The Tipping Point
The tipping point is that magic moment when an idea, trend, or social behavior crosses a threshold, tips, and spreads like wildfire. Just as a single sick person can start an epidemic of the flu, so too can a small but precisely targeted push cause a fashion trend, the popularity of a new product, or a drop in the crime rate. This widely acclaimed bestseller, in which Malcolm Gladwell explores and brilliantly illuminates the tipping point phenomenon, is already changing the way people throughout the world think about selling products and disseminating ideas.
Blink is a book about how we think without thinking, about choices that seem to be made in an instant-in the blink of an eye-that actually aren’t as simple as they seem. Why are some people brilliant decision makers, while others are consistently inept? Why do some people follow their instincts and win, while others end up stumbling into error? How do our brains really work-in the office, or in the classroom? And why are the best decisions often those that are impossible to explain to others?
The Introduction
Due: Tuesday, August 19, 2014 at 8:00 am
Read pages 1-17
Answer questions 1-4 on the answer document provided. You will need to print this document for use in class on Tuesday.
Be prepared to discuss all follow-up ideas in a group setting
Introduction- The Statue That Didn’t Look Right
-
What was the problem with the kouros?
-
Explain the Iowa experiment- Highlight the two things did researchers find about how our brains make sense of certain situations?
-
What is the adaptive unconscious? How does he metaphorically explain this?
-
What are the three tasks of Blink?
Based on the introduction, generate 2 more substantial discussion questions of your your own. These questions may be used during your group discussion tomorrow.
Look at the photo of the Getty's kouros located at the following link:
http://blogs.artinfo.com/lacmonfire/files/2011/03/Kouros_anavissos.jpg
Looking at a photo like this helps in understanding the reading at a higher (deeper) level.
Find at least 3 more links (photos, videos, articles, websites, etc) that will help readers gain a better understanding of this material.
Blink
Chapter 1:
Due: Tuesday, August 26, 2014 at 8:00 am
Read pages 18-47. Annotate as you go.
Be prepared to discuss all follow-up questions in a group setting.
Answer questions 1, 2, 3 and 6 on the answer document provided. You will need to print this document for use in class on Tuesday.
Chapter 1:
-
What is John Gottman’s claim to fame? How does he do this?
-
What is “thin slicing” (p 23)?
-
Gottman decodes a couple's relationship and predicts divorce by identifying their patterns of behavior. Can we change our natural and unconscious patterns of behavior? Would awareness of these patterns with our partner be enough to avert an inevitable break-up- why or why not?
-
What emotion does Gottman consider the most important of all when looking at marriages and their stability (p 32) ?
-
If scrolling through someone's iPod or scanning their bookshelf can tell us more about that individual, what other kinds of 'thin-slicing' exercises could reveal aspects of their personality?
-
Wendy Levinson’s research has some powerful outcomes for doctors and patient confidence- what did she find?
Based on Chapter 1, generate 2 more substantial discussion questions of your your own. These questions may be used during your group discussion tomorrow.
Find at least 3 links (photos, videos, articles, websites, etc) that will help readers gain a better understanding of the material presented in Chapter 1. Include these links at the bottom of your answer document.
Upload this WORD doc to your class English course page on Schoology.