An Analysis Of Gladwell's Reasoning

Success is a concept that is constantly altered and has a different meaning from person to person. The stereotypical definition of success would be someone who has a high-paying job or is in the upper-class. Malcolm Gladwell, the author of Outliers: The Story of Success, approaches the concept of success in a different and unique way. Gladwell discusses how opportunities, cultural legacy, and hard work all coincide with each other to produce real success. He uses mostly logic and multiple unrelated anecdotes to support and provide evidence for his statements. Gladwell's main argument is that although hard work and talent are essential for success, one’s given opportunities and cultural legacy is what really

All children are not raised the same exact way. There are many different parenting styles, ranging from authoritative to neglectful parenting. Along with those many different styles also come many different opinions on which ones are better or worse for children. Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell is a book that essentially looks into many factors that contribute to people's successes. In chapter four, Gladwell writes about how different parenting philosophies impact how successful the children will be when they are older. Gladwell claims that there are essentially only two main parenting philosophies, “concerted cultivation” and “accomplishment of natural growth” (Gladwell 104). Gladwell goes on to also claim that between those two parenting philosophies, children raised from concerted

Criminal case is always tedious when it involves little or no information about the offender, like in the 9/11 terrorist attack which annihilated most of the workers in and damaged the New York Trade Center building. However, in an attempt to identify the offenders, government officials and investigators try out different ways such as criminal profiling and others. Thus, in the New Yorker article, “Dangerous Minds” by Malcolm Gladwell; the author informs the deeper problems with FBI profiling and argues that it is ineffective. He questions the usefulness of criminal profiling, “But how useful is that profile, really?” and uses other criminal cases, group research analyses, and analogies to refute

The road to greatness is a long path filled with struggle and time. Based on research by the best-selling author Malcom Gladwell inside his book Outliers popularized the idea of 10,000 hours of guided practice “the magic number of greatness”(Gladwell, 47). With enough practice he said anyone could achieve any work that of a professional. While some say the 10,000 hour rule is the key to success I believe that success is based on genetics, talent, and time period. It is whether one was born with the talent, achieved it later within life or was born during the wrong time period is what makes a master out of someone. Where the 10,000 hour rule is not a truth.

Gladwell opts for the discussion of playing with the readers emotions, each of which affects a different demographic group. Thus, he succeeds in effectively creating a relationship between the audience and pathos using emotional appeal from the beginning to the end of his article. Gladwell uses “real world” problems to create a bond between his article and the reader, such as the racial profiling of terrorist and everyday people of the same descent. After meeting with New York City’s police commissioner, he states, ““We have a policy against racial profiling,” Raymond Kelly, New York City’s police commissioner, told me. “I put it in here in March of the first year I was here. It’s the wrong thing to do, and it’s also ineffective. If you look at the London bombings, you have three British citizens of Pakistani descent, in that case, who is going to be profiled?” If you guessed the British citizens of Pakistani descent, then you are correct. Most of the readers were likely not aware of New York City’s policy of racial profiling or any profiling laws and the negative effect it has on ethnic people for that matter. Gladwell is really toying with your emotions because he is using these metaphors to inhibit the feeling of being dejected within his audience. We tend as people to not worry about the sadness that is present in society, but Gladwell makes it a priority to bring out the sadness within the effects of racially profiling.

Gladwell begins the chapter by narrating the crash of Korean Air flight 80. The plane was in good condition and so was the weather; but tragedy ends up slamming into the side of a mountain. Gladwell explains that plane crashes are rare, and in Chapter 7 of Outliers, he wants the reader to know how and why these pilots have been failing to land planes. Consequently, Gladwell begins to explain how Korean Air turned itself around, and he discusses how important it is to address cultural differences and legacies.

I wondered how many of the solutions to situations that he described were any more than finding ways to filter out information that was superfluous? This is evident in the case of the doctors who did not know if their patients were having heart trouble or not. The solution eliminated the questions that relate to risk factors and only focused on the actual symptoms. A risk factor is not pertinent to whether the person is having a heart attack at that very moment, though it seems it should be. Doctors attempt to weigh risk factors in their determination of someone’s heart health, when it should have no import. Eliminating that information is not “thin slicing” instead, it is increasing the efficiency of your diagnosis. The same idea can be applied to Gladwell’s arguments about the Getty statue (the letters were irrelevant to the authenticity of the piece), and the wrapping of margarine (The foil wrapping gives it a look of quality, even if it doesn’t change anything.) I also wondered if Gladwell assumed far too much. For instance, he often haphazardly tied in overall ideas to his smaller individual points. Such as in his chapter about Kenna, he says at the end of one sub-chapter where he describes experts’ taste tests between Coke and Pepsi: “Isn’t this what happened to Kenna?” It seems irrational to devote an entire series of sub-chapters to something and then apply it in such a vague and oversimplified way. He also assumes that “experts” are immune to the foibles of blind taste testing, while giving no evidence that they are any better, other than saying, “Would they be fooled by the Pepsi Challenge? Of course not,” as though it should just be accepted as fact, when in reality, many studies have shown that “expert tasters”, in particular, the

