to subdue or ability to thin slicing without even knowing it. It's the risk taking mentality in many of us.

That is all.

-ydollar