Implicit Association

I'm currently reading Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell. This is a part of my 101 in 1001 list. I'm trying to read "professional development books" and recalled attending a speaker series session at my company where a somewhat high-powered woman was discussing her secrets of success. She recommended this book.

I'm usually not into these sorts of books. I just finished reading Eat, Pray, Love and according to Ben, it was a predictable read for most women. Elizabeth Gilbert was featured on Oprah awhile ago to pimp her book and her following was nothing short of amazing. There were tons of women who would gather for "Eat, Pray, Love" meetings to discuss how this book changed their lives. Some even claimed this book to be their bible (which is kind of awesome for me in case I'm ever put in the situation again of being told that I need to read the bible... I can tell that person "Well... according to some people, I have - thank you very much"). Anywho - I read memoirs. I read entertaining books.

I don't read books to learn. Gah-ross. Learning isn't fun.

But... Blink is actually quite fascinating. I recommend it. I'm only 100 pages in but I'm totally engrossed in it. Did you know that the number 1 indicator of divorce is the presence of contempt between a couple? There is a psychologist who is able to predict with 95% accuracy if a couple will still be married after 15 years just based on a 15 minute interview? I mean, I guess anyone has a 50/50 chance of guessing correctly but it was pretty interesting. There are a lot of queues, phrases, tones, facial expressions that one looks for but contempt topped the list.

Sadly - I know of at least one couple that demonstrates this quite often... and in front of large groups of people. It blows my mind. I like to poke fun at The Mr and sure, he makes me mad from time to time - but I don't ever treat him with contempt. I never criticize things from a high-horse perspective. He's my husband. He's my partner in crime. He's the guy that caters to my every whim.

Anywho - another fascinating part of the book had to do with a type of test developed by researchers called Implicit Association. According to these researchers, our unconscious will reveal our true feelings regarding certain things (i.e. race, gender, etc). So - no matter how many people claim that all races are equal - this test could reveal that a person actually favors whites. Fascinating stuff.

So, if you have some free time - you should try your hand at a few tests: Project Implicit. Click on "Demonstration" and you'll agree to a few things and then you can select from a list of a few tests.

Try it and let me know how you do!