The Skeaky Subconscious

"...Much of the time, we are simply operating on automatic pilot, and the way we think and act-and how well we think and act on the spur of the moment-are a lot more susceptible to outside influences than we realize" (Blink 58)




Gladwell has previously made several references to the subconscious in this chapter, so I feel he is saying our actions are usually based on our unconscious thoughts more than we realize. He uses a few examples to illustrate his point, but one that stuck was an experiment by Joshua Aronson which tested black college students. They were asked to identify their race on a pretest questionnaire. This act was meant to prime them with all the negative stereotypes associated with African Americans and academic achievement. The number they got right on the test was cut in half compared to when they weren't asked to indicate their race. When asked whether it bothered them that they had to indicate their race, all said no. This is why Gladwell says we are usually unaware of outside influences, because most of them are too subtle for the conscious mind to pick up on. The subconscious on the other hand does pick it up and causes us to act differently in accordance to these influences. This struck me as interesting because I've always heard the expression "stay positive" when it comes to tests, but I never imagined negative influences could affect test results this much. I feel we tend to over look the importance of our subconscious, especially the way it notices changes around us. I think it's important to know this because we can use this to our advantage when taking any kind of assessment. We can prime our minds with "smart" thoughts to put ourselves in the right mind frame, which can help us to work to our fullest potential.