Who is the real winner in life? The answer is right in that sentence, life. It comes in many different shapes and forces. In Outliers, Gladwell talks about rice paddies, and how this cultural life style has laid foundation to the ideas and values for future generations of Asian countries. As the chapter progresses it shifts to a math professor and a young lady named Renee, and how challenges affect the way we think.

In Blink by Malcolm Gladwell presents and creates very fascinating terminologies to describe split-Second processes that human mind undergoes to make important decisions. One of the term that he uses in Blink is “thin slicing”. Malcolm Gladwell defines this term as “the ability of our conscious to find patterns in situations and behavior based on very narrow slice of experince”(23). What this means is your brain is able to “subconsciously gathers the necessary information for sophisticated Judgments”(23) from previous experience. In Blink Gladwell presents a lot of examples to make you better understand the meaning of thin slicing and when it takes place. Also In are lifes we use thin slicing in daily basis but we do not know when thin slicing

A debate has been ongoing about Malcolm Gladwell’s “The 10,000 Hour Rule”. Jared Sandman argues in “ Write. Rewrite. Repeat.” to forget the 10,000 rule and to try his 1,000 day rule, and Cory Turner argues in “Practice Makes Possible” that you are not born with talent and most at a young age be taught. Sandmen writes in his article “write, rewrite, repeat” and Cory Turner writes in his article “Practice Makes Possible” both comment about the 10,000 by Gladwell. Both authors are trying to reach a level of trust, emotion and reasoning. Sandman is more rhetorically effective because he establishes his credibility by stating the amount of time he puts into one book before he puts it to publish, cites convincing empirical evidence, and elicited

In “The Power of Context,” Malcolm Gladwell clearly states his view of human nature. His view is very different compared to the view that most people have on it. Gladwell feels that human behavior is not only based on individual characteristics, but also the environment that surrounds the individual. At first, a person may immediately dismiss this idea, but Gladwell provides great support to this theory. Gladwell tells many stories in his essay which all point to the fact that the environment does have the effect of forcing people to act out of character and against human nature.

Can one change the world? It only takes one, who will it be? It's difficult to understand the world and comprehend how many people inhabit it. Possibly changing the world, sounds crazy. Everyone has the ability too, but no one believes in themselves enough. Everyone is guilty of belittling themselves, comparing themselves to others. Which overall lowers one's confidence and creates the perception of a fixed mindset. Although the world isn't the intimating and untouchable place, it's perceived to be. In reality, the universe is a blank canvas filled with unique and mesmerizing people. The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell looks at several social epidemics and analyzes the build-up to when everything tips. “Tipping” is the point where an epidemic blooms or grows, to its greatest potential. Gladwell

Although Gladwell's Outliers has been criticized for drawing generalizations from a "flimsy selection of colorful anecdotes and stories," and his argument borders "social predestination," according to the New York Times, Gladwell's conclusions do provoke a lot of thought and self-reflection. If you look at the reasons why you're a successful writer, you may find it was due more to circumstance, practice, and upbringing than any gift you were imbued with from

To my understanding of the narrative on core values, it is what I believe is right and wrong, moral wise. It is what others think is right or wrong based on their standards of living. The Narrative Core Values consist of freedom, equality, justice, private property, and individual achievement, in which is shared amongst Americans. Therefore, I think Gladwell’s argument support the Narrative on Core Values. For the reason that Gladwell did not write the book on what he thought others think what is or not an epidemic in certain situations. He wrote the book base on his beliefs, morals, or standards. On the other hand, I think it also challenges the narrative on core values. Because Gladwell talks about the epidemics and how they affect societies,

In the book Gladwell's structure is what, as a whole, conveys the message itself. He talks about real life examples and expert analysis to show how making a split second decision can be more beneficial that a well thought out plan. For example, at the beginning of the book Gladwell tells of a new museum in California. The museum was in search of a piece that would “put them on the map”.