important information, calculating the best action, and presenting it to you. The hang-ups primarily come when we are forced to question ourselves (Gladwell, 2005). Thin-slicing is built off of previously observed patterns, but life doesn’t always prescribe to our preconceived ideas of how a situation should play out. This creates what’s known as the Warren-Harding Error.
The Warren-Harding Error is named after the president, who “most historians agree, [was] one of the worst presidents in American history” (Gladwell, 2005). While the success of a presidency is never able to be objectively determined, the sentiment remains. Warren Harding was elected not for his political advantages, or for his knowledge of policy and the American people, but because he was charismatic. He was often described as a tall, handsome man, …show more content…
In a card game that simulates real life decision-making, the players are given four decks of cards, two red and two blue, a loan of $2000, and asked to play so that they can lose the least amount of money and win the most. Each card either wins the participant money, or penalizes them. The red deck is high risk, high reward, while the blue deck is low risk, low reward (ie. there are more $100 cards in the red decks and $50 in the blue decks, but there are also high penalties in red decks, low penalties in blue). Playing mostly from the red decks leads to an overall loss. Playing from the blue decks leads to an overall gain. The players have no way of predicting when they will be penalized, no way to calculate the net gain or loss from each deck, and no knowledge of how many cards they must turn to end the game (the game is stopped after 100 card selections). Each participant is fitted with sensors on their hands to measure sweat production. Consciously, it took participants eighty cards on average to consciously recognize
The Warren-Harding Error is named after the president, who “most historians agree, [was] one of the worst presidents in American history” (Gladwell, 2005). While the success of a presidency is never able to be objectively determined, the sentiment remains. Warren Harding was elected not for his political advantages, or for his knowledge of policy and the American people, but because he was charismatic. He was often described as a tall, handsome man, …show more content…
In a card game that simulates real life decision-making, the players are given four decks of cards, two red and two blue, a loan of $2000, and asked to play so that they can lose the least amount of money and win the most. Each card either wins the participant money, or penalizes them. The red deck is high risk, high reward, while the blue deck is low risk, low reward (ie. there are more $100 cards in the red decks and $50 in the blue decks, but there are also high penalties in red decks, low penalties in blue). Playing mostly from the red decks leads to an overall loss. Playing from the blue decks leads to an overall gain. The players have no way of predicting when they will be penalized, no way to calculate the net gain or loss from each deck, and no knowledge of how many cards they must turn to end the game (the game is stopped after 100 card selections). Each participant is fitted with sensors on their hands to measure sweat production. Consciously, it took participants eighty cards on average to consciously recognize