Article: Blink: Book Review and Analysis
Abstract:
In the book, Blink, author Malcolm Gladwell talks of a number of experiments which helped to increase our understanding of “Priming” as a method of influencing behavior (Gladwell, 2005, p. 52-56). These included using lists of words that indicated old age (Florida, grey, bingo, etc.) to get a subject to walk more slowly and delicately, or write lists of words that came to mind when they thought of being a professor, and then answer trivial pursuit questions, on which they scored quite highly (Gladwell, 2005, p.52, 53, 56).
The point Gladwell makes is that the mere act of being exposed to lingual or environmental artifacts that one associates with a concept such as intelligence or old age are enough to make a person act with more intelligence or less energy.
Keywords: psychology, applied behavior analysis
