Thin Slicing

Thin-slicing is a term used in psychology and philosophy to describe the ability to find patterns in events based only on "thin slices" or narrow windows of experience.  It is discussed extensively in  Malcolm Gladwell's book called "Blink". 

My last post described a thin sliced memory - the memory was of a real experience, but the memory felt like a thin slice of all the times someone has had my back and what a comforting feeling that is.  I find it easy to discern if someone is just agreeing, quietly disagreeing or planning on backing me up.  I can't thin slice a painting and tell you if it's a fake or not, but I'm finding it pretty simple to know the motives of another person.

My husband has a memory that remembers detail, including dates - my mind won't do that at all.  But what it does do is thin slice memories and those inform me in the present.  Some are difficult memories and others fall in a range from melancholy to exhilarating.

Carmen Malanka - thanks for helping me recognize a bully . . . I can also thin slice someone who is being verbally bullied.  My first memories of a playground are me hanging upside down by my knees.  I learned that experiences are not to be feared if you believe in your physical abilities and judgment, but some people are not so safe.

These early experiences and memories still inform me.  Gladwell calls it "thinking without thinking."  When  recognizing an unconscious or ineffective memory, try to deal with it (there are lots of paths to undoing subconscious memories that do not inform or help us in the present, but that can be another post.)  Currently I have been glad to be recognizing the positive as often as the negative.

i.e. - Enjoying the voice of an intelligent woman.  (Thanks Mom)  This memory helps me thin slice in meetings, workshops, socializing and deciding who to listen to on television.

Have you had a thin slicing experience?  I'd like to hear about it.