I think that this is the way that our unconscious works.
When we leap to a decision or have a hunch, our unconscious
30

is doing what John Gottman does. It’s sifting through the
situation in front of us, throwing out all that is irrelevant while
we zero in on what really matters. And the truth is that our
unconscious is really good at this, to the point where thin-
slicing often delivers a better answer than more deliberate and
exhaustive ways of thinking.
4. The Secrets of the Bedroom Imagine that you are
considering me for a job. You’ve seen my résumé and think I
have the necessary credentials. But you want to know whether
I am the right fit for your organization. Am I a hard worker?
Am I honest? Am I open to new ideas? In order to answer
those questions about my personality, your boss gives you two
options. The first is to meet with me twice a week for a year-to
have lunch or dinner or go to a movie with me-to the point
where you become one of my closest friends. (Your boss is
quite demanding.) The second option is to drop by my house
when I’m not there and spend half an hour or so looking
around. Which would you choose?
The seemingly obvious answer is that you should take the
first option: the thick slice. The more time you spend with me
and the more information you gather, the better off you are.
Right? I hope by now that you are at least a little bit skeptical
of that approach. Sure enough, as the psychologist Samuel
Gosling has shown, judging people’s personalities is a really
good example of how surprisingly effective thin-slicing can be.
Gosling began his experiment by doing a personality
workup on eighty college students. For this, he used what is
called the Big Five Inventory, a highly respected, multi-item
questionnaire that measures people across five dimensions:
1. Extraversion. Are you sociable or retiring? Fun-loving or
2. Agreeableness. Are you trusting or suspicious? Helpful



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