How to Judge a Book by Its Cover
Imagine me fighting for your attention to get you to read this bloody article because I have less than 5 seconds to make an impression.
First, it makes me wonder if I am trying to please you or myself.
Then, it makes me wonder why we need to judge a book by its cover.
The easy answer is that we may be right.
Our beautiful brains can deliberate on things and can also jump to conclusions.
This is what successful decision-making looks like—the balance between deliberate and instinctive thinking.
Also, it is the ability to jump to these conclusions that has made us survive as humans.
For example, if you see a car running towards you, you don’t get to think and analyse whether it is a Lexus or a Range Rover.
You don’t get to ask stupid questions or wonder if the driver is male or female.
You also don’t pause to remember if you turned off the lights before leaving the house.
You run.
I am going to use two experiments to explain how to judge a book by its cover through a theory Malcolm Gladwell called ‘Thin-slicing’.
You must pay attention.
To fully understand this, let us go on a date.
Just you and me.
Are you ready?
Now, because I have invited you to dinner with me, it is very easy to conclude that it is a conscious decision.
I thought about it, deliberated, and said to myself—I want to go on a date with you.
So now let us pretend we are at La Chaumiere—a restaurant in Lagos.
The miniature-basket-like decor illuminating above, your beautiful eyes and the humdrum chatter filling the whole room have created the right ambience for us to have a conversation and maybe get to know each other.
But if by chance, we start having a conversation and you go ahead to say Nicki Minaj is not a talented rapper, then there will be an unconscious decision to argue with you.
And I will win (just for the record Nicki is so talented).
That is a different part of my personality.
That is unconscious. Instinctive.
Now, the first experiment is about the power of this adaptive unconsciousness.
A psychologist Nalini Ambady wanted certain students to rate a teacher’s effectiveness.
She handed these students ten-second videotapes of the teacher, cut the clip to five seconds and then two seconds.
The ratings were the same.
Then they compared this result to the evaluation of the actual students of these teachers after a full semester of classes.
Guess what? It was still the same.
This means you can make a snap judgement of the effectiveness of a teacher you have never met from a two-second video clip and you would have been right.
See how judging a book by its cover is so powerful.
Don’t forget that we are still on this dinner date —just before you tried to undermine Nicki’s talent— in an attempt to drink in my personality under the guise of getting to know me.
You think that the more time you spend with me, the more information you get, and the more you get to know me.
But that is an exhaustive approach—the thick-slice approach.
Using the theory of thin slicing, you may only need to get a glance at my private space and you would learn much more about me (excluding traits like extraversion since it depends on interacting with someone).
Why?
Because our personal space has our belongings which have a wealth of information, behavioural residues we leave behind that can give more insight about our personalities than the few hours we are spending together at this restaurant.
Assuming you were in my personal space instead of this date, you would not be disarmed by my shy smile.
You most likely will not be deeply mired in my weird laughter.
Nothing will affect your judgement.
For example, when I am silently tapping at the wine glass on the table with my eyes trained on the reddish dregs, you may wonder if I am quiet or naturally reserved.
But if you had gone through my private space, seeing the many unintelligible scribblings on my walls, you would have figured that I have too many words in my head and maybe that is why I am quiet.
But since you would never be able to get to my private space, let us enjoy dinner as an indirect way to my personal space.
‘Are you always quiet?’ I can hear you talking to me and I smile in response without shifting my gaze from the wine glass.
For a proper judgement, there will be no need to ask me direct questions too because my response will be biased.
Most of us have a skewed representation of ourselves since we are not very objective.
Instead, you would have to ask me something indirect and maybe watch out for a subtle tone in my response, and the emotions that may flash across my face.
This is the way you would make a better prediction.
Now, to the second experiment.
John Gottman—a psychologist and professor— used the theory of thin-slicing to predict if a couple would divorce in the next 15 years or not.
He didn’t waste time by asking them point-blank questions about the state of their marriage because they might lie, feel weird or might not even know the truth.
Instead, he asks them to talk about something involving their marriage, like their pets and that is how he makes a better prediction.
By watching them discuss for only 15 minutes, he has a success rate of 90% on whether the couple will be married 15 years later.
So what am I saying?
Sometimes, you see a book.
You may not even be a reader of books yet you can just tell something about the cover not being right.
You make a snap judgement about the book and you are right.
Good instincts.
Sometimes, because you may have had to flip through different books, you can quickly tell that this particular book cover means the book is a good one.
Sharp instincts, I am impressed.
Well, sometimes you look at a book cover and instead of observing the realism of the print on it, the font style of the title, or the font size, you pick a single factor—let us say the colour.
This may be the only thing that strikes you enough to flip the book open and your judgement would have been right.
Like the way the next scene on our date unfolds.
‘Are you enjoying your food?’ I ask aloud, my eyes finally shifting from the wine glass to your face as you make a quick Snapchat video of your dainty meal on the table before delving into it.
I am adjusting my skirt, preparing to leave, pretending that I didn’t hear you hurl deadly insults at the waiter for being three minutes late.
I forgot to add. Sometimes, you can throw the damn book away. You are not a publisher.
There's a way you intricately weave your posts, and it's super apparent in this. The mix of storytelling with psychology off of something as mundane as a 'judging a book by its cover' intro. Nobody does it as well as you do, Labake.
And yes, if they insult waiters, red flag!